2016.11.10
Continuing last year’s efforts, Taiyo Oil has once again supported and cooperated with disaster benefit activities of the Ehime FC, whose uniform sponsor is Taiyo Oil. As part of its support, it invited Marching Band Seeds+, which is made up of elementary and junior high school students from Minamisoma City, Fukushima Prefecture, a region which has overcome a variety of difficulties since the Great East Japan Earthquake, to visit Ehime Prefecture.
Project Overview
Date
September 30 (Friday) to October 3 (Monday) 2016
Venue
Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture
Invitation
Total of 18 people: 14 members of Marching Band Seeds+ and 4 adult escorts
Sponsorship
Ehime FC Co., Ltd.
Support and Cooperation
Taiyo Oil Co., Ltd.
Overview of the Seeds+ schedule
September 30, (Friday)
- Courtesy visit, Ehime Prefecture
- Courtesy visit, Matsuyama City
- Performed for and dealt with the local media
October 1, (Saturday)
- Sightseeing in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture
- Exchange with local high school pupils
- Attending social gathering hosted by Taiyo Oil
October 2, (Sunday)
- Performing on the field after the end of the “Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster Recovery Support Exhibition Match” held before the official game
- Performing on the field immediately before a J2-League Disaster Region Benefit Game (vs. Yokohama FC)
October 3, (Monday)
- Seine fishing experience at Gogo Island (Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture)
Overview of activities
Visiting the Mayor of Matsuyama City
Members of Marching Band Seeds+ met with the Mayor of Matsuyama City.
As this was the first meeting with the Mayor in about one year, the senior Seeds+ members looked somewhat nervous, but there was a genial atmosphere from beginning to end, with some of the youngest members (first graders in elementary school) going to get many refills of orange juice.
Date of visit
September 30 (Friday) 2016, 16:15 to 16:30
Venue
Matsuyama City Hall, Main Building, 3rd floor, Conference Room 1 (4-7-2 Nibancho, Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture)
Person interviewed
Mr. Katsuhito Noshi, Mayor of Matsuyama City
Participants
- Members of Marching Band Seeds+
- Kenji Sakamoto, Manager, CSR Group, Taiyo Oil Co., Ltd.
- Ehime FC office staff, etc.
① Events
- Introducing members of Seeds+
- Exchange of views between Mayor Noshi and members of Seeds+
- Presentation of commemorative gifts
- Taking of commemorative photograph
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A commemorative photo with the Mayor of Matsuyama
Ehime FC Disaster Region Benefit Game
J2 League has been conducting activities such as holding an Ehime FC versus Yokohama FC game as a disaster region benefit game.
After the end of the exhibition match that was held before the official game, and immediately before the start of the official game, Seeds+ collaborated with professional artists, and held performances on the field.
After the end of the performance, Ehime FC supporters sounded a “Minamisoma call.”
In the game, Ehime FC held the lead from start to finish, and in the end won 3-0.
Game
“SOLATO Thanks Day” Ehime FC vs. Yokohama FC
Kickoff
October 2 (Sunday) 2016, 19:00
Venue
Ningineer Stadium (46 Uenomachi-otsu, Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture)
Collaboration artists
- Naoki Ishikawa, snare drummer
- Takuya Wada, dancer
- Hiromu Yoneso, trumpeter
- MaL, human voice percussionist
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A pre-match music and dance performance on the pitch
Seine fishing experience at Gogo Island (Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture)
A seine fishing experience was held at Gogo Island in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, as a way to experience nature.
All of the participants worked together to haul in the net, and it contained large fish, shellfish, and so on, as well as big rocks, and there was a lot of laughter in the group.
Some of the members were seeing the ocean for the very first time, and they were in a gleeful mood as they immersed themselves in the expansive clear blue water. The participants splashed each other, and enjoyed a boat ride that was kindly offered by the local people.
Date of event
October 3 (Mon.), 2016, 10:00 to 13:00
Participants
- Seeds+
- Taiyo Oil Co., Ltd.
- Ehime FC staffs, etc.
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Big cheers upon a catch with the seine
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Looking together for glasses lost in all the revelry
Marching Band Seeds+
The forerunner of Seeds+ was the marching band of the Haramachi Daiichi Elementary School in Minamisoma City, Fukushima Prefecture.
Before the earthquake disaster, it was a regular finalist in national championships, but the Great East Japan Earthquake transformed its residential area into an emergency evacuation zone, forcing half its members to leave the prefecture, temporarily stopping its activities. Later, one of its members expressed the strong desire that although the members were scattered, they should return to national competition. Parents and band leaders responded by establishing a system allowing them to practice together even while living at scattered locations.
While only able to practice together once or twice a month, each member practiced alone very hard, and at the end of January 2012, they succeeded in entering a national competition.
Later, after the band members had graduated from elementary school, they rename their band Seeds+ and continued their activities.
The watchword of Seeds+ is “No matter what one’s circumstances, if you give up, you are finished. If you do not advance, you gain nothing.”