25.11 OIL / Kyoto
Finally in Kyoto, the last stop of our 3-city roadtrip. As the taxi meandered through Kyoto’s narrow streets, memories came flooding back from our last 2009 visit. A landscape characterised by low buildings with a mixture of old and new, punctured by serene rivers. Women perfectly postured in their kimonos taking careful strides. Even the dusty, abandoned corners were overflowing with elegance.
At OIL cafe, our performance venue. The afternoon sun slants in. This is no doubt a beautiful place.
It would be a lie to say that we weren’t tired. Myself and haruka all smashed on the sofa. But thanks to our organizers and coordinators, we get our soundcheck and equipment settled quickly, and then we retire to our Ryokan for a rest before the performance at night.
To our horror, haruka starts to run a high fever and we try to nurse him with lots of wet towels and Pocari sweat (a Japanese isotonic drink). After a few hours his temperature seemed to subside a little and fortunately we were able to present a complete show to the audience. My gratitude to haruka for holding up and going through the performance.
After the show we hear from our organiser Muramatsu-san (also the owner of Art Rock No.1) that we had a full capacity and the show was sold-out! Surprise no.2 came when haruka introduced us to Ichiko Aoba‘s mother (a Kyoto local)… I thought i was seeing actress Noriko Sakai instead. She was a beautiful woman and had a refined, gentle atmosphere – so very much like her daughter. I told her how much i loved Ichiko and how adorable and lovely she was… i think i sounded like i was describing a bunny or kitten that you might want to put in your pocket, but really that’s how cute Ichiko is!
Izakaya time again! Kyoto cuisine… oh creamy potatoes. Good times spent with the Kyoto crew. Thank you guys!!!
On the way home the following morning, back to our ‘hood. One more day in Kyoto would’ve been perfect as friends offered to take us out for Autumn viewing but haruka’s health would be priority. I drowned myself in Nico’s “Marble Index” on the Shinkansen.
Back in Tokyo rain started to fall. We stumbled back to our apartment, dazed and wondering if we had just woken up from a long dream. Honestly, there are not enough words to express our gratitude. Music does have a strange, invisible power to connect people.