Mini concert by volunteers @Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture

The setting for this story is Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture.

Volunteer band members head from the waiting area, Kikuya Musical Instrument Store, to the venue, Latobu (on the right in the photo), in front of Iwaki Station.

Small Info①
According to Latov's manager, Saito, "The weather is good today, and the wind is calm. We're in luck! We're glad it wasn't yesterday!"

Small Info②
Participant Hashimoto-san (from Iwaki City) said, "What you see in front (in the photo) is Iwakidaira Castle (the former site). It was built to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Iwaki City's municipal incorporation, but it's not a castle."

Let us introduce this year's volunteers.
The 13 members are: Akane Hatakeyama (from Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture), Risa Takahashi (from Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture), Yuri Nishimura (from Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture), Karin Hashimoto (from Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture), Miki Hattori (from Miharu Town, Fukushima Prefecture), Hidekatsu Abe (from Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture), Yui Arakawa (from Shirakawa City, Fukushima Prefecture), Ryuyo Otani (from Shirakawa City, Fukushima Prefecture), Yuta Tomizawa (from Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture), Mizuki Sone (from Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture), Yuto Nakamura (from Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture), Mone Fukusumi (from Tomiya City, Miyagi Prefecture), and Keita Sato (from Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture).

Tomizawa-kun, a local Iwaki native, was the driving force behind making this mini-concert a reality.
Thanks to the efforts of many people, we were also able to have guests from the Izumi Gyokuro temporary housing complex in Iwaki City participate.

The special feature of this performance is that it is divided into two parts: "Brass Ensemble" and "Woodwind and String Ensemble."
First, the brass ensemble started at 12:30 at the entrance of Latov.

"And into the Legend" from Dragon Quest / Doraemon Medley / Carpenters Medley / Kiki's Delivery Service Medley / Nursery Rhyme Medley

It seems to be much calmer than yesterday, but they still played hard in the strong wind.

The host was Nishimura Yuri, a local from Iwaki City.

The man in the foreground filming is Mr. Fukuzumi (Maon's father), who came with his wife from Miyagi Prefecture. Thank you for your continued support of Tohoku Youth.

Then, at 2pm, the woodwind and string ensemble will perform inside Latov.

Apple Song / If I Were Wrapped in Kindness / Yae no Sakura / Valentine Kiss / Love

The presenter here is also from the local city of Iwaki, Tomizawa-kun.
Tomizawa-kun always seems to be very humble.

You could see it from the upper floors.

Why is Abe the only one wearing casual clothes?
Why are they wearing short sleeves out of season?

It's the dragonfly from Kiki's Delivery Service.

Once again, we received a lot of applause and were able to conclude our volunteer activities.
Once again, I thought it would be wonderful if something could remain in the hearts of all the people who were involved in various capacities.

The situation at the time of dissolution.

Even so, Tomizawa-kun always seems to be very humble.
Is it because he is carrying a heavy instrument? Or is it because he is carrying something else? His waist is low.

This time, there were two things that made me happy.

This time, people from a wide range of positions supported the volunteers' activities in a variety of ways.
We received support from behind the scenes, including Saito-san, Sasaki-san, Ishikawa-san, Toyoda-san, Yoshioka-san, Sayama-san, Omote-san, Kaneko-san, Yamamoto-san, Miura-san, Yoshida-san, Kanazawa-san, Takemoto-san, and the parents of the orchestra members, and many more people than we can mention here. Thank you very much.

The people of Latov helped with setting up and taking down the equipment and even putting up posters.

There were also lots of gifts.

Mao-kun plays "King's Rock-Paper-Scissors."

And another thing that made me happy.

We visited Kikuya Musical Instrument Store, a one-minute walk from Latobu, as a waiting area just before the performance.

There is also a music school here, and in the room to the left of where the volunteer musicians were, a clarinet teacher was giving individual lessons. The teacher spoke to us during a break in lessons.

"It's the Tohoku Youth Orchestra, right? I'm rooting for them."

I never expected to meet someone here who is aware of the existence of Tohoku Youth!
And to think that you are supporting me!

This teacher's name is Yukiyo Furukawa.

It turns out that he was a university classmate of Yanagisawa Toshio, who is the conductor of Tohoku Youth.

Connection.

It may be a cliché, but it's truly wonderful.

The Tohoku Youth Orchestra is a foundation for this, and I want to treasure it.

We will pass the baton to the next group of volunteers. (Saturday, March 11th, Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture)