For the first time in school history, the music department’s international summer tour will be held in Japan. With tours typically held every 3-4 years, the 2026 summer Japan Tour has excited both students and music directors.
Though it’s more than a year from now, planning is already underway. As of now, an estimated 300-400 students, staff and parents from the school’s band, orchestra and choir programs are tentatively set to travel there from June 10-23, a few weeks earlier than the last 2022 Europe Tour which was held from July 8-21.
In addition to the personal connection to Japan through music office support staff member Takako Hasegawa, going to Japan has always been something that the music department’s staff has always wanted to do. Teachers point to the impressive caliber of music — and bands in particular — that Japan hosts.
“Their band culture is just phenomenal and one of the top in the whole world,” music director Jason Shiuan said. “So, for our students to be able to hear some really great Japanese bands and be immersed in that, is going to be a very special experience.”
Originally, the department had been planning to go to Japan during this coming summer. However, teachers said clashes and communication issues with district leadership prevented the staff from commencing early planning. Now, with new superintendent Heath Rocha in office, music teachers say communication is far better, and they are more confident they can make the trip happen.
However, going to Japan instead of Europe poses a daunting set of challenges. Despite Japan’s musical strength, the country holds a smaller number of musical festivals, venues and performance opportunities, while Europe is home to a culture of international music tours. According to Shuian, while Europe is accustomed to this kind of large-group musical tourism, Japan is traditionally less acquainted with it.
In previous years, trips were largely centered around a few major events or performances. For example, in the 2022 Europe tour, the music groups applied and performed at the Mid-Europe Festival and the famed Musikverein concert hall in Vienna; in the 2017 Europe tour, they competed at the World Music Contest in Kerkrade and performed at the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles. In Japan, Shuian plans to apply for similar events, although nothing is set yet.
Another major difference about next year’s trip is its geography. In Europe, it was relatively easy to move from one country to another when traveling with a large group. In contrast, the group will be able only to travel between cities. Plus, the unfamiliarity of Japan calls for further investigation on what modes of transportation will be most efficient for large groups.
In addition, the population density of Japan’s cities, matched with the lack of the same locational options compared to Europe, poses a difficulty for a group this large.
Shiuan said: “Whereas in Europe, there are cities that are dense too, so we tend to avoid those places. But it’s kind of hard to avoid Tokyo.”
Nevertheless, Shiuan predicts that the group will be able to go to Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima.
Since SHS music has never traveled to Japan before, Shiuan and music director Michael Boitz will be traveling to Japan for about a week this June to inspect facilities, transportation, performance venues, hotels and group dinner locations. There, they hope to build connections with Japanese schools and concert halls in preparation for the upcoming year.
Japan Tour preparations for students will begin far before the actual event — as early as the annual band camp during summer. Whether this takes the form of altered band camp marching blocks or passing out sheet music at the beginning of the year, early preparations are necessary, especially since the 2026 trip will be earlier in the summer than usual.
Beyond the 2026 Japan Tour, Shiuan expects that SHS will be traveling to both Europe and Japan again in the coming years.
“There are still things in Europe that we still want to try to do in the future, so we might apply for those,” Shiuan said. “We probably will make our way back to Japan, hopefully some other year, but we’ll definitely be making our way back to Europe at some point.”
