Preliminary...

Last night Dragon Quest IX got the best of me and my post was brought to an abrupt halt as I had to put my adventurers (and Chelsea's - yes, that's right, I got her to play a game!) back on the right path. Not saving one’s progress often enough is always the downfall of any gamer. Though, usually by our mid-twenties we’ve figured this out and plan accordingly so that we don’t have to repeat the story five or six times. Fortunately, I had plenty of time to make up for my lost and re-lost progress as we travelled back and forth and back again to Osaka and various other hotspots for artistic youths.

Yesterday marked a week since we arrived in Japan. First, we stayed just outside of Tokyo-proper for a few days while Chelsea and I adjusted our schedules and Tsukasa broke some paper windows. Kyoto was next, where we performed as soloists and collaborators with various artists. Try here, here, and here  for a few examples of the courageous minds, fingers, and feet with which we conspired. (You may need to turn on your language translator for that last link; it's hard for me to tell since right now all pages show up in Japanese for me). Now, we’re in Kobe, the home of both the Kondos (our hosts, Tsukasa’s parents) and the ever-famous style of rearing and preparing beef. This is where our work has really started to take off and we've made some relationships that will endure the measily tests of time and distance.

I’d talk about the work we did yesterday, but I’m sure Chelsea and Tsukasa will cover enough of that to satisfy your desires. Plus, I’m not ready to talk about it yet. To say the least, I was impacted significantly more than I had anticipated and was surprised by the hospitality of these youths, as well as their willingness to explore the previously -and still- trecherous territories of pre-teen thoughts, hearts, and share them with each other. I’ll address this further when we each write about our individual workshops, sometime over the next few days.
More anon….

- b.e.