Happy New Year! I finished touring with the band in mid-December, with the last few shows of the year being in Asia. I feel really lucky to have played in so many amazing cities this year, and it feels very surreal that people around the world listen to our music.

After the final gig in Singapore, I flew back to Japan, and I’ll be spending seven weeks here before I head back to the UK in February. The majority of my time in Japan will be spent with my grandad in Ehime, Shikoku. I’ve had a really nice festive period with my family, travelling around Naoshima, Hiroshima and Dogo Onsen before arriving at my grandad’s.

As I will be spending some weeks here in Ehime, I thought it would be a good challenge to try and learn the shamisen. Before my grandma passed away, she’d been playing the shamisen as a hobby. She had two shamisens, and on previous visits I’d had a peek at them but didn’t have
enough time to try and play. As of writing this, I’ve had two lessons and am loving the challenge. At first, I struggled with the sound of my playing — I actually found it a little painful on the ears, especially the harsh attack of the bachi hitting the strings. I soon realised that I was playing unnecessarily forcefully and that of course the shamisen, when played well, is a really beautiful instrument.

Learning more instruments (to a beginner level), I’ve begun to notice some overlaps in basic technique across different instruments. My broad sweeping observation is that the wrist should always be relaxed (as much flexibility as possible, no stiffness and it shouldn’t be painful to you or the instrument), and in melodic playing you are trying to copy the voice (please forgive me seasoned shamisen players if I am wrong). I’m learning minyo shamisen pieces (accompaniments for folk songs), so I’ll hopefully start singing along to my playing in the next few weeks as I begin to find my way around the instrument a little better. I’m already looking into how I can keep on learning when I get back to the UK.

The piano in my grandad’s house hasn’t been tuned since 2007, so I thought I would treat myself to a good tuning. I’ve brought my little Tascam field recorder and will try to write and record while I am here. I’m looking forward to the next few weeks spending time with my grandad, being surrounded by the small green mountains, although I’m a little worried about the incoming colder temperatures and lack of central heating here. I’m also going to try and watch one Japanese film a day from January, so any recommendations are very welcome. Here’s a list of recommendations from friends so far… I ticked off Kokuho at the cinema last week.

Millennium Actress 千年女優 Satoshi Kon
Tokyo Story 東京物語 Yasujirō Ozu
Throne of Blood 蜘蛛巣城 Akira Kurosawa
Monster 怪物 Hirokazu Kore-eda
The Last Dance 大病人 Jūzō Itami
Tetsuo: The Iron Man 鉄男 Shinya Tsukamoto
Cure キュア Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Cloud クラウド Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Kamome Diner かもめ食堂 Naoko Ogigami
Pulse 回路 Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Ring リング Hideo Nakata
Dark Water 仄暗い水の底から Hideo Nakata
A Silent Voice: The Movie 映画 聲の形 Naoko Yamada
Audition オーディション Takashi Miike
A Story of Yonosuke 横道世之介 Shuichi Okita
Battles Without Honor and Humanity 仁義なき戦い Kinji Fukasaku
Tokyo Family 東京家族 Yoji Yamada
House ハウス Nobuhiko Obayashi
The Inugami Family 犬神家の一族 Kon Ichikawa
The Eel うなぎ Shōhei Imamura
The Ballad of Narayama 楢山節考 Shōhei Imamura

Thank you for reading this blog series, and thank you POPEYE for having me.