Jazz festival

Over the weekend, the Johzenji Street Jazz Festival took place. People from all over the world and all over Japan came to Sendai, some to play music, but most to listen. Saturday, I went too late and missed most of the live music, but there was a DJ in Kotodai Koen (a park close to the city hall) who was playing dance music. At first there was just a small group of people (little kids up to old folks) dancing, but soon people my age were getting up and dancing, so Robyn and I sat on some steps next to them and watched. These three Japanese guys who were probably 18 or 19 came up to us and said,"Dance? Coming?" I told them we would in a few minutes, and they just smiled and nodded and kept dancing. After we finished our beers, we got up and danced with everyone. Being the only gaijin (foreigners) there at the time, we were celebrities. Soon, more of our gaijin friends came and there turned out to be quite a large group of us. Everyone kept pushing us into the middle of the circle to dance. There were a few little kids dancing as well, so I held their hands and we danced around. I had such a good time with the little ones! Also, there was a Japanese chick there, probably my age or a few years older, who was singing along with the Donna Summer songs and she had an awesome voice. I told her she was wonderful and she informed us that she would be singing in the festival the next day with her singing group. After the DJ stopped spinning records, I sat down with a few of the little girls I had been dancing with and talked to them in Japanese. They were so cute!! Little kids are easier for me to understand because they speak more slowly using simple words. The 7-year-old had a princess wand with lights in it and she was trying to hypnotize me with it, so I taught her the word hypnotize. I was with about 15 other JETs at this point, and they all wanted to leave, so I had to say goodbye to the girls. Robyn and I went down into the subway station to use the bathroom and when we were leaving, the hypnotist was there with her mom. She came running up to me yelling,"Kelly!" then she jumped up and gave me a big hug and I picked her up and swung her around. It was such a lovely moment. I wanted to keep her! After that, I went to karaoke with my buds. Usually, we just go into a small room and sing songs and have drinks, but this time there were about 25 of us, so we had a bigger room. AND people were wearing costumes. I have pictures... I will be uploading them soon. I wanted to be a gorilla, but all that was left by the time I got there were some sparkly cowboy hats and boas. Sunday, I went to the festival earlier and the first band I saw was a bluegrass group! It was five Japanese men who were very very good. It actually made me homesick! I have pictures of them as well... to be uploaded soon. After that, we walked around and sampled the food for sale and listened to other bands. There was an awesome blues band and also a group of musicians dressed in disco wear with afros on their heads. Apparently, that band is popular because I couldn't get close enough to see them. After all of the live music was finished, the DJ started spinning again. And once again, it was a dance party. I think most of you know how much I like a good dance party! My legs are sore today from dancing so much. I need to get a video camera so I can share these kinds of things with you. I just don't know how to describe it. There were old people, young people, people who had no rhythm, people who were just jumping around, people who were salsa dancing to everything, then people who were just standing there with their arms crossed watching it all. There were many more gaijin on this day, and the weirdos were out as well. This one Japanese guy who was about 50 and dressed like he was going fishing kept coming up to Robyn, Helen, and me and taking pictures of us. At first it was funny, but it started to get disturbing, so I told him to quit. I don:t think he ever quit though. He wasn:t the only one... there were girls who would come up and ask to have their pictures taken with us. You:d think we were famous or something, but no, we:re just a few of the handful of foreigners in Japan. I am ok with this now, but I have the feeling that I:ll be annoyed with it very soon. There was one woman on the makeshift dance floor who just wept like a baby for quite a while. She was obviously quite drunk. Later in the night, she ended up passing out and knocking her head on the brick-paved ground. Some guys stopped dancing and tried to help her away, but no one was really moving to get out of their way. Robyn and I tried to help (we were the only ones left from our group), but all we could do was hold the lady:s bag for her. An ambulance was called and they carted her away. She was in a rough shape and I hope she:s ok today. During the night, this one woman who I think worked with the DJ, kept coming up to Helen, Robyn and me and pulling us closer to the DJ or closer to the middle of the dance circle. I never quite understood why she was doing this, but it was really annoying. Eventually, Robyn and I left and went to a tiki-style restaurant with a few other people. I sat next to a Japanese guy named Takahide who I later found out loves Weezer. His English is very good, but it turns out he only studied it in Junior and Senior high school. He must have been very tired (or very drunk) because he fell asleep at the table. When he woke up he said his nature is to sleep a lot. I told him he needed a job where sleeping is a part of it, like at a bed manufacturer. Earlier, when I was listening to the bluegrass, there was a Japanese woman in the crowd who was dressed as a cowgirl complete with cowboy boots. I introduced myself to her and told her I was from Nashville. She got really excited and told me that she sings Patsy Cline songs at a country bar in Sendai, so I got her card and some friends and I are going to see her tonight. I will report back to you on how that goes... until then...