so, after i got back from the states, i went directly to kodo earth celebration on sado island. i’ve decided i’m cursed for living here in the winter, and blessed for living here in the summer. during the cold months, the snow piles up, and i don’t mean accumulating an inch or two. back home, we would get excited about a snowflake drifting through the desolate skies. but here, it amasses all the way over streetlamps and stoplights. i’ve walked on 6 feet high fields of snow, climbed in a 10 foot high snow igloo, and searched my way through a snow maze. the winter precipitation here in joetsu city ain’t no joke.

but, it’s fabulous in the summer to live here! i live about a 20 minute short windows- down vocal-cords-excercised wind-whipping-through-your-hair perfect-sunny-day car trip away. besides the other perfect back drops to summer, we have 2 music festivals, the first being fuji rock festival, and the second one being sado. these are 2 world-wide famous 4 day long music festivals. and they are both in my prefecture, niigata.

as worn out and disoriented as i was upon returning to japan on that tuesday in august, i had sufficiently recovered enough to trek to sado. ride is more like it, tiffany and i rode the ferry – about a 2 hour trip.

we were completely excited, knowing what was in store for us. this was the first trip we took last year – bonding with other new ALTs, listening to the amazing drum beats of kodo, and dancing our pants off. sado earth festival is comprised of 3 main concerts. each year, kodo invites a new, eclectic, complimentary band from around the world. in 2004, it was a russian brass band (which was a i-literally-can’t-stop-dancing-they’re-so-good concert); this year, it was spanish carlos nunez, bag pipe player. they played celtic music. although they had some more mellow tunes, he and his three other band mates (including his brother, the drummer) could get the crowd going. we jumped around with huge smiles on our faces, dancing outside on the grass. friday night, kodo plays alone, which is amazing enough on its own. saturday night, the guest musicians play, and sunday is a spectacular show including both groups. during the shows, cameras are prohibited, so i didn’t get any pictures at the actual concerts. i snuck in a couple, but trying to be ninja-like covert, they didn’t come out so well.

during the day, there would be fringe events, such as smaller shows, workshops, and a flea market with international food vendors. oh, the tacos!! i was in heaven – greasy, cheesy, ground beef, spicy tacos – ahhhh. nothing like greasy mexican to scare the hangovers away.

we couldn't take pictures at the main events, but we were able to at the smaller daytime shows. this was one of the main fringe events that showcased some performance art of a famous calligraphy artist in japan. he was the logo designer for the festival this year.





this is the performance artist. his paintbrush consisted of 6 large brush heads screwed into the base in front of us. the act of calligraphy itself was almost orgasmic with the attention and he effort he reserved for the show. there was ceremonial preparation time, and then he started.

it was incredibly heavy due to the size of the brush and weight of the paint. it looked like he mainly pushed the brush around. the act looked physically exhausting

another fringe event. the woman under wraps changed costumes several times during the show and was talented in assuming different characters for the assorted short acts




carrie and i waiting for the bus


anyone could sign up during the day and play at the busiest spot of the festival - the flea market, which consisted of food vendors, shopping, and more kodo shows


this man enjoyed the music each day. i think i remember him from last year - he's kind of hard to forget


this vendor had the right idea - it was extremely hot


working all day tuckers you out


after the concert and back down to the flea market area to mingle and meet new, neat people


some new friends - they were incredibly rowdy and friendly during the concerts - inviting us to leap around and dance with them


and on our fourth day, tired, sunburnt, and hungover, tiff, carrie, sara, and i headed home, back on the ferry