The "last night" of the "training camp" was a youthful night, when the members had no energy or stamina to let loose a little. It was a solemn night that seemed to have been taken from a dictionary of famous sayings. Some members were said to have been up until 4am. The morning of the final day of the training camp arrived on a refreshing August 20th.

Due to the travel, and because we returned large instruments such as double basses and timpanis to the Hokkaido University Orchestra yesterday, we are unable to practice in an ensemble today. It is unfair that the brass and woodwind instruments can practice in sections, but the strings and percussion instruments cannot make sounds together. Since we had been cramming a lot of practice for the first half of this camp, practicing the ensemble of Mahler's Symphony No. 1, we decided to have free time in the morning.

Ms. Okada, the "big sister" of the secretariat who worked hard to arrange this camp, called out, "Those going out, please write your name on the whiteboard in front of you before you go out. Make sure there is a university student in your group," and a long line of people lined up. Some people took the bus and subway to the center of Sapporo to buy souvenirs, some went to eat ice cream at the Snow Brand Parlour, and some went for seafood bowls if they hadn't tried any of Hokkaido's seafood yet.

Compared to my daily office work in Tokyo, I was tired from going to bed early, getting up late, eating camp meals with a lot of carbohydrates and fried foods, and drinking with adults during what we called our reflection meetings, so I thought I would enjoy the freedom of lounging around in my room while watching the Rio Olympics. But wait a minute. If there were any members still in the large conference room that we used as a training ground, I thought I would dare to interview them about things that we don't usually get to hear, since I'm here. And I thought I would reproduce their voices as faithfully as possible and post them here. As a result, the report is a bit verbose, but I thought this was the best way to get a sense of even the subtle nuances.

I found one right away. Haruka Hanzawa, who joined this year, is a fifth-year student at a technical college in Sendai who plays percussion. When I first asked her if I could take a photo with her, she said, "The camera's too close," but she agreed with a smile.

Have you secured a job?

"Yes, thanks to you. I will be working for (a certain manufacturer with its headquarters in Hiroshima) from April next year."

That means I'll be living in Hiroshima from next year.

"So I wanted to do what I wanted to do while I was still a student. I had never joined an orchestra before. I was in the brass band in middle and high school. So when I heard about the Tohoku Youth Orchestra from my middle and high school classmate Kanae Matsuzaki, I thought it sounded fun and so I wanted to give it a try."

How was it performing Mahler's Symphony No. 1, which will be the main piece for your concert in March next year?

"It was difficult, but if I memorize the song and practice properly, I think I can manage it."

Where in Fukushima are you originally from, Hanzawa-san? Fukushima City, I guess?

"Yes, my hometown is Watari in Fukushima."

I'd like to ask you again about 3/11. Where were you and what were you doing at the time?

"I was a second-year student at Watari Junior High School in Fukushima City, and after the graduation ceremony for the older students, I was riding my bike with a friend when a big earthquake hit. It was scary."

After the earthquake, there was a nuclear accident.

"In fact, because of the wind and rain, Watari ended up being the junior high school with the highest radiation level in Fukushima City, exceeding 1 microsievert. Outdoor activities were restricted, and since then, the school hasn't had any swimming lessons, even though the pool itself still exists."

Mom and Dad, did you ever try to run away as a family?

"I have a younger brother who is one year younger than me. He's already grown up, and my mom and dad have their jobs, so we have nowhere to escape to, and we're just living here. I've heard that when you say you came from Fukushima, you're met with nasty things. People throw stones at cars with Fukushima license plates. But many children have moved away, and conversely, some have moved here from the Hamadori area, which is close to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. It's ironic, isn't it? Before the accident, people used to say, 'The Hama is enriched by nuclear power,'"

Has anything changed in the five years since the disaster?

"The radiation levels are decreasing, but there are no more children around. I don't see any kids playing outside anymore."

What do you think about the activities of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra? What do you want to do? What do you want to convey?

