Tour - Shikoku/Kansai - May 18-25

Doing my 10th tour in Japan starting tomorrow.....May 18-25. Will be traveling by bullet train from Tokyo to Shikoku Island. We take the train from Tokyo and go to Okayama (about 4 hours...at about 150/mph). In Okayama we change to a more local kind of train for an hour ride across a huge bridge and into the countryside of Shikoku Island. Rehearsals May 18-21. Me, the bass player (from Lewisburg) and drummer will be staying at the leader's house. He has a great place out in the country. Has a special building for the music. Looks like a huge old cabin (1 huge room with high ceiling and log beams) but Japanese style with the tatami floor. I will rehearse there, hang-out in the evening and sleep there. Really feels like I'm camping out. The building and his house are surrounded by Japanese gardens. Looks very mysterious when you wake up early and the fog is laying in and around the trees. The leader plays the Japanese flute called shakuhachi. On the 22nd, we will travel to Kyoto. We will be staying in an old shrine called "Ritsu-In" (you can see some photos of the place at this website) and doing a concert on the 23rd in the shrine. I attached 5 photos: a traditional dish from Shikoku....deep fried shrimp/vegetables over local noodles (udon) with leeks and grated Japanese radish (not similar to the radishes we eat in the USA), a photo of a moth (maybe 6-8 inches wide..HUGE) I saw unexpectedly on the side of an old building last time I was in Shikoku, a photo of the building for rehearsing/hang/sleep and 2 photos of the shrine where I'm going to play/stay in Kyoto. It should be a great experience.

Some Shikoku Info:
http://budurl.com/q8qh
http://budurl.com/cuay
http://budurl.com/c9zq
http://budurl.com/xg9f
http://budurl.com/65qc