Volcanic drumbeats

Teaching `pet hate`.
Miki: `Smoking in public`
Kazu: `People shaking their leg`
Fumiko: `Foreigners`

And the joy of teaching English in Japan continues. As
I write this, my birthday (the second in this country)
lies two weeks behind me. The first was spent much as
it would have been spent back in the old country, just
with more arm wrestling of random Japanese salary men
(`Hey handsome guy, hey Clint Eastwood, you tough
guy?`) and screaming Bon Jovi`s `Young Guns` in
Karaoke with a bunch of inebriated Canadians.
Not this year.
Seven months ago I joined a Japanese drumming group.
The Japanese drum is called a `Taiko` and the face
varies in size, the smallest diameter being from the
top of your fist to your elbow and the biggest being
taller than a standing man. Bigger Taikos are stood
on their side, the face vertical, with the drummer standing upright. The
sound is fantastic; deep, rumbling like thunder, with
metal studs on the side as a variation, much like a
symbol.
The people I play with are kind, though free from the
burden of any knowledge of the English language.
`You`re in japan, learn Japanese you lazy git!` I hear
you cry. And to that I reply...nothing because there
isn`t really any excuse is there? Anyway, suffice to
say communicative ability is low. Usually I just
listen as they rattle away, occasionally nodding with
a slight smile to give the impression of
understanding. Sometimes there would be a sudden pause
in their monologue and I`d look up to meet eyes
peering at me expectantly and realise I`d been asked a
question. `Bimio` I`d reply(This means `it`s hard to say
exactley` and is the most usefull Japanese word EVER
as you can say it to anything e.g - `Do you like
wasabi?`-`Bimio`, `Did you steal that?` - `Bimio`,
`Why are you teaching without any trousers on and
reeking of alcohol?` - `Bimio`).
Suddenly one week our practice shifted up a gear.
Duration and strictness increased dramatically. I
didn`t think too much about it. So the first time i
knew I would be riding on the back of a moving truck
playing a drum in the midst of the BIGGEST DRUM/DANCE
FESTIVAL IN HOKKAIDO (Yosakoi Soran) was when I was presented with a
drawing of said image with `Benjamin` written next to
a stick figure...
Cut to three weeks later. I`m rounding a corner in blazing sunlight atop a
float. There are literally thousands of people on
either side of the road. I`m wearing traditional
Japanese dress including a `sarashi` which is ten
meters of cloth that is wound around your chest and
stomach so tightly you can hardly breath and I realise
that the only thing I truly understand is that I`m
way, WAY out of my depth.
Behind me are around sixty dancers who I met for the first time ten minutes ago. they have been reheasing with the same music all year and yet we have never had a practive together. Godo San (snowboard instructor, Judo black belt) assures me this is normal. looking up i see Iku san (our senseii, she`s the best drummer I`ve ever heard) looking down on me from a platform above smiling. i turn to the right and see Sami San (mason and kendo master). He nods at me - `ganbatte kudasai` (`good luck`).
I hear us get introduced. people are screaming. I can feel my heart beating so hard - thump thump. it re-occurs to me that i`m the first foreigner to enter this festival. Pressure. Thump thump. We start to get introduced, someone screaming over a megaphone. Thump thump. Everyone is screaming for us. i turn toward the crowd, which is a mistake, as I see two cute girls pointing directly at me excitedly and yelling `gaijin` (`foreigner`). THUMP THUMP.
Our tune starts, it`s getting blurry and I`m wondering if I`m ready for this, all the while knowing I`m not, and in the corner of my eye i see a female student that I`ve had a crush on for a long time shouting to me from the crowd, thump thump thump thump thumpthumpthumpthumpBANG!! I crack the drum with all my mite, my arms are on fire and I`m into the performance.
Afterwards people are congratulating me. On playing, on wearing their clothes, on being foreign, when one of my friends who came to see me says `I didn`t realise you were so confident`. `What do you mean` i ask. `Well,` he says `you were playing with your eyes closed...`

I thought that was the most intense my time here would ever get. And then I entered a room of screaming people wearing white pyjamas and was told i was about to get punched in the stomach ten times. Next time...