July 25th: The Festival is held at Community Hall
	The Yufuin Community Hall is still quiet at 10 a.m., though rehearsals already are beginning on the stage. Ms. Kotoi entertains guests with a realistic insect made of shaved fibers on a branch of miscanthus plant.
	The Armonico String Quartet recital began at 4 p.m., and ended with delighted applause. The vivid performance of the young Quartet--all currently graduate students of Tokyo Institute of Art--was really impressive. From right: violinist Miss Emi Ikuta, violist Miss Natsuko Sakamoto, violinist Miss Sayo Sugaya, and cellist Mr. Ryo Kubota. On the left is Yawara Watanabe, a music journalist in Tokyo, who always makes pleasant talks in the Festival. Though a professional writer, he is an enthusiastic volunteer for YMF, and I look forward to meeting him each year.
	I got some E-mails requests for tickets to the Festival. Occasionally, I received E-mail from Osaka, and looked forward to meeting the writer, whoever he or she might be. I finally met a man traveling in backpacking style. He exchanged greetings with Armonico members after the performance. He said he had heard Armonico's performance in Germany and hoped to meet them again some day. He had been trying enthusiastically to locate Armonico on the web, and finally he found them on my home page. He then made a reservation through me, and could hear Armonico at last. It was very nice to hear his story. Just after each performance, audience members can exchange with artists in the lobby in this way. This is one of the great features of Yufuin Music Festival.
July 25th, afternoon program
	This is a rehearsal of the Yufuin Summer Ensemble, an excellent ensemble that can be heard only in Yufuin. Unfortunately, I usually am too busy with other duties to listen to actual performances, so it is a special pleasure to hear music occasionally during my working times. More often, I can enjoy the wonderful sound of rehearsals in the empty hall. Those are really nice moments for me. Musicians sometime laugh and exchange opinions among themselves while checking notes. Sometimes they even discuss the proper location of the piano. I am happy to hear all of it, and such things always make me so happy to be on the staff of the YMF.

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