Shin’s band

Looking back, I have gone to see so many different bands – most of them have been Jazz. I have been really into jazz since coming to Japan. There are so many brilliant musicians here to listen to and appreciate. They are really entertaining and they look so comfortable up on stage doing their thing. That is one thing I really like about being in a big town – there are many opportunities to go out and listen to bands play.

I went to see a band at a local Irish pub last night. Lauren and I met a really nice lady called Yumi at a party we had at the beginning of the year and Yumi’s husband, Shin is a guitarist in the band. His band is a mixture of country and blues and there are nine people in the band! There were two electric guitarists, one bass guitarist, two harmonicas, a drummer, a trombonist, a singer and a keyboard player. They were all very talented and Lauren and I enjoyed listening to them. They took turns in getting on and off the stage and then in their last set, they all got up and played together. They sounded really good.



We met Shin’s friends and found out that most of them were teachers. One of them said he wasn’t a teacher, but he sells bananas in Kobe! I didn’t know whether to believe him or not, but it was funny! I asked him if he worked in a fruit shop and he replied, “no, I only sell bananas!” Then he said, “Do you like banana?” Lauren and I cracked up laughing and were too embarrassed to answer him! Then they kept on laughing about that comment the entire night!

We were the only foreigners in the pub that night. It felt weird being the odd one out, but the people there were really friendly and made us feel welcome. In a way, I kind of liked it because it was good to mix with only Japanese people and practise speaking in Japanese to them. I find it really hard to practise speaking Japanese here. It sounds weird because I live in Japan, but it is so easy to live in Japan for a year and come back not knowing a single word! I come to work, speak in English all day, I come home from work, speak in English to the people who live in my building and then I go back to work and start all over again! You have to make a real effort to learn Japanese and have conversations in Japanese. I am trying really hard, but it is very difficult to break that cycle. I hope I can meet some more Japanese people so I can learn to speak Japanese better. It would be nice to know what people are saying to each other and to me!