I recently fulfilled a dream of mine – a cross country music tour in Japan. The cheery smiles of our hosts, the hustle of the city and the endless seas of green rice fields and farmers that cycled between them; memories best left in the heart.

I’m an alumni from the NUS guitar ensemble under the NUS Centre for the Arts management. We’re known as GENUS. For those music afficianados out there, we are an ensemble that plays with guitars with Niibori instrumentation and a whole lot of genres.

Recently, we were invited to go on tour to Japan. Needless to say, it was a milestone event for the club. We had never been overseas (save a short trip to Malacca years ago). Seeing that this was an invaluable chance, many of us jumped at the opportunity. Some like myself, relinquished the chance of attending our own commencement. Some lessons are better learnt beyond our shores.

Our official trip was from the 7th to the 17th of July, although some of us chose to extend it by four days. Within this short 11 day span, we visited Nagoya, Tsu, Kyoto, Fujinomiya, Fujisawa and Tokyo; sat on coaches for more than 30 hours and personally, got enough onsen and train tickets to form a deck of cards.

Being a music tour, it was not all fun and games. On several occasions it involved crazed sprints from performing venue to bus, and cold-sweat inducing moment when we realised that we would have to perform in front Dr Hiroki Niibori, the creator of our Niibori-styled ensemble.

From a cultural standpont, it was an eye-opener. Few of us could speak Japanese. While we had undergone a 3 hour workshop on the culture and language, we were little prepared for the encounters that followed. These were of the interesting, and bewildering kind; given that we also participated in the homestay program. I remember that a good friend of mine who was seated next to me in the flight reciting the Japanese phrases that he learnt. This, at 5 am in the morning.
Each of the cities offered a different slice of life. Nagoya and Tsu was our first stop. This was where I learnt to throw most of the customs I learnt about out of the window. The geniality of my hosts (I stayed with the ensemble conductress and her spritely mom) extended to them offering their whole liqour cabinet to us for the local version of a “small nightcap”. We also had a chance to interact with the local university. I can recall their truncated attempts to speak English to us and our own mangled Japanese interpolated and punctuated with laughter from both sides.
Kyoto was our second stop. Its rich cultural vibrancy allowed us a chance to observe a delicate geisha performance in Gion corner. It was also where we had a good break, and a chance to do things on our own. My particular favourite was cycling around the city to see the sights on rental bikes. We even had the chance to catch the preparations for the local Gion Festival while pushing our bicycles through throngs of people on the sidewalk.

A recurring theme was our visits to the onsens. Nothing describes the searing bath water, and the shock from splashing oneself with icy cold water after. Not forgetting of course, how to deal with modesty issues, for which there was little room. I began to love this so much that I resolved to visit at least one in every city I visited. Needless to say, I lost much water retention weight, and gained in false bravado.


My favourite was our visit to the small city of Fujinomiya, which has a picture postcard setting. In the background, the imposing Mt Fuji, an impenetrable majestic sentinent keeping watch over the small city. This was where I saw the marriage of the urban landscape and nature, where strains of city sound gradually gave way to cicadas in the fields and winds whistling through the mountains. We also had the chance to interact with local city officials who deemed it a great honour to host visitors from the island republic. Most touching was our performance at the local retirement home which left many residents in tears when we left.

Finally, there was Fujisawa where the main niibori school was located. Thankfully, Dr Niibori was more piqued than disturbed (since it was his first time hearing an overseas ensemble) and his colleagues highly enthusiastic in in their applause. They were delighted to have non-professional musicians, and students from NUS visit them. Tokyo was like any other megalopolis, a wonderful and technologically advanced place with electronic districts and countless trainlines; strangely alienating with giant LCD building-front screens in Shinjuku.

I wonder, when we can visit again.

Snapshots of the Journey~~


One The places we visited:


From Frankfurt Station to Rheine!

Summer is filled with flowers, pretty... Pretty. PRETTY!!!! Try playing this! P.s. it.s made of chocolate! Cologne Dom!!! One of the most magnificent Catholic Church in Europe.

two The things we did:
We were lost, then nothing to do, no money. So went back to city centre, wait for everyone, so just cycle around. To amuse ourselves, Alex wanted to take a shot of us .cycling from opposite directions in order to meet at a common point (weilin, physics student). in the middle of the photo. To do this, we NG a lot a lot a lot of times. -Hoe Hiong and Yìn Hong


Things we taught Dr Casteels: 1. Bluff 2. Dai Di 3. Wo men dou shi hao peng you. All these games are totally foreign to him. . Melissa lucky lady, get to teach Casteel how to play.
We soon realized that Dr Casteels like to play safe. During the Wo men dou shi good friends game, he chose to remain silent through out the game and ended up on the level 5 pig. Dun understand the game? Come and ask me!
- Zhao Jin


three The competition:

Of course, the main reason we were there was still for the competition!! Preparation was hardwork, but nothing comes free in this world!



And the Chilly Wind Blew On~~ Five years 12 months and several days. The odd combination of numbers dawned upon me as I reflected on how long it took for this German trip to come to fruition. It may surprise many to know, that 6 years ago (when I was in year one, and after policemen switched to pants) Genus had been invited to visit a small town called Rheine and participate in an international guitar competition. It had been deemed a whimsical idea by many then. Genus would scoff at the very thought of Genus actually going overseas. To a younger me, it seemed like a crazy idea . competing when I could barely even read notes.

Time passed, and Rheine remained a faded memory. Genus changed too. But a new wind blew with our trip to Japan. All seemed possible. And so ”all‘ did come true. An invitation to the same Rheine competition arrived in the mail, and with the sheer grit and determination of Wai, and weeks of practise we sallied forth.


As I try to recall details of the trip, my memory fails, but some memories break through. I remember renting oversized bicycles from the train station and cycling through town with Robert, the chilly wind the bit at the lungs and blew through our hair. The pastoral scenes of bucolic nature . black and white cows near a barn, a field of yellow wild flowers.




I remember waking up and having a breakfast of yoghurt, grains and coffee. Of the birds chirping and the sun streaming into the meeting room where we practised after that. Eating bratwurst sandwiched in a warm loaf of bread, with the sharp sting of mustard that came with each bite in the cold weather. Of sitting in worn wicker chairs in the cobblestoned-markplatz and having a Stauder or a cuppuccino, laughing at each others‘ jokes and reminiscing about times past, warming the heart whilst the chilly wind blew. We also got to visit Cologne, a city defined by history. But perhaps that's another memory, for another time.


Of course, I recall the competition itself that happened on 3rd June 07. We were a bundle of nerves, Cheongsam-ed and Batik-ed folks waiting to perform under Robert. Months of intense training and blistered fingers just for that 10 minutes on stage.




A request from the organizers came. Would your group mind playing the set piece and gelato after the prizes are awarded? Excitement electrifying the dry chill air, a possibility of being placed in the competition. Disappointment came soon after, with a place in fourth. But respect, and a renewed sense of determination took its place as we got to listen to those placed higher, and talked to some of them. Some took 20 hour bus rides from Budapest to get to Rheine. Others, stayed in the same hostel as us and practised late into the night. Non-professional players, putting in their heart and soul into playing in a group, allowing the audience to live vicariously through their music, rather than worrying about placement in a competition. Like what we try to do every time we go on stage here.

Maybe one day, we will get a chance to visit Rheine again and reminisce about our last experience there. While the chilly wind blows on.

More photos in GENUS's website