"I want young people to get adults involved, and draw out adults' money and ideas. It is our generation that will rebuild Tohoku. It depends on how motivated we are. I would like to be able to do that with the power of music."

I see, yes, I am that kind of adult (laughs).

"The problems in Fukushima will take time, but we can't keep calling it a disaster area forever. The rice in Fukushima is delicious. Peaches are in season now, and pears will be delicious from now on too. It would be sad if people stopped buying them because of negative rumors. People from Hiroshima and western Japan who will be moving here from next year are told things like, 'There's no one living in Fukushima, is there?' I want to convey that the area is recovering. Although Fukushima is generally referred to as one area, it is completely different to Hamadori, Nakadori, and Aizu. The Shinkansen runs through here, so I want people to come and try Fukushima's delicious food."

Do you only want to eat fruit?

"My recommendation is Koriyama's Rakuo Cafe au Lait. It's really delicious."

Hmm, what's that, tell me!

"The soft serve ice cream I had the other day was amazing," he said, and I was showing him the internet page and the photo of him eating it on his smartphone.

Mr. Matsuzaki, a member of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra since last year, who invited Mr. Hanzawa to join, came. Oh, what a coincidence. Mr. Matsuzaki, please let us hear your story.

Once again, Matsuzaki Kana is from Watari, Fukushima city, and is currently a second-year student at a medical university in Tochigi, playing the horn.

Where were you and what were you doing on 3/11?

"I was in the second year of junior high school and had attended my third year graduation ceremony. I had just returned home and was alone when the earthquake hit. At first I didn't think it was that big, but then the clock I had hanging on the wall fell off and I thought something was wrong. While the shaking was still going on, I called a friend who lived next door and we went outside together. It was also the first time I'd ever heard an alarm on my cell phone."

I came to Sapporo the day before yesterday and because of the typhoon, evacuation preparation warnings went off multiple times on everyone's cell phones. Was it scary?

"There are a lot of people around me who are scared of warnings and earthquakes and are traumatized."

How did you spend your time after 3/11?

"There was no power outage and everything was fine except for the water, so we were getting information on TV."

I'm sure you were shocked by the tsunami, but the nuclear accident must have been even more shocking, right?

"When we saw the nuclear power plant explode on TV, my mother and my sister, who is three years older than me, couldn't help but laugh. It was so out of the ordinary."

What happened after that?

"For about a week, I spent my daytime hours together with other children from the neighborhood. Because of the wind and rain in the area where I live, the radiation level was higher than in Hamadori, so from the end of March I spent a week each in Aizu, where my grandparents live, and Niigata."

Didn't you discuss with your family whether you should run away or move?

"Yes, that's right, I didn't move."

What do you think of this year's required piece, Mahler?

"It's difficult, but we have some new students from music college who are very helpful. I've been playing the horn since I was in the third grade of elementary school, and I think fellow horn player Sora Akama is amazing, as he's still playing well even though he's only in sixth grade. I'm also happy to be able to play together with Hanzawa-san again, who I've been in the brass band with for a long time."

What do you think is the significance of continuing the Tohoku Youth Orchestra's activities?

"I feel like a lot of people have forgotten about the earthquake disaster. I hope that a great person like Director Ryuichi Sakamoto can take the lead and become a catalyst for people to remember Tohoku. In March of this year, I went on an internship at a hospital in Minamisoma with two friends from university, and also went to Iitate village, and we were both surprised to see so many black plastic bags containing decontaminated soil. There are loads of them around my house too. When I think about it, I think it's important for people to see things from an outside perspective. I guess there's no other way to put the black plastic bags around the house."

How about this activity?

"It's fun. I'm glad there's a place where we can play music. And because we're all from Tohoku, we have a lot in common, and our friends' friends are actually our friends. I realized that just playing music can connect you with so many people," said my two classmates. Wanting to hear some of the younger members speak, I went to the large TV in the lobby, where I found Akama Kanade, the horn player from sixth grade, mentioned earlier, and Tsutsumi Eijun, a third-year junior high school student playing percussion, sitting on the sofa together, looking at the same tablet device.

