135th Tournament of Roses Parade (January 1, 2024) – Tōhō Marching Band

Posted on by under All, Events, Events/Other, Rose Parade, RP24

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The Japanese band (Japan Honor Green Band) at the 135th Tournament of Roses Parade (January 1, 2024) is Tōhō Marching Band (TMB) hailing from Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, 100 miles east from Kyoto. This band is the Official Band of Tōhō Gakuen and it is formed by combining the Aichi Tōhō University Wind Band and the Tōhō High School Marching Band Club “Gilaughters” (=giraffe+laughter), and it has about 125-130 members. The band appears under the auspices of the Green Band Association (GBA), and is led by Band Director Mineto Shiraya. In the video above by MICHINOKUGORO there are the first 12 minutes of their 2024 Rose Parade performance.

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Collection of Rose Parade -related videos on Tōhō are in this playlist.

Commemorative video:

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At the first Anniversary of their Rose Parade expedition the band published a commemorative video on December 28, 2024 with brief excerpts of the events during their trip.

Benefit concert (Green Band Festival):

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The Benefit Concert took place at the Performing Arts Center of John F. Kennedy High School, La Palma, California on January 2, 2024. In the video above by GForce183 the band plays “The Star-Spangled Banner” conducted by Mineto Shiraya as the opening piece. Excerpts of the concert are in further videos here, here, here, here and here.

In this concert the band also collected charity donations to the victims of the Lahaina wildfires in 2023 in Hawai’i.

135th Tournament of Roses Parade:

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Band participated in the 135th Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1, 2024 (video above by MusicAmenities). The famous 105-degree right turn from Orange Grove Boulevard to Colorado Boulevard was performed to the tunes of “We Will Rock You” (video below by Music213). Their turn was also noted by the media, click here and here. Tōhō was also chosen as one of the trusted “Pre-Parade 3” -bands, click here.

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43rd Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Bandfest:

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(another take of the same is here)

The band performed at the 43rd Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Bandfest at Robinson Stadium of Pasadena City College on December 30, 2023 (video from GBA Archives). The great song at 4:02 is “Kitaguni no Haru” (北国の春). At 11:14 also Alex Aghajanian (President and Chairman of the Board for the 2024 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association) joins the performance!

Parade in Disneyland Park:

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Band marched down Main Street, U.S.A., Disneyland Park on December 29, 2023 (video by GBA Archives).

Practice at Angel Stadium:

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YouTube Short by MusicAmenities of the band practicing at Angel Stadium in Anaheim probably on December 28, 2023. In the Short below Tōhō is posing together with Na Koa Ali’i – Hawai’ii All State Marching Band. Click also here. Click here to see the band practice the 105-degree right turn from Orange Grove Boulevard to Colorado Boulevard which they called “Rose Parade Miracle Turn”.

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Flight to the US:

The band flew from Haneda, Tokyo to Los Angeles on December 25, 2023. Reference is here, in Japanese.

2nd Charity Concert and Send-Off Party:

The band held the 2nd Charity Concert and the Send-Off Party to the Rose Parade on December 22, 2023 at Meito Sports Center, Stadium 1 in Minami, Nagoya. Reference is here, in Japanese.

YouTube donations project:

Due to the weakness of Japanese yen the cost of this expedition is unusually high. Therefore GBA requested donations from kind fans of Japanese brass bands using the YouTube “Super Thanks” -function (see the video here). In return, first donors received commemorative pins as gifts (click here).

From November 12, 2023 onwards the YouTube-donations were collected under the auspices of a newly created organization Japan: Rose Band Supporters Association (click here).

This donations project ended on December 20, 2023.

Band crowdfunding project:

Poster on the band crowdfunding project

The band launched a crowdfunding project late May 2023 with target of ¥2’000’000 at READYFOR (Japanese crowdfunding platform) to help them to finance their trip, click here. At the conclusion of the project on July 26, 2023 they achieved their target by receiving ¥2’250’000. Congratulations! Their final report is here, in Japanese.

Official pins of the expedition (the blue ones)

Meeting with the Governor of Aichi Prefecture:

Band and school leadership, Rose Parade representatives and GBA representatives met with the Governor of Aichi Prefecture Hideaki Ōmura on May 29, 2023.

Charity concert:

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The band arranged a charity concert on May 28, 2023 at Chikusa Sports Center, Stadium 1, Nagoya to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Tōhō Gakuen as well as to commemorate their participation in the Rose Parade (video by the Official Support Club of the band). As part of the festivities there was also the Rose Parade flag handover ceremony, for which purpose Alex Aghajanian (President and Chairman of the Board for the 2024 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association) was present.

His wife Paula is talented amateur singer, and she sang in the event “Nella Fantasia” made famous by Sarah Brightman (video by MICHINOKUGORO).

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Tōhō High School Green Band at 2016 Rose Parade:

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Tōhō High School Green Band (Tōhō Wind Ensemble, TWE) was already at 2016 Rose Parade. The band was made up of the High School students and alumni, as well as University students. The above video from the GBA Archives contains a digest of their performances in the US.

In the video below by MICHINOKUGORO there is the entire 2016 Rose Parade performance of the band:

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References (all in Japanese):

– Announcement tweet by GBA is here;
– Article at the Chunichi Shimbun is here;
– Tōhō Marching Band Booster Club Official tweet is here;
– Gilaughters official tweet is here;

– Tōhō Gakuen website is here;
– Tōhō High School website is here;
– Aichi Tōhō University website is here;

– Tōhō High School Wikipedia is here;
– Aichi Tōhō University Wikipedia is here;

– Tōhō Marching Band Booster Club Official Twitter-account is here;
– Gilaughters Instagram is here;
– Gilaughters Twitter is here;
– Aichi Tōhō University Wind Band homepage is here;
– Aichi Tōhō University Wind Band Twitter is here.

8 thoughts on “135th Tournament of Roses Parade (January 1, 2024) – Tōhō Marching Band”

  1. Marching bands lined up on Del Mar Boulevard.

    Toho Marching Band on Orange Grove Boulevard, waiting for the parade to start.

    Toho’s color guard wrapped in their flags and huddled together, trying to stay warm on a cold morning.

    Sign on Orange Grove at the entrance to the area for the big viewing stands erected along the street, heading up to Colorado Boulevard. When KT comes next year, it will be impossible to follow them up to the Mario Turn unless a ticket to this area has been purchased beforehand. Event personnel on both sides of the street were there making sure anyone going past that point had a ticket and searched the bags any of them were carrying. Presumably, this has been the case in previous years and will be so next year.

    Almost time for Toho to step off.

    Bands on Del Mar, waiting for their time to make the turn onto Orange Grove.

    Band buses a couple of blocks down, crammed together on Del Mar.

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  4. It’s amazing that they’ve played through the whole 6½ miles with NO cadence just straight forward next song after the other. all with Choreography. Congratulations Toho Marching band❤️👏👏

    If some members came across my comment here is the YT link of the playlist of all the Performances from Bandfest to the Rose Parade from different perspectives I’ve compiled as much as I can😁
    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoA1u3Ejn2hOo5xtLbFJpuAUMx0hAdF0e&si=Axm1ozos1SQKyHKR

    Also what happened to the member holding the Greenband flag? I hope she’s okay I didn’t saw her in some clips I just saw the GBA staff holding the flag in the end of the band.

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