Despite all of the previous evidence I had gathered in the two years I had been living there, one hot summer night I stuffed my camera into its bag, hopped on my ママチャリ, and headed downtown in the hopes of finding some people out and about to practice some street photography.
- Aside 1- See, Japanese don't stick around small cities if there are larger cities within drunk driving distance. Miyakonojo was right between Miyazaki and the even larger Kagoshima. The few young and hip the city still had were getting pissed elsewhere.
I knew the summer festival was a few weeks away but I have been surprised by smaller street events before. So who knew? Worst came to worst I'd just bike out to the mountains and try to photograph some nightscapes. Across the rivers, past the schools, through the parks, down the dark streets dimly lit by vending machines.
- Aside 2- The cliche about Japanese vending machines is true. Want a cola? Go find your nearest street corner. I will tell you this, they saved my bacon more than once while wandering the Japanese countryside in the heat.
I crossed the mostly dead main road through town. Only being used by people looking to get on the freeway. I tied up my bike at the many long-shuttered businesses, grabbed my bag, and headed out back to where the bars and izekaya sat.
I heard drums. Flutes. Kokyu. Old women singing old songs. The alley is dark. Dim lights ahead of me. Am I going to find a ghost story down this alley? Am I going to Spirited Away?
- Aside 3- It might have been for the best if I had been kidnapped by Yubaba given the series of health issues that started hitting me a couple of years after this photo was taken. Today I'd love the functioning spine required to cycle around town like that.
And, well, I found what you see above. I later found out who they were but that information has slid out of my brain over the past 13 years. They were putting on a show for the handful of family members and wanderers who happened to be around that night.
In a dark alley, in an empty downtown, one hot summer night in Japan.