On a nice Sunday of summer, early afternoon, I found myself studying (in spite of me) for an exam with the window of my room open. At some point throughout my efforts to concentrate on the book in front of me, I got the impression that a beating sound was coming in through the window, but I quickly dismissed it thinking it was nothing but my mind refusing to work. However, the low yet deep thumping sound kept going. Then I started thinking that it could be an anti-nuclear demonstration. But curiosity was too much (more, at least, than the drive to study), and finally I decided to go out and track the sound to its source.
I was surprised to find the neighbourhood's elementary school's courtyard full of people dancing and playing drums, and even more people gathering around them, enjoying the show while sipping beer. This was Okinawa's traditional エイサー "eisa", a style of dance that is accompanied by singing and the music of the three-stringed 三線 "sanshin" (the ancestor of the more famous "shamisen").
Here, see for yourself what kept me away from the books
