Karaoke

We're still well looped from the drinks we were sure weren't even alcoholic. They were. For about $8.50/hr, we checked out karaoke with friends and it was ... a good time. If you've seen "Lost in Translation," we just did ... that. All you can drink mystery drinks were included in the price and me thinks we got our money's worth. Shimpei got things going with a rousing version of Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer," and I can't exactly remember where things went from there. Miho and Momoko were absolute professionals and even knew the choreography for their selections ... amazing. Cortney had been out (at a karaoke bar) till 6 a.m. the night before (a real trooper) but didn't miss a note ... truly inspiring. Dan had "genki" galore, as the picture above makes clear -- the song: "Friends in Low Places." Lori & I waded through "Bohemian Rhapsody" (that one's harder than it first appears), "Jesus of Suburbia" (that one's longer than it first appears), and "You're the One That I Want" (I thought that one would be easier than it was). By the end, we were all screaming "Y.M.C.A" by the Village People, jumping up and down on the seats, and generally making asses of ourselves ... money well spent! Here's the evidence ... (I'm too far gone to say much more, so I'll leave it at this. Farewell from Tokyo!) ...

Showa University Visit

Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to visit Showa University of Music (Japanese website versus English info) at their campus in Hon-Atsugi, about an hour outside Tokyo (though technically maybe this is still part of Tokyo - it goes on and on and on and on...). Luckily, our time in Japan overlapped with my friend and colleague Anne Smith's week-long seminar at Showa this summer. Just last spring, Anne (in red at left, with me and students from her class) taught an Arts Policy course in the Arts Management Program at the College of Charleston as a Visiting Professor and several years ago she taught full-time at Showa. Her permanent home is in San Francisco, where she serves as a Vice President for Arts Consulting Group and teaches an online arts course for Golden Gate University's cybercampus.

This was a fantastic opportunity to sit in on a class at a Japanese University and meet some of the students and faculty at Showa. I believe they are one of the few (only?) colleges in Japan with a degree program in Arts Management, so it was interesting to see how a typical class compared to our classes at the College of Charleston. The discussion (facilitated with a good bit of help from a translator and Kyoko Takenami, the class professor) was strikingly similar to many I've had with students over the last 5 years, especially in terms of their concern with their own demographic group and the need for arts organizations to take their interests and preferences into account if they want to build new audiences for the future.
Below is a picture of Anne and Kyoko Takenami, Associate Professor in the Dept of Music and Arts Management at Showa, along with pictures of the students (flashing the ubiquitous photo peace sign). On Saturday, Pete and I went to Showa's campus in Kawasaki to hear Anne give a lecture about collaborations between music conservatories and their local communities in the United States. Overall this was a wonderful introduction to Showa and the study of arts management in Japan and I'm hoping I will have more opportunities over the next year to interact with their faculty and students.

Kamakura

On Saturday, June 24, we took a day trip south to Kamakura - home to the emperor from 1192 to 1333. It seemed like lots of Tokyo had made the exact same plans, so the city was swarming with people. (It took forever to get a picture of the big Buddha all by himself ... there are about ten people hiding behind the statue in front.) Kamakura's only about 45 minutes from Tokyo and is worth a visit - we'll probably go back someday on a weekday to avoid the hatch. First stop was to see the big Buddha. He's so big, you can climb up inside of his head for a small fee. He's been sitting in place since 1252 and seems very content to stay.

Next, we went to Hase temple, which is home to a statue of the bodhisattva Kan'non which supposedly washed ashore not far from Kamakura in the early 8th century. It's stashed away and off-limits somewhere on the grounds, but we did get to see these little statues. I believe each represents the soul of a stillborn child, and they're all clearly cared for.

Next, we accidentally queued ourselves into a (very long) line waiting to see the hydrangeas, which were in full bloom. The line was silly-long and snaked all the way up the hillside above the shrine. The flowers were nice, though, and worth the wait. Here's Lori on her way up the path, and some kimono-clad girls who were color-coordinated with the flowers.

Other pictures: (1) Lori sitting on the steps at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu shrine, which was established by the Genji family, founders of the Kamakura Shogunate; (2) Pete and bamboo; (3) one of many statues defending the hillside behind Kencho-ji, Kamakura's main Zen temple. The hike up to this sub-temple was steep and easy to defend: I believe it's where the priests would retreat to whenever the temple came under attack. There's a 10-mile hiking trail from this point that connects the temple with a series of sub-temples deep in the mountains surrounding the city.