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1 März 2024 - Adetswil
Life, I have always felt, is akin to a symphony. There are repeating themes that dwindle and crescendo throughout life like the waves traveling different directions across the ocean. Metallica was by far my favorite band as a teenager, and I listened to their music every day for years: in the shower, on my walkman, in the car, etc. I saw them in concert with my dad and brother Packie in the Omni in Atlanta, where we'd watched the Olympics the year before. After that concert they blew up the Omni and replaced it with a new arena, so I can never go back. Fast forward to two Summers ago, when I bought tickets to see Metallica again in Frauenfeld along with Sabaton and Five Finger Death Punch. Metallica got Covid and skipped the concert so I did not see them, but those other two bands were well worth seeing themselves and I listen to them more than Metallica these days. So much so that Iwona has become a Five Finger Death Punch fan and regrets not joining me at that concert (although I dare say she would not have liked me beating up other people in the mosh pit). So when we discovered that FFDP was performing in Warsaw with Metallica this Summer, it became a perfect confluence of three things: the band of my childhood, the country of her childhood, and a band we both now love. To prepare, I have been listening to Metallica's newest album, 72 Seasons, while I do my dumbell workouts. And so meet another two themes, as in my study of Japanese I have learned that there were many differences in their timekeeping system before Western standards were adopted. The seven day week was only used by Buddhist priests; the jun (旬) of ten days was the standard, and is still used colloquially today as 上旬 is the first ten days of a month, 中旬 is the second ten days, and 下旬 is the last part of a month (10 or 11 or 8 days, or last month 9 days). The year (年) was marked by a lunar rather than solar calander and counting was done by the years of an emperor's reign. WWII ending in Showa 20 and they are now counting the years Reiwa (令和時代). We're in year 6 of that era, and the aforementioned Showa era (昭和時代) lasted 63 years. Not surprisingly in Japan today there is a lot of Showa Nostalgia. Each year has, in addition to the 4 seasons (季) and 12 months (月) we know, the 24 sekki (節気) and 72 kō (候). 72 Seasons. A concept strange to the modern man perhaps, but not to the farmer who consulted his almanac or in Norway his primstav.
