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TI: But then both you and Roy spent some time in Japan training. I think, Roy trained, I think you went also.

PJH: Right.

TI: And, and so what was the impact of that?

PJH: The impact was, I think more of the impact was not to become authentic like what we were experiencing, it was just being completely open to what is possible. To be in a commune of, of musicians, to have to live daily -- this is with Kodo -- live by preparing meals for each other, practicing together. We did this for, I experienced it for, like only about six weeks or so, but that was enough for me to understand, wow, yes, music and your environment inform each other and there would be no way that I could really just kind of, just take and bring it home, so how do I feel about my experiences in Japan? I knew that there would be no way that we would ever become Japanese taiko.

TI: How about issues when you're in Japan, that the taiko groups generally didn't allow women to do the drums, so San Jose Taiko was very different in that way. Was there some resistance from the Japanese about having you as a drummer?

PJH: No, because the groups that we were in contact with already had women in their groups, so again, I might be kind of gender blind, that never was ever the case for me, to see that women are doing this.

TI: So when you guys came back from Japan, how did San Jose Taiko change? What were some of the changes that happened after Japan?

PJH: Well, because Roy stayed with the group for a longer period of time all of a sudden it's like, we had determined just a couple of years before that that San Jose Taiko was not just gonna be a recreational group, that we would be a performance group, but after coming back we thought, well, as a performance group let's try to strive to become the best that we can. And so that was 1982, '83, and then we had another opportunity to go to Japan again in 1987. Between '82, '82 and '87, five years, we also saw Ondekoza, a group, come through America and during that span is kind of, a kind of a illuminating time, too, because the leader of that group saw San Jose Taiko play and, but one of the things he did say, "Sunshine taiko. You guys are, like, really happy when you play. I want you to show this in Japan." And that's how we were invited to go to Japan in '87. Now, it was '87, after that, that point of time, coming back it's like, what was that all about? What was that experience all about? Of course, we came back all rich with ideas, but it was like, we definitely are not Japanese taiko. [Laughs] We played before a Japanese audience and, and people could see that we were not Japanese taiko, but it was kind of interesting, again, our faces, our bodies are Japanese, but they heard the difference and they were very pleased, and they would give us feedback, "Wow, subarashii, beautiful." Come back home and go, yes, what was that all about? I think that kind of was a moment of empowerment for the group to say, we have something to say that needs to be shared through general public, here in America, 'cause we're not gonna be Japanese taiko, but we're homegrown. And it put us on the course to say, "Let's create a professional group." So yeah, the Japanese experience is definitely what were kind of like this path where we would be going.

TI: That's good.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.