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Diary: written by David van Ooijen (lute)

Tuesday 1 August, 2000

Before I came to Hirado, I spent two weeks with Junko, my wife, in Osaka. So my first impression of Hirado is one of contrast with the big city. In Osaka I was overwhelmed by a big city and a fast and anonymous life. In Hirado life has its own quiet tempo. From the very beginning we feel at home. We have the feeling we know my host, Keiko-san, and the organizer of 12xHolland in Hirado, Machida-san, for many years. Already the very first night, while my host group is cleaning my house and filling my refrigerator, Keiko-san puts my schedule on the table. It is clear that it will be a month full of work.

Wednesday 2 August, 2000

In the morning we meet the mayor of Hirado at the city hall. He bids us welcome, hands out a nice gift and we have our pictures taken together. This is a ritual that will be repeated wherever I come hereafter: welcome speech, gifts and pictures. This official meeting is followed by a very practical one: a joined meeting about our schedules. Not everything is very clear yet, but I have a feeling my host is most excellent in creating clarity in what to me looks like a collection of vague ideas. I am lucky with her, Keiko-san, I have the feeling she will make my stay very productive.

Thursday 3 August, 2000

Today is my first working day. I start with a rehearsal with Merel, the singer. We haven't seen each other for weeks. Then there's a rehearsal with Machida-san and Merel. Not only is he our supervising host, a very busy 12xHolland-san, but he is also a fine flute player that will play a Mozart aria in our joined concerts. Then there is Kei, a young trumpet player who wants to learn more about early music. We play two sonata's by Viviani together. The music is new to him, the language of baroque music too, so it will be a great learning experience for him. The rehearsals are at Machida-san's house. His mother will be my teacher of shamisen, a Japanese instrument. She is in today, so I have my first lesson. Shamisen is played with a huge pick. My fingers are completely unaccustomed to this, so at the end of the lesson I have blisters where I have to hold the thing. I get an instrument and a whole pile of sheet music to my house. I will have to study, this is clear. I am home after 23:00.

Friday 4 August, 2000

The first joined concert of Merel and me is today. It is in a church in Tabira, at the other side of the bridge that connects the island of Hirado to Kyushu. There's red carpet on the floor of the church, we have to play without shoes. This is new to me, but it feels very comfortable. The audience doesn't wear shoes either. It is incredibly hot and I am sweating like never before. We do our best to explain something about the music to the audience, Junko has made us a text to read. But the best sign of recognition from the audience comes when I play my first Japanese song. People start to hum along, this is very nice. After the concerts we are treated to a children's choir that sings for us and with us. Then it's party time: food and drinks and nice company. We are treated like guests of honor, but meet much personal warmth as well. A couple from Tabira approaches me, Momoeda-san, he is an amateur lute player, she a singer of lute songs. We make an appointment for lessons. They will turn out to become very good friends.

Saturday 5 august

In the morning I join the taishou koto rehearsal of my host group. A taishou koto is an European instrument that has founds its way to Japan at the beginning of the 20th century, and has become immensely popular. It is a kind of table cither and is mostly played in groups, much like mandolin orchestra's here. The sound is close to that of a mandolin. They play for me, I play for them, we play together and we chat a lot to get to know each other. The lady's especially are very interested in the kind of life Junko and I have in Holland. In the afternoon I have a short life performance for Nagasaki FM radio. I play Greensleeves in the sun and salty wind at the harbor, and have an interview that thanks to Machida san's great understanding of my main interests mainly centers around the different kinds of sashimi that I enjoy eating in Japan. The rest of the afternoon Junko and I spend in sight seeing. In the evening we join the village festival and fireworks. When late at night we drop in at Machida-san, sensei has more shamisen music for me. It will not be the last impromptu lesson.

Sunday 6 August, 2000

At 11:00 Junko leaves for Holland, I will miss her. And her translating services. She has made my first week of schedule making very easy. I watch Emeke's opening ceremony of her wall painting at the Dutch Wall and I study my shamisen. When I walk through the village everybody recognizes me and talks to me. The warmth I meet is incredible. In the evening there's fireworks and festival again.

Monday 7 August, 2000

I start the day with shamisen lesson at sensei's. Followed by more shamisen and even koto lesson. A quick lunch, and on to ensemble playing with shamisen and koto. Short rehearsal with Merel and an evening full of shamisen and loads of koto's. The blisters on my hand have grown to immense proportions. I am enjoying every minute of it.

