Japan 2010

I´m home! I´m back in Sweden and I´m soooo happy for this A M A Z I N G tour! What an experience, I cant even describe the feelings. Let me tell you about it.

1st April
Me and Simon departed from Landvetter airport in the afternoon. It started a bit kaotic on the plane, when we were starting to move, a man began screaming that he wanted to get off. It was a bit scary ´cause I started to think about my own fear of flying. But he got off and the flight to Frankfurt went splendid. After a few mistakes trying to find our terminal, we met Mori-san and we three boarded the plane to Tokyo.

2nd April
11 hours later we entered Japanese territory and got a flight to Sapporo, Hokkaido. We met Sebastiaan Kaptein at the airport for the first time. He had departed from Okinawa earlier that afternoon, it´s in the south of Japan. The band was finally together!

A very nice man picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel in Tomakomai. In the evening we were invited to Yoshida-san and her lovely restaurant My blue heaven. We ate a fanastic dinner and drank so good sate. We were all a bit tired and excited for everything that was going on so it was really nice to relax a bit and get to know eachother. We also got really entertained by Simons tubaplaying, great sound!

3rd April
We got up early and packed our stuff into the rented minivan, destination Tobetsu and Sweden Hills Golfclub´s restaurant; “Leksand”. It was so funny, when we got there, it was like being back in Sweden. All the red little houses and the swedish flags everywhere, it was really nice. The golfclub had very beautiful surroundings and the resturant had great interior, very modern. We were so welcomed by the people there and we had a lovely lunch together with people working at the municipality ofTobetsu.

The first concert were really exciting, there were so many people there. We started with an interview for one hour, hosted by Hiroki-san. We talked about Sweden and the differences between Japan and Sweden. Mori-san did most of the talking, luckily. After a short break we started playing. It was so much fun, finally we started our tour. I was so eager and it went really well. We sold a lot of records and people were so nice afterwards. It felt good.

So we packed our stuff into the van and headed for Sapporo and the second gig that day. This time at jazzclub “Coo”, owned by very nice people, Yamamoto-san and his wife. We got lost a bit and were late for soundcheck so we didn’t eat anything before the concert. I had really low energy and was a bit jet-laged, it was hard to play the first set. But we came around and I feel that it was an okey concert. Not that many people but a very nice feeling about it and the club. Afterwards we got a meal and we cleaned the plates, nothing left. Very funny…

Back to Tomakomai and jazzclub Amida-sama were the party waited for us. Got a few drinks and then went back to the hotel right across the street. Slept very good that night. Like a baby!

4th April
Me, Simon and Sebastiaan started the day with a brunch at a restaurang. It was located in a mall and it was the first time I heard so much noises! It was everywhere! Music and melodies from slot machines, mixed together in a crazy blend of sounds. I was amazed, it was hard to believe that they acctually walk around in this environment and do their shopping. All this together with so many colors and blinking everywhere. Amazing!

In the afternoon we were supposed to rehears and do the soundcheck at Amida-sama. We got there and heard that Mori-san didn’t feel that good and that he was delayed. So we rehearsed everything but made it work for trio also, just in case.

We came back for the concert and the place was packed. We even got presents! Tsuru-san, the owner of Amida-sama, is such a funny and nice man. He really made us laugh, I needed that then. We played on trio first set and the second set we played as a quartet. Mori-san wasn’t well at all but of course, he did the concert like a pro. The audience was so great, we got so much energy from that. You could acctually feel the love coming from them, soooo nice people. Wonderful club! Love it!

Again, Yoshida-san made us a lovely dinner; sushi and sashimi and noodles and everything. We ate and talked and enjoyed, tried not the think too much about the future and the continuation of the tour.

5th April
Everyone gathered at Amida-sama for a final photo and to travel to the airport. This day we were headed for Tokyo to play at the jazzclub Pit-inn. We had a rented car waiting for us at Haneda airport and luckily we had Sebastiaan with us who were used to driving on the left side. After checking in at the hotel we had some time to relax and eat. Me and Simon were really surprised that Seven Eleven had quite good sushi, not hotdogs or discusting microwave heated fastfood. No…sushi…yummy…

Pit-inn was a small club with a very trendy interior, dark and cozy. I was really looking forward to the concert. It acctually didn’t come that many people and I was a bit stummed because the audience were so polite and quiet. So first set was maybe a bit hard but during the break, we got to talk to some of them and it started to feel better. After the concert I met Koji Okada, my myspace friend who came to listen to us. We got cookies as present, they were delicious! =)
We also met Simon Krusell and his girlfriend, very nice couple who lives in Tokyo.

Hungry, as always, Mori-san took us to a restaurant called Denny´s. You could think that this was fast food because of the name who just screams out american diner. Wrong, it was really, really nice food. The chicken was so good. This was something that we did a lot during the whole tour, eat on a late hour. It was necessary so I think I don’t have to have any bad conscience about that.

