Suddenly we have a day off! Actually, we feel a little bit guilty. We are not able to use the theater today, so we are forced to take a break. Usually it rains on our days off, but today, it’s not raining! Taking advantage of the weather, we decided to make a trip to nearby Belgium. We wanted to try Belgium’s famous steamed mussels (Gekookte Mosselen).
In less than an hour we arrived in Antwerp. It wasn’t raining, but it was incredibly cold, and for some reason, most of the restaurants in town are closed. (Perhaps they are only open at night, or something…) Eventually we located some steamed mussels!
They put a whole bunch of mussels in a large pot and cooked them with white wine, garlic and other ingredients. Belgian cooking sure is tasty. We eagerly ate the soup, which masterfully combined all the delicious flavors of the ingredients.

Back to rehearsals. Today media teams came from far away to collect PR materials for our April and May Holland tour. We will show them our first run through of the new “Matsuri” program.
As our nervousness from being on stage disappeared, a different type of nervousness, because of having only a few people sitting in the audience, began to set in. With our heads and bodies overloaded with new songs, we somehow made it through our two hour rehearsal, and when we finished, we received warm applause from the audience members.

Only two more days of rehearsals. Today and tomorrow we will have dress rehearsal run-throughs of the concert program. In the next two days our program must be performance-ready. The pressure pushes our nerves right to the breaking point.
It doesn’t matter how long or how many performances you’ve done. When you have new parts and new songs to perform, you still get butterflies in your stomach.
Our first concert engagement in Leipzig is already sold out. To hear that so many people are looking forward to our show makes us really happy.

Look at this! The new t-shirts for this tour are ready!!!
It says: “Yamato, Matsuri, Fiesta”. It’s in rasta colors because, well, it’s festive.
Anyhow, today was our last day of rehearsals!!! The day disappeared so quickly. Now the real performances are about to start. Ready or not, here we come!!!

Here we are in Germany! There is a cold wind blowing. Just walking around it feels like our ears are going to fall off.

During our tours we usually don’t get much time off. As soon as the concert finishes we must pack up and get ready to move to the next place, and the following day is another concert. A full day off is quite rare for us.
So why is today a day off? Usually we would raise both hands in the air with shouts of joy to have a day off. This time, we don’t have that feeling, though. Today we feel like, “Is it really okay to have a day off right now?” You see, it is the day before our first concert. Passing the time while we are nervous about the performance is very hard to endure. (You think we are cowardly, don’t you…)
Anyway, it is a day off, so we went out on the town. We found a shop named “CURRY FIRE”! 
“Can I have your spiciest curry, please?” we said.
 “Alright, just sign this first,” the shopkeeper responded as he passed us a paper and pen. The paper said something like, “Even if I die from eating this curry, I will not complain.”
Actually, Yamato members take great joy in challenging our spice stamina. It’s kind of a hobby of ours, and this curry looks really spicy!
Each of us quickly took a taste …in the next moments screams echoed through the streets of Leipzig, “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

At last the day has arrived. The “Matsuri” tour has begun. There is nothing left to do other than put all our feelings together and give the best performance we can. We try to believe in all the hard work we put in for rehearsals and give it our all. It was hard work.
I don’t really remember much of what happened during the concert. But at the end of the concert, when we were all lined up on the stage, the audience gave us a standing ovation.
It wasn’t until we heard this warm and comforting applause that we could feel the tension in our shoulders relax.

Today we held a workshop in Germany. It was the first time for the workshop participants to play taiko. We really hope that we showed them how fun playing taiko can be.
There are not a lot of rules for playing taiko, such as “you must play in this way” or “if you do this, it is wrong”. It’s not “theory”. All you need is energy and heart!!! If you can put these feelings into your playing, the taiko will respond. That is “taiko”.
A lot of people say “I have no rhythm,” or “I don’t have much body strength”, but these things have nothing at all to do with playing. I’m telling the truth.

Today we have a TV performance. Akiko Ogawa, Tetsuro Okubo and Gen Hidaka will play taiko at the TV station.

This is our first “double header” of the Matsuri tour. We have one concert at 4:00 and the next at 8:00! Having two concerts in one day is pretty tough. It pushes us to the limit not only physically, but mentally as well. But there is something we look forward to about these days.

Yamato has successfully completed our one week concert engagement in Leipzig.

Many people came out to see us, but there are still many countries, towns and concerts to go.
Everyone with tickets for and looking forward to our shows, hang in there, we are on our way!

Today we left Germany to travel to Vienna, Austria. As soon as we stepped out of the airport, we had a feeling that it was colder here. There was a lot of snow. That can only mean… a snowball fight! (The photo shows the snowball fight, or rather, ganging up on one person)
Anyhow, to change the subject, Vienna is famous for its Sacher Torte (chocolate cake). Allow me to share some of its history with you.
It was first made by a confectioner working at the Hotel Sacher in Vienna. The recipe was forbidden from leaving the hotel, but at some point, it was leaked out to another cake shop named Demel’s.
Eventually, Demel’s was taken to court for selling cakes under the name, “Sacher Torte”. After seven years, it seems that the issue was resolved by allowing Demel’s to sell the cake under the name, “Demel’s Sacher Torte”.

That’s the story of this famous cake. The young members, who are visiting Vienna for the first time, really want to try it. This was an excellent chance for senior member, Tetsuro Okubo, who is experienced in the Sacher Torte area, to share his knowledge with the younger members. “Come with me!” he said confidently as he led the young members through the deep snow to Hotel Sacher! The young members were thrilled to receive this treat from Tetsuro. He must have scored some points with them today.

First thing this morning we were unloading into the theater. For the next ten days, we will be performing at a theater called Museumsquartier.
It makes us a little nervous to perform in a city like Vienna, the “city of music” where numerous famous composers have gathered and lived.
For no particular reason we feel pressure and begin to worry, “What if all the people in the audience are composers or musicians? They’ll be watching our show with especially critical eyes.”

Spaghetti for lunch today!! Masa-aki Ogawa, Yamato’s leader, has turned out to be quite the chef!! Just as he is a master at perfecting our stage program, he seems to also have a gift for drawing out all the exquisite tastes of food in perfect balance. Every time we try out one of his new dishes, we are amazed!
Today we are having pasta!! It is his best dish, in my opinion.

It finally came!! Today we have 2 concerts. During Yamato’s European tours, it is not uncommon for us to be at the same theater for one or two weeks. When that is the case, on the Saturday of the first weekend, we often have a matinee concert and an evening concert. Today is one of those Saturdays.

Today we met an old friend. It’s Jim, who is one of our technicians during our North American tours. He came to see our new “Matsuri” program to help him prepare for our US and Canada tour this fall.
The temperature in Montreal, where he lives in Canada is currently 25 below zero!!??

After our day off, we have started our second week of concerts at the Museum Quartier Theater. We have a two hour program. In the summer some of us have lost two kg from just one performance. Physical strength is really important. After 8 concerts last week, fatigue can start to set in. In order to get that energy back, we eat these rice balls.

Well, we’ve reached our last day at the MQ. Good job on the 11 concerts, everyone!! Time for a small celebration. We get to have roast chicken for lunch!!
“Wow! I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Hisato Fukuda.
“It looks delicious,” says a drooling Tetsuro Okubo.