Busking in Downtown

To promote Ben & Konomi's Summer Solstice Eco Festival 2010 for the Organic Movement, 13 artists who are appearing in the festival showed up in downtown Obihiro last Sunday. It was a beautiful sunny day, but if it had not been a sports day for school kids in the area, we could have seen more people walking around though. It was totally not like Shibuya or Yokohama.

I would like to say thanks to all the dedicated musicians who joined together to enjoy performing outdoors.

Participated are: Trevor (vocal, guitar & mandolin), Hiroshi (vocal & guitar), Choppa (ukulele), Charles (accordion), Maud (vocal & accordion), Ai (vocal), Yoichi (guitar), Ako (percussion), Yuma (vocal & flute), Toshimitsu (percussion), Keiichiro (guitar), Maa-kun (percussion) & Shinya (special appearance).

We are going to have a fabulous music festival!

BenとKonomiの夏至オーガニックフェスティバル2010のプロモーションのために、同フェスティバルに出場するアーチストが13名集まって、帯広中心部でストリートライブを敢行。

晴天に恵まれたけれど、運動会の日だったために人通りもまばら。渋谷

や横浜のようにはいかん。

屋外ライブに参加してくれたすばらしいミュージシャンたちに「ありがとう」。（出演者は上記）

いけてるミュージックフェスティバルにしたいものだ。

(musicians photo by TH)

Nice Ride through Forest

Yeah, Monday was a perfect day for riding through "Obihiro's Forest." The bikers & walkers' path is also a perfect shortcut without traffic lights or any other obstructions up to almost halfway to the destination. It normally takes about 15 minutes by car, but it takes me exactly the same by bicycle, then why go by car?

「帯広の森」を走るのにパーフェクトな日和。自転車歩行者遊歩道はもちろん信号も障害もなく、目的地までの半分くらいの地点まで完璧なショートカット。通常クルマで約15分のルートが自転車でも全く同じ。自転車で充分か?

Food Not Being Eaten?

Do you know that in Japan more than 5-million tons of harvested or processed food is disposed of every year? This is the reality in the country of "Mottainai" culture.

I have seen on TV about Second Harvest Japan, and it has also given me a lot of hints about what an NPO can do for the society.

Food is made not so much for financial profit as for humanitarian benefit of all people, I hope.

日本では毎年500万t以上の食品が廃棄されているって知ってますか？でもこれが「もったいない」文化の国の現状。

テレビで「セカンドハーベスト ジャパン」が紹介されているのを見て、NPOというものが社会のためにできることも考えさせられた。

「食べ物」は経済的な利得のためより、全ての人々が恩恵にあずかるためにあるはずだと願いたい。

As Free As The Wind Again

Once again, I went biking in Naitai Highland Farm which I introduced in my previous post.

This time I was shot all day by NHK TV crew with a reporter, who for the first time climbed the grand and hilly farmland by bicycle, but she really made it. Quite a girl! I testify it isn't a staged show.

We were expecting the weather to be fine, but the foothill of the Daisetsu Mountain National Park was covered with pretty dense fog (photo).

Let's see what the report will be broadcast like:

(both on NHK-G)

Ohayo Hokkaido/Burari Mite Aruki on Saturday, 29 May from 7:30 a.m. (hokkaido-local)

Yudoki Network/Retto Tsutsu-Uraura on Thursday, 10 June from 4:50 p.m. (nationwide)

またもや、ナイタイ高原牧場へ自転車を乗りに。

今度はNHKのクルーに、初めて自転車での登頂？に挑戦するリポーターとともに撮られっぱなしだった。心配をよそに彼女は登頂に成功！なかなかだ。ヤラセではありませんよ。

天気はよくなるはずだったけれど、大雪山の麓は濃霧（写真通り）に包まれてしまった。

放送内容はどうなることやら...。

5月29日 7:30 a.m. おはよう北海道・ぶらりみてある記（北海道地方）

6月10日 4:50 p.m. ゆうどきネットワーク 列島津々浦々（全国）

As Free As The Wind

On Saturday, I biked with my friend up to and down from the top of the biggest dairy farm in Japan, where we still saw snow patches all around.

This is a part of the video footage he captured then, of course, on the way down!

土曜日に、残雪の散在する日本一でかい牧場の頂上へ、自転車で登って降りてきた。

こちらは、（もちろん下りの時に）彼が収録したもの。

Live Music at a Temple in Kushiro

Sunday, the 9th of May may be a memorable day of a kind for my musical career. Daichi and I are going to have a gig at a (Buddhist) temple for the first time.

I heard some young monks of the temple called Myoken-Ji in Kushiro enthusiastically coordinate a pretty good live music show every year in order to offer more opportunities for neighbors and citizens to feel more familiar to the public asset.

Although it will be a show in normally solemn atmosphere, we will be very happy to share a nice and relaxing time with everyone.

No admission charge! The venue opens at 4:00 p.m. and some dishes are going to be served, the show begins at 5:30. Please check this flier for details. *Info: 0154-55-4444 Myoken-Ji (Temple)

5月9日（日）は私の音楽人生の中でもちょっとした思い出になるかも知れない。なんと吉野大地さんと私のライブがお寺で開催される。

妙堅寺という釧路のお寺の若い僧侶さんたちが、地域の人たちの共有の財産としてお寺にもっと親しみを持って欲しいと、毎年なかなかいいライブを熱心に主催しているそうな。

いつもは荘厳な雰囲気の中にもかかわらず、ゆったりとくつろげる時間がみなさんと過ごせればありがたいです。

なんと入場無料! 開場は4:00 p.m.、お食事（有料）も出るそうな。開演は5:30 p.m.。詳しくはこのフライヤーをどうぞ。お問い合わせは0154-55-4444の妙堅寺さんまで。

"Bikers Paradise" Map #1 To Be Issued!

