So what are some less expensive alternatives to getting your hands on some of these?!?

I have seen that you can build them, but man what a job!

What about using a concert bass drum or a large marching bass drum? We did a taiko percussion ensemble piece last year and didn't have a single taiko drum in the ensemble. I think we still got the point across, though.

Also, Remo has an entire line of taiko drums now (including nagado daiko). We played a concert with the Amarillo Symphony in January and played a couple of Asian pieces that utilize all of the authentic instruments. We subbed a lot of Western instruments to get by, but went ahead and used a few of the smaller Remo drums. One thing that was really helpful in getting a more traditional sound was to use the sticks that I think come with the Remo drums. That characteristic ";click"; of the sticks really added a lot to our feeble attempts to sound authentic.

Another thing to consider is the [i]manner[i][/i][/i] in which you play the drum. To add to the effect, we used the large, over-the-head-type strokes you see in actual taiko drumming (although, you wouldn't want to see any of us in our bare chests, we did this in our tuxes...). My guess is that this helped to sell those pieces. Our conductor is originally from Thailand and grew up in Japan; he was very complimentary of our ";American"; efforts!

So, without knowing what piece you are playing or what you are trying to do exactly, this is the course of things you could try to hopefully ";get this across"; to your audience.

Good luck and let us know what you do!

Well this has perhaps just as much more to do with something that looks like a Taiko. 

You also might want to check out some schools in your area. I wrote a japanese show for a marching band in Abilene, and they used some taiko drums from a neighboring school that had used them in a previous show.