This is a report from the afternoon of the second day of the final training camp in Morioka.

In the afternoon of Sunday the 20th, the group started by practicing for the world premiere of Ryuichi Sakamoto's original piece for TYO, "Time is Tilt," and then moved on to a collaborative performance with a poetry reading.

Due to a section of the Tohoku Shinkansen line being closed, Yoshinaga Sayuri was originally supposed to be able to come to rehearsal, but as the rehearsal was scheduled on the day of the Tokyo performance, it was suddenly decided that the accompanying teacher would stand in for Non and Yoshinaga for the Iwate performance.

A meeting with Yanagisawa based on advice from Director Sakamoto.
The poem will be read to the accompaniment of two songs from the soundtrack of the film "Living with My Mother" and a song by Director Sakamoto from "Still Life".
I have listened to Yoshinaga Sayuri's readings at the four regular concerts so far, but I found it difficult.

I tried my best to mimic the movements in front of the members who looked at me with grins on their faces, and I would be happy if this was useful practice for the members, Yanagisawa-san.

This is a photo of someone wearing bold clothing during the break (I might make this into a series). This is Tsubaki Kanno (a high school senior from Fukushima) who joined the company in the 7th term.

This is the countdown whiteboard.

For some reason, I'm wearing cute hair accessories for Fujita Salem, who is currently on hiatus, and former member and dandy Abe.
"I think it's because all three are easy to draw," said Okada from the Tokyo office.

These are people who practice even during breaks.

This time there will be a lobby concert on stage before the show begins, and they were practicing the songs for it.

In the evening, 24 members of the "Tsunagari Chorus" from all over Japan arrived. Before entering the practice venue, they were given antigen tests, and Eiko Hirako, who is the organizer of the choir, appeared at the end as a chaperone. When I pointed my camera at her, she posed for me.

Yoshinori Kiba, who has been in charge of choral instruction for all regions, sat at the front, and the orientation was given by Hirako.

Next, everyone introduced themselves. There were participants from Shiraoi Town in the Iburi region of Hokkaido and Mashiki Town in Kumamoto, which experienced a magnitude 7 earthquake. There was a person from Ehime who lost a member of the "Connecting Choir" during the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a person who spoke of their feelings for Ukraine. There was a person who came from Okayama, who had traveled from Osaka Itami Airport to Aomori Airport and then arrived by Shinkansen from Aomori Station.

This participant from Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture said that the water outage in the area continues, but she came despite experiencing a magnitude 6 earthquake for the fourth time. To her right, Saki Torii, an oboe from the Tohoku Youth Orchestra, who greeted us with "It's been a while," is a participant from Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture. This time, she participated in a mother-daughter choir with her mother. To her right is Masami, the mother of current members Yota and Yuuki Taguchi.
The family feeling within the Tohoku Youth Orchestra is growing stronger.

This is the line for people looking for calories.

It's a Japanese style outfit tonight.

Then someone called out to me, "Mr. Tanaka."

This was Momoka Seriguchi from Kumamoto whom I met for an interview two years ago. At the time, I heard that she was a third-year high school student who was going to study abroad in Australia, but due to the influence of COVID-19, she enrolled in the program and her classes were remote. It was because of this "remote study abroad" that she was able to participate in this performance.

During the break, fourth-year university student Yui Hashimoto said, "The surface of the violin cracked and broke." Three years ago, during a training camp held at the same Morioka Civic Cultural Hall, a string instrument was damaged due to dryness, so this time we had taken precautions by recommending the use of moisturizers, using wet towels on stage, and spraying the stage regularly.

I'm consulting with Mr. Ishigaki of Kyodo Tohoku, who has been helping me out. Today is Sunday and tomorrow is a national holiday, so if I go normally, I might only be able to get a consultation on Tuesday, the day of the event.

Okada immediately consulted with the mother of Taguchi, a local member of the Tsunagaru Choir.
In the end, I've decided to have it diagnosed at the repair shop tomorrow at 10am. First of all, I hope they can fix it properly.

After today's practice, we reviewed the important points and what to do tomorrow.

I could hear the sounds of them practicing even after the bus to the hotel had left.

This was the Koriyama Friendly Quintet preparing for a lobby concert.
Apparently he was going to take the train and go back to the faraway hotel on his own.

You're probably starting to feel tired by now, so please make sure to get a good night's sleep, everyone, and don't fall asleep on stage during practice (although if you can play while asleep, that's fine too).

Thank you for your hard work!