the corner table is reserved for the band.
at Zimagine jazz club in Tokyo.
and when Toru welcomed me on stage, I was prepared:
“皆さん, こんばんは
ここにいるのは私の名誉です
日本で初めてのことです
すみません, 私は日本語を話せません”
[try google translate]
countless times playing with Toru in the US, i’d bring the band back to Yardley Pennsylvania where my mom would feed us after a show. being here in Japan, it is really comforting to know that so many things, like moms feeding musicians at midnight, are universal.
On my last night in japan, Toru told me to come outside quick. The clouds were finally parting and I would have one last chance to see her before I left. Mt Fuji is regularly visible in winter, and only fleetingly in the summer. But if the view of Fuji is clear, if she reveals herself to you, it means good luck.
There are many stories and legends about the highest mountain in Japan, many things that it represents. I read in a few places people who claim that “Fuji is the soul of Japan”. This trip was short, and i mostly experienced Fuji from afar and only briefly. i’ll have to come back to see it more clearly.
Sayonara is a poetic way of saying goodbye. literally translated:
if it is to be that way, if it must be so
thank you to my friends, old and new,
for welcoming me & showing me your country,
for proving that music is truly the universal language.
follow me on tour in Japan on twitter (#BigInJapan)
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