Day Eighteen: Music

We said farewell to Okasan’s brother in the wee hours of late morning. That is to say, around ten or eleven. A half-hour drive later, we arrived at the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments. I only had an hour and fifteen minutes, so I tried to get around to all the displays I could. They had headphones in front of each little station so you could listen to one or more of the instruments in the display. This slowed down my progress, but I still managed to get around to all of the displays and take pictures while listening to the recordings.

They had some odd instruments there. Like the loopy clarinets (they were actually labeled as clarinets), and a violin with no back called the “Mute Violin”. Now it could just be because I’m sitting in a semi-dark room by myself, but those instruments strike me as having just the right edge of wrongness to them to be involved in a horror story. I’ll keep that one in mind.

On that creepy final note, we’ll move on to my next stop: Okasan’s sister’s house. We were only there for about half an hour, but she served us tea while we sat in the Tatami mat room. Now, I’m not actually sure that I've mentioned the Tatami mat rooms before; they've just never come up. Most Japanese houses have a Tatami mat room from what I understand, although some are smaller than others. They’re those rooms you see in anime with the woven mats on the floor where no one wears shoes, not even house slippers. They’re traditional, so it’s fun to try to sit the traditional way in them. Well, fun if you like removing blood flow from your legs and stumbling around for the next five minutes afterwards while the feeling comes back. It’s not that they usually expect me to sit that way (it’s often difficult for people if they aren't used to it), it’s just that I am a glutton for punishment.

We checked into the hotel and headed out to take a look at some of the shops. Okasan took me to a Yamaha music store, where I found a really nice flute bag. It was blue, and made specifically to fit the case of the flute in it. I was thinking about buying it until I saw it was over 10 000 yen.

Disappointed, I shifted my focus to the guitars on display. There wasn't a sign that said you could play them, but there also wasn't one saying you couldn't, so I figured what the heck.

I can’t actually play guitar, but my brother knew a little and had shown me two songs a couple of years ago. So, just because I could, I picked up a pretty blue guitar and started strumming it. I was having a pretty good time when I looked to the side and noticed one of the workers standing there watching me. I could tell he was trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say in English, and in a moment of horror and panic, I stopped playing.

I was so sure he was going to tell me I wasn't supposed to touch the guitars, and even though that thought hadn't bothered me five minutes earlier, I started to put the guitar back. The man finally managed to say, “Would you like to try?”

But by that point I was feeling too awkward, and I shook my head with a smile. “Oh, no, that’s alright,” I said. “I’ll just, um, put this back. I can’t play anyway. I was just fooling around. Sorry! I’m putting it back.”

I put the guitar back while doing one of my odd half-bows. I wish I hadn't had to reach around him to grab my bag from where I’d set it down, but I did. He seemed kind of startled when I started to reach towards him. He probably thought I was going to grab him in some weird, foreign handshake that was customary after playing guitar in my land. I snagged my bag, gave another blazingly obvious awkward grin, sort of bowed, and then I ran away down the aisle. Except it was more of a fast hop/skip/walk/jog combination.

I was extremely relieved when he didn't try to follow me and it turned out Okasan was on that side of the store anyway. It would have been awkward if I’d had to slink passed him before leaving.

That night, I went out to find a vending machine to purchase a drink. They usually have them in the hotel lobbies, but for whatever reason, this one didn't. I decided I’d go outside and hunt for one. I skipped cheerfully out the doors, earning myself a weird look from the man in the corner. Out in the street, I looked both ways trying to figure out which direction would be best. Then I realized I’d forgotten my cell phone, and if I actually got lost that might be a problem.

I was just going to go with it anyway, but then I saw five guys walking up the street which freaked me out a little, so I spun on my heel and leaped back into the hotel. I’m pretty sure they noticed and laughed. Then, awkwardly enough, they came in after me.

I stopped by the elevator with the man from the corner and tried to pretend I was very interested in the elevator’s progress. When it came, we all filed in and hit our respective buttons. I was second to last on floor seven, but I was so flustered I got off on floor six instead. I was then forced to hide from the two guys I’d followed off because everyone had clearly seen me hit the button for floor seven. Yes, forced. I have to hang on to some semblance of dignity when it comes to complete strangers.

I waited a few minutes before going back down with my cell this time. The vending machine didn't take long to find at all, and I decided I was thirsty enough to justify buying myself four drinks. There’s just something very exciting about using vending machines.

And finally, when buying things in Japan if you don’t speak the language, here’s a little tip: Just pointing and holding up fingers for how many you want is very effective. But be sure to smile, otherwise you look like you’re giving the saleslady the time you wish to pound her to a pulp at.