Taisha HS band & chorus kids

Taisha HS band & chorus kids
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Last Sunday I went over to Izumo to see my school's brass band perform. As I sometimes do, I got the times mixed up. Japan uses military time, so the concert was from 15:00 to 17:00. I saw that on the piece of paper and my brain thought - "oh, the concert is from 5pm to 7pm." D'oh! Anyway, I got to the concert hall at about 4:45pm, just in time to see my kids perform at 5pm. They were the 2nd to last school to perform, so I missed the rest of the performances. Which is a shame, cuz I found out that my recent graduates, who now play with their High School band performed earlier in the day.

But after the concert was over and I snapped a bunch of pictures of my kids (click on this pic to see many more from that day), I went back into the hall and got to chat with my older kids, who are now ichi nen sei at Taisha High School.

It was great seeing them again! It's funny how they all look a little older in their HS blazers. Pictured here are Shiho, Rina and Hiromi in the top row and Yuki, Erina and Saki in the bottom row. Rina and Erina where in my Chorus club, so perhaps the Taisha HS chorus performed as well, or maybe they just volunteered to be ushers at the event.

It's sad how much you lose touch with the kids that graduate. Most you'll never see again - they move on to High School and unless you happen to run into them at a local store you won't ever have a chance to see how they're getting on. But I made more of an effort this past year to try and stay connected to my recent graduates - I exchange emails with a few of them - including Saki and Yuki here, and I have home addresses for a few of them to send them New Year's cards, etc. I rememebered it was Hiromi's birthday the day before this concert, so when I saw here and said "Omedetou Tanjoubi" (Happy Birthday) she was really surprised and happy.

Anyway - it was a fun, altho brief, concert and I got some good pics.

Enjoy!
-Jason