Both of them are Fukushima City residents who have been participating since last year, and Kanayoshi is a big name who made the instructor, Naeko Ito, say at the "Workshop for More Communication" held the night before yesterday, "Wow, you're an elementary school student! You should be the director of Instagram." Hidezumi also showed his own composition score to Director Sakamoto at a training camp just before the first concert in March this year, and the fanfare he performed at the concert was his own work, so he is a talented person with a bright future.

What are you looking at?

Kanade Yoshi-kun: "I'm being shown a songwriting app."

After all, Eizumi is aiming to be a composer.

"That's right. I'm playing around with making music with this," I said, and the men's 400m final at the Rio Olympics started live on TV. What?! He beat America? Silver medal?! Amazing. I never imagined that I would win a silver medal in a sprint race. The world is full of things that we can't imagine.

By the way, how was this training camp?

Eizumi: "It was more fun than I expected." Kanade: "I'm glad I was able to make friends with the new university students who joined this year."

It's true that you don't often have the opportunity to meet college students.

Kanade Yoshi-kun: "Mahler was difficult and tiring, but I managed to do it thanks to the help of the university students, even though it was practically my first time."

What kind of preparations did Eijun make for the training camp?

"I translated the German instructions on the music score using the internet." Today's elementary and junior high school students are amazing!

By the way, it's been five years since the disaster. What do you think about the recovery now?

Kanayoshi said, "The nuclear power issue is fading from memory, even though nothing has been resolved." After this, Kanayoshi uttered words like "Nuclear Regulation Commission" and "national policy," and said with a philosophical air, "They make everything gray."

What do you want to do as the Tohoku Youth Orchestra?

Eizumi: "I hope it can continue 'permanently' (as he himself said!) to prevent it from being forgotten." Kanade: "I want to convey the current slideshows of the disaster-stricken areas and the voices of those who are suffering. There are some things that cannot be conveyed through music alone."

So, what do you want to convey with the Tohoku Youth Orchestra?

After a little hesitation, Kanayoshi-kun made a joke out of his sad eyes, raised his fist in his right hand and said, "Don't let the disaster be forgotten!" Here is the "artist photo" style that Kanayoshi-kun created for this SNS usage workshop.

When I returned to the main conference room, I noticed two female university students sitting there. I would have liked to hear from people from outside Fukushima Prefecture,

Are you both from Sendai?

"No, it's Fukushima. Shirakawa in Fukushima."

Where is Shirakawa?

"It's in the southern part of the prefecture, in the Nakadori area, close to Tochigi," they said. I decided to listen to what they had to say. Suetome Kazuki has been participating since last year, and is a second-year student at a vocational school in Sendai who plays the viola. Naito Mio is Suetome's classmate from junior high and high school, and has been a violinist since the second term. She is currently a second-year student at a medical university in Tochigi, aiming to become a doctor.

Let's start with Mr. Naito (pictured right).

Where was 311 and what was he doing?

"I was in my second year of junior high school. I had just returned home from performing at the graduation ceremony and was planning to make sweets for White Day. The earthquake suddenly hit me, and I happened to be in the hallway connecting my house to the dental practice, which is my family's dental practice. The shelves collapsed and everything fell on me, and I was really scared because I couldn't get out. Both my father and mother are dentists, and luckily my father was in the dental practice and opened the door for me."

What kind of life did you have after that?

"We only had a water outage, so I watched TV all day. My parents had a business trip to France in two weeks, so I went with them. People in France and overseas were worried about me and asked me if Japan was OK, and I was surprised that everyone knew the word FUKUSHIMA."

How did you feel about the nuclear accident?

"To be honest, even when I heard it was worse than Chernobyl, I couldn't really grasp it."

What will happen in five years?

"As for Shirakawa, I think it took about a year for him to get back to normal."

