８月１７日立教大学のオルガニストギルドと指導者の﨑山先生（立教学院オルガニスト）が桜美林大学の新しいＦＥＬＳＢＥＲＧ社（スイス）パイプオルガンを見学しました。オルガンの説明を聞いた後、一人ずつ練習してきた曲をオルガンで演奏しました。弾き終わった学生が仲間の演奏を聞いたり、オルガンの中を見学したりしました。チャペルの中で４時間ほど過ごしました。このパイプオルガンが中部ドイツバロック時代のスタイルで作られ、主にG.Silbermannの楽器のような音出ます。日本には数少ないタイプなので、学生にとっては貴重な経験でした。桜美林大学の方々、特にずっと一緒に立ち会ってくださった植木先生と井上先生、に感謝しています。そして、休憩せずに指導した﨑山先生：お疲れ様でした！

5:30 a.m. break at Koganei Park: met and chatted with a newbie (3 weeks in the business) homeless man.  Says he’s going to stay that way until social security kicks in (6 more years…)

6:30 a.m. break at Ryusenji Temple, Tachikawa.  Nice temple, nice toilets, if you’re ever in the need there.  (click any photo for a larger view)

7:30 a.m. break at a park in Akiruno City – you can see the mountains from here – ready to hit that “E-A-S-Y— C-L-I-M-B!!”

8:30 a.m. leaving Itsukaichi Town and heading in to the hills.  My!  Nice easy climb (for the first hour or less).

9:30-12:30 PAIN in the lungs, pain in the legs, pain everywhere on this #EASY CLIMB#.  Sweat running from every pore, eyes blinded by the road.  9% grade for the last hour, spent some time getting to know my bike by walking beside it.  Guys on fancy road bikes puff by.

12:30: 8 hours after departure I roll into the Tomin no mori parking lot. (elevation 1000 meters above sea level)  Nowhere near the glistening lake, but that way lies up, so I decide to be satisfied with the restaurant here as my goal.  While cursing the fool who wrote about the easy climb, I noticed in my map book that there is another road up to the lake that goes through a lot of tunnels – thus avoiding steep climbs?  Oh, I also remembered that my map book was written for motorcyclists, not those on bikes. Perhaps one day I’ll recover and try that other route…

1:30: leave for Itsukaichi, enjoy the 90 minute downhill ride.

3:00 Fold the bike up and ride the train back to the city.  120 km over 11 hours of riding.  Pseudo-successful day?  More PHOTOS can be seen in the cycling photo album, right.

写真の３人はどういう関係をもつでしょうか？今週日曜日から月曜日にかけて、東京から秩父（往復）で一緒にサイクリングをして来ました。私と二人の立教大学生（Mr. Forest Store and Mr. Town Field)が夏の一番暑い時期に行ってきました。３８年ぶりの一泊泊まりのサイクリングでした。（前回が１９７２年で、その時の写真がページ下にあります）暑かったですが、最高の旅でした。素晴らしい田舎の雰囲気、立派な仲間と一緒に走りながら色々な人との出会いがありました。９０歳以上のぶどうバーちゃん、ビールを持って来てくれた寄居の紳士たち、ご馳走を作ってくれた寄居美人、などに出会いました。写真を見たければ、このページの右側にある「サイクリング」のフォトアルバムをクリックして下さい。

東京は今日も暑いです。しかし、私たち東京在住の人間はまったく気にしません。暑い中ですることが山ほどあります。人口の１２億人、犬の９億匹、自転車の２４億台の大都市で楽しめることをいくつかリストアップしました。頑張って遊んでください。

1. Nature watching.  As it is particularly hot this year, the mosquitoes are in fine shape.  They can be found anywhere and everywhere.  Great for catching up on your nature photography.  Sorry, I wasn’t able to get any good shots of mosquitoes for you.  Here are two other flying bugs of the summer instead (and these don’t bite). Click on any photo to enlarge it

１．昆虫観察。今年が特に暑いので、蚊がとても多くて元気です。どこに行っても蚊が一緒にいてくれます。自然観察・写真にはとてもお勧めします。蚊の写真を提供したかったですが、なかなか捕まえられなかったです。その代わり、以下のトンボ、せみの殻をみて涼しさを感じて下さい。（写真をクリックすれば拡大されます）

2. Coffee at Hijiriko (my local).  For a mere 350 yen ($3.00 US or so) you get good coffee, buttered toast, and now (for the season) a glass of orange juice.  Only the coffee is on the menu, the rest appears by magic.  Another pleasure of the season – various stuffed animals have been placed strategically around the room for a festive summer look.

