More Kyushu concert photos

More photos from my recently completed tour of Kyushu with Hide Iwai...

Playing at a home concert in Fukuoka (last Tuesday) - thanks to Amigo-chan for having us!

Our main concert, at Kumamoto International Hall, last Thursday

Hide @ Kumamoto International Hall - nice smile, hey?

Some people commented that it was really nice that we smiled at each other so much.
(Don't tell anybody - everytime we smiled it's because we made a mistake!)

Part of my tabla solo @ Kumamoto International Hall - something strange going on here, not sure what...

I found Kyushu to be quite spacious compared to other parts of Japan, and the people to be very warm, open and a little wacky. Really nice! It reminded me a bit of Australia. Thanks so much to Hide Iwai for inviting me to Kyushu and organising this tour. We had lots of fun travelling around Kyushu, visiting various onsens (see next post) and meeting really nice people. Thanks also to Chikako-san of Cafe Rinya for giving me a room this week.

Our Kyushu schedule was:

• Mon Jul 2 - arrive Kokura, concert @ Brick Hall in Moji
• Tue Jul 3 - home concert at Amigo's house in Fukuoka
• Wed Jul 4 - bus to Kumamoto, settle at Cafe Rinya
• Thu Jul 5 - concert at Kumamoto International Hall
• Fri Jul 6 - concert at Gallery Ado (candle-lit)
  
• Sat Jul 7 - free concert at Annapurna Farm (organic farming community workshop weekend), Gekkatei Onsen
  
• Sun Jul 8 - concert at Bonga Curry
• Mon Jul 9 - rest at Cafe Rinya
• Tue Jul 10 - visit Mt Aso, Jigoku Onsen, home concert at Makoto's house in Nishihara
• Wed Jul 11 - last onsen visit, back to Rinya
• Thu Jul 12 - shinkansen to Kyoto

Hell Spa

On Tuesday we went for a drive to volcanic Mt Aso and Jigoku Onsen ("Hell Spa")... Here's a Google Map link of the area. Unfortunately it was very cloudy so we couldn't see the volcano, but here's a photo I found on the web. This page has the onsen's official photos. It was an interesting onsen - very sulphurous smell, and several baths separated by short walks. We soaked for about 2 hours all up...

That's not a low cloud, it's steam rising from the mountain

A waterfall on the way to Jigoku Onsen

Me in one of the baths at Jigoku Onsen

Another bath at Jigoku Onsen

Kumamoto: Onsen, rice-fields, rainy season

I've just finished what must be the busiest period of concerts in my life (maybe closely followed by Taro's tour last December). From my round of my concerts in Kansai last week, until my final Kyushu concert on Sunday night, in 11 nights I had 9 concerts, 1 overnight bus trip, and 1 night off. I was pretty tired in the last couple of concerts, but that probably had more to do with post-concert socialising than any energy spent playing music. :-)

My host and concert organiser, sitar player Hide Iwai has all the good concert photos on his camera, so I'll post them when I get a chance in a day or two. For now here are some photos from our trip into countryside Kumamoto on Sunday:

The onsen in Gekkatei Ryokan (click on the link to see their official photos) - really beautiful onsen, this one. The water was a bit slippery and very soft, beautiful garden, nice sauna with tasteful koto music, towels provided and all for 500 yen (A$5) - bloody marvellous!

Outdoor bath at Gekkatei Ryokan

While talking about onsens I should mention a couple of other onsens we've been to this week. First up the Hiagari Onsen in Kita Kyushu - bit expensive at 900 yen, but pretty lush. Very big outdoor area with about 5 different baths, plus another 5 or so baths inside. But the unique thing at Hiagari was the salt-sauna - a big tray of sea-salt in the middle of the sauna, which you rub all over your body. Then yesterday we went to another onsen on the way back from Annapurna Farm (see below), which had a "Penguin Sauna" - a cold sauna! Refrigerated!

Annapurna Farm, where we performed in the farmhouse (peeking out from behind a tree in this photo) as part of a organic farming community activity weekend. Thanks to Ravi-san for inviting us!

It's been raining non-stop since I got to Kyushu - rainy season has come. The long-distance scenery is a bit drab (no mountain views), but the river was pretty powerful. Taken on the drive down from Annapurna Farm.


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