So what are adventures made of? What about this… Quitting a perfectly saucy rock festival selling the last day tickets to a black market dealer at a under par price, hitching a ride to an unknown destination, stopping mid way at another unknown place, hunt around a dozen motels without success and spending the night roaming the streets with street walkers, bums and stoners.

Well that about sums up day 2.5 in japan. After a marathon day and night of rebelling at Fuji Rock and suffering at Omiya, at least, I am on a reserved seat to the farthest Shinkansen can take me, Hachinohe. The idea is to get a bit of shut eye on the train and if possible, seek out the peace and quiet I was so looking forward to.

We planned to get to the north end of the island yesterday, but a combination of Jenny, Natsuke and Jaime cullum delayed the proceedings a bit and later we learnt that the trains don’t run in the night and we were stuck stopping at an intermediate point, Sendai, at midnight. I brilliantly suggested that we should get off at the transfer point, Omiya, at a more godly hour of 2200. Well the idea was good but no cigar at the end. Every hotel in sight was booked to the full… We enlisted the help of helpful waiters and waitresses to call every hotel in the directory and the result was the same. More edamame consumed and more disappointment from the hotels.

We however spotted a 24 hr McDonald and after much deliberation decided to bunk there… I got a courtesy 100 jpy yogurt and as it turns out it is a literal bum hangout and the yogurt is the key for admission. Ah well, we spent hour after hour staring at each other, recalling silly seinfeld comedies and trying to see how some feller gets to sleep in the not so comfy chairs. The maintenance guy was a hoot as he made sure he woke up anyone sleeping and asked them not to spoil the business facade… People get up, take a courtesy sip of the yogurt and promptly dozed off. I was not particularly sleepy and just stayed up. The rub came at 0300 when the guy said that the place is closed. What a 24 hr joint closes? Doh…

Post mcD, we headed out for a walk into the town looking for the elusive Internet pub… It was, like I mentioned, 3 in the morning and the groggy walking around the dead streets led us no where… Well the station opened at 30 past 3 and we tired to look around across the station. The station was burning hot inside and we had to run out to the relative cool outside… We found another 24 hr mcD and that was shut down till 5. Not surprising anymore… But this side was lively with more human presence though they were primarily street walkers and pimps. Well an overall poor impression of omiya, I don’t want to diss the town but not a place I will choose to come in a pinch.

Well, what can one say about rock festivals, the only thing certain is the uncertainty of what happens and the lack of memory there after

I should say, I have never been much into contemporary music, let alone rock music and that to Japanese rock. I choose to live under the cool confines of established musicians doing their thing and follow up on the music I can appreciate… So when I look at the schedule and I cannot recognize more than 2 names, I am not disappointed. The positive is that with lack of preference, the choice becomes very easy, listen to whoever is near by, if they get too annoying, move on to the next concert…

I have mentioned earlier that the weather was more than inclement, kind of added to the atmosphere I must add, but it is difficult to figure out what to wear when one minute it is 30C and 100% humid and the next, it is raining cats and dogs. One minute, it is hot sun and the next is cool and windy. I guess I resorted to a ample choice of shorts and a buttoned shirt with a rain jacket and a bandana. It was a good choice in the end as I managed to be comfortable within reason with this combo.

Much of the music was really below par, at least in my book. They seem to go for over the top noise and extremely loud base drums to keep the energy in the crowd up, but after one hour, the music starts to look dated and in the next, it gets downright annoying. So in effect, the concert jumping turned out to be a concert escaping plan and I actually, had to spend an hour in a nice brook away from the concerts just to give my ears a break. May be the rock concerts are not really my cup of tea…

However, in between escaping concerts and walking around in pissing rain, I managed to find out a few acts that I really like.

Mutemath: this was a proper American rock group but with pretty talented members, seems to me that every one played all the instruments. The big letdown was the sound engineering, they seem to have preferred the recently married drummer and he whacked the he’ll out of his instrument and my ears are still ringing… I would try their studio albums to see if they recorded it any better. If they did, it is well worth band to follow. I did pick up their album and I should say they sound good, lote of Synth but one band I might look for new albums.

