Do you know the "Cha-Cha"?

Cha-Cha:  noun.  A fast, rythmic ballroom dance of Latin-American origin with a basic pattern of three steps and a shuffle.

In Tagajo, a small suburb of the million population city of Sendai in northern Japan, there is a very special snack bar called Cha-Cha’s.  It is one of my favorite places to go when visiting this area.  When one walks down the street from Tagajo station during the day time, you can find Cha-Cha’s if you look very closely as a very non-descript, somewhat old, small two story building.  What strikes you when you see it is that there are large metal shutters that are pulled down that completely hide what lies inside.  It is frankly not a very appealing site.  In fact, one look at it at this time of the day and you would probably never want to go there when it was open.  Thanks to the knowledge of some of my very astute co-workers, I was taken to Cha-Cha’s during the night time after dinner, to relax and have a few drinks.  I was amazed at what this placed looked like after dark.  The shutters are rolled up to reveal a very nice, clean brightly lit bar with tables that is very appealing  to the eye.

Inside you quickly find out what makes Cha-Cha’s so special.  They have a Master (pictured above along with his son) and a Mama-san who have known my co-workers for many years.  The result is a hospitality that is extremely nice and welcoming.  Aside from the assorted drink and snacks available, Cha-Cha’s also has a Karaoke system for those who want to use it.  They have a regular clientele from the neighborhood that loves to have a good time, and have been typically very engaging each time I have visited.  The Master at Cha-Cha’s also has another wonderful talent – he is an artist.  Many of his original paintings can be found on the walls and I hear that his work studio for this hobby can be found upstairs.  I have had many a good time at Cha-Cha’s thanks to the friendliness of the staff as well as my friends.  I would strongly recommend a visit if you ever find yourself in the Tagajo area!

I'm Back!!!

Well it has been quite a long time since my last Blog post, and I am a bit sorry for the large gap. No excuses, just priorities and some kind of strange lack of fundamental motivation. The beauty of the Blog though is it is still here, ready to be added to at any time. No time constraints, no problems. That’s nice.

So I would like to use this first new post to say a little something about the (relatively) new picture that I have inserted into the title bar of my Blog. It is a beautiful painting of Old Satchmo, otherwise known as Louis Armstrong, along with his well known trumpet. Aside from the fact that I think it is a really cool painting and one that fits in so perfectly with my Blog title, it was actually painted by an old University dorm mate, a guy by the name of John McCloy. I have not seen John since that one year we lived in a UCLA dorm together (on the same floor) over 30 years ago (yikes!), but through the powers of the modern day computer social networking sites I have re-established communication with him through e-mail. We all knew in the dorm that John was a very talented artist and musician. It is really neat to see that over 30 years later he is still utilizing these talents. Aside from his painting of Louis Armstrong (which he gratefully allowed me to use on this site), John has many other paintings of famous musicians, along with some examples of his songwriting and musical skills on his web-site which can be found at http://www.johnmccloy.com. One small world thing I found out about John upon reconnecting with him was that he came to UCLA that fateful year after spending his four years of High School at the American School of Japan in Tokyo!!! Now that is kind of an interesting coincidence don’t you think? Here is one other painting that John did of the famous U.S. musician from the 1960’s Jimi Hendrix. Very cool stuff – thanks John!!!!