A very cool café

Rei had insisted we do some form of climbing on Sunday, and luckily for me rain was forecast; which meant that I didn’t have to drag myself out of bed at silly-o’clock to get me down to Yugawara. So, to satisfy Rei’s urge to climb we went to Pump2 instead…

When we got to the wall, Rei proclaimed that she would climb 10 tens (5:10’s); she seemed very excited about this. I think she’s just trying to kill me…I just gone climbing on the Wednesday before for the first time in about 2 weeks and I was crap! So I wasn’t really expecting to be able to do much today but see how long it would take me to wear myself out.

Anyway, Rei bounced up and went into her mission with all her energy…we did 5 and to celebrate the halfway mark we had a little break. Up in the rest area, from where there is a nice viewing window to watch all the people doing the viciously high overhangs on ‘tsunami’ from a comfortable position, we had a nice little rest and our usual animated discussions in English attracted some attention as per usual but this time from someone we actually knew. After a little chat we went back to the business of climbing…

Five climbs later and we were both quite happy to get away from the wall…And Rei had been told that a band that she liked were playing at a café half way between where we were and Shinjuku, so we headed off to the Café.

We walked in the rain down a narrow road, lined with little shops, in a very nice little town. Finally we found the entrance to the café besides a book shop, the signs took us winding behind the shop and upstairs to the roof. The metal stairway opened up into an outdoor lounge area. The rain drizzled through the straw-matting which sheltered the space. Directly opposite, you could see the more solid structure of the main part of the café. As you enter, the hatch to the kitchen would be seen through the ordering window. The band was at the furthest wall in the small, dimly lit room. On the bare sheets of wood which were screwed on to the walls were a mixture of brightly coloured paintings of tropical scenes and artistic sketches. The whole room had the perfect atmosphere for the music which followed.

We were just in time to get a small table at the edge of the room, which someone had just vacated, and we perched ourselves down on the dark wooden oblongs that served as seats. There were only about 12 people in the room, including staff, and the café was pretty much full. Rei got down to the serious business of ordering us some food…climbing is hungry work…and not long after she sat back down, the music started. There three in the band, a cellist, guitarist and the lead guy was on a tiny guitar (I don’t know what they are called) and doing the singing too. His voice was perfect, fitting with the chorus from all three instruments and the atmosphere of the café. Obviously the songs were all in Japanese, so understanding what he was actually singing about was practically impossible for me, but the music impressed me nonetheless. The second song, saw the cellist change to a flute and the front man pick up a Sanshin (similar to the Shamisen) Japanese instrument made of snakeskin…(apparently home to the Okinawa region, where snakes are rife and thus the easiest source of animal skin for music making).
Our burgers arrived, and they were delicious! My BLT was perfect and before I knew it Rei had magicked hers away. Anything other than rice is good, after 8months of the stuff everyday.

The band went on to play some Spanish music, also sung in Spanish, which was impressive, with not even a hint of a Japanese accent. And there was a truly brilliant performance by the guitarist during an acoustic solo, which involved a blur of finger movement over his strings.

They had some really attention grabbing songs, which I’m sure would have been catchy too, if I’d understood them. An awesome band in a cool café…