Oguni christmas party: Yosiaki-san on bass guitar
So Yosiaki and Yuko Kawazu took me to the village Christmas party. No Santa-san, but there was a raffle (I won a bathroom pack of shampoo and soap!) and loads of people did a turn. It was rather like the party we had in Sitka, Alaska 6 weeks ago: small communities far from the big city have to make their own fun, so there were about 6 or 7 acts up, for a traditional Kabuki dance, or some rock and roll. Only Westerner in the room, Yuko-san got many questions about who the [i]gaijin[/i] was and I got a couple of dances too.
In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Fol... ... read more 
