Saw a great shamisen concert last night. These two guys, the Yoshida Brothers, played at the local international center. It was pretty awesome, save a Mannheim Steamroller epic rock breakdown near the end which was about as lame as eating finger sandwiches with Julian Schnabel on the set of Basquiat.
It's been a good week overall, had a great day at school today and I'm looking forward to a visit from Sir Will of Greene tomorrow night. C'mon weekend!

This is a shamisen. It has three strings and is played with what looks like an ice scraper.

Not the best photo-but you get the general idea.