Spring 2024 was our last season in Korea. We made a number of trips, but were so busy we lacked the time to post about them. Now back permanently in the US, we post about these trips to preserve our memories of them and, we hope, for your pleasure. Written some time after the trip itself though, these posts will be more pictures, less prose.
In April we made a very quick trip to Japan (as one does) because one of my favorite jazz musicians was playing at the Tokyo Blue Note, with his great trio. Avishai Cohen is an Israeli double bassist who blends “Middle Eastern, eastern European, and African-American musical idioms” (John Fordham, writing in The Guardian; quoted in Cohen’s Wikipedia entry). Give them a listen:
We thought we would just stay for one set, but we enjoyed the music so much we stayed for both. After the show we had a chance to chat with the drummer. We were sitting near a friend of hers, who introduced us. And we also waited in line to buy a CD and have it autographed by the band.
Before we left Tokyo the following day we had some time to explore, since our flight did not leave until the evening. We went to Ueno Park, which was quite lovely. Inside the park there is a special section devoted to peonies:
On the way out, we found a great food street just on the other (east) side of the Ueno metro stop. We ate outside Japanese izakaya food, little tasty bites. I got a bunch of sashimi, and Teresa varieties of grilled skewers.
Readers of this blog may recall that our last trip to Japan was mixed bag. Tokyo the second time around was much better. Here’s to second chances for all of us!
Peonies and jazz–pure joy!