When I first found out I would be moving to Japan I decided that from within weeks of landing I would become best friends to Ripslyme and Kyoto Jazz Massive and that I would have endless otaku parties consisting of nothing but people being horribly pretentious and listening to really good music. It hasn’t quite happened that way, but music has become intertwined with my life here in very different ways - and much more rewarding ways at that.

I decided to bring my flute here in the hope of finding an extra-curricular niche that wouldn’t involve much exercise. When I discovered that the best most junior high schools have to offer is a ‘brass band’, I was quietly deflated, envisioning renditions of the Liberty Bell and the Hovis theme piped out by Dad’s Army trapped in the bodies of adolescent thirteen-year-old Japanese girls. How wrong I was.

 Today I played a concert with the band at one of my schools, marking the departure of the final-year students. Playing music with these students is a privilege of the highest order, and here’s why…

 I have two friends in England who were recently assigned the catchphrase ‘Shall we just do it and then it’s DONE’ by another wonderful friend of ours. These dear girls (who are sisters, for the record), are stupendous party-organisers and manage to look good pretty much constantly. I envy them tremendously, so coming to Japan and finding that everyone lives by that motto was something of a humbling experience.

My first performance with the brass band was at their school’s culture festival (bunkasai)  about a month ago. I’d practiced with them a few times prior, but was handed a sheet of music on the day totally alien to me. Being not the ablest of sight-readers, I was rather concerned that ‘Invicta’ would prove to be a rather embarrassing number for all of us. An uncanny thing occurred, however. I played every note in its right place and at the right pitch. It was as though I had, for three minutes, been let into the world where the ganbatte mantra rings true.

Today, we played the theme from ‘Swing Girls’, a Japanese movie about some hapless schoolgirls finding themselves having to replace the recently food-poisoned jazz-band, the poisoning of whom had been inadvertently their doing. Incidentally, the cast of this film had never played music before and came out after four months at a Yamaha training school sounding like this:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVhYmNwj9dQ

 I got to play that music today. This sort of performance is not unique to my school’s band, and the Swing Girls’ dedication is not unique to the cast of that film. If kids take up an instrument here, they don’t simply muddle through for the sake of being part of it. They train themselves and each other into creating the crispest sounds and the tightest beats they can. Not one of them is older than 15, and their music teacher rarely shows up at practice. They read the score, and make it sound as it should. Simple really.

Last night I went bowling with the Dudes (the big people in charge of me and everyone else involved in education in Hikari), and had a really great time. Needless to say my performance afforded me the wooden spoon, although that wooden spoon came in the shape of a nice box of biscuits so I’m not complaining.

Bowling was followed by a particularly raucous enkai*, where I got to sit next to two of my favourite Dudes. There is no reason why they should be my favourite, as I had barely spoken to either of them prior to last night. They just have very nice faces and give Jess and I especially cheery ‘Ohaiyo gozaimasu’s. And last night I managed to pull off most of the evening chatting to them in Japanese, which is an immensely satisfying feeling. Everyone at the top end of Hikari education is so lovely to Jess and I anyway; we see them a little bit like nice old uncles. Even though most of them don’t speak any English, we often feel like they’re both intrigued by and protective of us, and they always seem pleased to see us when we go and visit their office.

 I almost pulled out of last night as my weeks are getting busier, but I’m really glad I didn’t. I haven’t socialised with thaty group since the start of my stay in Hikari, and it was so good to do it and carry out most of my conversations in Japanese. One of the younger Dudes I was was sat next to invited me to meet his wife and three daughters, which I thought was really lovely. We even had some conversations that stepped the usual ‘Do you like Japanese food?’ safezone.

All this led me to feel especially bad, then, when one of my colleagues from said office told me they had been reading my blog recently (one lovely lady in our office who shall remain nameless is very good at English). I AM HAPPY GUYS, DON’T WORRY! A couple of times people at the enkai asked me if I was happy, with a look of genuine concern about them, and now I understand why. So onward to a more cheery Lucyweb, and enough with this whinging and a-moaning…

*Enkai (n): work’s drinking parties. Just about every employee in Japan will go to one at least once; most will do so regularly throughout the course of their working lives. I love the fact that all the Japanese people I’ve spoken to so far call it a ‘drinking party’ when referring to an enkai in English. I like that it isn’t pretending to be something more refined, nor a couple of casial drinks after work, but rather a function of working as hard as the Japanese do. Working hard and playing hard are what these guys seem to do best, be it grafting, bowling or boozing. Hurrah!

…Is OK. Having a good honk isn’t. This will take some getting used to, she thinks through clenched teeth…

The Japanese seem to like talking about the weather even more than the British. They also like to complain about it more. It’s a beautiful autumn day outside; the leaves are just starting to turn and the temperature is sitting at around 19 degrees, but still I am beckoned to agree that it’s ‘too hot’. ‘Atsui!’, I’ve noticed, is more just a general noise people make; not so much addressing anyone, just making small talk with the world. I wonder when the ‘Samui’s will start kicking in….