6th April
Roadtrip to Niigata, about four and half hour from Tokyo. We saw mountains with snow on the top and I shot a picture on bamboo! Beautiful! We had a lot of fun, we really started to get to know eachother and it was great. At the hotel in Niigata, I got a smoking room. That was bad…
So me and Simon took a walk in the neighbourhood , he tried to find a memorycard for his videocamera. Unsuccessfully, but we found a Starbucks who served soyalatte. Happy times!

Jazzflash, a really small club with fantastic decorating. So many things like porslin sculptures and posters everywhere. It was so nice, really enjoyed it. We also got sold out, sort of, the place couldn’t fit anymore people. And if I can say so, this was one of the best concerts for my part. I felt so supported by the crowd and musically, it was starting to come together. The reason why so many people came were because we got a very nice lady helping us with the PR. In newspapers, doing posters and even in radio. Thanks to that, we had a great concert.

We also had a guestmusician, a guitarrist named Fabio Bottazzo. He played a standard and also joined us on my song Cabaré of life. It was really great, he had a nice sound and he did very well on my song.

The PR lady and her friend together with Fabio and his wife joined us at a restaurant. Since Niigata is famous for its tasty fish and rice we went to a very traditional place. I´ve never eaten such things before and I really wanted to try everything. But I must say that the fried squid wasn’t one of my favourites, neither was the whole deep-fried little fish. Nothing wrong with the tastes, it was just the knowledge of me eating it that was hard. But over all, it was an amazing night. The sake was delicious! And the company was…fantastiskt… friends having fun.










7th April
I ate a bad sandwich in the morning and ended up puking. Wasn’t looking forward to traveling in a car for six hours. My stomach was aching so much, ojojoj. But I made it and we got in to Jazzflash, also a very special jazzclub decorated with porslin sculptures and stuff. This club was quite bigger but it didn’t really help. We got seven people in the audience that night and sold only one record, which I got to sign. The good part is that we needed that, needed to have a night were we could goof around musically. It was such a good night, no stress and nice food.

After the gig we went straight to Hamamatsu, one and a half hour away. Mori-sans friend Hirano-san had fixed us a spectacular apartement on the 14th floor (the top) of his building. We came there late and his secretary opened the doors for us and informed us about everything, including that we could eat and drink whatever we wanted in the fridge. The flat was…I have no words…it was topclass apartment. Let me just say there was a toilet that had a warm seating and accually lifted the lit up by itself! And flushes when your done! That´s how top class it was! And the view, oh my god…

I got my own room and so did Mori-san…Sebastiaan and Simon shared a doublebed. That was funny…

8th April
Since we didn’t go to bed until 4 last night, we slept until 12 or something. At one o´clock we went to Hirano-sans house to pick up the drumset. It was a beautiful home with cherryblossom in the garden. We met Hirano-san and his lovely wife and we were envited for tea. When we started talking about food his wife and secretary started to give us different samples of traditional japanese delicacies. Really tasty food, specially the pickled onions made by Hirano-san himself.

We went back to the apartement because the studio where we were supposed to play in was on the bottom floor of our building. It was sort of an art gallery with very nice acoustics. So we did the soundcheck and then headed for a late lunch. The secretary told me earlier that there were 80 people invited for this event. That got me really nervous so I had a hard time eating my food. My heart was beating really fast and it was awful, Im usually not like that at all so I was a bit surprised how I reacted. Well, later I put on my nicest dress and took a deep breath, focused and went down stairs. And crowded it was, literally! Hirano-san did the introduction and then called us up one by one, like boxers heading for the ring. This was also one of my favourite gigs during this tour. Everything went so good and the crowd was awsum. During “Ventilation”, a duo song, they even started to clap their hands in tempo. Lovely people, what a feeling. We sold 23 records, same amount as in Niigata.

Hirano-san wanted to take us out for dinner so he took us to a very fancy restaurant together with his wife and secretary and some of his employees. And again, the food was great. When it comes to the food, Im so surprised that I like it so much, since I didnt even eat sushi in Sweden very often and wasn’t a big fan either. Well, that was before. Now Im crazy about it! We had a lovely time and I tried to keep my grace although I drank a lot of sake. Hirano-san were very happy for the gifts me and Simon bought him, one pin with Göteborg colors and a bottle of Reimersholms brännvin, very strong shit… =)

The party continued at our apartement after we had said goodbye to Hirano-san and his family and friends. We drank some Asahi, the very tasty japanese beer, and also some Santory whiskey, for relaxing times. I shouldn’t have, but I also smoked some Pianissimo cigarettes.

9th April
The door rang sometime around lunch, when we just got up. It was Hirano-sans secretary saying that he wanted us to join him for a special treat. Hamamatsu is known for its delicacy eel and it comes in all different dishes. As a starter we got eel-liver and as main course we got eel and rice. The liver had a very special taste, spongy and very fat. But the main course was very nice and it came in a trippel-layered, wodden box. Beautiful!

