Tsuyama Pictures Updated...

This is me trying to get a sound out of a trumpet. Me and Minato-chan (see previous posting) were trying to have it work, but results were a little bit poor.

This is a Group Picture of the Brass Porteno in Tsuyama. In front you can see with the black shirt the young guys from a Japanese Drum School. The Ones in white jacket are the Brass Porteno Members and on the back with black shirt the Brass Band of Tsuyama.

I'm slowly preparing the pictures and uploading them here. The total number of pictures is over 700, so i'm just 1/3 thru them ;)

But here a preview of a nice one ;) ... (...from the last day when we visited the Castle in Tsuyama)

Kobe Brass Porteno: Tsuyama Tour

Saturday and Sunday I've been invited to be a photographer for the Brass Band of Kobe during their tour to Tsuyama where they had a Concert (See my Name Badge above). I shot about 800 pictures, so i just show some of them here and later, when they are published, i will post a link to them.

Saturday night there was the concert and about 300 people came to see it.

The second day, they organized a BBQ lunch and after that they performed "Open Air" in the nearby garden...

On the way to the performance Hall, I shot the following pictures. we visited a nice Japanese Style Garden and i must say was a really pleasant view!

Photography is my hobby and one of my favorite subjects are "Reflections". The following two pictures show some nice reflections i could shoot ...

UFOs in Kobe?

I took this picture yesterady, on the way to the Oktoberfest on "Rocco Island". It reminds me at the Start Trek Enterprise Spaceship and it looks like come right out of that building.

Unfortunately is not a Spaceship, but seen from below, it looks really remarkable!

Oktoberfest!

They build a new "European School" where they have regular lessons in German for Kindergarden and Elementary level on an island near Kobe called "Rocco island". The building is all made of wood and looks really nice. Today they had a traditional "Oktoberfest".

I've never been to the actual Oktoberfest in München, but here they had beer, Sausages, Pretzel and "Sauerkraut"...

...and in addition to the food, some traditional dresses and genuine wish to party!

The high point of the Oktoberfest day, was the final lottery. Amazing prices. They really had great sponsors, like Hilton, Sheraton and the biggest price was a Flight for two people to Europe sponsored by Lufthansa. Wow!

Too bad the flight was won by a foreigner, maybe a german woman. It would have been great if the flight could have won by some of the visiting japanese that never had the chance to leave Japan and visit europe before... well, let's hope they will get a better chance next year ;)

Toast-Art!

On a hot July summer night I switched on the TV and saw this man doing something with his toaster. I couldn't understand anything, but usually, if you see a guy with a cutboard, alu foil and a toaster on Japanese TV, it means he is up to something.

It didn't take long to understant what he was doing. He was cutting Alu foil and sticking it on a toast and put it in the toaster. The process was repeated few times, depending on the shade he wanted to reproduce.

You might think this man was out of his mind, but the final work sure looks impressive! I'm not sure where his skill might bring him, but you never know what's next!

Oden! (おでん)

These days is getting cold. When in Japan it gets cold, many restaurants or shop start to offer Oden, which is a soup with a lot of goodies in it. When I had Oden in smal Japanese restaurants before, they sometimes charge you "by item". You can sometimes pick the items you prefer.

This is my first try cooking Oden. Theorically, one should cook it the day before, so that it gets more tasty, but yesterday i cooked it and let it rest for just few hours.

What can you find inside? Boiled eggs, toufu, fish and/or chicken meatballs and other things. The cute bag is actually a "Mochi" bag. Mochi's are some kind of soft rice cakes.

Of course, the first time i've tried it, i found that it was quite crowded to be a soup ;) in Switzerland when we eat a soup, besides vegetables, we don't have any other things in it...because a soup, should be light and some times just as an apetizer for the main meal during winter. Here, Oden, is actually the complete meal...

A visit to Himeiji Castle

In July, with the school, we visited the Himeji Castle. For a more precise account on this castle and location near Kobe, there is an article on Wikipedia here. Interesting fact: it was used as a location for a 1967 James Bond movie!

There is a Legend surrounding the castle. During the construction, the head carpenter made sure to care about every single detail. One day, around the time of near completition, the wife of the carpenter looked at the castle and said "Honey, It doesn't look straight...". At this point, after the carpenter check it again and indeed saw it wasn't straight, he chosed to end his days jumping from the top of the tower.

Apparently, the castle is really not 100% straight... and the legend might even be true...

The day ended with a visit at a "Sumomo" plantation. In japanese "momo" means Peach and "Suppai" means Sour. The both togheter "SU-MOMO" are the name of this fruit that is one variety of Sour Plum. Although some were sour, if you were luck to pick the right one, they were kind of Sweet...

The day was soo hot, that just few of us went out picking fruits. The Japanese summer is really hot and humid...

Interesting thing: when does the Japanese Summer end? August 31st! Well, it might come to a surprise in europe, as summer time ends September 21st. Apparently in many countries in Asia, Seasons change at the end of the month, and not as in europe the 21st of the month. Good to know ;)