HOUYHNHNM

The trigger is always an accident.
Beginning of the trip . To Kagoshima .

Aren't you going to the Jamboree?"

For several years now, the phrase "I've never been" has been a common refrain during the summer months. I've never been. I knew that festivals existed, but I had always thought of them as something out of my league. I have never been to a festival because I have never been able to get my body to move at what is called a "festival.

But at the Good Neighbors Jamboree, no one talks about "who's going to be there this year" or "if I don't go this time, I won't be able to hear them again". or "If we don't go this time, we won't be able to listen to the music anymore," and the only thing people talked about was whether or not they had been to the festival, . It was only a matter of whether or not they had been to the Jamboree, and the sound of the word "Jamboree" was enough to make them feel a slight twinge.

Earlier this spring, I happened to make a new friend in Kagoshima.

"Aren't you coming to the Jamboree?"

It is such an unexpected thing that triggers an action. When I thought of the faces of my new friends in the destination, I felt that Kagoshima became closer to me. I think the pleasure of revisiting Kagoshima is one of the joys of traveling.

From Haneda Airport in Tokyo, which was a little chilly under cloudy skies, we flew to Kagoshima Airport. The flight took roughly one and a half hours. Kagoshima was firmly enveloped in the summer heat. From there, we took a shuttle bus for an hour to Kagoshima Chuo Station . We left our luggage at the inn, rented a car, and headed for the "Good Neighbors Jamboree. The main event was scheduled for August 20. We arrived on the 19th, the day before the main event. Today was the "eve of the festival.

Driving from Kagoshima City, we took the Ibusuki Skyline. As the name "skyline" suggests, it is a highway that runs over the mountains. The road is wide and winding, and it leads to the sky. After passing over a few mountains, the road goes downhill. After passing through a toll booth, the road continues straight and straight with vast fields. We open the windows and enter the forest, surrounded by nostalgic smells. The road suddenly appears when you are driving along the mountain road surrounded by strong trees in the azure of summer. It was the "Kawanabe Forest School," the site of the Good Neighbors Jamboree. A school in a place like this? In a place like this? It was in the middle of a deep, deep forest, beyond our imagination.

The forest school is like a living room.

We parked our car in a parking lot a short distance away and walked up the mountain road to step onto the school grounds. The deep forest is dark and lonely. . I was so happy when I passed through the dense forest and saw the green land spread out in front of me that I couldn't help but smile. I wonder if this is how a traveler walking through the desert feels when he finds an oasis, or is that an exaggeration?

In the middle of the schoolyard there was a big, big camphor tree , and a tree house had been erected. Various people were already gathered under the tree, chatting. Tokyo, Fukuoka, and a few familiar faces here and there. They must have all come here through the forest. . It's a strange feeling, like meeting a fellow traveler. There was a slow, reassuring air there, and I thought it was like a living room in the forest.

As the sun began to set, Shuichiro Sakaguchi (*1) and Hitoshi Okamoto (*2), the organizers of the event, took the microphone and gave their eve-of-celebration address. I learned that the Jamboree's eve party is a gathering to welcome the start of the event tomorrow over a delicious meal together. The chef who will be serving us is Jerome Wague, former chef de cuisine of "Chez Panisse" in Berkeley. The top chef of the most hard-to-get-reservations restaurant in the U.S. is in the middle of the forest, which is a shock. And to collaborate with Mr. Shinichiro Harakawa of the famous restaurant "Beard" in Meguro, Tokyo, is a double surprise.

In front of the old school building, a large hole was dug. The main dish was a special dinner with a whole pig. Inspired by Sakurajima , the symbol of Kagoshima, Jerome came up with this original dish. The pig was buried in the ground with herbs and spices, covered with heated lava rock (he even went to Sakurajima to get it!), and covered with soil. ) and cover it with soil for 24 hours. The preparation team leader, Mr. Shinichiro Nakahara (*3), and Jérôme dig a hole with a sense of excitement.

The palm leaf wrappings were opened to reveal meat that had been slowly heated in lava for 24 hours. Loud cheers and applause erupt. Watching the meat being unwrapped, one could tell how supremely cooked it was. Plates filled with vegetables are laid out, and the serving begins. . Now, dinner is about to begin.

I regret that I don't have the writing ability to describe the taste of the food in detail, but it completely overturned my imagination of "outdoors and meat," and the food was so full, fine, and elegant that I felt as if I was eating at a restaurant that I had made reservations for a long time and finally arrived at, and was just extremely delicious.

While enjoying dinner, the surrounding mountains are completely enveloped in darkness, and the forest school is lit up.

Night eve of the festival. Musical hour.

Standing in front of a camphor tree, the symbol of the forest school, Mr. Sakaguchi speaks up. , "Now, it's time for the music. The BBQ band, formed with musicians from Kagoshima, began to play. Everyone was in a good mood after a wonderful dinner. Their bodies are swaying.

The music that made the air warmed by the BBQ band shiver even more began. Standing in the DJ booth set up in the treehouse was Hiroshi Kawabe (*4).

What bliss to listen to the music of legendary DJs in the forest. The beats of the music are accompanied by the soothing sounds of the greats, and it's a luxurious time.

Some people shake their bodies , some sit on the grass. . spend their time in the forest as they wish. And so the eve of the festival came to an end. Well, see you tomorrow.