２．ひじり湖（近所のユニークな喫茶店）でコーヒーを飲むこと。わずか３５０円で美味しいコーヒーにバタートーストに季節限定（と想像しています）オレンジジュースがもらえます。コーヒーだけのつもりであっても、サービスで色々でます。そして、季節に合わせた飾りが豊富にあります。私のまん前に熊のぷーさんが座っていました。

3. Zombie Watching.  I kid you not – every morning at precisely 6:15 a.m. zombies gather in parks throughout the city.  It is not certain for what purpose they gather, but gather they do, and by the hundreds.  Here are some I captured a few days ago in a park near my home.  Worshiping the sun, I suppose.

３．ゾンビー観察。冗談ではなく、午前６時１５分になったら東京中の公園にゾンビー（っぽい）人物が現れます。６時１４分まで普通の人間のように隣としゃべったりしてますが、１５分になった瞬間全員が同じような動作（ダンス？）を行います。このゾンビーダンスが日本語で「RAJIO TAISOU」と呼ぶらしいです。

4.  Looking at photos.  I’ve updated many of the photo albums.  Have a look, right side of this page.

４．ショウの写真観察。色々なアルバムを更新しました。右のリンクをクリックしてみてください。

5.  Laughing with (not at, surely) the many examples of “unique English” to be found in Japan.  I’ve updated the “Unique English 2″ tab at the top of the page with many new and exciting ways to fracture the language.

５．ユニークな英語を見ながら暑さを忘れること。久しぶりにページトップの「ユニークな英語」を更新しました。楽しんで下さい。

I’ve been to some very interesting and varied musical events recently.

1. Silent Movie “Phantom of the Opera” starring Lon Chaney (above – no,that is not me after a week without cycling).  This great film was shown at Yokohama’s Minato Mirai Concert Hall, accompanied on the Fisk pipe organ.  Peter Krasinski (USA) was the organist, and improvised for a solid 75 minutes as an accompaniment to the film.  He was brilliant!  I found the combination of his playing and the film much more riveting than Weber’s musical.  The end of the film, where the phantom is bludgeoned to death by a crowd and then thrown into the river was made even more horrifying by the roaring of the organ during the scene.

2. Pipe Organ Mini Recital at a shopping mall (above).  Tokyo’s Toyosu LalaPort Shopping Center has a 19th century English organ by Bishop & Son installed in a balcony on the second floor.  Rikkyo’s former assistant organist Akiko Nishimoto played several concerts July 24.  It was a surrealistic scene – Bach rolling majestically out of the restored organ while a noisy Saturday at the mall unfolded all around.  I’m not sure what the purpose of a pipe organ in a shopping mall is, but there it was, so there we listened.  Ms. Nishimoto played well, even when the shop people below were shouting “Time Sale, only 30 minutes till…” (till they stop shouting?).

3.  Not exactly music, but similarly edifying: Kyogen.  August 1 at Tokyo’s Persimmon Hall.  Traditional Japanese theatre that developed in tandem with Noh.  We saw three short plays, all of which were comedies (as are all (?) Kyogen.).  If you read Japanese, here are the titles of the plays and the names of the actors:

上演目の解説　　高野和憲

狂言「蚊相撲」　　　野村萬斎　石田幸雄　月崎晴夫

狂言「痺」　　　　　　野村万之介　竹山悠樹

狂言「舟渡聟」　　　野村万作　高野和憲　深田博治

NOW to the cycling news.

I have two bikes, the GIANT road bike, and an often neglected and seldom ridden Dahon folding bike.  I got the idea to make the Dahon more like a road bike, and following the advice of one who knows all there is to know about bikes (and owns 13 of his own!), I took the Dahon to Tanuki Cycle here in Tokyo.  Thanks for the advice, Suzukawa-san!  You can read (if you read Japanese) what was done to the bike in detail on the shop’s website: http://tanukicycle.blog75.fc2.com/ (2010-8-1 post)

BEFORE the chop (2006 Dahon Impulse folding bike)

AFTER the chop

Great, isn’t it?  It absolutely flies now, where it was a real putt-putt machine before.  I’ll write up what the shop did in detail tomorrow and close with a photo of the Dahon doing what it does best – folding up for a nap (or perhaps a train ride to some new and distant cycling paradise?).

]]> http://scottshaw.org/?feed=rss2&p=1349 0 http://scottshaw.org/?p=1333 http://scottshaw.org/?p=1333#comments Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:06:32 +0000 scotto http://scottshaw.org/?p=1333 Continue reading →]]> Some say Tokyo is a cool place to live. Perhaps, but not this week. Yesterday it was 35C (95F) in the city. It “cooled down” to 33C (90F) by the time I went to bed. When it’s this hot the dilemma we face is which side of our body should be left upside for the fan to cool, and which side gets to touch the hot sheets. You really should experience it. Aside from the horrors of my sleeping chamber, I beat the heat by – what else – early morning cycling. Yesterday’s photos from the Arakawa River Cycling path at 6:00 a.m.

