Today was a rather busy day: It started at 11 with a language exchange (German – Japanese) that took some two hours. Then I went to the post office and afterwards I decided, because it was so nice and warm, to buy some decent sushi and go and have a very belated hanami (some cherry trees still have blossoms) at one of the temples nearby, and do some work there. It was a very pleasant day, and although I did not spend that much time outside, I returned home with a face quite fitting the red Tshirt I wore…
Anyway, on the way from the post office to the sushi shop there is a primary school. I pass by it regularly, the building is on one side of a small road and the sporting grounds (essentially a large dirt field) on the other. During the week the road is usually closed for traffic and there are always kids darting across.
Today, although the road was closed, there was nobody to be seen, even the school house itself – many windows stood open – was unusually quiet. Suddenly, loud music was played, somebody had turned on the speakers all over the school grounds. I was startled by the abruptness of the music, but nothing else happened, nobody else paid any attention, there were no kids running to school after lunch break, no teachers assembling outside for a picture underneath the cherry tree… I sat down and listened for a while, but, equally sudden as it started, it stopped mid bar. I am still wondering why the music was played to begin with – and who would play, at 1:30 pm, “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” …