Ever since I came back to Tokachi, I have been hoping to see more people, locals and tourists, enjoy biking in this area. Although we have pretty long and severe winter here, Tokachi's modestly rolling hills and vast plains surrounded by the amazingly beautiful mountain ridges and horizons stretching in the distance could always be the good reason why I would call it "Bikers Paradise."

Recently I have produced a nice guide map for tourists and local cyclists for the first time on behalf of NPO Slow Wave Sunku Village, a local volunteer group acting for sustainable society and lifestyle.

This map contains quite a lot of items including 3 maps from the one covering downtown Obihiro to the entire Tokachi region, 10 model courses and safety information, etc. If you are interested, please download the high-res preview data (about 10MB) in A3 size (297 x 420 mm), which is separated into 4 pages. (password: bikers)

(Sorry, English-Japanese edition will be available from the next issue on hopefully.)

I hope you will find biking in Tokachi amusing!

十勝に戻って来てから、ずっともっとたくさんの人たちが自転車に乗ってくれるといいなと思っていました。冬はすこしきびしくて長いけれど、美しい山並みとどこまでも広がる地平線に囲まれたなだらかな起伏と広い平野だけでも、「バイカーズ・パラダイス」（自転車天国）と呼ぶには充分な素地がある（と思っています）。

最近、NPOスローウェーブすんく村（持続可能な社会とライフスタイルのために活動するグループ）を代表して、旅行者にも地元の人たちにも見ていただきたいガイドマップを作りました。帯広中心部から十勝全域の3つのマップと、10のモデルコース、安全情報などをてんこ盛り。ご興味の方は、実寸A3サイズのプレビューデータ（10MB・4ページに分割）を用意しましたので、こちらからダウンロード(パスワード: bikers)の上、ご覧くださいな。

十勝で自転車乗りは楽しい!

The Year Of The Tiger

A Happy New Year Of The Tiger!

Last year was my year (Ox) and I opened my door to my further voyage. Thanks to Archangel Gabriel, my future paths are getting clearer hopefully.

My new year's resolution: "Sail on." I wonder what the next water will be like.

あけましておめでとうございます。

昨年（丑）は年男で、更なる航海へのとびらを開けた。大天使ガブリエルのおかげで航路が見えて来たのかも。

今年の抱負は「航海続行」、次の海はどんなのだろうか。

今年もどうぞよろしくお願いいたします。

(photo: ©2007 ken）

Our Best Concert 2009

The Warmth Of Life

23 December

Daichi Yoshino & ken

I felt as if I had played for only 5 minutes even after having performed 5 or 6 songs... just like our music and time had been absorbed into the atmosphere in the venue.

Thanks to all the support of the event staff and the uncompromising conditioning by the sound crew and piano tuner, we were able to present every piece of music deeply and softly without being distracted.

Moreover, it was probably the full house of the audience who breathed in our music most, so all of them remained still in the seat even after we left the stage. Thank you.

We are also very happy to unexpectedly, but successfully perform our second encore we just improvised without rehearsing. I thought we were going to offer some warmth, but it was the audience who made the show with their warm compliments.

No warmth of life, no music.

ライブ「いのちのぬくもり」

12/23

吉野大地 & ken

あけましておめでとうございます。

5、6曲演奏したあとでも、5分くらいしかたっていないと感じた不思議な感覚... なんだか会場の空気に音楽とともに時間も吸い込まれるような...。

スタッフの協力に支えられ、音響クルーと調律師さんの妥協知らずの調整のおかげで、気を散らさずに1曲1曲を深く丁寧に表現できた。

きっと、私たちの演奏を吸い込んでくださったのは満場のお客様。最後の曲が終わっても席を立たずにいてくださった。ありがとうございます。

予期せぬ2度目のアンコールでの全く準備なしの即興も成功。こちらが温かい演奏をしようなんて思っていたけれど、ライブを温かく支えてくださったのはみなさんの方でした。

「いのちのぬくもり」なくして、音楽はあらず。

A Happy New Year!

The Circle's Christmas 2009

The Circle will come back to "Great Country Festival" again. Surrounded by those good ol' soft and smooth local country musicians, Broncos and Chuck Wagon, are we really going to rock again? Well, let's see how we groove with a special guest singer, Yuma, who was featured in my previous post.

This blurry photo is from this year's organic summer solstice festival, (from right to left) Choppa (bass), Dan (drums), Yohei (guitar), Claude (vocal, guitar) and me (key), on the truck bed stage built by Ben.

I do hope we will see you having fun at Rancho El Paso on Saturday, the 12th of December.

The Circleがまた「グレートカントリーフェスティバル」に帰ってくる。あの懐かしくて優しい音を奏でる地元カントリーミュージシャンのブロンコスとチャックワゴンに囲まれて、またロックしちゃうのだろうか？今年はゲストシンガーのYuma（前のブログ参照）も加わり、どうなるかお楽しみに。

今年の夏至まつりからのブレブレ写真は、Benの手によるトラックの荷台のステージで、右から Choppa (bass), Dan (drums), Yohei (guitar), Claude (vocal, guitar) そして私 (key)。

12/12（土）、ランチョ・エルパソでぜひお楽しみを。