Most of the stories done during this trip are planned, but some just kind of fell in my lap, already happening when I step through the door to the bar, cafe or art space where I hope to find a story. This was sort of the case with Organza and the the local music event being put on there by a group of English language teachers.

Hiroshima is full of off-the-wall spaces, little cafes, art galleries and lounges. In Japan, the act of inviting friends over to one's house or having house parties—the culture of enjoying time together within the space of one's personal home—simply doesn't exist. And so, people go out and this includes members from the gai-jin community.

Gai-jin is a Japanese word meaning "foreigner/outsider" (gai meaning "out" and jin meaning "person"). It just so happened that a group of gai-jin had gotten together, invited their friends, and were putting on a very low-key and fun musical gathering at the restaurant and live music venue, Organza, the night of my first day in Hiroshima.

Moriah, David and Jeremy are the three musicians in the video. The event and their performances serve as an example of how music brings people together on so many levels, no matter where you are in the world. With laughs, some nervous kinks, cover songs and a lot of acoustic guitar, the get-together was a success and I left the event feeling good to be back in Hiroshima.

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Couldn't quite place the last song that Jeremy played? Why did he play it? This video was taken on June 25th.

Here it is:

Here's the original song Moriah covered: