Go!Go!7188
Rock group Go!Go!7188 will be playing a very brief U.S. tour that includes a stop at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. Joining them are Comorevi ButtEr fly and Doses. An art exhibition by illustrator Tokyo Alice will also be part of the show.
Empty Bottle, August 8, 9:00 pm, 21+
TWIN CITIES – PICNIC
JET Alumni / JAS Minnesota BBQ Picnic
There will be hamburgers, hot dogs, and drinks supplied by JETAA. Feel free to bring something to share if you like. Families with children are most welcome (there is a playground nearby).
RSVPs would be appreciated. Visit http://www.mn-japan.org/ for more info.
Monday, August 6th from 6pm
Boom Island Shelter A, 700 Sibley St NE, Minneapolis
Tanabata decorations
NYC EVENT REVIEW – 77 Boadrum
To celebrate Tanabata on July 7th, Japanese rock legends Boredoms’ musical leader, known these days simply as Eye, and other members led a spiral group of 77 drummers for 77 minutes in a remarkable performance in New York City. Here's a New York Times article about it. A google search for “77 Boadrum” will yield extensive blog coverage of the event, including photos and video.
Below, Eye talks about the role played by Tanabata and Japanese history in planning this event:
"It’s a quite primitive concept. It’s related to where Japanese people came from. There is a river called Amur River, in Russia. Amur River is huge, gigantic river, almost like sea. We Japanese come from the north of the river.
"North means above, above means cosmic. If you go further up in space, there is a river. A river of stars in heaven. We came from this place. Japanese people have an idea of this subconsciously.
"Amur sounds like the Japanese word Ama. Ama means sky, cosmos, the universe. We see the Milky Way as a river of stars, we imagine it’s like a river in the sky.
"In Japan, we have the Star Festival on July 7. It is the middle of the rainy season. If we get lucky, we can see Milky Way in clear sky. Every Japanese person knows a romantic myth related to July 7.
"July 7 is supposed to be only day in the year you can see two stars on each edge of the Milky Way. People think one side as a girl, other side as a boy, and they are meant to be a couple. They can only see each other, once a year, on July 7, by crossing Milky Way. Where did that myth come from? It came our Japanese ancestors who lived near the sacred Amur River.
"The original inhabitants of Japan had a philosophy called Animism, which believes there are numerous gods in nature. They worshiped the gods in nature. I feel sympathy for that way of thinking.
"The people coming from Amur were the opposite, rather powerful and systematic. As new settlers the Amur people needed to get along with original inhabitants, so they declared themselves messengers from the sun, messengers of Amaterasu, the sun god. The Japanese people today came from Amaterasu. We come from the sun.
"7 is the number when we try to express sun as sound. When I glance at the sun, I see number 7."
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