'twas the night before NATC, and all through the house...

Some of you may know the song "Soma," that we often play as a finale at our performances. The title means running horse. The composer is Moko Igarashi, who lives and teaches in Tokyo, Japan. This April, at the end of the Shidara residency program, Karen was able to visit Moko-san at one of the schools where she teaches. Karen was able to express our thanks in person for being able to play "Soma," and to give Moko-san a small gift: a picture book of Tucson.

Apparently, Moko-san takes a couple of months to motorcycle across some continent or other each summer. This year, she was inspired by the picture book to visit Tucson, even though she landed in North Carolina (where she picked up her new BM) and was bound for Vancouver, B.C. (seriously). So after crossing the entire country diagonally, she headed straight down through Nevada to Tucson! 

She arrived Sunday afternoon, after having driven days through the staggering heat, and we treated her to our favorite carnitas tacos at Taqueria Juanitos. 

We were lucky to have her here for the next day and night. We took her out to the Tanque Verde trailhead that night. The next day, after showing her Rhythm Industry Performance Factory, we walked 4th Ave, hit Antigone Books, and then met other Odaiko Sonorans for a Korean lunch at Takamatsu. After that, it was fulfilling her mission to Kokopelli charms, and then west for the sunset at Gates Pass. She took off this morning, headed back to North Carolina. The woman has some serious huevos!

Now we're packing our bags for the North American Taiko Conference. We leave at 1pm tomorrow for L.A. Stayed tuned for more images and words. You can follow us on Twitter to find out when we update: http://twitter.com/tucsontaiko

—Karen