Next, we ask Suetome about his experience of 3/11. "The earthquake happened when I was at home. It was difficult to get to my grandmother's room at home. The cupboards had fallen over, the refrigerator was still working, and all sorts of things had been knocked over. The water outage was terrible, and lasted for a week. The next day I learned about the tsunami on TV, but the nuclear accident that followed was so technical that I had no idea what was going on."

What about the effects of radiation? I heard earlier that people in Fukushima couldn't go swimming in the pools anymore.

"I don't know much about radiation, but I never really felt like going in the pool anyway."From this point onwards, the conversation with the two began, and as I was casually recording what they said using notes on my smartphone, it's hard to tell which person said which, so here are the words of the two interviewees.

How is the Tohoku Youth Orchestra doing?

"It's great that we've all been through the same experiences. We also share a common passion for music, and can play songs. But when I compare it to the people in Hama (the street area), I can't help but think of those who have had even more horrible experiences. One of the people who moved from Hama to Shirakawa had a father who worked at the nuclear power plant."

What do you think of the Mahler piece you're working on this time?

"It's really difficult! I can't play it at all yet, but I'd like to be able to do so by next year. I was able to get a grasp of the flow of the song during this training camp, and I'm now able to play more parts."

What do you think about the activities of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra?

"We can hang in there because we still have homes. In that sense, we want to do something that will help with reconstruction. I want people to know that even children have this awareness. When we talk about reconstruction, we tend to talk about lowering radiation levels and getting rid of temporary housing, but I think the content of the heart and mental state are also important. I would like to encourage those who have suffered so much through our performances. I would like people who experienced the disaster to listen and watch our performance in Koriyama next year, and to learn about our activities."

When asked about his thoughts on reconstruction, Naito shared his thoughts: "I think there are many ways to rebuild. I think what music can do is to provide mental support. I hope that if we can perform music that moves the audience, they'll understand that these children have done their best."

It seems like there are a lot of things that the Tohoku Youth Orchestra can do.

"It must be very meaningful that children are on the front lines of reconstruction. In fact, there are only a limited number of things that children can contribute to reconstruction. I think music is one of them. Children do not have the strength or practical skills of adults, and they cannot help people's health like doctors, for example. However, I think they can contribute in spiritual ways. It would be nice if we could hold workshops for children in the beach to experience playing musical instruments. Losing your home is a very painful experience, as I'm sure it is for children in Kumamoto as well. In comparison, it makes me sad when people say, "It must have been difficult for us." After this, Suetome and Naito suddenly began talking about those days, saying, "It was cold on the day of the earthquake," "It was especially cold," "The first school lunch, which started normally in April, was milk, bananas, and fish sausages," and "I remember it vividly." My eyes started to blur halfway through, and even though I thought it was not appropriate for an adult to have a sense of duty, I was so moved that I couldn't help but mutter, "It makes me cry." Before the moisture could run down my cheeks, the members who had been in central Sapporo started to return, like wrestlers escaping to the ropes, and I took advantage of this opportunity to finish my depth interviews with the members. I wanted to ask everyone again. What was your experience on 3/11? How did that experience change you? What would you like to do with the Tohoku Youth Orchestra in the future? These three questions probably sum it up, but I realized the importance of meeting face to face, sharing time and the environment, and having a conversation. This is something that is difficult to do through email.

Now, before we leave, we will return the "practice field" to the "large conference room". Regardless of age or gender, we all worked together. Thank you very much to Hokkaido Line Shonen Kaikan Compass for your help. This place was apparently the press center for the 1972 Sapporo Olympics. I learned about the design by Kisho Kurokawa from a comment on Facebook.

On the way to New Chitose Airport, we stopped at a typical tourist spot. When you think of Hokkaido, you think of Dr. Clark. His bronze statue stands tall at Hitsujigaoka Observatory. After the morning interview, I would like to make "Boys and girls be ambitious!" the motto of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra. This is the first commemorative photo of all 51 participants of this training camp. It was difficult to take a group photo of all 51 people in the light rain. I thought that Kishin Shinoyama would be good at this kind of thing, and decided that this was the best shot.

