Dinner with new friends: Mary, Lisa, Stacey, Mari, Kaoru, George, & May

There are two things a taiko player likes to do: banging on drums and going out to eat. At least these are two of my favorite things! Taiko Conference was not only about learning new techniques, songs, and drills. It was also about making new friends, and then…… going out together to eat!

The opening reception brought hundreds of us together with tables full of delicious food cooked by local LA taiko groups. I got to see some old friends from Hawaii, meet some new ones, and find out about the famous Korean BBQ Taco Truck that drives around LA – thanks Meg!

At Wurstkuche, I watched Kelvin eat a rattlesnake & rabbit sausage. His verdict: tastes like sausage. At Tofu Village I tried shochu for the first time – thanks Matt. My verdict: I’ll stick with water.

Bombu Taiko of LA confirmed my theory that dinner time means whatever time practice is over (we arrived at the restaurant at 11 PM) and that west coast taiko groups eat just like east coast taiko groups – a lot! At a Japanese restaurant, John-Paul and I were amused but also impressed with Beth’s chopstick skills as she got her natto from her bowl to her mouth. I enjoyed bringing ONE members to some of my favorite places, like Daikokuya for ramen and of course, Pinkberry, and to see them enjoy these places as much as I do.

Celebrating with old friends: Matt, Cat, Dave, Jadelyn, Greg, Diane, Joy, & Beth

I loved my birthday dinner with ONE community members and my daughter Jadelyn, who arranged for us to go to a shabu-shabu house. The waitress brought us endless trays of meat and vegetables to cook in our hot pots (more than we could eat) and a free bottle of champagne! Thank you ONE for celebrating with me and making my day special.

Whether it be a quick breakfast gulped down with Diane & Mark, a curry lunch with Beth & Lindsay, or dinner with Diane, Dave, Cat & Greg where we laugh hilariously at every comment made, these are the bonds we make when we are away from our drums, so that when we get back behind them, our kumi-daiko creates something special.

I took away so much from my first Taiko Conference, and although I may forget some of what I learned, I’ll always remember sharing the week – drumming, laughing, and eating, with both old friends and new friends and definitely some of the best people I know.

I am learning my shime part of the song.

Days one and two of Summer Taiko Institute are over and Joy, Beth and I are pleasantly exhausted. We’ve spent two days absorbing techniques on timing, articulation, form and stance, all while learning a new song written by Shoji Kameda of On Ensemble. There has been a lot packed into our 8:00 – 5:00 days and we are soaking in as much as we can – Kris, Maz, Shoji and Kelvin have been amazing teachers. Tomorrow is day three and I’m looking forward to it!

Exhaustion did not keep a group of STI participants from meeting in the lobby of our hotel tonight until 10:00 to practice the new song we are learning.

Karen arrived tonight and by Thursday eleven members of Odaiko New England will be here for the North American Taiko Conference.

We had dinner at my favorite Ramen shop.

Kelvin walked by while we were practicing in the lobby of the Miyako