Jaga jazzist: I missed them completely, but in between walking around venues, I caught the last 10 minutes and they are a really cool band led by the drummer, the music reminds me of pat metheny group and that is a good thing.

Corinne Bailey Rae: she is a name I have heard but never followed as she got popular with the girl-singer-songwriter fad a few years ago. I got nothing against them but it was too much of a formula for me to stay interested and the corny lyrics always kept me at bay.  She had a couple of radio friendly tunes but 10 minutes into her act, I could not take it any longer… Too slow and overly soppy for me. Jaga jazzist is the kind of sophistication I look forward in music.

John butler trio: to me these guys were really the best act in the festival… An Aussie trio pretty much playing blue grass / country but with more sophistication and lot more harmony. This is band I will definitely be following up and buying albums… The guitarist / lead singer was brilliant and the drums and bass complemented well… It lacked the oomph of a jazz trio with the missing improv sections but they made it up with tons of energy and good vocals.

Jamie Cullum: what can I say, this guy is one of the fellers trying to revive big band jazz with his slick good looks and smooth vocals. He has been very radio friendly and without doubt a hit with girls all over. Anyway, he is a big name and I had nothing better to follow. So off I went. It was impressive he did a couple of covers of Beyonce and rihanna and hit them through the roof. Brilliant. And he brought a lot of energy to the staid piano playing and it was a good concert to watch. I know this guys songs and don’t buy his albums simply because it is not my kind of music but his live shows are a hoot and well worth watching.

So what next? I have had enough of rocking and rolling… As I type is, I have sold my last days ticket to a black market seller for a paltry sum and am on my way to Sendai for some peace and quiet. Rock festivals are a hoot but I don’t really think they are my cup of tea…

My buddies noted that the festival is boring because it is not rowdy enough, but I like it this way, fuji rock is great with its organization. People were generally reserved but I guess it is a Japanese thing… Most people seemed to hang around in cliques and that is common. I guess the place is too chaotic to meet someone to have a decent conversation with. Or may be I am not ‘in the scene’ and too much of an outsider to be accepted in the scene. I am alright either way, it was like a 2 day long party and I am hung over, looking for a quiet place to give my ears some respite…

I would take reserved over rowdy any day. The people I will remember are Ari, Taeko, Natsuke, Jenny and a couple of elderly gentlemen grooving in the sun and rain…

So another adventure begins. Not really an adventure but something that is being done for the first time can be counted as one.

Started as a very early day at 3 am and am now resting at 2 am the day after without much rest. It has been a marathon of checkins and outs from Sg to Narita, express ride to Tokyo, a train To echigoyuzawa followed by a bus to the naeba ski resort… The evening was very rainy and the place is muddy and wet with continuous drizzle. It was a stroke of luck we managed to get the tickets. As it turns out, we had to be here before 8pm to collect the tickets but as we should have it, we reached the venue at 11pm. The schedules were tight and that’s the best we could do. However, a kind soul keep the counter open unofficially and gave us the needed passes. Yay.

Now came the scramble to find a tent site, the place looks like a biosphere project with tents laid out every inch around and we had to climb high up to find a spot. We did manage to figure out some space but only on a slope and I am slipping and sliding as I write this, well better than nothing I’d say we had to take the long hike down for food and water in slush and mud. But it turns out alright as there is a pizza stand selling decent pizzas at pretty outrageous prices. Ah well, at least they made veggie for us. So seems like pizza diet for the next 4 days.

Met a few kids who we shared the pizza and ice cream with and followed it with some Japanese lessons, heh. But Pleasant encounters don’t ease the tiredness. So am off to sleep now among more tent builders and yak yakers next door. I hope to get a little shut eye if possible… Let’s see, may be tomorrow will be a refreshing day.