Report from the second day of the pre-performance training camp!

The woman in the center of this top photo, to the right of Director Ryuichi Sakamoto, dressed in a chic salmon pink outfit and casually visiting the rehearsal venue at the tip of the Boso Peninsula, is none other than Yoshinaga Sayuri. Even though it was early afternoon after lunch and sleepiness was quickly creeping up on the members of the troupe, they all listened to the talk with a forward-leaning posture. (We were given special permission from the office to post this photo.)
I was grateful that you took the time to come and see me, and even gave me a gift. Thank you very much.

The members of the group all exclaimed, "How cute!" and took pictures with their smartphones, but they were reluctant to do so out of hesitation. On this day, we also received many kind gifts from various people.

The Morinaga Angel Foundation, which supported us, sent us a set of Morinaga & Co. confectionery. All of the products were familiar to the middle-aged teachers who were in charge. They were also very popular with the members of the group.

I guess they're aiming to appear in an advertisement for Morinaga & Co., Ltd. But it's not just the members of the group.

Director Sakamoto, who has been familiar with Morinaga Milk Caramel since he was a child, took a photo of the member's smartphone with deep emotion. Due to the director's appearance in a commercial for Kirin's canned coffee brand "Fire", Kirin Beverage has provided drinks such as Fire and Namacha for this training camp.

This is a picture of our members with natural smiles on their faces, holding apple juice from Hachimantai in Iwate, which was provided by JA Kyosai.

We are also practicing for the performance in between music practice. We are currently accepting requests for advertisement appearances for the Tohoku Youth Orchestra with Ryuichi Sakamoto in order to secure the activity budget for next year. If you are an advertising manager of a company who is interested, please feel free to contact us (we are serious).

The Fukushima Minpo Press, which is organising the Koriyama performance this Sunday the 26th, sent the troupe members some local sweets as a token of encouragement.

Mari Watanabe, who will be hosting the event again following last year, took the wheel herself and loaded some "Tohoku Youth Orchestra original Dorayaki" into her car as she came to the training camp for the meeting.

On the second day, the orchestra members continued practicing in seclusion under the passionate direction of Mr. Yanagisawa, in order to complete Mahler's monumental piece, Symphony No. 1.

Although Director Sakamoto did not have a role in Mahler Giants, he was constantly at the piano checking the orchestra members' performances, enthusiastically keeping rhythm at times.

This is a photo of Yanagisawa Toshio, casually wearing a Tohoku Youth Orchestra charity T-shirt, and Sakamoto Ryuichi, who always carries Mahler's sheet music in his pocket.

While the teacher was worried about whether the string players' arms would hurt and the wind players' lips would swell, he thought it would be okay to take a break and appreciate the snacks and drinks. That evening, another guest came to visit, bringing some gifts.

Fumitaka Nishimura and Saki Kubota from Mitsukoshi Isetan, who are our sponsors, came all the way to the event bringing along a box of ice cream. On Nishimura's left lapel was a wooden badge from the Acorn Badge Charity for the Tohoku Reconstruction Project, which the Tohoku Youth Orchestra is supporting by providing music for the project. Thank you very much.

This year, the sound team will be led by Director Sakamoto's partner, zAk, so visitors should be able to enjoy the perfect sound environment.

Thank you very much to zAk-san, who looks great in the cap. And the eight people who were late because of a school event in Koriyama arrived in time for dinner.

Despite the long journey, everyone was smiling and it was reassuring. In the evening, Captain Hatakeyama and the administration came up with a program called "Everyone's Time" to take a break and do some recreational activities.

First, we will hear a report on the volunteer reconstruction support activities being carried out by university students Tomizawa, a tuba player from Iwaki, and Nakamura, a trumpet player from Sendai.

Mao Fukusumi, a sixth grader from Sendai, who took part in activities at reconstruction housing in Ishinomaki, gave his report wearing a monkey headgear.

Also, Miyagawa Yutaka (a junior colleague at the company) from the secretariat was introduced as a key figure in supporting volunteer activities in Iwaki and Ishinomaki, and he stood up with an air of pride.

After this, we listened to the four groups that would perform a lobby concert on the day of the concert, and then split into groups to practice an encore proposed by Director Sakamoto, which they were attempting for the first time this year, and so "everyone's time" passed.

We will keep the first encore song a secret for the enjoyment of everyone who comes to the concert on the day.

Also, on this year's Ishinomaki Memorial Day for the 3/11 attacks, the piece "Litany," composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto and arranged by Nakamura, was performed at Hiyoriyama Park.

Director Sakamoto was so touched by the performance that he took out his smartphone to record it, and after the performance he commented, "What a great piece." (Professor, it's your piece!)
"Nakamura, please send me the sheet music later!" he said.
Well, the fun time came to an end in a flash. At the end, there was a surprise performance that I didn't know about. The members wrote a letter of thanks to Yuta Tomizawa and Yuto Nakamura, who led the volunteer activities, and also presented letters of thanks to Akane Hatakeyama, the second captain of this year, Takuya Ito, the first concertmaster, and Masahiro Watanabe, the second concert mistress of this year, with a big round of applause.

The charity T-shirt I am wearing, designed by Shinro Ohtake and with "Youth Orchestra" printed on the back, will be available for purchase in the concert lobby (good publicity!). By the way, the front has a large "Tohoku" logo. Shinro Ohtake is an artist who made some unique comments in a prediction project for Director Sakamoto's new studio-recorded album "async," his first in eight years, which will be released on the 29th next week.

Finally, Karin Hashimoto, a second-year student at a university in Iwaki, was appointed as the second bath boss to solve the problem of the ladies' bath always getting crowded and not being able to get in on time, which is a frequent issue during training camps.

In the TYO organization, the female bath boss is an important executive position and a candidate for the next captain. I look forward to seeing what happens next.

We all made it through the long second day of the training camp safely and in good health. Thank you to everyone involved and supporters.