Club - Brassband

As most of you would know by now I have been in my school`s brassband club for some 6 months and it has been a really big part of my life here in Japan.
Less than a month ago it was summer holidays which meant no school ... one would think, but actually at least 100 students went to school everyday anyway............... how come? well, there are many reasons. One is homework which there are loads of in the summer vacation, another reason is cram school or extra lessons for those who want to spend their holiday studying. And last but not least there are clubs. Almost every club at the school is active during the summer vacation as well, and for me that meant wakin up at 8 am almost every day (yes, during the holidays..) and going to school to play the trombone for some 4 hours.
Now, about 2 weeks after I first joined the brass band, my 2 trombone part members wanted to talk to me somewhere quiet. They wanted to tell me that from now (April) and till August, maybe September, they were gonna pratice for a brass band competition. This competition was really important for them and they really wanted to win, so they were gonna practise a lot and therefore not have time to teach me trombone, which meant I would have to play trombone alone for almost 5 months. They were really worried that I would leave the band because of that, but now that I had gotten to know everyone and started to like my instrument I, of course, said I would stay there till I returned to Denmark.
Well, well those 5 monhts went on and they praticed a lot, and I praticed a lot (alone). Of course I was not alone all the time. Another 3rd year trombone girl Miku was really nice to help me now and then when she was not praticticing for the competition. Anyway, finally the summer holidays started and there was less than a week till the competition. Everyone was really nervous cause this was what they had practised every day for for more than 4 months.
I got a free ticket to watch the show and even got the train ticket paid (which spared me a total of 2000 yen). Well, then they played and guess what. They were number 3 out of 50 high schools from Kangawa which meant they would continue to the next competition! They got character 9 out of 10.
THAT made me feel I was in really good hands, being tought by some of the best in Kangawa. And what`s even more cool, the next competition they won as well and therefore continued to the next competition for a bigger part of Japan which was in beginning of September. That one, however they didn`t win. They got allmost top grades by the judges, but you have to be extraordinary good to go on...
Anyway, that was really cool!


Som de fleste er jer nok ved, saa har jeg vaeret medlem af skolens brassbandklub i ca. 6 maaneder, og det har virkelig vaeret en stor del af mit liv i Japan.
For mindre end en maaned siden var det sommerferie hvilket betoed ingen skole ... skulle man tro, men faktisk var der mindst 100 elever paa skolen hver dag...... hvordan kan det vare? Det er der mange grunde til.
Een af dem er lektier, som der ikke er for lidt af i sommeferien. En anden er "cram school" eller ekstraundervisning, for dem som vil bruge sommerferien paa at studere. Og til sidst er der klubaktiviteter. Naesten alle klubber er aktive i loebet af sommerferien, og for mig betoed det at staa op kl. 8 hver morgen (ja, i sommerferien..) og tage toget til skole for at spille trombone i 4 timer.

Naa, ca. 2 uger efter jeg blev medlem af bandet i sin tid, ville 2 af mine medtrombonister pludselig tale med mig et sted, hvor der var stille. De ville fortaelle mig at fra da af (April) og til august, maaske september, ville de oeve til en brassband konkurence. Den her konkurence var virkelig vigtig for dem, og de ville meget gerne vinde, saa det ville komme til at oeve sig rigtig meget og derfor ikke havde tid til at laere mig at spille .. hvilket betoed jeg skulle oeve mig alene i knap 5 maaneder. Og de var selvfoelgelig meget bekymrede for, om jeg stadig havde lyst til at vaere med i bandet. Men siden jeg efterhaanden kendte de fleste og virkelig godt kunne trombonen, sagde jeg selvfoelgelig at jeg ville blive indtil jeg tog hjem til Danmark engang.
Anyway, saa gik de 5 maaneder, hvor de oevede sig enormt meget, og det samme gjorde jeg (men alene). Selvfoelgelig var jeg ikke alene hele tiden. En anden 3. aars trombonepige Miku var virkelig god til at hjaelpe mig, naar hun ikke oevede sig til konkurencen. Naa, endelig blev det sommerferie, og der var mindre end en uge til sommerferien. Alle var enormt nervoese, for det var jo netop det her, som de havde oevet jeg til i over 4 maaneder. Jeg fik en gratis billet til koncerten og fik enda min togbillet betalt (hvilket sparrede mig for 2000 yen). Saa fik de spillet og tro det eller ej, de blev nummer 3 og ud af 50 High Schools fra Kangawa, hvilket betoed de ville gaa videre til den naeste konkurence! De fik karakter 9 ud af 10.
DET fik mig til at foele, at jeg var vi virkelig gode haender: at blive laert af nogle af de bedste i Kanagawa.
Og hvad der er endnu federe er, at de ogsaa vandt den naeste konkurrence og derfor gik videre til en meget stoerre konkurence for en stor del af Japan i starten af september. Den vandt de desvaerre ikke. De fik godt nok naesten topkarakterer af alle dommerne, men man skal vaere god ud over det saedvanlige for at gaa videre ...
Men alt i alt, var det virkelig sejt.

