26 October 2010, Seoul

Seoul, the capital of South Korea was the place for our last show on this tour. Again, a new city and a new country for me! I must admit that I am thrilled by all the huge cities we have been coming through: their stunning architecture, their countless high-rise buildings, their big highways, the traffic, in short: the tremendous energy that you feel on every corner. What a big contrast to Europe!

After reading some of my previous posts some of you may already suspect that I am quite a foodie! And you are right! I had once tasted ‘Kimchi’ at a Korean restaurant in Germany and found it very unique and tasty. Kimchi is a spicy, fermented cabbage that is as typical of Korean cuisine as is a pizza to Italian cuisine. I had done some internet research and found out that there is a “Kimchi Academy” in Seoul, a place where foreign visitors can learn how to prepare this Korean delicacy under the guidance of an experienced chef. After our arrival in Seoul I called the Academy and was able to book a 80 minute class for the next afternoon, the day of our show. When I got there I was introduced to the other participants, three ladies from England and one gentleman from Australia and our instructor placed all the ingredients in front of us. From cabbage, ginger, scallions, garlic, fish sauce and some other condiments we prepared our own Kimchi and got it packed to take it home with us overseas! Indeed one of the most unusual souvenirs I ever got!

After the class I headed for the Chamsil Gymnasium were Sarah was already waiting for me to start our rehearsals. We went through our duets one last time to be sure everything would work out well for our 13.000 Korean fans later that evening. And, luckily, it did. A wonderful tour came to an end: with fantastic audiences, exciting experiences and many lasting memories.        

24 October 2010, Macau

We had left Japan yesterday by airplane and flew in to Macau International Airport. During this tour Macau is the only city in China where we will perform. Having been a former Portuguese colony and a thriving trading place between China, Japan, India and Europe, Macau’s historic centre boasts a unique architectural heritage. There are numerous buildings dating back to the 16th century when the Portuguese arrived and set foot on the peninsula. Not surprisingly, this melting pot of European and Eastern cultures gained status as an UNESCO world heritage site in 2005: The unique blend of traditional Chinese temples, ancient catholic churches as well as other remarkable colonial style buildings is not only fascinating, but is also considered the oldest and most complete display of European architectural legacy standing intact on Chinese territory today. As Macau became one of China’s special administrative regions only in late 1999, Portuguese, along with Chinese, is still the official language and is widely spoken among its inhabitants. These also stick to their culinary traditions, which means you will find authentic Portuguese restaurants in Macau. But Macau has become even more cosmopolitan over the last few years. Cotai Arena, the venue of our concert, is part of “The Venitian”, a huge hotel and casino built as a themed hotel in the style of Venice in Italy! 15.000 fans had come to see us this evening at the arena. One of the biggest shows of the tour. I am sure that I have to come back to Macau to discover this unique city more thoroughly. There is so much to explore!

22 October 2010, Tokyo

I am not a sentimental person but I started to feel a bit sorry that we would have our final performance in Japan tonight. It had so far been a fantastic experience to sing in front of thousands of enthusiastic fans and to feel that music is indeed a wonderful link between different cultures. And, our last night was no exception. 5.000 fans had again come to the Tokyo International Forum and Sarah and I had the pleasure to perform in front of them. We were rewarded with a very long, intense applause culminating in standing ovations. Thank you, Tokyo!, or, to say it in one of the few Japanese words I have learned “Arigato, Tokyo!” for your support and for receiving us so well! For our final dinner in Japan after the show we had chosen a traditional restaurant where “Shabu-Shabu” was served to us and all our musicians. Shabu-Shabu is a Japanese variant of a hot pot. Thinly sliced beef strips, vegetables and mushrooms are cooked in a hot broth that is flavoured with some kelp. You dip the meat and vegetables in the broth and turn them around several times until they are done. The rich and savoury broth is eaten at the end of the meal. A truly delicious dish that I really recommend to try if you don’t know it yet. It reminded me strongly of a Swiss fondue which is also always eaten with a group of friends. We kept on eating and chatting for quite a while, thinking back at a great time in Japan.       

21 October 2010, Tokyo

Back to Tokyo again! We still haven’t had a lot of time for some sight-seeing in Tokyo, so Sarah and I ask Hidetoshi if he would be our guide during a short visit of the Imperial Palace East Gardens. He gladly accepts and suggests to also have a look at the Imperial Palace from a view point close to Nijubashi Bridge. The Imperial Palace, home to the Japanese Emperor and his family, is only open for the public on two days of the year, so we would have to confine with a view from the outside. The Imperial Palace East Gardens, however, are open for visitors five days a week. We entered the gardens and strolled the grounds at our leisure. Highlights included the various moats and winding garden pathways which we had great fun to explore. To our surprise there were even some signs in English regarding the history of Edo Castle which stood here before the current Imperial Palace was built on its grounds in the late 19th century. What a lovely respite from all the traffic and densely populated areas in central Tokyo! We literally breath some fresh air before heading to the Tokyo International Forum for preparing and rehearsing before the show.

