Pending your blessing

Aloha Mike, aloha Juan! Writing from Komoro, Japan with the update I've been most excited to send: your instruments didn't just make it to Asia — they played the WHOLE country. The Japan chapter, in three stops: 🗼 ETHGlobal Tokyo (Sep 25–27) — the Kala table became the heartbeat of one of the biggest builder gatherings on earth. Instruments laid out like an open invitation, hackers strumming between commits — and at 2 in the morning, a builder holding his first ukulele like it was treasure. The gift circle never closed all weekend. ⛰️ ZuCity Japan, Komoro (all October) — weeks of community gatherings in the Nagano mountains with our popup-city family. Every circle, the uke came out: the gig bag by the little stage under the disco ball, the music running past midnight into the mountain quiet. And one Saturday night we threw our own show — two stages across the street from each other, MIMI BAR ⇆ 333 BAR, the whole town walking back and forth between them. In Komoro the instruments stopped being guests — they became family. 🔥 Burning Japan (Oct 8–12) — five days off-grid on a ranch in the Gunma mountains, and the ukuleles did the double shift: sets at the Art Sanctuary among the painted boards and prayer flags, and music on the official sound stage, drums on the grass and all. Sunrise over the valley, dusty and happy. Leave no trace — but leave a song. I put the whole chapter on one page for you and the team — every photo and clip straight from the road, at full resolution, and everything on it is yours to use: 🌏 https://shakaleikaumaka.com/kala/japan Next the road turns to Shenzhen, Chiang Mai, and Mumbai — Devcon 8, Nov 3–6, where these same instruments will sing at the biggest gathering in our ecosystem, on the Music Space I'm co-stewarding. The seeds you planted years ago keep flowering, Mike. And Juan — the last time we wrote, your ukes had just landed in Turkey; look how far the family travels now. None of this music happens without the faith you two put in my hands. Mahalo nui loa — from me, and from every stranger who walked out of a circle smiling. With aloha and harmony, Shaka Lei Kaumaka Open Source Orchestra · opensourceorchestra.org · x.com/Shakaleikaumaka