Just one year ago, the training camp in Miyakojima was held in between two typhoons that passed by in the same week, so this year the location was chosen as Sapporo so that there would be no need to worry about typhoons!

It's landed in a place reminiscent of the Showa era again. I would have preferred Shin Godzilla instead of a typhoon...

Starting this evening, everyone's mobile phones were repeatedly ringing with the sound of emergency area e-mails urging them to prepare for evacuation. What would the orchestra, who experienced the 3/11 disaster, do after taking the trouble to come to a training camp to evacuate during their summer vacation? Fortunately, they did not actually have to evacuate.

As a former offender who received a similar area mail message informing me of a North Korean missile passing overhead when I arrived at the airport in Ishigaki Island on a business trip in February this year, I feel like saying that this situation was "good luck" and that "the Tohoku Youth Orchestra has it all." The best part about the Tohoku Youth Orchestra is that it allows me to have such a valuable experience.

Now, rewinding that eventful day, I went to cheer on the women's table tennis team third place match last night in Hanamaki, which I visited for the first time, and when I got up at 6:30 and rushed to arrive at Hanamaki Airport for the 8:00 a.m. meeting, the three players from Iwate Prefecture and their parents were already waiting for me.

Iwaka-kun, a tuba player and 5th grade elementary school student from Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture, woke up at 4:30 and drove almost 3 hours to come here with his father driving. Here is a group photo of the Fukushima Airport group.

If you are interested in why Ultraman, please search for it! And then there is the Sendai Airport group.

Although we took a group photo, the flight was cancelled. The group from Haneda Airport, including conductor Toshio Yanagisawa, arrived safely at New Chitose Airport.

This time, ANA provided a conference room free of charge as a meeting place at New Chitose Airport for the members who flew out from their respective airports.

We even received some drinks as a gift, so thank you very much! We look forward to your continued support!
We got on the bus except for the group arriving late from Sendai Airport.

We have arrived at our training camp location, Hokkaido Youth Center Compass!

We set up the big meeting at the practice facility.

A group of 27 people has begun rehearsing Mahler's Symphony No. 1, the main piece for the second concert in March next year.

And then, the first dinner of the camp.

It was a high-calorie meal for teenagers, with a lot of fried foods and carbohydrates. Finally, about 6 hours late, the group from Sendai Airport arrived, and the 50 people participating in the camp had an orientation and self-introductions.

This year's captain was chosen without any warning and was Akane Hatakeyama, a second-year university student and violinist from Sendai.

So, the second term of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra's activities has started on an eventful note. I'm looking forward to this year's activities. Breakfast will start at 7am again tomorrow. I, Hirokazu Tanaka from the Tohoku Youth Orchestra Secretariat, am starting to feel a bit exhausted, so I will continue to write this year's report. Please look out for updates from tomorrow onwards. And I would like to ask for your continued support for the Tohoku Youth Orchestra this year.