This has been a pretty good week. Holiday on Tuesday, so Aroop and I chose to scheme on a grant in Shizuoka. The grant awards US$5,000 for a project or research that enriches the culture in the kids of Shizuoka. He’s proposing a music exchange with India, and I’m proposing a documentary about green tea. I send it off on Monday, and will know when I get back from my winter holiday.
in Australia. Yep, got some cheap tickets (amongst the Japanese madness - there are long waitlists generally to get a flight duing peak travel seasons), so I’ll be in Melbourne for a week and Sydney for a week, visiting swing dancing friends. Should prove to be a good time.
And this weekend Aroop’s American friend from uni was out on a business trip. We met up with her for some randomness. Karaoke, pubs, general good times. We had some pretty rare experiences - like talking with an old farmer in a place called Aobe, which is up the Oigawa valley about an hour by train. Very small place, the train station looks like the ones in Spirited Away, just a platform and nothing else.
At a bar tonight, we were bought drinks by really friendly business men. And there was a wedding party as well, so we sung some songs for the newlyweds - the Beatles and Green Day. They went nuts.
Tomorrow, I hope to see Miyazaki’s new film, Howl’s Floating Castle. hu++4h!