Aomori Neputa Matsuri

Aomori was the place, Neputa seems to mean a float, and Matsuri is festival. Just came back from an amazing time up in the North, where the apples grow and people are friendly. We stayed with a Theater group my friend Lina had met, inKizu-Kuri, the Yakokan theatre company. They welcomed us, fed us and supplied us with sake, we dressed and danced and helped pull the float. Two nights of mayhem, speeches and ceremonies. Absolutely fantastic, resting in the day, wandering the vast rice fields and taking the local hot springs, under the guidance of Do-gu, the stone spirit found in a swamp there from paleolithic era. Her name; Shakochan.
I can't describe the events, there was so much drumming and flute playing competitions, there were traditional floats and super pimped up ones, they all rotated and some even bounced like the American hotted up cars. It was a feast fro the eyes, and the beers flowed throughout, we were showered with sake, and then we danced with the spirits of the dead. It was heady and intoxicating in more than one way, it was exhausting and we were soaked with sweat afterwards, then fortified by a feast back at the studio. I've never seen anything like it.

Wakarimasen!

No room for laps
私は理解しない
I don't understand!
So much eludes me, but I am trying. I think where I am really succeeding is at the sushi bars; I've discovered that there are 3 types of sushi you can order, the cheapest is 'bamboo', middle range is 'plum' and the most expensive is 'pine'. I love that. I have also fallen in love with shiso/ume nori, which is the shiso leaf with plum, yum. Cho oishi!
There has been mega activity in the studio and for that reason there hasn't been time to write. I have been researching maki-e, which is laquerware, and making my own versions. Had an open studio on Saturday where a bunch of my dancer friends came. That was great, we went out afterwards and went to the Aoyama Cemetery at night, whence dancing was done. It was a super night and the first where I felt wholeheartedly content. Watching them dance to the strains of Hori's music machine, under the reflected light of the clouds, lying on soft grass, I felt at peace with the world.
I have been so at odds with everything since being here, so moody and tetchy!
Stayed in a ryokan in Tsunashima last week, it had the lovliest old phone I have ever seen and a small rock garden in each room. I loved it. Wish I could stay in that sort of place always. Went to the onsen there, which was very different from others I'd visited, with a big garden and large tatami matted rooms surrounding it, where people lay around eating and drinking, relaxing and even doing karaoke in one of them, and dancing. I loved the vibe there, and took my time as it was a very very hot day outside. Let me tell you, my face cloths and hankies have been getting a good workout here, I carry one and am constantly mopping myself down. In fact there is a scarf in the freezer, packed with ice packs that is made to wrap around your neck for vicious days, it really works!
Maybe its the heat thats getting to me, and the officialdom of this place, there is so much expected of you, but it is so hard to get anything done, it seems like there are so many obstacles in the way. I suppose some of it may be my misunderstanding of procedures, and just simple things can take hours...urgh!
Tomorrow I am going up North with Lina to a festival there, in Aomori. Will be back on Sunday!
Me with Mr.Eyeball (Taiwanese artist) and fabulous cook/makeup artist/assistant

Clean living

I don't think I have lived so clean, except for cigarettes, in more than twenty years. I am working in the studio every day, not drinking alcohol, or coffee, and just working. I even stopped watching reality shows on TV dome...
The other night I worked through the night, saw dawn break and then went to bed, hands paralysed from drawing so intensely, and today I got up at dawn and went out for some activity. I made the huge mistake of going on the subway at supreme rush hour, where I was squashed to the point of hysteria, I was watching the faces of people entering the carriage and the excruciating grimaces as the ones behind kept coming in. I've never experienced anything like it, and now know that is what the average commuter gets to experience most every day. Poor sausages.
I sat in a coffee shop (ok, one coffee), and watched the women behind the counter working. Folding and preparing the orders, always cheerfully greeting each customer, only one in thirty made some chit chat. Their boiled eggs appeared from nowhere, and the vast majority of people get iced drinks. I like the mornings, there is less frenzy and pushiness. But I would like to know where those boiled eggs came from, was there a little old lady downstairs sending them up, or is there a specific machine under the counter to cook them to perfection.
I was contemplating this whilst eating my little sandwich, with the crusts removed for me, and I wondered who had made this and when, and where. In the supermarkets there must be kitchens where all the food is prepared, but you just never see behind the doors. And all the riceballs I scoff, who makes them, and where? So many questions about the foods I am idly consuming.
I went to a garbage recycling facility today to view the processes. They tried to make us feel better about our consumption, saying that the total amount of garbage has decreased, yet I could see it everywhere. I was so dis-satisfied, wanting to get out of the bus and look and watch up close, but that was all off limits. I felt I was only being shown a tiny side of the whole process. The landfill areas were impressive and vast, but we couldn't enter them either. Early forests were being planted and you could see these immature trees struggling to grow and I just felt sorry for them, for all the pollutants they would need to combat and all the heat torture they would suffer. They look like Dr.Seuss plants at the early stage, all twisted and insecure.

Day by day

Some art at a bar in Otsuka

I was so excited on Saturday night as I turned on the tv and the tour de france was in full swing, but with no commentary. No commercials, just the bikers and the views, what a rush! I sat drinking and lulled by the endless commitment, such achievement and skill. Unfortunately that was the only night I could receive the broadcast, every other evening the station is down. Sad.
On another note, I have been spending more time in the studio and feel like there is some evidence of my stay here, and when I'm working I am in the moment, concentrating, yet lost in the process. It feels otherworldly. When I go out of the studio and see people, I am a bit discombobulated, as if I had been on nitrous oxide, I just find it hard to warm to conversation again, my mind has been in such a focus.
I went out early morning the other day and noticed how friendly people were, acknowledging me, saying excuse me, and generally acting human and civil, aha, I realised, in the afternoons, everyone is tired and hot and over it, it's not me, it's the situation that is getting to everyone.
Went to the bath house last night and found that if I had a cool wash before hand then the baths were tolerable and I could luxuriate for much longer. There have been times when I've gotten so dizzy, I'd have to sit outside for a bit...I especially love sitting after the baths, and eating some chips and drinking a yogurt drink. I never want to shower the next day, as I don't want to wash off that special feeling. There is one bath that is filled with some sort of silky steamy milk, you can see swirls of it, and the steam wisping off of it quite mysteriously. I love that bath the most.

Some strange things

And beauty everywhere.