Hirado (Japan) - September 8, 2006

We started our trip in Amsterdam. Almost we missed our plane in London because of a big delay of our plane from Amsterdam. The first thing I bought at the tax-free shop in Amsterdam was a roll-piano, a very funny thing: a rubber roll with piano keys and a small electronic part with a synthesizer in it. I thought it would maybe be a problem in Hirado to practice on a piano.

Arriving in Hirado, my apartment (more a house) looks great. It is very big with two sleeping rooms and a big kitchen.

September 9, 2006
First thing I saw in my apartment was a kind of 'bird spider' as big as my hand. I am not afraid of Dutch spiders, but this size frightened me very much. I asked one of the committee members, Mashida, to look at the spider. He came and said: 'Give him a name and he will be your friend'. I asked him if the spider was dangerous; he said it is not dangerous but he was also frightened to catch it. Later in the evening, after the welcome party, I asked Alex to look at the spider. He caught the spider after a wild run, and now the spider is sitting under a pan. I left him there. I slept only for one hour that night.

September 10, 2006
We had an opening of the studio of Alex. I performed some short pieces on an electric piano. The sound was not good, but for the moment, it was okay. Same public as at the welcome party. We had dinner in a very special restaurant, it is called ‘Hana’. The cook is very active, and you can see how he prepares the dishes. Very good cooking, not expensive. So it will not be the last time to visit him.

September 11, 2006
Meeting with the committee to discuss all the workshops and concerts. Also, a meeting with the mayor of Hirado. Nice person. After the meeting, I went to some temples. It was already dark, and I made extremely nice recordings of croaks and all kinds of sounds. Now I am editing these sounds for my composition about Japan. When I look left, I see some ‘cockroaches’ on the floor of my apartment. I will kill them with my shoe. Good night, I say to myself.

September 12, 2006
I had a meeting with the elementary school in Hirado about the coming of my two children to Hirado. They will go to school from September 25, every day! Without translation. Maybe it is cruel, but it is an experiment. After the visit, I practiced on the grand piano of the cultural center. It was great to feel a real piano after one week; it is like a woman. After practicing, we went with my translator Ymke to an elementary school with 93 children! It was a workshop and concert. Very nice children, not poisoned with computers, games, and terrible toys like in the west, but very pure people. I liked it very much. Already, I have a painful neck because of the bad weather, so I went to a massage place, not far from my house. They fixed my neck back to normal. After a pizza and a short walk, I am now back in my great house and give all the greetings to my bird-spider in the kitchen, who is still alive!

September 13, 2006
We went with Ymke to an elementary school in Tsuyoshi. It went well, but the children looked very shy. We had lunch with them; it was big fun. The children are very serious with their food. So funny to see. My pain in my neck became worse, and I asked the committee if there was a massage possible. They proposed one of the best in Hirado. When I came there, it was not necessary to take off my t-shirt. He did the massage with my t-shirt on! In Japan, they don’t like physical contact!

September 14, 2006
We had a meeting with pianist Youriko and a friend of hers. After the meeting, they asked us for lunch in a very luxurious restaurant. Alex and I couldn’t deny, and it was big fun. At the end, they asked us to pay for ourselves! Still, I don’t understand the Japanese people. In the afternoon, there was a jam session planned. There was a saxophone player who asked me to play a song by the Carpenters. I said that I am a classical pianist, but he couldn’t understand. After a short misunderstanding, I gave a short presentation, and in the evening, we had a birthday party of a fisherman. We stayed in his house in Nambu for sleeping. It was great to be in such a place, far from everything.

September 15, 2006
In the morning, the fisherman asked us to join him on a trip at sea. This was a great experience! High waves and a small boat. I saw, for the first time, the coast of Hirado very clearly. It is so beautiful! After this trip, we went back to Hirado for a rest, and in the evening, I gave a concert in the Sake factory. The concert went very well. Also, I did quartets with a local pianist. She was very talented. After some sakes, we went back to Hirado.

September 16, 2006
Today, I gave a serious piano lesson to the daughter of Yamaguchi. She is 16 years old and very talented. The only thing is that she does not have enough influences from Europe and from the classical way of playing. I have told her. In the evening, it was for me the most exciting evening of my stay here. We started, for the second time, the rehearsal for the Music Ensemble with musicians from very different backgrounds. It was not only fun but a very serious way of making music with the combination of holy temple music, choir, various Japanese instruments, wind instruments, and percussion. We tried to make soundscapes with only one or two notes. It was, in my perception, magic! Tomorrow is a free day. I will go to Nagasaki!

September 17, 2006 - Typhoon
Early in the morning, I departed from Hirado with Alex to Sasebo. We had heard about the typhoon, but we took the risk and took the bus. When we arrived, our friends from Hirado called us to come back to Hirado because the bridge would be out of order in the afternoon. Alex went back; I wanted to visit a percussion group in Sasebo. They gave a wonderful concert in the Cultural Center of Sasebo. When I wanted to go back, indeed the bridge was closed to Hirado, so I decided to take a hotel and stayed in Sasebo for one night during the typhoon. It was a lot of rain, more than wind. The streets were full of water, but nothing dangerous happened.

September 19, 2006 - Oshima
We went to the island Oshima by boat. After a short tour around the beautiful island, I joined a class at the junior high school. The music teacher started to sing the school song with the children. After a short rest, I started to practice in the huge sports hall annex concert hall. I saw on the stage a taiko drum and asked the school if there was a musician who could play on the drum. The music teacher came to the hall, and we tried to perform the Solodevildance of Simeon ten Holt for piano and drum! It was great, and in the evening, we gave the performance together for 250 listeners. In the night, we went back to Hirado on a special boat, chartered by the committee. A great day!