Today is a pretty hectic day and it all started with a rather simple email with a title”Urgent Monitoring Tour! Participants wanted!” just 2 days prior.
Hmm….Monitoring tour? What is that? And I read on and then it occurred to me there is a special Premium LIVE performance by Drum Tao at the Okajo Castle. This is definitely something foreigners wouldn’t know about as it is a special invite and judging by the schedule on their website, it is certainly for locals.
So how did I know about this? I subscribed to its fan club (duh~!). So I visited the web page and looked through the content.
There are a few things that really got me interested: Drum Tao’s Taiko performance, Onsen and tasty Japanese Food.
Firstly, we are talking about Drum Tao. They are 4 times Tony Award winners. Performed at Vancouver Olympics in 2010. Sold out shows in North America tour. They played over 22 countries, 400 cities and close to 6.9 million spectators (no we are not talking population white paper).
The hook was that there are 5 pairs of free tickets to be won but with the condition that we have to write about our experiences inside our blogs and social media circles or in their language SNS.
No problem. That’s what I have been doing all along for the past few years.
So I did what I was told thinking it won’t happen and send in an email today at 10am to try my luck . The next thing I know, an email came back to invite me as a media person to cover this special performance. So it has become a special invite, over the lucky draw group.
And why are they doing this special performance?
This project is initiated by the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee and they would like us to report on this trip to be presented to the Japanese Government.
If you are in this business of doing travel photography blog trips and the article is to be presented to the Japanese Government to be part of the Olympic program, would you jump at this opportunity? Heck that would be an exposure 2nd to none for quite some time.
And then Drum Tao came to Singapore earlier this year to perform as well! During their last visit, they did mention about their Summer camp in August and quite honestly I was intrigued! Just too bad I was doing some commercial work then and couldn’t plan for the trip.
Secondly Oka Castle has a very long history. Although it is now in ruins, I would imagine the settings would be awesome for a spectacular performance.
So think about it again: Onsen, Japanese Food and a world class Taiko performance at Okajo Castle Ruins with the possible exposure to the Japanese Government.
Thinking about it just made me salivate even more.
Here’s the itinerary:
October 22th (Sat) 10：00 Meet at Fukuoka airport → Head to Taketa city where TAO’s Home Base is located → Stroll the castle town and Watch DRUM TAO Premium LIVE → Stay at hotel with hot spring and great meal (Hotel is located near TAO’s Home Base)
October 23rd (Sun) → Tour in TAO’s Home Base, experience the great nature of Aso National Park → Experience the “Nagayu Sparkling Hot Spring”, the best hot spring in Kyushu. → Move to Fukuoka/Stay at hotel in Fukuoka (free time)
And now, book via wego.com and use hotels.com to find my accommodations. Do come back to check out Travel Thru’ The Lens: Drum Tao, Takeda and Fukuoka adventure.
More photos of the performance earlier this year through this click.
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