24.11 城下公会堂 / Okayama

From Toyama we took a long train ride to Okayama with haruka nakamura. We managed to catch a few more winks and the moment we arrived, we were whisked off immediately to a hotel and our performance venue Shiroshita Koukaido by our tour organizers.

Firstly there was Okamoto-san, a bearded top-hatted gentlemen in his 40s who used to run a CD store until it closed a couple of years ago and he now makes a living as a “mobile cd shop”, always carrying a haversack of music goodies around the city to feed music-hungry listeners and lovers of experimental music. Then there was Yamada-san, a younger deadringer for actor Tadanobu Asano, an avid music lover who runs his own retro-style cafe.

Soon evening fell the cafe was filled up. Seeing people buy “A Little Fable” and our other Kitchen. Label releases at the merchandise corner really made my day. The show went great and many wonderful people came up to say hi or just to express their appreciation for our performance. To my shock a line started forming and soon i was signing autograph after autograph… i really wasn’t expecting it! I was crazy happy when instagram friends came forward to say hi.. @kaketeiruhoshi and @_airsy! haruka then introduced me to his photographer friend Masako Nakagawa whose works i had admired for years.

The night ended on a high. The three of us, including Okamoto-san and Yamada-san climbed a narrow staircase to a bar upstairs Shiroshita Koukaido (it was by the same owner) where we had food and drinks. A Chilly Gonzales documentary was playing on a projection screen.

I don’t know how it was possible but we spent a good 2 or 3 hours talking to Okamoto-san about drone/experimental/shoegaze music, art and films despite a language barrier. I guess you could call these universal topics? Hehe.

The next morning we gathered at the hotel lobby where Haruka seemed a little unwell… he explained that he had kind of caught a cold. A kindly old lady who was sitting next to him who overheard us handed him some medicine and a mask (!) Oh Okayama people… you kind and gentle lot.

Yamada-san took us out for breakfast to a “self-udon” restaurant. By “self” it means that you have to braise the noodles, add the soup and choose the toppings all on your own. Ricks decided to satisfy his tempura craving by ordering 3 of them. Not a bad move because everything was so delicious. Unfortunately i had a huge ulcer in my jaw and a line of them down my throat so i decided to partake in a humble portion.

Tadanobu Asano Yamada-san.

After lunch he takes us to this amazing shrine-cum-residence..

This little one was barking ferociously at us outside of the house but once indoors, he fell silent and lay obediently.

The owner kindly invited haruka to try the piano. I have to say that the perfect word to sum up how it sounded.. was “golden”. I decided mentally on my own that if we had the chance to come back to Okayama again this is the place i want to perform at.

Our last stop before leaving for Kyoto would be to Yamada-san’s cafe (which he has been running for the past 10 years). When i asked him about his cafe the night before, he described it as 「ぼろぼろ」which translates to something like “torn and tattered”. That sounded like a really humble way of putting it but the moment we stepped in i loved the atmosphere. There were lots of charming old furniture that didn’t match and i had the best mint chai ever.

Haruka on the other hand was beginning to show more signs of a cold… which started to worry us.

Adventure to be continued!

→ moderado music (Okamoto-san’s one-man mobile CD shop!)
→ Shuri (Yamada-san’s cafe)
→ More photos on Facebook