And, it's about to start. Yamato Europe tour in 2004 will start soon!

In this tour, we will visit 16 different countries. It's amazing!

We are very looking forward to visit those countries since there are places where we've never visited before.

The countries are…Qatar in the Middle East, Poland in Eastern Europe, Lithuania and Latvia in Baltic and Moscow in Russia. Then we move to Western Europe. Starting from Portugal then to Spain. Again move to Slovenia, then to familiar country, Germany, Israel which will be 3 rd time for us to visit, Greece where the Olympic will be held this summer, Austria, Switzerland, Nederland and Turkey.
And there will be 115 performances in total!!!
Though it will be troublesome anyway, we'll try our best!
Visit us again. We'd like to show you many faces of Yamato in various places in the world.

We left Asuka 4 o'clock in the morning while everybody was still dreaming. We got on a bus with tons of luggage to catch our flight at Osaka-Itami airport. At first, we departed 8am from Itami to Tokyo-Narita. Then, flew to London for 13 hrs. We are supported by ANA-All Nippon Airways same as last year. I'd like to tell our gratitude borrowing this place.

After 13 hrs flight, we arrived at London. We picked up our luggage once and checked in again to fly to Frankfurt. This time was 2 hrs flight. When we arrived at Frankfurt, it was 10 o'clock in the morning at local time. Finally we stopped our journey once at Frankfurt.

We stayed in Frankfurt for 2 days before we continue our journey. Nevertheless, after these long flights and transits, our bodies got swollen and tired. We need to move a bit.

On 19 th , we flew 6 hrs from Frankfurt to Dubai, the capital of UAE then flew 1 hr to Doha, the capital of Qatar finally.
When we arrived at our first destination, it already 2 days passed after we left home.
The first impression of Doha was “white” since the buildings in Doha are almost white everywhere. Before we arrived, we imagined midsummer heat, but it wasn't so bad.
Now let me introduce you Qatar a little. (I quoted from Shiho's electric palm dictionary)
It says…Qatar is a head country at the middle part of and east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The small peninsula protruded in Persia Bay is the country and it's about 111000 square kilometers. Qatar won its independence from UK protectorate in 1971. Qatar is one of the petroleum producing country.
Oh, that's why they use UK type of wall outlet.

In Qatar, we had different type of show. It was a party in a hotel ball room and there were various performers on the stage. Including us Yamato, Kunfu-martial art group from Sholing temple, China, Arabic Dance Company from Syria, a cowboy performer from Texas, USA and body balancing duo from UK. The show was varied by these various kinds of performers.
On 21 st , our instruments finally arrived at the site. And then we started set up and finished marking late at night.
On the next day, we continued preparation from the early morning. We did sound check, run through rehearsal and full dress rehearsal.
The site was in utter confusion. There are many performers, more staff keep walking here and there and lots of equipments to be at their positions for the show.
At 7o'clock, it started with the performance of solo harpist. The hall was full with people well dressed.
We played 3 numbers; “Yakara,” “Raion-kumikyoku” and “Rakuda.”
I sing my own praises though; I think we did very well since it was the very first performance for this tour. When we received big applauses from the audience, I forgot all the effort and then my face has bloomed finally.
After all, our Europe tour in 2004 has began.!!!

We were very surprised by the temperature difference when we returned to Frankfurt from Qatar.
In fact, it was very cold in Frankfurt. It even started snowing in the afternoon…
By the way, there was coverage for women's magazine today.
It was to introduce Yamato through Japanese cuisine. Thereupon, they took photos of us cooking Japanese dishes and eating and interviewed its recipe to put in the magazine.
We did it borrowing the Japanese teppanyaki restaurant in Frankfurt called “KABUKI”.
As last year, we got tensed with unusual situation like this. It is said that it will come up this summer. Well, we'll see…

It happened last night. It suddenly came when the date changed from 27 th to 28 th .
It always comes to us suddenly without notice since we do not have such custom in Japan. Yes, it is “summer time.” We already experienced many times, but still it comes suddenly. It never stayed in our mind. This time, we could notice before it changes because the hotel where we were staying put a notice board in the elevator. If they didn't put it, we couldn't realize it until we miss the flight to Warsaw this morning. I really appreciate the hotel, thank you very much. You made us to come to Warsaw in safe!!!

We traveled to a city called LODZ from Warsaw. Today, we'll have the first proper show of this tour.

When we arrived at the theater, staves already finished unloading the truck and they were working on lights and soft gods. It always takes longer in the beginning of the tour to set up the stage. On the stage, our staff explains something in English, and then an interpreter explains it in local language, Polish. We started unpacking instruments and building the sub stages at the back stage. Time passed so fast. We kept working without having meals, but still less time we had. We were under so much pressure and our tension increased as the time passed. Finally we were ready to open the curtain with 30 minutes delay.

But…! Cannot believe this happened. When the show was about to start, we lost the power for the lights. Our light engineer came in rush to the stage sleeve and checked his equipment. At that time we drummers were waiting for the curtain open at there with a look of impatience. Then our sound engineer Erik also came to help recovering. Their correspondence in such case is remarkable. They are calm, fast and reliable.

Finally we got power again and the show started.
Even we started the show with much delay, stir arose from the audience when the curtain opened and they gave us a long long hand claps.
This was the very first show in Poland. We were very surprised by the audience. They expressed their excitement with applause after each songs and it was like a big wave. The show ends so fast with the warm applause from the audience.

After the show, we started packing and loading even without break. Again we had to go back to Warsaw. 2 hours journey. So we were in much hurry. When we arrived at hotel after we ate dinner, it was already 3 am. And when the morning comes after few hours, another day starts. Another show in Warsaw. I wished that we can have more time before the show tomorrow without panic, just a minute before I fell asleep.

Though it is a matter of course, we performed with full-power.
When the house light over flew to the audience at the end of encore, we can see their faces clearly. We greatly thank and impressed by their smiling faces and applause. For us, this is the moment to recharge the power.
By the way, it was said that there are 3000 audience seats, but there were people standing in the path in the above photo. It must exceed its capacity today, for sure.

It was a traveling day for us. We came to Lithuania from Poland by tour bus crossing the border by road. It took 9 hrs, so we spent almost the whole day in a bus.
They won't give stamp at the border from next month since they will join EU. So it will be a good commemoration for us.
There is 1 hr time difference between Poland and Lithuania. When we set the clock forward for one hr when we arrived, it was already 10pm.