For the past (God knows how many weeks, months or years...) weekends, I have spent almost every one of them away from my little shed. But the weekend that had just passed, I can't inmagined that I actually spent Friday and Sat at home. Well, at least on Fri nite I went out with dinner with Morris at a local Yakitori joint. The reason for doing so is that I was invited to this outdoor music event and the ticket was like some ￥7,000 and the place was in Yamanashi Prefecture opposite the theme park Fuji Q. So due to my self imposing budget constrain, after buying more junk, I decided I'd better stay home.
So what do I do at home, alone...you may wonder so I shall enlighten you so that you do not need to wonder no more. I watched Pulp Fiction, played some games and surf the internet...and that's about it. Yeah I know it sounds pretty bland and boring but hey...finances, that the constrain here. Besides, I got some plans with Morris to go down to Tokyo sometime soon so I'd better start saving up because I am sure I will spurge quite a bit in Tokyo...you know me, well..., err,...shopping.
Ok so on Sat nite, I got to bed quite early without any nonsense after catching The Bourne Ultimantum and rose to greet the Sunday morning sun at 6.30am. You'd be surprised simply because the Sun actually rises at like 4.30 am but the tradeoff is that the evenings come around 4.30 pm so by 5.30 pm, it's almost pitch black. From 6.30 am, I made my breakfast, ate it with some yogurt drink after some kamikaze retarded minature moth plunged into my freshly brewed coffee, geared up and off I go on this much anticipated road trip.
Rendezvous with Mitsu, Asaka, Sayaka and Yu somewhere in Tomi city and then took the spacious Honda Elysion to begin the road trip. From here on it was gonna be like 3 odd hours before we get to Yamanashi. The sun was rising gently to strike down the scorching heat anytime soon within an hour or two as the overcast sky was beginning to clear up by 8.30 am.
With Asuka driving and me in the back seat between Sayaka and Yu, we pulled up somewhere in Kofu (I think) at a highway kiosk where we took a little break and the I volunteered to drive the massive vehicle. Hmm the funny thing about this hybrid vehicle is that unlike the convectional vehicles, there is no key to be inserted and I had a silly time figuring out how to start it. I gave up in the end where Asuka pointed out that I had to hold the break pedal and press the "Power" switch on the left of the steering wheel. This little baby of a behemoth greeted me gently with no vibrations, no rocking engine, no rotary sounds of the fan belt, absolute silence simply because it's a hybrid petrol cum electric driven spaceship. Yes indeed I was all in awe and possibly in shock as to how a car can start up more silently than a laptop or cellphone.
"Asuka the Driver with Mitsu"
"A view of the road from the middle seat"
"A tactical shot of Asuka in full concentration (Mmm...I like candid shots like this)"
Praises aside, I gassed the little baby to test it's responses on the highway...darn, didn't feel the power kick in, didn't feel the gear change and when a little glimpse of the middle uber cool dashboard display showed 140 km/h I was like "Whoa?!" The marvel and creativity of the Japanese...pressurised cabin aka Shinkansen in a family MPV? Quite literally it was like that...until I realised that there were conspicuous unmarked highway patrols. Right on as we speak, a fully loaded Harley was pulled over by an unmarked Toyota Crown.
Fast forward from the 3 hour long and pretty boring highway journey, we found ourself in front of this massive roller coaster madness which of course was the famed Fuji Q theme park. Unfortunately that wasn't our destination...but rather it was this place called Conifer Forest where the huge sign "OTODAMA" was placed. Unload, unpacked and viola, I was the obnoxious paparazzi once again...so this time amongst the screams from the roller coaster in the distance, I caught a bright yellow tracked modded Honda NSX in the carpark. This mellow yellow babe comes with full track diffuser both front and back. Shutter chance...
The it was the waiting-stupidly-in-the-sun queue where I spoke in my proud English to Mitsu just to have ALL...yes I said ALL the Japanese there looking at me. Ha talk about that 1 minute of fame...I feel like a star, yeah baby yeah! But seriously if I was white, I would probably begged more attention but why bother right? Then just as when I, the great English spewing foreigner, was about enter the party grounds I was promptly stopped because DSLR cameras and supersized shoulder video cams were prohibited. "What in God's world was that?" I thought as I hauled my mini Kiss Digital X back to the car. "(#'&$%&%'!#=" the great Hokkien Ah Beng from Singapore strikes me again as vulgarities roamed freely in my head.
"Asuka, Mitsu and Sayaka...and yes I know Mitsu looks short and weird...maybe constipated"
"The King himself with Yu at the extreme right"
"The Official Sound Conifer 229 Event poster"
Somehow the normal compact digital cams were presumably allowed...DARN! Upon entering the rounds, it was huge, probably like the size of a English Premier League soccer field with this not-to-impressive stage less the DJ booth in the middle and 10 ~ 15 odd mind boggling steroid charged speakers. The crowd was a bit of a disappointment as barely 10% of the party ground was filled. May it was too early to tell but I bet I've seen more impressive crowds in Singapore NDP parade rehersals.
As the 3 stooges Mitsu, Yu and myself contemplate on the heat, I did noticed that there were many eye candies (think cute Japanese girls) but none was able to make it into the camera...how undeserving. Asuka and Sayaka went on ahead to check out Fuji Q but in the end they didn't make the famed ride either.
Fast forward again?! After the initial arrival to the entry at around 12 noon till the sun died away behind the overcast skies, I knew my long lost friend was coming to pay me a visit. Temperature dropped to like a cooling 23°C and the blue sky was nothing more than a massive gathering of grey dark clouds, I glanced at the Baro reading on my watch and proclaimed, "15 minutes max. The rain will be here." With that Lady Rain brought forth much rain within the next 7 minutes odd and continued to cry until around 8 pm in the night. When the rain began, some people were scattering into nearby shelters while many other simply danced in the rain. I would loved to be able to dance in the rain once again just to relive the days when I was a child. But considering that I have to be drenched, with a 3 hour journey back to catch my car and only then to drive another 30 minutes back to my house in utter darkness, I was pretty reluctant. Besides, God knows what time I will be home and the very underlying fact that I have work today. Watched as I may, there were just aplenty of beautiful bodies clad in transparent rain coats dancing in the raging storm. It was a sight that was indescribable with mere words and phrases...it was...quite simply one of the most amazing scenes I have witnessed in this extraordinary life. Their dance steps were simply but graceful, their bodies were worn but not lacking vigor and their spirits were not dampened but anything. I found myself sitting in solitude, cold but not drenched, admiring the gracefulness of the rain dances.
Along with the definition of the word Otodama (音魂）which literally means sound spirits, the exhilarating sight of all these beauties in transparent raincoat with the hood swaying in the music, it was a metaphor turned reality.
When the rain stopped, it was time for me to give it one last shot to make my money's worth. Shed my raincoat and unbuttoned my shirt, it was there where I let myself loose. As the event came to a close there were an array of fire works while the white Ang Moh in his fluent Japanese bade everyone farewell until the next event. From here on it's a series of unsightly and unimaginable, unethical and unbrotherly, immmoral and disrespectful scenes that I have to endured all the way back to where I had parked my car. All I can say is that Mitsu, I am so sorry that you are "blessed" with such "brothers" and "sisters". Unfortunate but maybe to an extent I was over reacting.
さやかちゃん、ゆくん、お前二人は本当にやばい。僕はもう見た、もう聞いた、それからもういやだ、もういい。見たくない、聞いたくない、知りたくない。
That I leave you one of my favorite songs from the event...Daishi Dance's Music Life In Forest
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