niko niko maa maa

i have finally presented all the finippon-go songs to the local audience. in the last week the songs, tanuki-stories and the movement nicely became a real performance called niko niko maa maa. themes around the animals, fishes, seaweed and umeboshi-pickles mixed with emotional songs about aurora borealis, happiness and the place of the heart. i was surprised how responding the japanese public was. but on the other hand i had the whole group of the iki iki-ladies sitting in the first rows and shining towards me! i think the highlight for the audience was the scene in which i announced my love for the umeboshi-plums. people were laughing but told afterwards that they were afraid to laugh too much...in case it would disturb me. i feel very happy and fulfilled now. let's see if there is some more future for the niko niko maa maa in this country, or elsewhere for that matter.
my residency here continues some two weeks still. today a local television has been following in my footsteps. probably the umeboshi-thing has made me famous, because they insisted on filming me in the local super market in front of the various umeboshi packages. they don't stop wondering how an alien person (that is how a foreigner is literally called here) can so much fancy this sour pickle! oh, and then we visited again the restaurant-lady with her fulfilled tanuki. she was happy to present her precious stuffed figure again and tell the story how her dog had hunted this tanuki for hours 25 years ago. and it took 1 1/2 days to fulfill the dead animal. and i got to touch this tanuki's balls again.