20 October 2010, Osaka

Today brings a welcome change of scenery after a couple of days in Tokyo: we are going to perform at Osaka’s Castle Hall, the largest venue of our tour through Japan. It can host 16.000 persons and, again, our show is sold out! We leave Tokyo early in the morning by Shinkansen which is as exciting as my first travel on this type of speed train almost a week ago. The ‘Tokaido Shinkansen’, as this line is called, takes about three hours to reach Shin-Osaka train station. We get to our hotel by taxi, check-in swiftly and decide to have a look at Japan’s longest shopping street, “Tenjin bashi suji”. This street is about 2,6 kilometers long and has shops galore. Here you can buy anything imaginable, from the latest designer fashion to traditional kimonos, from Italian shoes to Japanese cosmetics, from the famous mangas to the most obscure high-tech goodies and devices. Osaka is considered the shopper’s paradise of Japan and we are fascinated by the huge array of goods on display. What especially attracts my attention is a very elaborate fruit shop. The fruit they are selling here are beautifully presented and look absolutely mouth-watering. The honeydew melons are particularly nice: they come in boxes clad in some sort of silky paper and their smell is gorgeous. A look a the price tag, however, is shocking: 3.500 Japanese Yen, which is more than 30 Euros, a piece! To me, this is unbelievable. Who would buy a melon this expensive? I ask Hidetoshi, our Japanese companion, about this outrageous price. He tells me that perfect, ripe melons are very popular presents in Japan and therefore people accept prices like this. Interesting to know, Hidetoshi, but no melon for me today!    

18 October 2010, Tokyo

Regular rehearsals are essential for every artist. It doesn’t matter how often you have already sung a certain song – you need to train your voice continuously to maintain its virtues. For our current tour Sarah and I have chosen two songs that we would perform together: “Canto della terra” and “The phantom of the opera”. “Canto della terra”, which Sarah has already performed together with Andrea Bocelli, whom we both very much admire, is so full of deeply felt emotions, we love to share it with our audiences. And, of course, “The phantom of the opera”, which has become a modern classic is a joy for us to sing and does not fail to move our fans.
Tonight will be our third show at the Tokyo International Forum and I am still as excited about it as when I first performed there almost a week ago: no audience is alike and Sarah and I truly want to win the hearts of our fans every time we are on stage.

17 October 2010, Tokyo

Our performance at the Ishikawa Sogo Sports Center in Kanazawa in front of several thousand fans was hugely successful. The audience was especially welcoming and for both Sarah and myself it was a great experience to feel that our fans enjoyed the show as much as we did. Apart from our rehearsals that take place every day, yesterday was a free day for all of us. We returned to Tokyo by train after breakfast at our hotel in Kanazawa. This time, we used a regular train as there is no Shinkansen service between Kanazawa and Tokyo. Sarah suggested that we should head for a traditional “Ramen-ya”, a restaurant serving traditional Japanese noodle soups. Neither of us speaking more than a few basic Japanese words we asked Hidetoshi, a friend of Sarah, to join us for a meal and to show us a typical Ramen-ya. Ramen, a Japanese noodle variety, consists of wheat flour, salt and water and therefore does not differ very much form pasta we commonly get in Europe. Hidetoshi explained that there are nevertheless four different Ramen types: dried (’Kansōmen’), fresh (’Namamen’), steamed (’Mushimen’) and Instant (’Insutanto Ramen’). And, to make things more complicated, the broth also comes in four basic varieties: ‘Shoyu-Ramen’ based on Japanese soy sauce, ‘Miso-Ramen’ a soup base of fermented soy beans, ‘Shio-Ramen’ based on salt, fish and sea food, and finally, ‘Tonkotsu-Ramen’, based on pork bones. I went for the Namemen/Shoyu-Ramen combination, Sarah and Hidetoshi opted for Mushimen/Shio-Ramen. Hidetoshi placed our order and shortly afterwards our bowls were placed in front of us. And, I guess you know it already, our soups tasted as good as they looked! Glad to know that we will still be in Japan for a couple of more days so I can try some more combinations of this delicacy!     