Tuesday 8 August, 2000

In the morning I have a joined concert with lute solo and the taishou koto group of my host. It is at an elderly people's home. They enjoy my explanations about the instrument and the music so much that I have to give many encores and answer many questions. My Japanese is growing rapidly. In the evening Merel and I have our second concert. This time in a slightly air conditioned concert hall at Ikitsuki, the next island. I have to wear my concert shoes here. After the concert I am staying with a family in Ikitsuki. Two brothers, both with wife and child, share a house with their mother. They have prepared a wonderful meal for me and we talk a lot about the differences between Japanese and Dutch life.

Wednesday 9 August, 2000

Before seven we get up to walk to my new found friend's job. He is a fish seller at a little harbor shop. I enjoy to see the fresh fish, many still alive in a big tank, and I watch carefully how they are cut. This is a good fish workshop for me! My host comes to pick me up at 9:30 and we drive for about an hour to a next village where I meet another taishou koto group. They play for me and I play about 45 minutes for them. Here too, I am received with so much love. In the evening there's an endless meeting about the concert programmes for august 26 and 27. It is fun to see the Japanese politely refuse each other's plans. Dutchmen would be direct and blunt, hurting each other's feelings in being clear about their point of view. Here things go very indirect, and after two hours of discussion still no clear decision has been made. But I am sure they will all work together on the concerts to make it work perfectly. It really is another world. After the meeting I rehearse for about one or two hours with the trumpet player. He is good, a quick learner.

Thursday 10 August, 2000

The day starts with a concert of Merel, the taishou koto group and me in an elderly peoples' home. The sounds of the lute is drowned in the noise of the kitchen of the place. But again, the people enjoy our presence and love to hear the Japanese songs. In the evening I have three jobs: first I work as a conductor with the wind ensemble that will accompany Merel's musical. I wrote the music for them, and I will have to conduct the performance. They are not used to a conductor, and I am not used to brass instruments, so this is a learning experience for all of us. This rehearsal is followed by one with a choir group Merel is working with. Here I only have to accompany on lute, so this is an easy job. The day ends with the couple from Tabira that comes for lute lesson and lute song lesson. They are really warm people with a keen interest in early music. Their music sounds very nice to me and we can work well together.

Friday 11 August, 2000

In the morning I attend Merel's musical rehearsal at an elementary school near Hirado. The children are very sweet, and the teachers are working very hard to make them understand Merel's directions. In the afternoon I have an interview with high school students. As they are very shy, I do most of the talking. A girl working at the city hall does the translating for me. We get along well and some of the interview was perhaps more in answer to her own questions about life in Holland. In the evening I have my first guitar workshops. For this purpose I have asked if I could borrow somebody's old guitar. I am left handed, so the strings will have to be turned around and I do not want to hurt somebody's special instrument. Someone lends me his Ramirez for the whole month. You can not get a much better guitar. Japanese hospitality knows no boundaries, so it seems. The participants of the workshop are a mix of young and old. One of them is a 74 year old man who taught himself some traditional Japanese songs on guitar. I watch and listen enraptured. I have nothing to teach to this man, in stead I try to learn from him.

Saturday 12 August, 2000

The morning rehearsal with guitar and koto has some trouble. Koto tuning is not fixed, and it takes a long time to figure out how to tune the instrument so that it sounds well with my guitar. The rest of the morning is filled with the couple from Tabira, playing lute and singing lute songs. So is part of the afternoon. They will organize a concert for me later this month in Tabira, and he is very careful about making a beautiful programme for the concert. In the evening I have something completely different. My host, Uchino-san, has a dinner party for which I am invited. Their house is many generations old and is full of reminders of their samurai past. We start with tea ceremony, and end with lots of sashimi and sake. We make music on flutes, shamisen and small size koto's. It is a very good evening.

Sunday 13 August, 2000

In the morning Merel, Machida-san, Glenn and I have a rehearsal for the upcoming occasions where we'll have to play together. Glenn is easy: he can play along with anything. In the afternoon I am picked up by Momoeda-san, my friends from Tabira. They have invited me for a special o-bon dinner at their house. O-bon are the yearly days that the souls of the ancestors return to this world. It has Buddhist rituals and we eat special food: a soup of pumpkin and ginger, many rare vegetables and no meat. The aunt that visits the house for o-bon days performs a tea ceremony with us. I play my lute for their family altar and we talk a lot. Their family lives for over 500 years at this land, they are farmers. Across the road is a little graveyard with the graves of their ancestors, some stones are literally over 500 years old. I am awed by so much living history. Again, the warmth I meet in the personal contact with these people far transcends any superficial politeness. The stereotype of the Japanese people that do not share or even show their emotions is not what I experience in my stay here.

