Up early to catch the shinkasen to Tokyo. Arrived at our hotel in time to meet up with Mariko and head to the Nippori the fabric area. I might be in trouble!
We visited a few stores and I came up empty. Nothing was speaking to me until…. we found a button store. Oh, how I love to shop for buttons, and they are the perfect souvenir for me and all my fabric loving friends. Perfect because – they take up little space in a crammed suitcase and don’t tip the scale.
Swarovski buttons…who knew! And I was in Austria this summer – and didn’t see them!
Kazunoya oiwake
After shopping we all needed some substance…and we were very thirsty.. so on to a small local restaurant that had local music. Oh what a night, the music and musicians were outstanding and let’s just say the Asahi flowed.
The musicians were all the top shamisen performers, and they were so friendly. The shamisen is a stringed instrument.
One muscianhad spent his honeymoon in Arizona, Antelope Canyon. He now has two beautiful children, his daughter had just celebrated her Shichi-Go-San which is celebrated for the girls 3rd and 7th year (and possibly 5, I get conflicting info on this). The daughter was three. The day is dedicated to the growth and happiness of young children. We have had the pleasure of being in Japan for this celebration and have watched the young children in their traditional costumes and attend a special celebration at their shrine. (I’ll share some photos of the children dressed up for the holiday from an earlier trip in another post.
I asked the musician to see a photo, which he proudly showed me, then added a bit of humor and scrolled through ALL the photos he had taken. We shared a laugh over that.
The musicians were all anxious to teach us the shamisen. I noticed Mariko didn’t participate when Hugh asked her how her lessons were going. She laughed that he had remembered and stated she was studying a different type than what was being played.
