■The Salvation Army:Ian Barton I first got to know Egashira Hiroyasu and the Japan Symphony Brass about 4 years ago and have been following their progress since. I understand they are now rehearsing for a concert in September titled “Present Age – A Story of a young man aiming to become an officer”. I am quite amazed by the enthusiasm and progress of brass bands in Japan especially amongst the younger people. We have visited Tokyo twice in the last 5 years just to watch a brass band concert.
The Japan Symphony Brass were involved with the visit of the Wellington Citadel Band to Tokyo about 3 years ago. I took a great interest in watching the videos of those performances so I am certain that this coming concert in September will also be worth following.
Each weekend the Japan Symphony Brass rehearses together and they post a video of their rehearsals on Facebook which I always make a point of watching as they continue to improve their performances and sound.
I look forward to hearing of their progress towards their September concert and hopefully get to see a live stream or video of it.