Dear you: Day 4

Hey you.

We arrived in Saitama prefecture today for rehearsals.

It ended up raining all night so I woke up still thinking about those dang peanuts. Before leaving I moved them back into a dry area and discovered that the other seeds have started to sprout: edamame, broccoli, lettuce all off to a good start!

Today was the first time seeing my Shamisen teacher Etsuro Ono in a year and a half! It was so great to hear him play in person, and to hear the duo Shamisen tune “Ninja” played by him and Shunsuke Kimura, my flute teacher. It’s the piece that blew me away when I met them for the first time at a Taiko workshop in Bellevue, WA way back in 2016. I didn’t know Shamisen could sound like that. Neither did I know that 5 years later I’d start playing it in front of people!

Tomorrow’s venue will host nearly 1000 people. I don’t know how they pulled it off during these times, but I’m just grateful to uhave the opportunity to learn from such masters of their crafts.

I’m sure it will be very tense behind the scenes especially with all the cautions about keeping the event safe and Covid-free, but my teacher offered a good reminder that we mustn’t get pulled into that energy, otherwise it’ll make us nervous.
I hear that, the getting nervous part I got handled all on my own. Performance is so mental!

Ok, that’s all for now.
Wish us luck tomorrow ❣️