Pictures

Ok folks, it seems that I cant upload pictures to my blog anymore of some reason... Maybe it's full? I don't know. But that means I will have to find somewhere else to upload my pictures and untill then you will have to do without `em.


Ok folkens. Det lader til, jeg ikke kan uploade flere billeder paa siden her af en eller anden grund... Maaske er den fuld? Jeg ved det ikke. Men i hvert fald betyder det, at jeg maa finde et andet sted at uploade mine billeder, og indtil da maa I noejes uden.

Hanabi

The summer is over which also means that Hanabi is over. 'Hanabi' is Japanese and directly translated it means Fire flowers, and what else could it be than fireworks. In Japan they have a very different use of fireworks than we have, at least, in Denmark. In Denmark (and probably the rest of Europe as well) we only have fireworks once a year at New Year's Evening.
However, in Japan they have it practically every day during the summer. They have the so called Hanabi Taikais (Fireworks competition), where companies and firms of fireworks compete against each other in performing the most impressive fireworks show. Usually it takes place on the sea, where a lot of boats sail out some 200-300 metres from the coast line and then perform their show. Since it's a competition between big companies it almost always turns out to be really impressive.

The Japenese like to waer special Japanese clothes on the evenings. The women all wear something called Yukata. If you know what a Kimono is, it kinda looks like it just a lot more simple. Here's a picture of Yukata:


The men either waer Yukata, like the women, or Jinben which looks a bit more "normal" with a shirt with short sleeves and something that looks like shorts

Both women and men wear a special foot wear called Geta:


The fireworks evenings are of course an obvious opportunity for couples to go out.

In addition to these almost daily events during the summer, you can also buy fireworks on your own in any convenient store. These are really popular among young people. It's not anything big, actually it's more just like smalle sticks you light and then they glitter for some 5 seconds. However, young people and children find it really amusing (including me!).
I will upload some pictures I took of Hanabi during the summer.

(Im sorry, the picture uploader doesnt work right now. I will try again soon)


Sommeren er slut, hvilket ogsaa betyder Hanabi er slut. "Hanabi" er japansk og betyder direkte oversat Ildblomster, og hvad andet kan det betyde end fyrvaerkeri.
I Japan har de en meget anderledes tradition med hensyn til fyervaerkeri, end vi har i hvert fald i Danmark. I Danmark (og nok ogsaa resten af Europa) har vi kun fyrvaerkeri een gang om aaret: nemlig til Nytaar. Men i Japan har de naermest fyrvaeri hver eneste dag i loebet af sommeren. De har de saakaldte "Hanaba Taikais" (花火大会), hvor firmaer og producenter af fyrvaerkeri konkurrerer mod hinanden i ud udfoere det flotteste og mest imponerende fyrvaerkerishow. For det meste finder sted paa havet, hvor en masse baade sejler 200-300 meter ud fra kysten og ellers udfoerer deres show. Siden det er en konkurrence, er det for det meste MEGET imponerende.

Japanerne tager gerne noget specielt toej paa paa de her aftner. Kvinderne kommer alle sammen i noget, de kalder "Yukat". Hvis I kender Kimono, saa er det noget i den stil, men meget mere simpelt. Here er et billede af Yukata: (se ovenover)

Mandfolkene kommer enten i yukata, ligesom kvindernde, eller Jinben hvilket ser lidt mere "normalt" ud, med korte aermer og noget der ligner shorts

Baade kvinder og maend tager nogle specielle sandaler paa ved navn Geta: (se ovenover)
Hanabi-aftenerne er selvfoelgelig en oplagt aften for en date.


Udover de naermest daglige fyvaerkerishows, kan enhver der har lyst ogsaa selv koebe fyrvaerkeri i en hvilkensomhelst doegnkiosk. Det er enormt populaert for unge. Det er ikke noget specielt imponerende, naermere bare en pind man saetter ild til, som saa lyser ca. 5 sekunder.
Men unge og boern synes det enormt underholdende (ogsaa mig!).
Jeg vil laegge nogle billeder op, jeg tog af Hanabi i loebet af sommeren.