Monday 14 August, 2000

We say good bye to Wil and Junko today. They are leaving for Holland. As they have been not only the initiators of this project, but also of much practical help during our stay here, we see them leave with some misgivings: how will we cope without them? The evening is filled with a trumpet rehearsal with the talented trumpet player. To my surprise he has no teacher, for the simple reason that there is none in Hirado.

Tuesday 15 August, 2000

Today is the last day of o-bon. Normal life is still more or less at a stand still. I visit my friends in Tabira again. We have dinner, visit their family grave across the road and go to the nearby temple to bid his ancestors a good trip back to heaven. We also visit the floating boats with souls on the river. Every boat has a light, and the river is lined with lanterns. It makes a beautiful sight.

Wednesday 16 August, 2000

Although sensei has to rest from her kitchen duties during o-bon, I have a short shamisen lesson. The piece she gave me last time is very tricky, and she gives me a tape with the koto part that goes with it. It is Rokudan, a classical piece from the second half of the 17th century. In the afternoon I have a concert with Merel at Hooki church. The church is about 100 years old, and made of wood. So despite the unavoidable red carpet on the floor the acoustics are good. But the weather is not: rain, and because of the heat all the doors are open. So all concert I struggle with the humidity and the tuning. Humidity is bad for my lute, bad for the acoustic and bad for the tuning. Luckily there's a television crew to record my struggles for posterity. After the concert we are presented with Japanese traditional dress, which we immediately wear to the village fête that is going on in a nearby sports hall. After much silly games, answering of questions from the audience, playing some more music and a television interview we go home. Tired, of course.

Thursday 17 August, 2000

The television interview made the news: people in the street recognize me and make remarks about my costume last night. The morning, however, is filled with a long shamisen and koto practice. We stop when my knees no longer want to be bent under me. It's not easy, playing shamisen Japanese style. In the evening I conduct the wind ensemble again. They are getting used to me, I to them and together we are getting used to my music for the musical. After rehearsal it's time for another highlight in my stay in Hirado. Machida-san takes me to a sashimi restaurant of his friend. Fish is taken out of a tank, cut and put on a plate within two minutes. How much closer to heaven can you get? That night I sleep like an angel.

Friday 18 August, 2000

In the morning I try to get my e-mail working at the city hall. It feels like I'm working here: I have my own desk with a brand new computer, and the other workers greet me, stop by my desk for a chat and offer me coffee and green tea. Then it's TV interview time. In the scorching sun I'm answering questions about culture shock, expectations and experiences. After the interview I have just enough time to walk to the tomb of William Adams. For me this is like a holy place. He was one of the central figures in the early communications between Japan and Holland. He died in Hirado, far from his wife and two children. I feel I owe my stay in Hirado partly to him. In the evening it's guitar workshop again. To my surprise I suddenly meet Machiko! Machiko is a friend from Tokyo whom I know from the summer school I give in Belgium each year. But we do not have much time to chat now, as the TV crew want to film the guitar workshop. After the workshop we all drink something on the place at the harbor. Then Machiko and me go out to dinner. Sashimi, of course.

Saturday 19 August, 2000

I start my day with a rehearsal with the taishou koto group. They present me with a beautiful tea ceremony set. Such a gift! In the evening the lute couple from Tabira comes for a lesson. Machiko joins, as she is a singer too. Then Machida-san, sensei, Machiko and I go to the big percussion concert where Glenn will also play. We are soaked in a sudden downpour, but we thoroughly enjoy the concert. Especially the last set, three taiko players, one shamisen and one shakuhachi, is very impressive. Still wet I'm taken to an evening rehearsal with shamisen, koto's and shakuhachi's. My mind understands only half of the music I am playing with everybody, but fingers and feeling seem to get along well. I feel like a baby learning a language, slowly the chaos around me falls into place and structures become clear. It is a beautiful end to yet another eventful day.

