Gilroy High Scool Alumni Choir in Japan

Well, technically the choir is not all in Japan any more because many people headed home to wherever they're from after the final concert on the 29th. We are still in Japan touring with Phil and Pam Robb and Rick, Nancy, and Rolf Siverson. Rolf has been our guide since he was in Japan for a while as a teacher assistant teaching English. We'll go into further detail about our trip after the week of touring with the Alumni Choir in another post. Here are a few pictures from the week with the choir (more to come).

This is the Chiba family who were kind enough to let us stay in their home. They made us very comfortable and did way more than they needed to in order to make our stay pleasant. Gage now has a Japanese grandpa, grandma, and aunt in Takko Machi, Japan.


The Chiba family gave us yukatas (even Gage, but he'll have to grow into his) which are summer kimonos. We need to practice putting them on.


The choir spent a lot of time practicing together the last two days in preparation for their final concert (pictured at the top of the post). Our week was very busy with much more than just practicing, the choir performed in many places and we were able to tour and shop a few places also - we'll provide more detail in another post.

We'll eventually get video and more photos up, but that may wait until we are back home. Until then, these photos will have to do. You can also check out these two articles written by choir alumni that appeared in the Gilroy Dispatch:
Return to Takko: Reflections by Monica McAllister Cook
Return to Takko: Reflections by Carissa Heath



(This picture is for Tim and Kimberly, who were taking pictures of all the different cities' manhole covers in Germany - here is a Japanese manhole cover from Lake Towada.)

Our Musical Japanese Adventure

We've been holding on to this post for a long time with grand plans of adding to it, but we decided we just needed to put it up here.

20080620 Friday

06:00 PM - 9:00 PM BBQ at the Robb’s

20080621 Saturday

08:30 AM - 12:00 PM Rehearsal in choir room

12:00 PM - 01:00 PM Lunch in choir room (provided)

01:00 PM - 05:00 PM Rehearsal in choir room

05:00 PM - 07:00 PM Dinner (on your own)

07:00 PM - 08:30 PM Mandatory meeting in choir room

20080622 Sunday

01:00 PM - 04:30 PM Rehearsal in choir room

04:30 PM - 06:30 PM Dinner (on your own)

06:30 PM - 07:30 PM Warm-ups at South Valley National Bank

07:30 PM - 09:00 PM SAYONARA CONCERT at South Valley National Bank

20080623 Monday

06:30 AM SHARP Meet in GHS choir room. Load luggage onto school bus

07:00 AM - 09:00 AM Travel by school bus to SFO

09:30 AM SHARP Meet at the United ticket counter in the International Building at SFO

11:25 AM Departure from SFO on United # 837

20080624 Tuesday

02:15 PM JAPAN TIME Arrive at Tokyo Narita Airport on United # 837

04:45 PM – 05:45 PM NRT to Tokyo Station by local train

06:00 PM – 06:45 PM Purchase ‘bento’ dinners for train (provided)

06:56 PM – 10:17 PM JR from Tokyo Station to Hachinohe

10:30 PM Hotel bus from Hachinohe Station to Welsunpia Hotel

11:00 PM Check-in and bed

It was a long, long day going to Japan and we tried to sleep when we could along the way, but it was pretty tough. Actually, because we crossed the International Date Line, it was a short two days without a night between them - weird, yes. Going home, we'll actually went back in time when we crossed the International Date Line, but we had a night in the middle of our day. And if you don't think that's odd, consider 1, 3, 11, 15 and 169 which have absolutely nothing to do with anything. And, if you add them together you get 199 – which is also odd. And if you continue adding digits until you get down to one digit, you get 1. And 1 rhymes with “done”, so we’ll stop that train of random thought.

Gage did pretty well on the plain. Taking off went very well and he was pretty content on the flight, but we did have to get up with him once in a while when he got tired of looking at either us or the seat in front of him. He had many admirers on the. The altitude change when we descended to Tokyo was a bit rougher. He was rather upset until we got close to the ground, then he relaxed

20080625 Wednesday

08:30 AM Breakfast (provide by hotel), check-out and store luggage

09:30 AM - 11:00 AM Rehearsal

12:00 PM - 01:00 PM CONCERT in hotel lobby

01:15 PM Lunch (provided by hotel)

02:30 PM Leave for Takko by Takko town bus

04:00 PM Visit Takko City Hall to meet Mayor, Superintendent, etc.

06:00 PM - 08:00 PM Welcome Party in Community Center, Meet Host Family

20080626 Thursday

08:30 AM Meet at Takko High School

09:00 AM - 09:30 AM Welcome Ceremony

09:45 AM - 10:25 AM Discussion with high school and junior high students in their classes

One (if not the first) question that the high school students ask was how old Gage was.

10:40 AM Traditional dance and Japanese archery – watch and experience!

11:30 AM Lunch at Takko High School

12:30 PM Travel to Miroku Falls at Lake Towada

01:00 PM Walk to Miroku Falls

02:00 PM - 3:30 PM Drive through Oirase Gorge, then go back to the lake

03:30 PM Free time at Lake Towada

We had some good soft-serve mango ice cream while we were at the lake shopping.

06:00 PM Meet host family at the Garlic Center

20080627 Friday

08:30 AM Meet at Garlic Center

09:00 AM - 10:00 AM Visit Senior Care Center (Miroku Enn)

We have video of Rick Siversen dancing to the choir singing here.

