Drumming, Subways and Cherry Blossom

Thursday 9th April

Today we all got up fairly early to be on time to get the Osaka Subway! Here we were going to buy our Multiride Tickets for the subway (the £30 train fare?) It should be enough to last us the entire stay in Osaka.

We were all up and rearing to go, we knew we had a few changes to make between subway lines so set off early, and its a good job we did! We had a map and directions from the hotel staff and still couldn't find the subway system! We had also been past it previously but it seemed to have disappeared...finally we found an entrance into the line we needed and rushed in to buy our tickets.

The man behind the counter did not understand what a multiride ticket was, well, let's face it, he didn't know what ANY english words were - none of our Japanese sketches could help us here...we tried and tried and eventually he pointed us to the ticket machines which we literally around the corner! We panicked as they are renowned for being in Japanese - but they were in English too! AND the Multiride option was there - so my research had been correct after all :-)

We were pretty successful on the trains, even though they were very busy and packed full of people, managed to change without incident and got off at the correct stop. A LOVELY Japanese lady and her husband not only gave us directions to the Dawn Centre for our workshops but also walked us there to make sure we arrived safely. Japanese people are SO friendly and helpful and very very polite. They love the younger members of our group and keep calling them cute and beautiful in a very respectull way.

We got to the Dawn Centre and got changed into 'dance' type clothes as the workshop leaders set the drums up. We met Ako, out workshop organiser and also Yuko and Kasumi, our translators for the day. They were very nice and helped the group with Japanese words.

Taiko Drumming was AMAZING. We watched the performers do a demo and then we got to get up and have a go ourselves. As a group we learnt an entire piece over a few hours. Although there were some tricky bits, the leaders were strict but LOADS of fun and had a great sense of humour. Everyone seemed to have a fantastic time and loved performing the piece when we all finally had it right. There was a really buzz in the atmosphere, we had some great photos with the drummers and then set off with Ako, Kasu and Yuko for lunch before our Noh Theatre workshop.

Ako had brought a polythene sheet to spread on the ground under the cherry blossom near Osaka Castle on our way to the next workshop. It seems to be the done thing here when sitting in the park or having a picnic, and of course we had to take our shoes off :-) Ako was delighted we had made her some sandwhiches to share and everyone had a good chat until our half hour was up and it was time to move on. Ako said 'Lets Shift, move your Asses' in her fantastic Japanese accent which made us all laugh. On the way we saw little children in very posh school outfits and mothers in very posh Kimonos, this was Osaka's 'rich' school where all the wealthy families send their children.

The Noh Theatre workshop was in a traditional Japanese theatre, this felt incredibly prestigious immediately and we were warned at how respectful and quiet we had to be while there. We took our shoes off and we were led into the theatre by a Japanese lady in full Kimono. On the stage two men entered and while one sang in a low voice, the other moved around the stage with a fan, it was very different to anything we had seen before.

The main man then stayed to talk about Noh Theatre and its origins, this was a fairly long discussion and explanation and the group did really well to keep up and listen intently. He then asked Tom, our older lad, to come and be made up in a masked outfit as a Japanese woman - using mask! It took them ages to wrap him up in material and gown, with a horse hair wig and everything tied the correct way, finishing by putting the mask on his face. He looked fantastic (pics on Flickr soon!) Everyone was told they were allowed to take photos! Then, within one minute the 3 actors on stage took the entire outfit off Tom and explained it would need to be done this quickly for costume change!

We then had a tour backstage, bamboo floors and sliding doors. There is a big gap underneath the stage with big pots which help make an echo noise when you walk across it! Again we had photos and thanked everyone politely as we left.

We then went back to the park outside of Osaka Castle and stayed for quite a while, relaxing and chatting, doing cartwheels (and flips for some!) Met some lovely Japanese students and brought the younger youth members bags of sweets as presents, we gave them some English money as a gesture from our culture and they were fascinated! Everyone was so nice, some of our group showed the two girls their Japanese scenes from the night before and they were very impressed.

Friday 10th April

Today was a lie in, everyone had to be up by about 10am and we were back in our little teams for the other day! Each team had to figure out how to use the subway to get to Osaka Castle without any of the adults interfering. They then had to take us there as if we were the youth members. They all did really well, some confusion at times but NO mistakes! Everyone arrived at Osaka castle together, almost!

After lazing around in the amazing warm weather for a bit, we ventured up the the Castle grounds. They were fab, we had a slow wonder around, looking at some of the food stalls, (buying Hello Kitty stuff) gift shops etc and went to look out over the city!

We then went into Osaka Castle, which was free for under 15s! This was new so it was great that the younger ones were able to save a bit of money. We then had to walk up 8 flights of stairs to get to the top observatory and look out over the entire city! It is HUGE! There were many photos taken. We then headed back downwards, looking around each room and its exhibit of how the castle was built (some were obviously more interested than others) A few got dressed up in Samurai outfits to have pictures taken which was loads of fun!

At the end of the Castle visit we all walked around to the side of the castle walls to see all the big cherry blossom trees. Large pieces of polythene were spread out in different areas so that anyone could sit down. We chose a piece and sat to have a chat and some snacks. Many played games on the large rocks and stones that decorated the park and some took photos...of themselves...MySpace?

Each group then had to find their way back to the Hotel via Subway without interference from leaders. This had now become a challenge and each team was determined to win! So off we all had to race, with us slowing them down and encourage them to THINK carefully about where they were going so as not to make a mistake. Many lessons were learned and everyone arrived back successfully. The youth members are now confident in using the subway system ... and hopefully won't just follow us around like sheep - they will now have an idea of where we are going and can be involved in getting there!

Back at the hotel we all got showered and changed and had dinner. We chatted to Alan in the hotel who will be taking us (kindly for free) to Kyoto tomorrow to meet some Geisha's in training in the streets of the town (a local tourist attraction) and see some less touristy parts of the place. We also spoke to Coultan, a canadian who is studying Japanese and staying in our hotel, he has been helping with local knowledge and Japanese customs.

A great experience so far! Please leave us your comments below?