Living in rural Japan is great. Untouched nature, monkey sightings, friendly townsfolk and fresh vegetables at the vegetable stand, we've got it all.
However, I don't think it would be wrong to say that sometimes I feel a little uninspired by the lack of a creative community here.
So when Alex told me about a music festival in Fukuoka this weekend, I was so down. I'm always ready to jump on an opportunity to see people making art. It's inspiring!
The festival, ONTAQ 2016, was a two day extravaganza that had bands playing all over Tenjin. I'm not a music festival expert, but I was informed that the style was a little bit like South by Southwest, with different acts concurrently playing at different venues.
Leading up to the actual date, Alex had been researching the bands and sending me recommendations. I think when I listened to most of the bands on Youtube, I didn't get a clear sense of what their shows would be like, but seeing them live was a totally different experience.
Every show was so fun and the musicians were so passionate, and just so excited to be doing what they were doing. I even got to talk to a few of the bands after their shows! Ugh, they were all so cool.
I ended up seeing about eleven bands each do thirty minute sets, everything from an incredible singer-songwriter (日食なつこ）, to a couple of super fun pop punk/garage rock bands (EVERLONG, セプテンバーミー), and then some stuff that honestly I can't even describe (0.8秒と衝撃). Running around the city, watching people get really into the music, dreaming about being a cool front lady for a Japanese punk band-- I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.
If you're interested, here are links to the other bands I was able to see. They were all amazing!
a crow is white
If you want to check out all the artists who played at ONTAQ, here's the artist roster. If you'll be living in Japan around March next year, I definitely recommend this festival. It was about 3000円 per day, and totally worth it.
Now excuse me while I sing garbled Japanese into my hairbrush.
If you want to check out all the artists who played at ONTAQ, here's the artist roster. If you'll be living in Japan around March next year, I definitely recommend this festival. It was about 3000円 per day, and totally worth it.
Now excuse me while I sing garbled Japanese into my hairbrush.
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