Sunday 20 August, 2000

First call is a concert with Merel in Himosashi church. It's a big church, and the audience sits a bit much to the back, so we have trouble finding our place. Machiko comes to listen, and so do the lute friends from Tabira and a lute player from Nagasaki. I decide to play a few lute pieces extra. Maybe we should have done a bit more religious music here, the father that holds an endless speech at the tea after the concert would have appreciated that. On the way back to Hirado we stop at a fishermen's village to drop of a friend that came to the concert too. She presents us with a box full of home made tofu, fish cake and dried fish. Oishii! Keiko-san, my host, Machiko and me have lunch together. Then Machiko has to go back to Tokyo and I have a vague appointment with sensei. I'm to bring both shamisen and lute, and report at Machida-san. He is to bring me somewhere, but for what? It turns out to be a short performance at the yearly meeting of people that graduated from Hirado high school. The mayors from both Hirado and Tabira are present, so on the unavoidable picture Machida-san and me are the only T-shirts among the suits. I have to play Fuji on shamisen, with three koto's and shakuhachi. It's my first shamisen concert, but I have no time to be nervous. Then I play Greensleeves on lute, and I can join the meal for about 15 minutes. There's lots of sashimi and sake, and we keep pouring each other 's glasses full. I am taken from this happy gathering for the first tutti rehearsal of the Magic Pearl, Merel's musical. We are mainly concerned with setting, balance and continuity, It's not easy to get all your sheet music in the right order and to turn the pages fast enough. I still have trouble to get the changes in tempo between the pieces right. But that is what rehearsals are for. The planned trumpet rehearsal of the evening is canceled, so I have some time to prepare tomorrow's concert.

Monday 21 August, 2000

Merel and I have a small concert at Hirado elementary school. I play for about half an hour for a group of 600 very quiet children. I talk to them in broken Japanese about my instrument, the music I play and I ask them some questions. They seem to enjoy it. Then Merel joins for three songs. We end with community singing: Merel lets them sing Sakura and a chord. After the concert I have a little time to bring my film to the photo shop. The girl behind the counter doesn't need my name. In stead she takes out today's newspaper, points at my picture and copies my name from the caption. Waku waku time! Waku waku is a children's summer camp. It's a week filled with exciting activities for elementary school children. Glenn and I are both giving workshops for them, so today we are properly introduced. After the official opening at the cultural center, we drive to a beautiful spot in the mountains where the opening is more informal: music, dance and food. No sashimi though. Quickly back to Hirado for rehearsal at sensei's. There's a professional koto player from Tokyo, who will join our concerts in Hirado and Nagasaki next week. When I arrive Merel is just politely refusing to sing Hagoromo, an old Japanese song in a style far removed from what we know. But they settle on Sakura and Tyuuripu, and the koto player accompanies it in a way that shows her many years of experience magnificently! She spreads a blanket under Merel on which everything Merel does sounds wonderful. I watch and listen with awe. When we come to my shamisen music, we decide to perform both Fuji, the virtuoso piece, and Rokudan, the difficult and classical one. Fuji is in a tutti group with many koto's, Rokudan will be with only two professional players on koto and shakuhachi and me on shamisen. I will have to practice a lot. Sensei lends me the big shamisen, so that I can practice on the right instrument. I am glad, because both the instrument and the pick feel really different from the ones I have in my house now.

Tuesday 22 August, 2000

Back to sensei for a rehearsal with the koto player, I have to play a piece on guitar with her. After that sensei have a surprise for me: why don't I sing Hagoromo? I give it a try, lute in hand to hold my pitch. When I finish the relief is visible on the faces around me. Before I can say anything they decide I will sing Hagoromo both in Hirado and Nagasaki. Less then a week before the concert. To celebrate I am send to dinner with the koto player from Tokyo and a pupil of sensei's. Sashimi, of course. Then I go home to write some Japanese songs into lute solo's for tonight's concert. The friend from Tabira picks me up for what will turn out to be a very nice concert. Professional and amateur players from Tabira join me in a programme with Early music and Japanese songs. The mayor from Tabira plays some recorder piece with me and my friend sings lute songs with me. It is really a joined concert and the atmosphere is wonderful. After concert we go to a sashimi restaurant to celebrate. Very late that evening I'm driven to the Healing Institute, where I'm welcomed with friends, beer and a tour of the bath house. The girl that shows me around is especially keen on having me to try the swimming home trainer. This is not for me. Full of new impressions I fall asleep on a real bed for the first time in over a month.

