Asagiri Jam

The past few weeks have been a giant lull from the momentum I had coming off my tornado tour of SE Asia. For the most part I spent September uploading photos from my summer trip, sleeping on my sofa, and catching up on world news. Very depressing.

All that changed Friday morning when I picked up my friend Daniel Bowman Simon at the Nagoya International Airport. Anyone who has ever met Daniel can attest he has many character traits, but dull he is not.


Daniel Bowman Simon

After a short distance, but time consuming drive from the airport, I dropped Daniel off at Inazawa City Hall. He had plans to eat lunch with some old friends and colleagues from his time as an English teacher here a couple years ago, and I had to go to work.

I met Daniel again later that night at my house and we sat around my computer screen drinking beer, eating snacks, and downloading the presidential debate!

I'm not sure which was more amusing; watching Senator Kerry look more presidential that George W or watching Daniel work over my computer with crazy keyboard shortcuts and multiple windows while text messaging his girl friend with my cell phone, and making long distance calls to the States with my home phone all at the same time.

Saturday morning we woke up about 6am and met Daniel's friend Yoshikawa-san and his wife Ako at my house to make a caravan into Nagoya Station to pick up Daniel's other friend, Makiko, and her three friends coming from Osaka.


Ako & Yoshikawa


Makiko

There was a bit of mix up meeting the girls because they exited their train and walked to the opposite end of the station to get a quick bite to eat, which delayed our rendezvous and departure about a half an hour, but no worries.

I had three strange Japanese girls in my car on the way to Mt. Fuji to see a two day festival concert called the Asagiri Jam!

The drive on the highway took about three hours. Yoshikawa led the way in his black Toyota SUV and left my Mazda Cappella wagon and me in his dust. When I wasn't playing catch up with Yoshikawa, I was trying to communicate with girls in my car.

The two girls in the back seat, whose names I don't remember, never uttered a single word, while the girl sitting shotgun, who I called Baka, wouldn't shut up about forgetting her concert ticket in Osaka! She kept trying to think of a good excuse to tell the ticket taker, but the best she could come up with was to act shocked when her ticket wasn't in her pocket.


No Speak & No Talk


No ticket

We exited off the highway and I asked Baka (aka No Ticket) to navigate. Bad move. We immediately started off in the wrong direction, but once we got corrected we were able to use the mammoth size of Mt. Fuji as a visual guide.

My friend Kento from Tokyo Ale was vending beer at the festival, and I had arranged to meet him at a convenient store near the concert grounds to purchase a staff ticket and backstage parking pass. Due to our initial blunder coming off the highway and some traffic from other concert goers, we were a little late meeting him, but he was very forgiving.

I got inside Asagiri Koen and set up my tent just as the skies started to cloud over and shroud Mt. Fuji from view.


My tent with Tokyo Ale

To my knowledge, Baka (aka No Ticket) got inside with a little help from Daniel. He had contacted Mogwai about two free guest passes that came through at the last minuet, so he actually ended up with an extra ticket that went unused.

While Daniel and the girls were getting setup and situated, I spent the last couple hours of sunlight walking around the Rainbow Stage area bumping into friends from Tokyo and Nagoya.

It started to rain lightly about the time my good friend Jason arrived with another buddy from Tahara-cho named Tyler.


Tyler & Jason

The three of us joined Kento for a short game of Frisbee before making our way to the Moonshine Stage to see DJ Eye.


DJ Eye

Eye is the vocalist for an avant-garde band called the Boredoms. He occasionally DJs festivals and club gigs as a side project.

His set at Asagiri consisted of eclectic mixes of opera, rock, and house, but the highlight for me came when he did a very dark, eerie, trancey remix of the Beatles 'Tomorrow Never Knows.'

While Jason, Tyler, and I were trying to take in all the sights and sounds around the Moonshine Stage, we bumped into my Japanese older brother Toku and a couple of his friends.


Miho, Toku, & Jason just behind

Toku introduced us to a friend his wearing a Tenacious D sweatshirt named Hiro. Hiro earned instant respect when he flashed a picture of himself partying with Jack Black in the back of a limousine.

Evidently, Jack Black was in Tokyo over the summer to promote his movie School of Rock and Hiro was in charge of showing him a good time. They went to a karaoke box where Jack proceeded go down the song listings and sing all his favorite tunes from A to Z.


Exiting the Moonshine Stage

As we were leaving to head back to the Rainbow Stage to catch Mogwai's performance, I got a call from Daniel asking to meet in front of the sound board. Jason had yet to see Daniel, so the meeting was arranged.

We fought our way to the sound board amongst one of the largest crowds I've ever seen gathered at the Asagiri Festival, but there was no sign of Daniel. I suggested to Jason that we stand still and eventually we would see Daniel doing something.

Sure enough, about fifteen of twenty minutes later, Daniel came strolling through the crowd with his video camera rolling and found us. Smiles all around.


Mogwai @ the Rainbow Stage

Mogwai played the best set of the festival in my opinion. It was hypnotic, creepy, loud, and riveting. They blew the top off the sky with their distortion, and everyone I talked to was completely blown away.

Afterwards, I made my way back to the Tokyo Ale tent to hang out with some friends and mostly ignored the UK dance band, Faithless, that closed things down for the night.

Day Two started out with torrential downpours and never let up. I woke up to discover my tent had a slight leak and my backpack was sitting in a puddle slowly soaking up more and more water.


Lotus Cafe

I spent most of the morning and a solid portion of the afternoon inside the Lotus Cafe drinking organic coffee with Jason and watching the owner roast the coffee beans in an antique roaster he bought in the States many years ago.

While sitting around, I got an email on my cell phone from my good friend Stiles informing me that the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team had totally demolished the LSU Tigers. Thereby increasing their hopes of a national title and reigning supreme in the SEC.

The music coming from the Rainbow Stage was just a soundtrack to all the muddy people wearing makeshift raincoats made out of anything that looked waterproof.


Waterproof

I finally made it out around 4pm to see ROVO. Because Jason and I were in Asagiri back in June for an event and got pounded by a typhoon, we came prepared for hell and high water.


Some stranger, me, & Jason in our rain gear

ROVO's set was solid and even enhanced by the driving rain. It was Jason's first time to see ROVO live, and I believe he was pretty impressed.

Los Lobos came up next, which was a major shift in gears after the psychedelic insanity of ROVO, but they were equally impressive.

Jason told me he spotted Daniel going loco down front and leading a giant circle of fans in some kind of group dance, which sounded just about right.


Daniel down front

As soon as Los Lobos finished, Yoshikawa, Ako, and the three incommunicable Japanese girls piled into my car and I drove them to Yoshikawa's SUV parked in a distant lot. They headed home early and I went back inside just in time to catch the dank, gooey dub of Audio Active.

After all was said and done, the house lights came up signaling people to go home. Daniel and his friend Makiko helped pack up my car and we headed back home to Heiwa-cho. Stopping off for a bite to eat in a family restaurant and a hot bath at an Onsen, it was another memorable experience.

Until next year...