Gavle…

Today is a concert day. In the lobby of the theater we found earplugs! I guess we are pretty loud. You might want them if it’s the first time you’ve heard us. But, you know, listening through earplugs is completely different. The sound and reverberation are significantly reduced and the sound can’t expand…

Furthermore, if by any remote chance, we just happen to be not exactly together, it shows more clearly when you use earplugs, so we prefer that you enjoy the concert without earplugs if you can.

Today is the Saffle Concert. This theater is the smallest on our Sweden tour. After the staff finished unloading our equipment and packing it into the theater, we weaved our taiko in between the open spaces. The lighting poles were also shorter than we are used to so the space between the lights will be a little different than usual. But our time for setting up is limited so there is no use in wasting time wondering what to do. We tweak what we can as quickly as possible. Of course, we need time to practice too.

190 km to the south, Falkoping is our last stop in Sweden! Since this is our last stop in Sweden, the Swedish touring company set us up in a special hotel tonight.

“The hotel has a spa!” they told us, “Be sure to enjoy it!”

After tomorrow’s concert, we’ll be heading directly to the airport for a flight to Russia, so we won’t return to the hotel. So, even though we still have to unload today, first… we’ll enjoy the spa.

What do you know, it’s a Jacuzzi.

The male Yamato members awkwardly dipped into the bathtub. Wait, isn’t a Jacuzzi supposed to have bubbles?

Falkoping is the last stop of the Swedish leg of Yamato’s 2009 European tour. This was the first time Yamato toured in Sweden. Sweden does not often have international entertainment, and Yamato seems to be the first international group to have an actual tour.
The Swedish promoters must have had a lot of work to organize all of this. They provided a spacious bus and magnificent hotels for us. It allowed us to focus all our energy on giving the best performances possible.

Every theater we visited invited us back for future performances. Thank you so much for helping us make this tour a success. We hope we can do it again someday.

Say what you want, but this is a tough schedule!! After yesterday’s concert in Sweden, we packed everything up. We sent off the trailer, quickly ate some pizza and took a picture with the Swedish staff. Then we immediately got on the bus　for a four and a half hour drive to the airport. We tried to catch whatever sleep we could on the floor of the bus. We arrived at the airport at 5 am.
In the three hours we had to wait for our 8 am flight, we took showers and napped as much as we could.
Our next destination is Moscow, Russia. We will visit the same theater we played at four years ago.

Somehow we somehow got through our first Moscow concert yesterday. For the second time this year, we will have two days of concerts at the same venue. That means we do not have to load/unload. Today we got to the theater before lunch and had plenty of time to practice and warm up. Everything was ready and we could really focus on the performance.

Actually, our concert here four years ago was the inaugural concert for this theater. We had a scare because there was a doorway which our 120 cm Odaiko would not fit through. In the end, we had to break away part of the door with a hammer to get through. This time, they had repaired the door so that it was big enough for our drum.

Huge!!! Ridiculously huge!! Seating capacity: 2700 people, Stage: 23 meters wide. We are surprised at the size of today’s theater. We had gotten used to Sweden’s tiny theaters have forgotten how to use so much space. What do we do? Even marking our positions on stage is different. After we adjusted our stage positioning we moved on with the sound check. Because the venue was so huge, our sound engineer, Eric, had to really work hard, too. After taking our time and checking everything carefully the performance time finally arrived.
Because the stage was large, we had it in our heads to make our movements bigger than usual as well, so as not to appear too small on the stage, but as hard as we tried, we still ended up appearing as small figures on a large stage. This was a concert that required a lot of endurance.

Since we left Japan on January 31st for Yamato’s 2009 EU tour it has been just a little more than two months. We have been to Germany, Austria, Sweden, Russia and now we are back where we started, in Holland. We are at Schipol Airport, the same spot we took the picture in the March 31st report. Say “Kaas” everyone! (That’s “cheese” in Dutch).

Starting today, we are all moving into a bungalow where we will stay during our Holland engagements. Yes, we always stay in a bungalow when we tour Holland. It’s not exactly “our house”, but it’s different than staying in a hotel and it provides us with a certain amount of re-energizing. All the pots and pans and dishes we need are already there for us, so it easy on us.

But we still need to get some groceries and other supplies. Actually, we had to go and buy everything yesterday!! Why? Because today is Easter. For the next three days, all the stores are closed. Look at how long our shopping receipt is!

Today is the first concert of our Holland tour! You know, this is our eleventh year touring Europe! Our Holland schedule is really packed full. For this stretch of the tour we are renting our own bungalow instead of staying in hotels. From the bungalow we travel out to the different venues for our concerts. That means every day we must unload at the theater. After performing, we have to load everything up again and return to our bungalow. We drive ourselves around in a rented car. It’s all time consuming, but doing it everyday, you notice how much physical strength it takes as well. It’s all just a part of touring!

We make all our own meals these days. In addition to our harsh schedule we still have to find time to prepare meals. It keeps us really busy.

It’s our third concert in Holland and the theater is sold out. We have been touring in Holland for a long time now and wherever we go, we get a warm reception from the audience. It almost feels as if they are saying, “Welcome home, Welcome back!”

Today is our fourth concert in a row. On our “Exhaustion Scale” we are at 4. (5 being the highest). The muscles all over our bodies are starting to get sore. During the practice before the performance, the sticks feel really heavy.
But…

Today we had a day off. In spite of that, the sun was shining. It might be the first time that’s ever happened. In the evening it clouded over, but there was no rain. Do you know how rare it is for this to happen? Up until now, a day off without rain for Yamato members has happened maybe only three times. That’s like a one in a hundred chance.

Today we took a trip to do a workshop at the Amsterdam International Dance School. The students were able to perfectly remember the rhythms after hearing us demonstrate them only one time. Of course, being dancers, they have a good sense of rhythm. What really surprised us was how straight they extended their arms. I guess that is to be expected from dancers.

When you hear “Gouda” you think of cheese, don’t you. Well, Gouda Cheese is from here, from the town of Gouda. For lunch we had Ogawa san’s very cheesy vegetable and shrimp soup. Add some French bread and you feel just like you’re in Europe.

This is our fourth concert in a row. We are at 4.9 on the exhaustion scale (which goes up to 5). Our bodies somehow feel heavy and our movements slow. In times like this, what do you think is most important? Meals? Supplements? Physical strength?

He he he. We’ve learned from years of touring. The most important thing in times like this is … your FIGHTING SPIRIT!!!!!!! (Ki-ai) Let’s show everyone the true human potential!

Look what we found. “Iki beer”.
It’s a Japanese style beer made in Holland. The Japanese on the bottle says: “Iki beer is a refreshing drink using tea and citrus.” Citrus and tea…?

They sure are trying hard to mix Japanese elements into the drink, aren’t they.
Oh, hey. There’s a website. If you’re interested… http://www.ikibeer.com

We’ve been waiting for this day. Today we visited the house of a college friend of Yamato’s leader. He is an artist and is now working in Holland. He has come to see our show many times, so he is good friends with all the Yamato members, but it has been a long time since we last met.

In the middle of our stage, at the highest point, sits our 150 cm O-Oke Daiko. Today, we are doing some maintenance on it. First we loosen the ropes and remove the drum head. The body looks like a huge bathtub.

If you shout into it, the sound reverberates around the inside of the drum. It makes sense. It’s no surprise that this drum makes a large sound.

Finally, the conditions are just right! I am Takaoki Masui, who is in charge of equipment management. Today we have found the long awaited “best environment” (it would seem). It is the loading area. The best environment for what? Painting!