We are still on Day 1 in Japan! After parting at Yoyogi Park, Adrian, Jamie, Travis and I walked down Meiji Dori to enact the tradition of walking while drinking. On the way, we heard the faint sound of shamisen, shakuhachi and other instruments. It was the group Heavenese doing a live, walking performance! And on the shamisen was none other than Misao Habu, first place winner at the Hibiya Taikai!
Travis pointed to his shamisen, which immediately established connection and "eeeehhhh??"s. After some shmoozing and a “Do you know Kyle?” question (even though I was right there), we brought out our shamisen and performed a group version of Rokudan, complete with Ninja in the background!
Kudos to Adrian, who honorably took up the camera to document the whole incident for history!
In case the camera doesn’t convey the feeling (I didn’t have the camera running 24/7 so might’ve missed integral points), it was the longest period of most intense laughter and epicness that I’ve ever had. It all kicked off from that first day.