We said goodbye to Hirano-san and got in our minivan, heading for Tokyo again. We were a bit behind schedule, we had to check in at the hotel and then travel to Koga, one and a half hour drive from Tokyo. Well we got to Café up´s in time for our concert and also had time for a short soundcheck. Café up´s is a very nice place, small but very cool. In the roof and on the walls you can see signatures and messages written everywhere. The owner Yasuko-san is a very cool lady and I really liked that place, it had a very special feeling about it. Maybe this is why the gig went so good. It wasn’t many people there but again, those who were there, were great audience. The piano tuner was there listening to us and he even tuned the grand piano during our break. Simon was very happy about that, never experienced such service before.

After the concert we stayed for a while, had some drinks and got to write our signatures. Unfortunately, I spelled Yasuko with a W instead of a Y. So, I was a bit ashamed for that but I got back up there and did my best to correct it. Next time I come there, Im gonna bring Tip-ex. Cross my heart!

10th April
We had some time off Saturday before our last gig at Body and soul. So me, Simon and Sebastiaan decided to go sightseeing in Tokyo. We started by going to Tokyo Tower, it’s a tower that looks exactly like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Only, this is much higher and also in red and white. Because Simon and Sebastiaan wanted to go up, I didn’t have a good reason to refuse. Im acctually afraid of heights and I was terrified of the elevator with windows. But we got to the first stop and it was fine, I enjoyed it. The view was magnificent, Tokyo is a very big city, grand in every way. Then the guys wanted to continue to the topfloors and again, I thought that I could handle it. But when we got up there I paniced because you could feel it swing a bit, back and forth. So I was pressing myself to the walls in the center and just wished that it would be over quickely. I had such sweaty hands and was shaking. I will never go up there again, ever! But Im proud of myself, I did it.

We got home and Simon went to find a memory card while me and Sebastiaan went to a Ramen restaurant. It was so good but very big portions, I was ashamed because you couldn’t tell that I had eaten anything from my plate. But we had a lovely dinner and then we got back to the hotel, just in time to change clothes and pack our stuff for the gig.

The jazzclub Body and soul, our last concert. We had some very special guests coming, the swedish ambassador in Tokyo and his wife. Acctually it was tables booked ever since Sebastiaan was there in february so when we got there, you could see reservation notes everywhere. It was a good feeling. And it was really crowded and it was a very nice audience. I didn’t feel that my voice was in top condition this night, I don’t know if it was mentally or maybe I was tired. We had a guest musician, Yasuko-san on harmonica. She played one of her own tunes and a standard. She was really good, I wish I get the opportunity to play with her again sometime. Over all it was a great night but after the concert I felt really empty. It was over, done, completed. Everything that I longed for was in the past. I got a bit sad and it was hard to say goodbye to everyone. Of course we had a dinner together and some drinks afterwards, we went to Momo-sans restaurant. She was very cute and friendly. When we were going, everyone got out of the restaurant, waving goodbye. It was heartbreaking.

Me, Seb-san and Simon-san said goodbye at the hotel. It was sad but Im possitive that we will play again sometime.

11th April
Me and Simon had sightseeing in Tokyo. We did shoping in Shibuya and bought a lot of junk. My god, it was so many people. I´ve never in my life seen so crowded streets! Amazing! Harajuku was our last stop that day so we ate dinner at a pasta restaurant and then did the last shoping. Afterward we went to the hotel and drank some Asahi, while eating the doughnuts we got from a nice lady at Café Up´s (she was also at Pit inn and Body and soul plus that she made us CDs from a recording she did at Pit inn).

12th April
Departure 07.00 from the hotel and then it took us almost 24 hours to get home to Sweden. We were drained, really tired and it was hard to talk. But we both agreed that this trip has been the most amazing trip ever. The biggest event in our music careers. I wish it never ended but everything has to at some point. Its just hard when everything is “the last time”. The last time we ate dinner in Tokyo, the last time I sang Facing south at Body and soul, the last time…the last time…its much more fun with “the first time”.

Anyway, I want to thank everyone who came to our concerts and made this tour extraordinary! Thanks to everyone who bought our CD! Thanks to every club owner who let us play at their places! Thanks to all the wonderful people we´ve met and dined with! Thanks to Hirano-san and his wife who opened up their home for us and also taught us how to use chopsticks in a correct way. Thanks to Sebastiaan who is an amazing drummer and just made my songs rock! Thanks to Simon who is the most melodic pianoplayer I´ve ever heard, fantastic! Specially and particularly, thanks to Mori-san who made this tour happen! Im forever grateful for that, that was asume!

When I got home, I got roses from my boyfriend. Its not that bad to be home...