April 30, 2009
To celebrate this week of holidays in Japan called Golden Week, allow me to share with you some new pictures of the Kyoto 205 Bus, which runs from Kyoto station to Kinkakuji, which means Golden Pavilion.
If this seems a bit random, let me explain that this number 205 is the number of pitches in the Tonal Plexus master tuning, the number of average JNDs in an octave, and the number of pitches which is central to my work. So, I always get a kick out of seeing things having this number emblazoned upon them.
Recently I found buses numbered 205 in both London and Helsinki, to which I have traveled and also have some personal connections. Searching just for fun online, I also happened across this bus in Kyoto, Japan …
and now I am pleased to have an actual connection there, as I will be building the next Tonal Plexus for the lovely person who sent me these rainy-day photos, composer and pianist Hitomi Shimizu, who lives in Kyoto, writes music for films and video games, and plays a one-of-a-kind 43-Tone reed organ tuned to the Harry Partch scale on C in a microtonal Japanese pop duo called SYZYGYS — check out her recordings on the Tzadik label!
Thanks Hitomi, and Happy Golden Week!
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