Wednesday 23 August, 2000

I'm stiff when I get out of bed, I'm so used to futon these days. But to my delight they serve me a Japanese breakfast: rice with a raw egg and green tea, a grilled fish and pickled vegetables. It is followed by a concert with Merel and impromptu bits of Glenn. The concert is held in the Healing Institute, so I have to fight the humidity of the bath house this time. After the concert there's an opportunity to ask questions. Many waku waku children have come, and they are particularly interested in what kind of Japanese foods we like. To my delight some friends Tabira and some participants from the guitar workshops have come to the concert too. But I don't have time to stay for a chat, as I'm driven immediately back to Hirado for the first waku waku workshop. I try to let four sweet Japanese children improvise on their instruments. The culture shock is very big for them, it's not easy. I let them make three note melodies, and I string them together into one big piece. 'A little difficult but fun', is the end conclusion. In the evening I go with Machida-san to a concert of the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra. I think the children in the audience are rather noisy, but when they are asked to join the orchestra on stage I think they are very cute. It makes fun music, too. After concert I have rehearsal at sensei's. Hagoromo, of course. After the rehearsal I stay for green tea, and some serious talking. Sensei offers me one of her shamisen. She feels I must continue to play Japanese music in Holland, and as it will be very hard, if not impossible, to find an instrument in Holland, she gives me one of hers. I feel honored, and do not know how to thank her. But she says it's what she must do, to help me along. We talk about sheet music, maintenance, opportunities to play and a lot more. Again, I meet a friendship that skips all superficiality and goes straight to a deeper, personal level. I really have found new family here. It's after twelve when I prepare tomorrow's waku waku workshop. I have decided to help them a bit, and I write out many improvisations on a theme. Now we have something to play together.

Thursday 24 August, 2000

A day of workshops. In the morning it's waku waku with yesterday's group. My homework pays off, they enjoy playing it and are able to make some improvisations of their own. In the afternoon Machida-san has a surprise for me: a room full of babies and toddlers. I do my best and sing Japanese songs with them and my waku waku kids perform their great improvisation piece. The toddlers, and their mothers, bang along on percussion instruments that were made in Glenn's workshop. It is a fun, but very tiring afternoon. The evening is filled with the last guitar workshop, we all play Twinkle, twinkle little star together and the guitar teacher from Tabira and I play some duets. Uchino-san then takes me to a karaoke bar. My day ends in sake, songs, more sake and lots of fun together. What time did I go to bed?

Friday 25 August, 2000

During breakfast I study Hagoromo. Then Uchino-san picks me up for a private taishou koto and lute rehearsal at his house, followed by sashimi lunch. In the afternoon I go shopping and I send my first box of 15kg home. I get so many presents, and I buy so much food, that my suitcase cannot hold it all. Merel and I have Magic Pearl rehearsal in the evening. It's getting better every time, we are confident for the concert.

Saturday 26 August, 2000

The koto and shamisen maker from Nagasaki is at sensei's, and all instruments get new strings. My concert shamisen too. I'm glad, as I was not quite happy with the first string. The instrument I will take home will be made truly left handed by him. For lunch sensei order's sashimi, here too, only the best will do. Then it's taishou koto sound check at the outside stage. When I'm on stage, there's someone with a parasol to protect my lute. Still it feels it's melting away under my hands. The cracks in the lacquer look more and more like serious damage underneath. At the shamisen rehearsal after this, I'm presented with a hakama. It's a traditional dress, to be worn when playing shamisen in concert. I'm pleased. Quick dinner and off to the concert. Junko's uncle from Yokohama has arrived! He will stay only for tonight's concert. Proudly I introduce him to my friends. In the concert I first play Fuji on shamisen. I'm very concentrated and later I hear from my friends that I looked much more tense then when I play lute. No wonder. The music is still largely a mystery for me, but like a blind man I can feel my way trough the flow in the ensemble, and I can place my own notes more on intuition than on anything else. It's wonderful to experience this new culture so intensely from within. Next is trumpet and lute. I have just enough time to take of my hakama. The wind does it's best to turn my pages and thereby spoil my struggles with the transposition: trumpets sound a tone lower than is written, so I have to play a tone lower, too. The trumpet player does wonderfully, despite his nerves he manages to play very musically and show what he learned about baroque music. Next are many taishou koto's with lute, only two taishou koto's with lute and finally lute solo. Halfway my performance the lights go out. In the half-dark I manage to read my music anyway. When I come home late that night, I first study Hagoromo before I go to bed. I'm nervous for tomorrow's concert.

