Thank you for waiting everyone! “Yamato’s EU Tour 2010 2nd period” will continue after a one week break!! We will be joining a festival in two days.

What a surprise!! We have day off. We decided to go fishing! We caught a rainbow trout!

Today there is an outdoor summer festival. It is raining and we are a bit worried. There is a roof over the stage but the audience will get wet… It seems like Europeans don`t use umbrellas very often. Sometimes they will just stand in the rain while they watch our performance.
So we were praying for the rain to stop before the show and it did!

Today we are driving to our next destination, Mainz. It is 200 km from Calw, a three-hour bus ride.
Saori Higashi is thrilled to eat lunch at Burger King. Her T-shirt says “Banana King” wonder  where she got it…

“Zweites Duetsches Fernsehen”ＺＤＦ.
We were told that “It might rain tomorrow so we may use a performance that is already recorded.”
On a huge screen, there was a big smile shining under the blue sky.

We departed for ZDF studios at 7:30 AM. We have a live broadcast performance at 11:00. 5000 fans gathered around the stage for the program! It is broadcast every Sunday and is very popular. The number of people who watch the show is more that 20 million!! The name of Yamato will be spread all over Germany!

From the home of ZDF, we moved to Mannheim. But first we have an interview in Baden-Baden, where we will perform next. We were interviewed in front of the concert hall where we will perform.

We have an interview in Mannheim today. Today’s theme is “Yamato`s training experience!” Two young ladies in training outfits joined us for running, swinging the sticks, shime (weight) lifting and finally a taiko workshop. I hope they did not end up too sore…

We were invited to the offices of our tour promoter. They are promoters for many famous touring companies so the stairwells of their splendid building are decorated with various rare posters. It is very beautifully decorated.

Today we did Training in a park 3-minutes-jog away from our hotel. Tomorrow our muscles will be sore.

From Mannheim, Germany, we are traveling to our next destination, Tulln in Austria. Here also, we will perform at a festival, but this time the stage is on the water! The venue is called Donau Bühne and it is floating right on top of the Danube River!!

A concert on the water. We began the performance and after a pleasant ending to the day, the wind picked up during the second half. Of course, during our final number, Raion Kumikyoku (Raion means the sound of thunder) it began to rain. But the audience did not get up to leave, rather they sat and watched all the way to the end and gave us enthusiastic applause. We are so grateful to them. We will always remember how we felt moved by the audience at this concert.

Salzburg is the birthplace of RED BULL. During Yamato’s EU tours we always drink this power drink before our performance. Its effect is great. We can still feel it even the next day. Our venue today is a huge arena. Well, let’s drink some RED BULL and get to work!

We are traveling today… for seven hours. Hmm, what shall we do? For the time being we will rest our tired bodies and sleep.

We are at the Alte Oper. I think it must be our fourth time here. It is a very well respected and historical hall. The dignified appearance gave us chills the first time we walked into the huge 2700 seat hall!

This is our second day at the Alte Oper. For lunch our leader, Mr. Ogawa, who likes to cook, made Vietnamese food for us. We had a delicious lunch. Now it’s practice time!!

While we are on tour our morning jogs are our only sightseeing time. Each town has its own style of buildings. The drums of Yamato echo in the towns all around the world. Isn’t that a wonderful thing? As the days go by, we try not to let anything become routine and today as well, we will try to take in new experiences and have a refreshed feeling and always perform to our fullest potential.

We have a week of concerts and today is the fourth day. The fourth day is usually mysteriously challenging, but today everything seems to be going quite well. Perhaps it is because of our leader, Mr. Ogawa’s tasty cooking, or perhaps it is a result of the daily guidance we receive from him. Whatever it is, we feel as if our motivation and stamina are in good supply.

Waiting for us after our mysterious fourth day was a two-performance day with a matinee. On Saturdays in Japan, kids enjoy eating yakisoba while watching funny programs on TV. At least that is how it is in Kansai. We hope that Yamato’s matinee program can give the similar feelings to the people of Frankfurt.

Today is the last day in Frankfurt. We have withdrawal. At this theater, the lift to the loading dock is right in front of the stage. This is our fourth time here and every time we come, it breaks. They even started saying, “If Yamato is coming, the lift will to break.” This time, the lift had recently been repaired, but it still broke… Maybe it really is our fault and we should apologize…
We made a call to the stage manager and somehow he was able to repair it. Thank you to all the theater staff. We’ll be back, so be ready!

Our next destination is Switzerland! Switzerland means … Cheese! Chocolate! And the Alps!

We are in Zürich. It is already our fifth time here. Today is our first concert, so it is a premiere. The audience is made up of sponsors and people who received special invitations.

This theater has very challenging acoustics. The sound during the performance was much different than during the sound check. It is rather confusing. We admire Eric, our sound engineer. Today during the sound check he made many careful adjustments. It was perfect. The sound was much improved. It was very easy to play and the performance seemed to touch the hearts of the audience. Of course the passion and technique of the performers is important, but Eric’s work as a sound engineer is very important as well. Thank you so much, Eric.

After our concerts, we are really into icing. It is always tempting to go to bed after the performance without stretching. By immersing our arms in this ice water we can quickly cool off our muscles. Right now it feels really good.

Today is a two-performance day. Still everyone has high energy. The reason must be our excellent diet! We are charged with energy. We really like to eat. We are really lucky that we can cook for ourselves. Mr. Ogawa is such a good cook, maybe he should consider opening his own restaurant.
The concert? Of course! It is very lively. The children at the Matinee cheered with joy. The cheers of the evening, sold –out crowd were so loud. What a happy life we lead! … I wonder what’s for dinner…

We said the cost of living is very expensive in Swizterland, didn’t we. Since Yamato members eat so much, the budget can get a little tight. In spite of that, Chef Ogawa is cooking us steak tonight marinated in high quality scotch! It’s sooo good! It’s another special dinner! How happy we are…

Today we have a concert in Mannheim. There is a full house. Today is the debut of Akiko Ogawa operating lights. The light operator creates the lighting cues to match what is happening on the stage. There are hundreds of scenes and lighting cues. But Akiko is also a performer so she does not have to learn who has the next solo or what the next scene is because it is already ingrained in her. She also understands the moods of the different scenes, where it should be exciting or what part of the stage to accentuate. It is definitely a strength she brings.
That’s right!
It is not acceptable for Yamato to only perform on the stage. From unloading equipment, to packing up, to setting up lights and props, we must do it all.
We want to create the stage on which we perform ourselves. That’s the type of group we are. But sometimes it can be frustrating to work with us …