This is a report from the third day of the summer training camp.

Practice will begin at 8am on Wednesday, August 9th. Aiming for the concert in March of next year, today, conductor Toshio Yanagisawa will again be explaining Stravinsky's "The Firebird" and Debussy's "La Mer" bar by bar, and singing the melody himself as he gives instruction. According to Yanagisawa, "The score is difficult, so I doubt that the members of the orchestra will even be able to read the score by themselves, let alone the university students," and he gives detailed and careful instructions for each part.

While I was doing desk work using the free Wi-Fi in the lobby of Ishigaki Youth House, junior high school students dressed in matching black uniforms greeted me with "Good morning" and "Thank you for your hard work" every time I passed by. Perhaps because the Tohoku Youth Orchestra always encourages us to "greet" people, the staff here at the Youth House also praised us by saying "Everyone greets you a lot," which made me happy, but this was on a completely different level. I was surprised at the politeness and discipline of the members of the Ishigaki Second Junior High School brass band. They show this kind of discipline even when just sitting in the gym.

What will start is an exchange concert between the Tohoku Youth Orchestra and a local junior high school student who is a prestigious brass band. This was also arranged by the Secretary General of the Ishigaki Philharmonic Orchestra, Mr. Shino, who asked for a musical exchange with the citizens of Ishigaki. The event started at 11:00 and lasted about an hour.

First, the Tohoku Youth Orchestra played the main theme of the movie "The Last Emperor" composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto, the director and representative of the orchestra. This is a piece that was performed at the opening of the past two concerts, but this year about half of the members have been replaced, so we practiced until just before this and managed to get it to a level where we could play it for you.

Yanagisawa was wearing an original TYO T-shirt and conducted with great passion.

After receiving a big round of applause, it was time for the Ishigaki Second Junior High School brass band to perform. Compared to the junior high school students, please pay attention to how disorganized the TYO members who were listening were.

I would rather say that the Tohoku Youth Orchestra is an orchestra that respects diversity. That aside, their performance showed the true ability that earned them the gold medal at the recent competition. From their original songs to the powerful sound of "SING, SING, SING,"
After both performances, there will be a social gathering in groups of people playing the same instrument.

Circles formed all over the gymnasium.

Mr. Yanagasawa also joined this clarinet exchange event.

Everyone made a perfect peace sign. Winston Churchill, the famous 20th century British Prime Minister who is said to have invented the peace sign, would never have imagined that something like this would happen in 21st century Japan. It was certainly a peaceful moment in Tohoku and Okinawa.

They then took photos with their smartphones. They must have exchanged LINE addresses. As the meet-and-greet went on, I heard screams and laughter from the other side, saying, "We look alike!"

On the left is Minami Suzuki, a first year junior high school student in Sendai who is in her third year with the Tohoku Youth Orchestra, and on the right is Naho Ishigaki, a student at Ishigaki Second Junior High School. They certainly look alike!
By the way, during her stay, local people asked Ms. Minami Suzuki, "Are you from the main island (Okinawa)?" She must have a Ryukyu face.

That afternoon, we all got on the bus and traveled.

This is Ishigaki's remote island terminal.

After boarding the boat, we arrived at Taketomi Island in about 15 minutes.

The first thing we all did was go on a buffalo cart tour.

We could hear the "Asatoya Yunta" song, which originated on Taketomi Island, here and there. After this, we split into groups and headed out on rental bicycles.

Please stop driving with one hand while making the peace sign.

These are the three straw hat girls. Here is a tanka poem to go with the quaint scenery of Taketomi Island. "Stone walls, white gravel roads, red roof tiles, the southern wind blowing on the straw hat girls."

When I went to Kondoi Beach, the most famous beach on Taketomi Island, I was greeted by a napping island cat. It was relaxing and peaceful, but I was worried that it might be a little too skinny, but it had a wild look in its eyes.

I was reminded of my own cat, Plato (male, 6 years old).

It's no longer wild at all, and this is what it looks like from the side.

I'm too fat...

Now let's go back to Kondoi Beach.

The members enjoyed the beautiful sea. There was a junior high school student from Fukushima who said it was his first time swimming in the sea. It hurts my heart to hear people around me say things like, "You can't go in the sea in Fukushima." However, the new junior high school student who had been crying from homesickness on the first and second days was smiling and frolicking in this clear sea.

The boys found sea cucumbers and made a fuss about them and threw them.

Meanwhile, the girls searched for star sand and shells.
But then,

Boys standing on the beach watching people having fun in the sea, without even going in. I think that's nice. I was part of this cluster during my adolescence.

Our four-hour stay was over in the blink of an eye, and we returned to the Ishigaki Remote Island Terminal. At the pier, we found a bronze statue of a local hero!

The father from the Showa era imitating the pose of former world boxing champion Yoko Gushiken is Fukushima office leader Yutaka Watanabe and his eldest son, Sota (2nd grade). Sota will join the Tohoku Youth Orchestra in 2 years.

Today we disbanded at the remote island terminal. We explained to everyone that we could buy souvenirs in the city of Ishigaki, eat some food, and make our own memories of Ishigaki Island, but that solo activities were prohibited. Then we returned to the training camp on the 8pm bus.