Osaka, Ise, Germany…

Hi there, I hope you are well. I am finding hard to accept that I am back in Germany after almost four weeks in Japan. This trip seemed quick to me, as it always happens whenever I am there, because I am enjoying, time passes quick, however this time was also a bit different, I had a lot of thinking to do and I was a bit introspective, much more than usual, so sometimes I was not so present, but hey, that is life and sometimes you need the time to go inwards and have a hard look inside, in order to re organize or completely change your way of thinking.

This week I wonder around mostly the streets of Osaka, window shopping and getting lost in Namba and Umeda mostly, hopping from café to Kissatens and to some delicious food. I also started to work on the little concerts in UK next week. I booked a room in the Umeda area, to practice. The first concert will be a joined recital with a Chinese soprano where we will sing, Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi the first half and the second half we will sing Tosti, German Lieder, French songs and Operetta, so it is a demanding but nice program. The second concert is a Petite Messe Rossini, which has a very weird aria written for the tenor, some colleagues of mine agree that it is a weird aria. Somehow it lies in a not so comfortable position, but it is beautiful. I have sung I think like 3 or four times this Messe, so I am happy to encounter again this aria. The challenging part of these two programs is that they are pretty close to each other, one day the recital  and then the next day the Petite, so I need to be very clever on how I manage the rehearsals and the energy for both concerts.  

Going back to this week, we made a trip to Ise and Toba, a very spiritual place in Japan where there are some of the most important shrines in Japan. It was a family trip where we spent with Aki’s mama and one of the sisters a night in a hotel all of us in one room, it was quite fun with four beds. Her family is really welcoming and it was nice to see how they interact with one another and how they include me and accept me in their family. It was not awkward at all, as this is the 8th time I was in Japan and already spent nights together with the family, but it was the first time all in one room, a very big one. We walked a lot and took some photos, the place was really beautiful and although is middle of the summer we were lucky with the weather, we got typhoon close so there were cloudy days and some rain, so it was not so warm. What made it also special is the fact that there were not many tourists that are not Japanese that to these places. It is mostly for locals.  A big different with amount of foreign tourists compare to Tokyo, even Osaka has not as many as Tokyo. This summer I spent time in both cities and is just incredible the amount of people who really travel to Japan and love their culture and are curious about it. I can understand however,  that local people feel overwhelmed with the amount of people. Unfortunately, I see often how tourists do not respect the Japanese culture, and social behaviour and I can not blame it on their ignorance of the social cues, because even without knowing them, you can just be respectful and aware that you are in a place were people behaves different. It is same as when you go to someone’s house for the first time, from out of respect, you follow the rules and behave with care, one does not assume that is my house and that I do what I want. This may seem like clear and simple rules but you would be astonish how many people does not follow that logic and just behave as if they are at their home.

Being in Japan as always has left me with lots of beautiful moments and a lot of reflection, and I will treasure until the day I die every part lived there. I was also glad that I discovered Keigo Higashino R.I.P. and Aki recommended me to read 2 books. One of the books I read at some Kissaten places as well riding the train and in Jazz Kissatens, so I could really enjoy reading a crime novel by a loved Japanese writer. The book I read is called “the devotion of suspect x” written in 2005 I believe. It was interesting and a page turner, so I recommend it if you like crime novels and would like to read a Japanese writer. I think there is also a movie of it.

I kept my daily reading and morning pages, plus my 4 times a week exercise routine. Please take care and see you next week.