I wrote this article for Awa Life, the newsletter for JETs in Tokushima Prefecture, which came out today: Six Japanese men in cowboy hats, vests and plaid flannel shirts, a group by the name of Cabin Home, fiddled, strummed and jammed away Typhoon Songda’s howling winds as they took the stage on Sunday, May 29th. I was an attendee of the fifth semi-annual Tokushima Bluegrass Festival, supporting Fumio Fukui-sensei, the machinery and electromechanical systems teacher at my technical high school. After eight months of working together, he had finally shared his secret with me: not only is he fluent in English, but he also plays and sings country, bluegrass and folk music. “ is very simple and easy,” Fukui-sensei told me. “Everyone can play and sing, but it is very deep. Bluegrass and country music has
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