クールビズ、クールシート、クールそれ、クールあれ。しかし、東京はまったくクールではありません！昨日最高気温が３５度でした。寝た時ベッドルームはまだ３５度でした。こういう季節がやってくると、寝るにも悩みます、ね。私の対策は（やはり）早朝サイクリング。気温が上がる前に出かけるとその日はイライラしません。昨日荒川サイクリングロードで撮った写真です（午前６時ごろ）。

(click on a photo to enlarge, use your back button to return　写真をクリックする拡大されます。バックボタンで戻ります)

HAPPY 5000 KM!  The Giant (my bike) and I logged our 5000th km on the 19th.  Next goal – 10,000 km by 2012.　５０００キロおめでとう！先日マイジャイアント自転車と一緒に５０００キロを超えました。次のゴール：２０１２年の夏までに一万キロを超えることです。

Photos taken from Jonan Shima Beach Park (Click for a larger view, hit backspace to return)　城南島浜公園から撮った写真。（クリックすれば拡大されます。バックボタンで戻ります）

I bought an iPhone a few months ago.  Since it has GPS, I use it to track my walks and rides.  Using an app called RunKeeper, I found that last month I rode/walked about 420 km.  How far is far? I hate math but love numbers on charts, so naturally I tried to surpass that distance in the first two weeks of this month.  Too far?  Now I’m out of order with knee, wrist and neck pains.  Till the weekend, anyway.  Can’t let those numbers slip.

How much money is too much?  Someone at work suggested “I need” a lightweight folding road bike.  I immediately agreed – I NEED a new bike (mine road bike has nearly 5000 km, so you see…).  I must have this new bike.  I even went to the bike store to touch this latest must-have item.  And it only costs 180,000 yen (about 1600 US dollars).  Is that too much? Looking at my bank account, it appears that it is.  But wouldn’t it go well with my riding shorts?

Dahon Speed TT

How busy is busy?  Are you busy?  Who would answer that question honestly?  Absolutely everyone I know tells each other how busy they are – it’s a centerpiece of conversation here in Japan.  We are also “taihen”, which is one rank better than just busy.  If you are taihen, you are close to being “panku”, which is the mother of all “taihen-ness”.  If you are panku you are nearly ready to explode with busy-ness.  Am I too busy? Well, it is end of semester, and things are getting easier.  My schedule is starting to slow down, BUT I AM VERY BUSY, practically TAIHEN, and almost PANKU!!  I shout it to the hills lest you think I am a lazy person that doesn’t earn his keep.  I suggest you do the same.  Here is what keeps me TOO BUSY at present.

1. writing an article on the history of hymns for the soon-to-be published companion to the 2006 Hymnal of the Nippon Seikokai (Anglican Church in Japan).  It’s a real challenge to refine 1500 years of history into a reasonable length article, but I’m 1/3 of the way through.  More busy-ness to come!

2. preparing a new class for the fall semester on the music of the Afro-American church (i.e. spirituals and gospel music).  Listening to the music is great fun, but reading and writing about the sorry treatment of blacks in the US is not.  When will humanity learn?

3. gathering articles for the Rikkyo Institute of Church Music newsletter (which I am, unfortunately, the editor of ).  Would you like to contribute?  I need your article yesterday!

4. reading – Kurt Vonnegut is my hero at present.  I’ve done “Slaughterhouse Five”, “Cat’s Cradle” and “Sirens of Titan” recently.

5. taking portraits of myself  - is this too vain? I find my eyes really do sparkle in photos…

Rainbow Concert Part I: Senior choir members

Rainbow Concert Part II: Full student choir

Rainbow Concert Part III: Mozart Missa Brevis in F-Dur K192

After the concert, the choir was busy on Friday, July 2, when the chapel choir of Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, joined us for a joint service of Evensong.  The two choirs singing Howells “Prayer for St Cecilia” was stunning!  After the service, the Oxford choir sang a 45 minute concert, followed by a party.  The Rikkyo choir will be visiting Oxford next February, so we look forward to a reunion on UK territory.  I don’t have any photos of the event, but here is a PR shot of the Corpus Christi choir.

Oxford University Corpus Christi College Chapel Choir

The choir’s final big event of the season was the singing of a service and concert at Tokyo’s Holy Trinity Anglican Church last Sunday.  The event commemorated the installation of the fine Harrison & Harrison organ there 30 years ago.  I played the service and a 20 minute mini-concert after the service.  After that the choir sang another 30 minutes.  All in all, a busy few weeks.  Here a some photos from my iPhone of the church and organ.

Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Tokyo's Harrison and Harrison organ console

Organist's view, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Tokyo

LASTLY, as usual I head for the hills on my bike when these stressful events are over.  On Monday I managed a nice 75 km ride before storms hit.  Breakfast at Kasai Rinkai Koen on Tokyo Bay, then a 2 hour ride up the Arakawa River to home.  One minor tumble from the bike gave great bruises to brag over for the coming week.  What fun we do have!

Breakfast view from Kasai Rinkai Koen, Tokyo

Breakfast party for 1 at Kasai Rinkai Koen