On the seventh day of the tour, we finally arrived at our final destination, Tokyo.

The morning of Friday, March 25th, the seventh day of the tour, began in Fukushima City.
We are checking out from an inn run by JA Kyosai, which has been our long-time supporter .

Right in front of the lobby, there was a local product exhibition called "Okinawa Fair" and posters about Miyakojima were on display. Speaking of Miyakojima, it was the place where we held our first summer training camp at the invitation of Miyakojima City and the Miyakojima City Junior Orchestra . It felt like we had come full circle. Since it was such a good opportunity, we took a commemorative photo of our Air Miyakojima trip with the first group of members.

The elementary school students have grown into high school students, and the junior high school students into university students. Everyone said, "I want to go again." Ashina's sister, who participated seven years ago with the same pink cello case, still keeps in contact with her homestay family.

This is the one who has grown the most.

Accompanying Watanabe Yutaka from the Fukushima office, Sota, who was 5 years old at the time, experienced the ocean in Miyakojima, which he had never been to before due to the effects of 3/11, and the story of him shouting "Shoppeeeeee!" is also introduced in the book "Sound, the Sound of Hope - The Future Connected by the Tohoku Youth Orchestra" (Froebel-kan) . He has already surpassed his father in height, and if he continues like this, he will be about 3 meters tall by the time he is 20 years old.

I'm in charge of car number 3, and today the roll call was handled by veteran Mari Otsuka from the Fukushima office, who was once again amazing.

As I sat in my tour conductor position, I reflected on my lack of growth and set off for Tokyo.

After about two hours, we took a break at the Kamikawachi Service Area in Tochigi Prefecture. The two high school students from Fukushima Prefecture were looking at a poster for a local restaurant called "Mamadoor" and talking with deep emotion.

It's the number one selling souvenir in Tohoku.
"Why don't you buy it so you won't get homesick?" I said.
The reply was "It's local so you can buy it anytime."
Sorry for treating you like an elementary school student from seven years ago.

As for me, I wrote down the local specialties that were next to the register.

I have a weakness for long-established businesses.

A question crossed my mind: "What on earth am I doing sitting in the tour guide's seat on the bus, taking product photos?" But I told myself, "This is my job today!"

Then, Kaizu-kun, who had returned to the bus, kindly called out to me, "Tanaka-san, would you like one?" "Of course I'll have one. Thank you."

You've definitely bought it!
Kanayoshi said, "Eating it makes me feel at ease."
We were talking about how it would be great if local products became known nationwide, so I've included a link to "Mamadooru" here.

http://www.sanmangoku.co.jp/Goods/mamadoru.html

Eat "Mamadoru" as a charm before tomorrow's performance at Suntory Hall. The bus takes another two hours and finally arrives at the Hasuda Service Area in Saitama Prefecture. There is a 45-minute break for everyone to have lunch.

In the food court, which was lined with many stores, what caught my eye was a long-established local restaurant.

Earlier, Mikami-kun, the horn player, had placed the same order as yesterday. Do we have similar taste in food?!

My choice was here.

This is a set meal of miso-braised Kinka mackerel, a Miyagi prefecture specialty, with an extra 100 yen of white rice to make bamboo shoot rice.

The most popular restaurant among the members of the group was the Korean restaurant "Kanbi-sun" . I was also torn between that and Sundubu Jjigae.

I was so distracted by the food that I forgot about today's "statement dresser" patrol.

The third graduate, violinist Noa Iwasaki (from Fukushima Prefecture), will be entering the workforce this spring.
"What is that cat on the bag?"
"This is a case for an eco bag."

I haven't seen my cat in seven days.
"You like cats?"
"I don't like cats. I got one from my part-time job."
"Oh, my goodness! I guess it's something like a talisman. But you're conscious of the overall color scheme of your outfit today, right?"
"Yes, I was aware of it."
This person is recognized as "someone who wears bold clothing."

Sorry for the closed-eyed photo...

I also spotted another person in "bold clothing" waiting in line at Starbucks. This was the second time I'd seen him. He was Satoshi Sekine, an oboist from Koriyama who is now a third-year student at a music college in Tokyo.

"What's the concept behind that paisley shirt and hat?"
"I'm an outdoorsy kid!"
The music college student admires his spirit of aiming for the complete opposite and calls him "someone who wears bold clothing."

We got stuck in traffic before entering Tokyo, but finally got off the highway.

The cherry blossoms on both sides of the train, at the Nippon Budokan, the Kitanomaru Park of the Imperial Palace, and the Yasukuni Shrine, seemed to welcome us. The inside of the train was filled with a sense of euphoria.

Finally, we arrived at our final destination, the hotel in Tokyo.

With the remote meeting coming up, I left the task of car 3 to Mr. Otsuka and returned home. Thank you, Mr. Otsuka.

Finally, the Tokyo performance is tomorrow!