As a matter of fact…in Japan …
We happen to have a week off after the last show in Budapest till the first show in Russia . Abruptly Masa said. “now we go back to Japan to practice!”
“Really? Are you sure?” everybody lost the word by his unexpected word.
So we are in Japan now and practicing.

After we returned, we've been practicing all day long.
Look at the above picture! My camera cannot follow their fast movements!
Everybody was shouting to encourage themselves.
Suddenly we heard bird's scream…but it wasn't a bird but Saori, one of the drummer's shout. Saori! It was too much…

The week in Japan past so quickly. We practiced whole time and suddenly the time to leave came.
In the moment we left the airport building with tiring bodies, cold winter breeze woke us up. It was freezing outside. The temperature was minus 8 degrees.
But it was said that it was minus 20 degrees until 2 weeks before…this is Moscow .
Yes, I know.

It was a day for set up for the show and press coverage.
In the morning, we visited orphanage in a suburb of Moscow and did a mini-concert. We performed a song called “Rakuda” in front of the children and did a simple workshop for them. In the afternoon, there was a press conference. And in the evening, we went to a TV studio for live on-air. It was a day to run about here and there.

The show started at 7 pm. We stand by in the stage wings after change and prepared everything. At that moment, my hands had gone all sweaty by tension.
5 minutes before the show time, the audience started to welcome us with a clapping of hands. That sound added fuel to the fire in our hearts. All the tickets was already sold out. 1500 seats! We still remember the last time we were here in Moscow . We were very much surprised by the audience. They gave us such a big applause.
And today, they gave us such a big applause again. We received so much energy from them and we were excited. We felt very hot even the outside is minus 15 degrees.

It was a national holiday in Russia .
Now it is a day of men, but it is said that it was a day of soldiers. So all the women give some gift to their men. On such day, it was minus 10 degrees outside, there was a parade with 40 thousands people in the city center. Naturally, they prohibited all the car to enter the center. Our theater was right in the middle of the city center. So we ought to walk to the theater after we stopped the mini bus just out side of the border. The air was so cold that our breath were frozen. We walked squeezing ourselves.
Although we were frozen outside, once we play drum, we soon get warmer. Moreover, we get hotter than ever. Drumming and drumming, again drumming, ends up with sweat. When we noticed the time, it was already 3 pm. we forgot to take lunch! Today also 1500 people came to see our show. We feel so nice after the show in Moscow bringing all our energy up. Thank you very much and see you again!

It was a day off in Moscow .
We got nice presents from the local producer of Moscow . They gave us T-shirts with name in Russian letters. Every one got their own name in Russian letters. Russian alphabet has many unique letters. For example, Russian “P” is pronounced as “R” in English. Well…let's study Russian language until the next time!

It was a day for travel. After we checked out the hotel, first we went for lunch. Today we had a Russian meal for the first time after we arrived in Russia . We had “borsch,” red colored stew made with beetroot, carrots, potatoes and meat. It was so delicious.
In every country, they have something good. It is just amazing.

We arrived in Warsaw at late last night.
But today again we traveled further more. We came to a city called Katowice . The time we spend in a bus is also very precious time for practice for us. Today we had 5 hours for it. We had seats close together and practice with hands. So 5 hours past very quickly.
From tomorrow, there will be 5 continuous shows, which means every day we will get in the morning and set up for the show in the evening of the same day, then get out of the theater to travel to the next city.
During such time, it is very hard to have enough practice time on stage in the theater, we practice wherever we find a place and time. Time is money. No, more than money.

Well, the Polish tour started from today.
It's also the first day of the continuous 5 days one-nighter. There is something about today's venue. There was no loading door with it! Surprisingly, they have to load in-out from the main entrance which the audiences also enter. But, there is a long stairs just in front of the entrance soon after you enter. They have to bring up all the cases then roll the long sleep. It's so far away from the stage. Although there is a loft, it was too small for the flight cases, it was only for persons. Even the biggest drums, which is about 500kg was also carried up the stairs with manpower.
And then, they load again the same way opposite. Even it was such a tough work to do, the show is only 2 hours, means 2 hours after we are ready, we already have to carry them away.

The show starts at 7 pm.
During tonight performance, Takeru suddenly said, “ Czes'c' ! ”. (“Hello” in Polish language.) Then complete silence came in the auditorium. We expected laughing, but it didn't happen in the first moment. But few seconds later, people started laughing. After the show finished, our Polish tour manager told us that his pronunciation was too good as foreigner so maybe people wondered at first. Well, we'll see it tomorrow again in Lodz .