Kobe Jazz Fest.

On my way to the train, I saw that the local kindergarten was filled with little kids and parents, so I slowed down to see what was happening. I guess it was their Sports Festival, too, just on a much much smaller scale. So adorable!

My colleague and I went to the Kobe Jazz Fest to watch our vice-principal perform with her gospel choir. What a friggin trip to see Japanese people singing gospel in English and everything. They were actually really quite good, but the intellectual implications were sort of mind-boggling. My teacher translated for me what the director said to the audience: "It's very difficult for us to understand the feeling behind these English words, but we really want to identify with what the slaves went through at the time these songs originated." Whoa. Needless to say, it was all very surreal, but really awesome. We also got to see some other big bands and quartets throughout the day at Sonic Hall and other venues like the one below.