Then, anticipating the crowds over the weekend after Obon, we arrived at New Chitose Airport early and split into groups for Haneda Airport, Fukushima Airport, Sendai Airport, and Iwate Hanamaki Airport to check in our luggage. This was surprisingly difficult, as we were on separate airlines and had to transport our musical instruments as well... After we finished our work, we all gathered again in front of the Pokemon shop in the airport for a farewell ceremony. The main points of my remarks are as follows:

・Thanks to everyone's support, we were able to complete the trip smoothly and without any accidents, except for the first day, which was affected by the typhoon. However, as I said at last year's summer camp, "the trip doesn't end when you get home."

・The Mahler No. 1 that we will be attempting this time is difficult, but please practice it individually and see you at the joint rehearsal in September.

・Following the Miyakojima training camp, we had the traditional Kanto Ippon-jime (thank you for your hard work)!

As the person in charge of leading the three group back to Iwate Hanamaki Airport, I felt like I was making a double bogey on a not-so-great game of golf: going from Sapporo to Haneda, then changing trains twice to get home on a par-4 hole, then suddenly messing up with my driver and going to Hanamaki Airport, then taking a taxi from Shin-Hanamaki Station to Tokyo Station, and then changing trains twice more to get home. However, I thought this was a chance to interview the Iwate group, so I talked to them on the way.

The youngest member, Satoi Kitagawa, a fifth grade elementary school student, plays the violin.

"I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience many new things this time."

Huh, what?

"It was the first time I flew on a plane away from my family," "It was the first time I used my own money and chose something from a vending machine by myself," etc.

That was a great experience! When I arrived at my local airport, I could see my family waiting for me at the exit from the baggage claim area through the glass.

Kitagawa-san: "Oh, Mom, you're getting your hair cut."

Iwahana-kun, who was carrying a large tuba, was picked up by his parents from Miyako, which is more than a two-hour drive away. On the flight back, Iwahana-kun, who sat next to me, told me that his father, who is one year older than me, is actually a firefighter in Miyako, and that on 3/11, the water came up to his knees while he was on the second floor of the fire station. He was unable to contact his father, who was devoted to his work, for a week after that, and he was very worried about him. So when I heard that story, I couldn't help but put a lot of effort into saying, "Thank you for coming to pick us up."

"Wow, Iwahana-kun, you've really grown," Endo-kun's mother said. Endo Hiroto, a third-year high school student from Morioka, plays the trumpet and is a very reliable "big brother." "It was a very good training camp, different from last year's Miyakojima camp," he said. His mother said, "I always look forward to your reports. Thank you. I'm glad you met the new Tanaka Hirokazu yesterday." Wow, "Actually, I got a call from Tanaka Hirokazu, who lives in Muroran, this morning, and I just met him at Chitose Airport." "So you're the 112th Tanaka Hirokazu." What a knowledgeable person! As it happened, I've also included a photo of him and "Muroran's Tanaka Hirokazu," the manager of a yakiniku restaurant in Muroran.

Endo-san kindly drove us from the airport to Shin-Hanamaki Station. "I wanted to talk to you," he said, and in the 15 minutes or so we talked about Tibetan Buddhism. "He's a high school student preparing for exams, but he's about to start practicing with the local brass band," Endo-kun and his son said, and we waved goodbye. Here are some photos of our departure at each airport. First, Sendai Airport.

If you're interested in why Fukushima Airport has Ultraman, do a search.

And Haneda Airport.

Thus, we were able to successfully complete the second summer training camp. Thank you very much to everyone who helped us out. We hope to repay the kindness we received with a great performance. Furthermore, we hope you will look forward to the expansion of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra's activities beyond just performances.
I would like to conclude by quoting two passages from "To My Dear Students," a poem by Miyazawa Kenji, who was born in Hanamaki, a city I had the opportunity to visit.

"Rather, you guys, create a new and just era."

"Oh, don't you all feel the clear wind blowing from your dashing future realms right now?"

We hope to see all the members in good spirits at our joint practice in September next month! Thank you for your continued support of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra.