Hello, Tokyo!!

October 20, 2007, 11:15 a.m.

Arrived last night in Tokyo, actually Narita, about 1 hour outside of Tokyo. We were met by Eriko, our Japanese interpreter. She speaks fluent English due to a year in college in upstate New York and a couple of years in Chicago at the University of Chicago, were she became a liberal arts major and a Cubs fan. We load up the bus with our 32 pieces of equipment and luggage, and are immediately taken by our bus driver, Azuma (who’s wearing a blue uniform, white cap and white gloves, to the 14,000 seat venue for a production meeting. Not the thing one wants to do after not showering nearly two days. Needless to say, I am probably very, very “kusai” by now. The venue is already active because of the first show, although due to superior Japanese construction and sound proofing techniques, the music blasting in the arena is very attenuated in the production room (which doubles as the hospitality room, where we noshed on the Japanese version of American and Italian food. One thing for the Japanese, they are dedicated, efficient, and hard working people. We had interpreters, drivers, loaders, guards, hospitality personnel, all of them eagerly running around to satifsfied our wants and needs. We are, also, assisted by Emi Yamada, my Japanese contact who I have been emailing over the past few months to secure our visas. Her perfect English was cultivated in the San Francisco Bay area during three years in America.

Next stop by Azuma, was the Hotel Monterey Manzomon, with it’s black slate walls and clean lines, it is the epitome of Japanese stoicism. The rooms are about 10x10, not including the small bathroom, with comfortable but stiff beds and bean filled pillows, which actually prove quite comfortable. Everything in the room is either neatly folded or squarely placed just so, including the not so traditional bathrobe on my bed (I was hoping for a long sleeved kimono). Finally, after nearly two days I fill the bath with hot water and soak for a good ½ hour (this is definitely not an activity in the “roadie’s guide to touring”, but the hell with it, this is really my vacation, remember?) I spend the next ½ trying to figure out how to turn the channel on the T.V., (the remote on has Japanese characters on it) and how to call the front desk to leave a wake up call (evidently “zero” does not mean “help” around here, “39” does, go figure.) Finally, sleep.