Sunday 27 August, 2000

A running day. Rehearsal with koto and shakuhachi/shoo for Hagoromo. Sound check with Merel on the stage outside. General rehearsal for The Magic Pearl. I sing the missing instrumental parts. Study a little at home, but I discover that the top of my lute has really come loose now. So I run to the shop for good tape, tape my lute and run to the next rehearsal: Hagoromo with tutti. Run home to change, Machida-san calls me where I am, the concert is beginning. Run to the stage to conduct The Magic Pearl. It goes perfect, even my difficult notes of 'Kaminari Goro-chan' and Machida-san's solo in 'Kotori no uta'. The indecently big bunch of flowers I get I later give to sensei. Then the big moment has arrived, backed by 16 koto's and a shakuhachi/shoo player I sing Hagoromo. I'm nervous for my premiere as a concert singer, but I don't have to be. Japanese music culture is not concerned with technical ability or beauty of tone production, so it seems. Timing and ensemble playing are more important. The tension between the notes are to be more important than the notes themselves. From then on life is easy. I have a surprise appearance with the choir. They hand me the music five minutes before I have to play. The koto player from Tokyo and I play our piece for koto and guitar and I play a few pieces with Merel and Machida-san. A highlight of the evening is Merel's Japanese dance performance. A white, red haired, very western girl dancing traditional Japanese dance in kimono is unsettling. Before I go to bed I try to figure out a piece of koto notation of a piece of music in which I am supposed to play lute tomorrow. It's after one o'clock when I decide to go to bed.

Monday 28 August, 2000

A long cherished wish finds fulfillment: we go to Dejima on Nagasaki. I can walk in the footsteps of the Dutchmen that have lived here so many years ago. I feel touched by history. But there's no time for sight seeing. First we meet the Vice Governor of Nagasaki, then we have a newspaper interview followed by lunch. Sushi bar, another dream comes true. After lunch I have just enough time to go to a book shop to find shamisen music. I am lucky and find four books. Then it's time for rehearsal at the little concert place on Dejima. I have clearly misunderstood the koto piece last night. Just before the concert we have one play through, and the tuning of the koto is absolutely not what I had expected. So I close my book and improvise along. With success, for next day the television asks for the sheet music of the piece, they want to use it in their broadcast. For the rest I play Rokudan on shamisen, sing Hagoromo, play koto and guitar and accompany Merel in her songs. An old shamisen teacher in the audience says she was moved by my playing. I get a more or less serious offer of doing more concerts in Japan with the koto player. Not on lute, mind you, but on shamisen. Might this be a chance to come back more often? On the way back I chat with two girls my age. We discuss married life in Japan and Holland. I think they envy my wife a little, as married life in Japan is not so easy for women, they do not have so much freedom as in Holland. When I come home around twelve o'clock, I am so tired I cannot sleep well anymore.

Tuesday 29 August, 2000

Today is packing and saying bye-bye a little already. Keiko-san comes to pick up the guitar I borrowed, and we have lunch together in a nearby village. I bring my second box to the post office and buy some cloth to make a bag for my shamisen. The owner of the shop recognizes me and gives me a discount. I buy some souvenirs and I drop by at sensei's to give her back some things she lend me. Of course we have green tea and chat. We'll miss each other. In the evening I have my sayonara party with the taishou koto host group. There's lots of food (sashimi, what else?), karaoke, dance, tears and they sing a beautiful farewell song for me.

Wednesday 30 August, 2000

An emotional day of saying farewell. The third box goes to the post office, and I go to lunch for the last time with Machida san and sensei. In my last walk through the village I discover two temples more or less in my back yard. At three o'clock we leave Hirado by boat, connected with our friends by paper strings. The long bus ride to Fukuoka is filled with memories.

Thursday 31 August, 2000

A traveling day: metro to the airport, plane to Kansai. At Kansai I buy my last souvenirs. Then the long stretch to Vienna, made pleasant by the Japanese girl sitting next to me. We talk a lot and so I make a new friend. At Schiphol Wil and Junko await us with 12xHolland banner and roses. My Junko was waiting at the wrong gate, so our reunion is delayed by half an hour. Happy to be together again after three weeks, we go home.

Friday 1 September, 2000

My stay in Hirado has left its traces. First I go to the lute maker to have my instrument fixed. He assures me it's not so serious, but it hurts to see the whole top taken of and glued again. Then we visit my friend who urged me to go to Hirado in the first place. He is the first to deserve a present from Japan. But he also has something for me: sashimi! And so the circle is completed.

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