{"id":70738,"date":"2023-12-20T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=70738"},"modified":"2023-12-21T08:33:19","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T08:33:19","slug":"us-army-japan-band-gives-final-performance-of-popular-annual-holiday-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=70738","title":{"rendered":"US Army Japan Band gives final performance of popular annual holiday concert"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n A U.S. Army Japan Band member performs a saxophone solo during the band\u2019s final holiday concert Dec. 15 at Zama Harmony Hall in Zama City, Japan. This year\u2019s concert was the last for the band after 10 years, as the unit will be stood down and deactivated in 2024.
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\n The U.S. Army Japan Band performs holiday music during their final holiday concert Dec. 15 at Zama Harmony Hall in Zama City, Japan. This year\u2019s concert was the last for the band after 10 years, as the unit will be stood down and deactivated in 2024.
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\n Chief Warrant Officer 3 Matthew David, left, commander of the U.S. Army Japan Band, conducts the musicians during their final holiday concert Dec. 15 at Zama Harmony Hall in Zama City, Japan. This year\u2019s concert was the last for the band after 10 years, as the unit will be stood down and deactivated in 2024.
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ZAMA, Japan \u2013 The U.S. Army Japan Band gave the final performances of their annual holiday concert Dec. 15 and 16 at Zama Harmony Hall here, ending the run of the popular show that began in 2013.<\/p>\n

Titled \u201cThe Lights of Winter,\u201d this year\u2019s concert was the last for the USARJ Band since the unit will be stood down and deactivated in 2024.<\/p>\n

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Matthew David, USARJ Band commander and a first-time participant in the concert, said it was an honor to be part of the final performance and to know it will leave a lasting legacy in the local community after its decade-long run.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love performing the music for them,\u201d David said. \u201cJapanese audiences have a deep appreciation for the art of music.\u201d<\/p>\n

David called his bandmates excellent human beings, great musicians and great Soldiers, and hoped those qualities came through to the audience during their performance. The commander said the concert was also special to the band because it was a joint event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a great opportunity for the USARJ Band members to interact and perform with our counterparts in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Eastern Army Band,\u201d David said. \u201cIt brings the concert to the next level by being able to collaborate with such high-caliber musicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the main roles of the USARJ Band is to be a prominent public face for the U.S. Army in Japan. Events like the holiday concert and the other public performances the band gives throughout the country allow them to positively represent America and the Army as unofficial ambassadors.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the holiday concert is coming to an end, there are so many other events that still connect the Camp Zama community and Zama City,\u201d David said. \u201cIt will be sad that the band won\u2019t be there, but that\u2019s not going to stop Soldiers from trying to continuously build a good relationship with the neighboring cities here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zama City Mayor Mito Sato attended this year\u2019s concert, which she said had a record 5,000-plus people entering a lottery in hopes of securing the limited number of tickets offered for the performance. She described the concert as amazing, saying \u201cthe venue was united as one in excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe holiday concert became a tradition in Zama City; it was a signature event of the city,\u201d Sato said. \u201cMany of our citizens looked forward to this every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor said she has already heard from people that they are going to miss having the band perform in their city. Though she is sad that this year\u2019s concert was the final one, Sato said there are still many more bilateral engagements between their city and the U.S. Army that will continually help to deepen their relationship.<\/p>\n

Kunio Takizawa attended the concert with his wife and said they both looked forward to the event every year because to them, \u201cthe holiday season doesn\u2019t officially start until we come to see the USARJ Band.\u201d He thanked the USARJ Band for the invaluable experiences they gave Zama citizens over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Army band\u2019s music brought us the joy of the holiday spirit,\u201d Takizawa said. \u201cNothing can replace this wonderful concert.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 A U.S. Army Japan Band member performs a saxophone solo during the band\u2019s final holiday concert Dec. 15 at Zama Harmony Hall in Zama City, Japan. This year\u2019s concert was the last for the band after 10 years, as the unit will be stood down and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70740,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70738"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70744,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70738\/revisions\/70744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}