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Takko Elementary School

Half of Gage’s hair was probably rubbed off by the time we left the elementary school (see the video).

12:15 PM BBQ lunch at Ikeda Farm

There were little grills set up on the tables, so we cooked beef, prawns, and shrimp right in front of us, then ate it. There was some watermelon and someone suggested having a seed spitting contest, so we have a few pics and video from that, including an ant dragging one of the seeds further down the sidewalk.

02:00 PM - 03:00 PM Visit another Senior Care Center

03:30 PM - 05:00 PM Rehearsal in Concert Hall.

Cindy Heath, Glen and Gage found some pastries near by.

We went to a sushi party at the home of the mayor of Takko (read Dale’s blog for more info). The Mayor’s son was there as well as some of the members of the city counsel – one of which was the “best looking guy in town”, “The best host in town”, and “a Karaoke champion.”

20080628 Saturday

11:00 AM Rehearsal/warm-up in Concert Hall.

Cindy Heath, Glen and Gage went hiking around. Glen bought a power adapter at the hardware store so we could charge the laptop – it is pretty odd looking since it has ground leads handing off.

12:00 PM Light Lunch

02:00 PM - 04:30 PM CONCERT in Takko Concert Hall

04:30 PM Change clothes and walk to Community Center

06:00 PM - 08:00 PM Farewell Party at Community Center

20080629 Sunday

06:30 AM Meet at Garlic Center

07:00 AM Leave for Ninohe JR Station

09:09 AM - 12:08 PM JR from Ninohe to Tokyo Station

CHIBA (REITAKU)

Dinner at the hotel was served in about 7+ courses.

This is where we bought Krystina’s purse.

20080630 Monday

CHIBA (REITAKU) / MIZUNAMI (REITAKU)

03:10 PM Arrive at Nagoya (Yanase and David)

03:32 PM Leave for Mizunami

04:19 PM Arrive at Mizunami Station

04:40 PM Check in to Campus Hotel. Free time.

We went to see the brass band club with David, but got there too late. They were all packing up their instruments.

06:00 PM Dinner at the Campus Hotel (buffet style)

07:45 PM Visit students’ dorms for the evening ceremony.

Yanase took Aimee to B6 where she stayed while she was there for the exchange thing. We got to see Aimee’s old room and desk area. Gage didn’t seem to enjoy the evening ceremony much (it was past his bedtime), but the girls still thought he was cute.

08:20 PM Return to the hotel

20080701 Tuesday

MIZUNAMI pottery / KYOTO

07:20 AM Visit Chorei (morning meeting).

There was some confusion of what time we needed to be down to go to this, so we thought we were late, but ended up being on time. We went to the girls dorms, where Aimee stayed, and watch them line up out side to exercise. We saw a couple of boys clubs running near by. It started to rain, so the morning meeting ended early.

07:40 AM Breakfast. We ate in the Cafeteria where the students eat.

08:20 AM Teachers’ meeting where Phil gave a speech.

09:00 AM Visited classes with David and toured the school.

10:10 AM Return to the hotel and checked out

??:?? AM Stopped at a pottery store where we bought our plates, bowls and cups, as well as Monica’s bowls, and Gary and Sharon’s floating pottery.

12:40 PM Left for Kyoto

20080702 Wednesday

KYOTO

We visited a few temples

We bought Justin’s sword and hat, the kids’ ninja headbands, Gage’s little Japanese outfit.

20080703 Thursday

KYOTO / ASAKURA

More temples

Aimee’s contacts in Asakura – Miwa Onishi, Nanase and Yoko & Hiroko (Saburo)

20080704 Friday

ASAKURA / TOKYO

20080705 Saturday

TOKYO / NARITA AIRPORT / SFO

Went to see the Japan Tokyo Temple (of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) first thing in the morning - it was closed, but we walked around the area. Accross the street from the temple was a park with a pond FULL of turtles. Glen deciphered a subway map we had enough to figure out what stop to get on and off to get to the temple. Some random Japanese guy helped us get the ticket there and we found our own way back.

Gilroy High Scool Alumni Choir going to Japan

We're gearing up for our trip to Japan ...

Glen started this post for me about a month ago, and I guess I'd better finish it since we leave for Japan in 6 days.

When I was in High School I traveled to Japan with the Gilroy High School Chamber Singers who go every 3 years. Last year when they were there the choir director, Phil Robb, was invited to come back this year to celebrate the 20 year sister city relationship between Gilroy and Takko Machi. He decided to put together an Alumni Choir of chamber singers who had been to Japan with him in the past. Here is a link to the article that The Dispatch did about our Japan trip:
http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/234798-30-ghs-alumni-to-sing-in-takko-machi-for-20th-anniversary-of-sister-city-trip


Glen and Gage are coming along also. We will be with the choir for one week, and then we will stay a second week to travel around Japan sightseeing and so I can show Glen where I lived when I was there as an exchange student in 2000. As a student I created a web site along with the other exchange students. Of all of them, somehow my site is still up.

The Alumni Choir will be having a Sayonara Concert on Sunday June 22nd, 7:30-9:00pm at South Valley National Bank - 8000 Santa Teresa Blvd. (corner of Santa Teresa & 1st Street) in Gilroy. If you are able to come I would love to have you there!