I woke up late. Nice. I talked to Mum (and Dad was in the background) for quite a while. Nice. I got ready and met Taeko at the station to head to Shibuya for an early dinner. Nice. It took some doing but I finally found the restaurant after getting lost several times, and I'm the English speaker! Cool. Dinner was fabulous Tex Mex complete with a Dos Equis with a lime. So Nice. Then we headed off on the train for Showa University. No Problem. Then we found our seats and waited for...the Harlem Gospel Choir. Oh My.
It was a small group that were performing but man they were gooooood. It wasn't as good as it could have been in that they kinda played into the sentimentality that the Japanese just EAT UP near the end. They did We Are The World with a whole bunch of the audience up on stage. Kinda cheesy, but I guess it's acceptable after I got my own dose of "church" earlier. I have to say that I was really proud of Taeko for not being completely embarrassed by the crazy gaijin that was next to her. I was a little loud. I was the only one standing and dancing for a couple of the first songs. I felt bad for the choir cause most of the audience didn't a) understand what was being said, and b) know that it's expected to verbally respond if they did understand what was being said. I kinda made up for it. I got some rather quizzical looks. At least they weren't nasty looks. Hey, at Japanese things I'm quiet and reserved and good. This was Gospel and they're on my turf now so deal with it, I'm gonna clap and move and say Amen so everyone in the whole place can hear it. And I did. "Amen!" "Wow, well, at least we got one person up there with us." Yeah. I was in the balcony. They heard me. Eventually people got into it, but it took some doing. The part that made me laugh the most, and usually does when I'm around music and ANY Japanese people, was when there was a whole whack of people up at the front and on the stage and I saw one, yes, count ONE person, up there who could clap on beat and move their feet a bit. There was one girl on stage who could clap and dance like a normal person. It made me laugh. They did a bunch of spirituals, it took my breath away. They did Silent Night like I have never heard it done before, it made me cry. There was one girl with the most amazing voice I think I have ever heard in my life. Like a Jill Scott on the Holy Spirit. The child could scat like none I have EVER heard before. I seriously just wanted to listen to her for every moment for the rest of my life. It was a good night.
Then Taeko and I set out for home. Okay. We stopped at the Combini for drinks, I found caramel corn. Hallelujah. We got back to Kita and she treated me to a drink at 13 Palms. Nice. I'm home and I can see my breath inside my house. Fun.
