my town was fortunate enough to have a bad-ass jazz tour come through a couple of weeks ago. after work on a wednesday night, i was escorted to our (one and only) community center. i had to be escorted, of course, because i couldn't read or understand the information on the flyer or ticket. grrr, its been a month and a half and i still can't read enough japanese to go to a concert on my own. sigh.


anyways, it was refreshing to have just a little taste of american music in my distant foreign country. there were about 30 performers total, most of which played the classic gambit of big-band jazz instruments: brass, strings, woodwind, and percussion. there were a couple of jazz vocalists who sang a few songs too. one guy even covered sinatra's "my way" which, even in his japanese accent, was particularly fucking moving.


during the more upbeat songs a pair of swing dancers came out and swung. i was so stoked to see the dancers. it made me miss last summer in boston when i was lucky enough to take a couple months of swing dance lessons. oh boston how i miss ye.
while i was looking for a seat to sit in before the concert, i happened to find two fellow teachers from a junior high school sitting near the front. it was a bit awkward because i didnt remember their names. heck, i still dont. it was hard enough for me to remember english names back in america, but learning the hundreds of japanese names of my coworkers and students just seems like an impossible task for me at the moment.

after the jazz concert, the junior high teachers and i went out to a local restaurant for some dinner and drinks. it was nice to actually feel social with people in my town (note: this was the first and so far the only time ive been able to do so; the language barrier is such a harsh mistress). they loved watching and complimenting my chopstick skills while i ate sanma (サンマ), a popular local fish, and enjoyed listening to all the traveling ive done in japan so far.