15 October 2010, Kanazawa

Before going to Japan I had done some research in a tourist guidebook on places not to be missed while visiting the country. One of these spots was Kanazawa. Although I must admit that I had never heard about this rather big city of more than 450.000 inhabitants before I was very pleased to realize that Kanazawa was one of the cities where Sarah and I would give a concert. Just like Nagoya and Tokyo Kanazawa is located on Honshu, Japan’s main island. Kenroku-en Garden is considered one of the city’s top attractions. My guidebook said it ranked among the three most perfect Japanese gardens. Therefore, I was very keen to get at least a short look at this extraordinary space. Creation of the garden had begun around 1620 under the supervision of the wealthy and influential Maeda family who kept the garden for several generations and more than 200 years. Kenroku-en Garden is situated right next to Kanazawa Castle, which is a very impressive structure in its own right. Interestingly, according to an ancient Chinese garden manual, a perfect garden must have six attributes: spaciousness, tranquillity, artifice, antiquity, streaming water, and magnificent views. Even though my spare time was very limited, I managed to visit the garden for 1.5 hours in the afternoon. And, what can I say, it was truly magnificent! Being in the middle of October, the fall foliage had just started and the  leaves of the trees were turning a bright red and yellow – it was just so beautiful, and at the same time so different from the gardens I am used to in Europe.

14 October 2010, Nagoya

The day of our performance in Nagoya started with an experience I had been waiting for for quite a while: my first ride on a Japanese high-speed train, the famous Shinkansen! Coming from Switzerland where train travel is also very popular (and mostly on time), the Shinkansen trains had been fascinating me since I was a child. I had been travelling on TGV trains in France and on ICE trains in Germany, so I was eager to find out how these would compare to the Shinkansen. The tickets for our group had been pre-booked so all of us were sure of a reserved seat. After arrival at Tokyo’s Shinagawa train station we found the platform where our train left rather easily (thankfully, the signage was in English!) and waited for our train to approach. And there it came! An attractive, streamlined train in white and blue, quite similar in design to its European cousins. And it stopped exactly where it was supposed to stop, i.e. the doors were precisely in front of the respective marks on the platform. Wow! We boarded the Shinkansen and had just taken our seats when the train took up speed and our ride began. Seats were very comfortable and a light meal was served. But best of all was the extremely smooth ride. We arrived in Nagoya exactly on time after about 100 minutes for the 340 km ride. A very pleasant experience – I wish European trains would be as reliable as those in Japan! We transferred to our hotel in Nagoya and took some time to relax before going to Nihon Gaishi Hall, where our concert was scheduled for the evening and 10.000 fans were expected to see us.      

12 October 2010, Tokyo

Japan, to me, is a very exotic country. When I look outside the window of my Tokyo hotel room on the 25th floor a bewildering variety of skyscrapers and neon billboards spreading out in front of me I am immediately reminded of a scene of  “Lost in Translation”, a movie starring Scarlett Johannson that I have watched years ago in a cinema in my hometown Zurich. Everything looks somehow familiar, yet totally different. I see countless Japanese characters that can mean anything: I have no idea what they describe. Other than international companies’ logos there is hardly anything I can decypher. Tokyo: what a fascinating city – and totally different to any place I have been before!
I was really looking forward to seeing Sarah again this afternoon. We met in a café and it was so much fun to talk to each other over a cup of green tea before heading to the Tokyo International Forum for some final rehearsals. We were going to do five shows in Tokyo altogether, all of them in the same venue. This is always a big advantage as you get more and more acquainted with the concert hall and its specific acoustics. Our first show in Tokyo was not only sold out, but also a tremendous success. Both Sarah and I received standing ovations from some 5.000 fans, which still sends me shivers down the spine. Thank you Tokyo for making us feel at home!

09 October 2010, Todaiji Tempel

Performing in a country where you have never been before is always a challenge. You don’t know how the audiences will react, what their expectations are and how well they will receive you – thus, I guess you can imagine, I was very excited before my first show ever in Japan. Sarah, who had already performed in Japan numerous times before, assured me that the Japanese were among the nicest and most supportive audiences she could think of. Hopefully, I thought, she was right! We had just come to Japan from a show in Canada and our first performance in Japan was scheduled for October 9 at the Todaiji Temple in Nara, about an hour’s drive outside of Osaka. Nara, as I had read before, was the first permanent Japanese capital, and the Todaiji Temple is its most impressive structure. The temple’s origins date back to 752, it had then been rebuilt several times due to wars and various natural disasters and its current shape dates from 1709. What it makes so special is the fact that it is the largest wooden building in the world. Standing in front of the temple you cannot feel but overwhelmed! Admiring this impressive Buddhist temple even more added to my anxiety concerning the show which was also going to be filmed by a Japanese TV station. I should not have worried: Sarah had been perfectly right. Our audience that evening was terrific. It seemed that we won their hearts in a storm. I could not have thought of a better start to our tour and felt immensely happy and relieved!