TOMODACHI Alumni Highlight: Shotaro Abe, from TOMODACHI Next Generation Summit 2024
This month’s alumni highlight features Shotaro Abe, who delivered an inspiring speech at TOMODACHI Next Generation Summit 2024. Shotaro is an alumnus of the TOMODACHI Boeing Entrepreneurship Seminar, and he is currently a student at Waseda University’s School of Education. Shotaro is the Founder of Kamaclassic, a project he was inspired to put together with his peers from his TOMODACHI program. With his love for classical music and Kamakura being his hometown, Shotaro was motivated to organize a concert in a 600-seat hall where he accomplished his goals through passion and perseverance.
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I booked a 600-seat concert hall, even though not a single performer had signed up. I couldn’t back out now. I founded an orchestra in my hometown of Kamakura. Many people were surprised when I said this, but yes, I created an orchestra and organized a concert.
You might think I’m naturally good at communication if I built an orchestra because it requires talking to many people, but that’s not true. In high school, I was bullied because I struggled to communicate. I even quit several part-time jobs because I couldn’t get along with others. When I was feeling down about my confidence in conducting a brass band at my university, I remembered what I loved: classical music and my hometown, Kamakura. I started playing piano at four and have been passionate about classical music since junior high. After moving to Tokyo to study at university, I missed Kamakura’s nature and friendly neighbors, so I decided to form an orchestra in Kamakura to combine the two things I love, and call it “Kamaclassic!” This is when I joined the TOMODACHI Boeing Entrepreneurship Seminar and met like-minded people who wanted to join me in building an orchestra.
The pressure of making my project successful and filling the concert hall that I had already booked always stayed in my head, even after I gained project members and started learning about entrepreneurship. In order to promote my project and find performers and supporters, I thought I would hand out flyers with my project members at a festival held in a park near the sea in Kamakura last May. We worked under the heat, passing out flyers for 7 hours.
When I spotted the Mayor of Kamakura at the festival, I instantly went to talk with him and asked him to become a conductor at the encore of the concert. He immediately answered, “Yes!” At that moment, it felt like seven hours of hard work paid off. All of us shared happy moments.
Our orchestra members ranged from elementary school students to people in their 70s. I wanted to create a place for people who love music and Kamakura by minimizing the number of rehearsals so it can be easily balanced with their other commitments. Fewer rehearsals allowed people who live outside of Kamakura to join because they only had to make arrangements to travel a few times. As a result, people who usually can’t belong to an orchestra could belong to Kamaclassic. A memorable moment was after our first practice when one of the performers thanked me and said, “Thank you for creating a place where I could belong.” It was such an emotional moment, and I almost cried. I was delighted to see that the project I started initially for myself had also become valuable for others. I started Kamaclassic to regain my confidence that I once lost, but I was starting to create a place where the community could benefit.
February 24, 2024, the day of my concert. To my surprise, the 600-seat concert hall was filled to capacity. The applause from the audience never stopped. During the curtain call, the conductor called me back on stage, although it was not written in the program. When I bowed, the hall was filled with even louder applause. At that moment, the doubt and the pressure that I had since I booked the concert hall two years ago with no performers went away, and I felt a sense of achievement. I felt the confidence that I thought I lost once was coming back.
When the concert was over, everyone – performers and audience – had a smile on their faces. When I saw their smiles, I knew that I wanted to hold another concert, not for me, but for all the people in this concert hall. I thought that I wanted to continue to create a place where people belong.
I recently booked the hall to host the second concert. The hall for this concert will seat 1,500, more than twice the size of the previous concert. I am confident that the second concert will also be a success. I am also convinced that everyone here will come to the concert.
My message is that even if you’re not great at communication or do not think you fit in a community, there’s a place where you can shine. It’s not about being amazing but finding where you belong. Everyone has a stage where they can shine.
Thank you.
This speech was translated by Karina Quinn and Nina Takanami on September 29, 2024.Karina and Nina are currently interns with the TOMODACHI Alumni Leadership Program.
