We’re gearing up for an incredible 7-city tour of Japan with Music for the Ocean. It’s hard to believe, but we’re bringing the immersive sounds of this amazing concert to halls across Japan including Kumamoto, Okinawa, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Yamaguchi, Kyoto, and Nagoya. Along the way, our board member and the concert’s composer, Chad Cannon, will be creating new music inspired by the local marine environment and culture. We’ll all be promoting marine conservation.

This tour has a ton of moving parts including a hospital visit, many school visits, a collaboration with visual artist Randi Renate, as well as many meetings with local dignitaries.

We’re looking forward to the opportunity to meet scientists at both Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology as well as the University of Ryuku in Sesoto. These labs have already built coral restoration and research facilities like the type we are planning in Tela. This exchange of scientific expertise will be a huge benefit to us as we develop our research program and facilities. And we’re thrilled we’ll be able to squeeze in a few scuba dives along the way. We’re really looking forward to seeing the world-famous reefs in Okinawa!

The concerts will also feature numerous guest performers. We’re delighted that violinist Sumire Hirotsuru will perform with at the Okinawa concert on July 1st and the Tokyo concert. The Okinawa performance will also feature Takayuki Oshiro, a leading sanshin player. The Tokyo performance will include singer Mai and the female chorus group Little Carol. Little Carol is known for their participation in Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi’s works.

At various locations, we’ll be screening two films: the prize-winning documentary Rebel Reef: Seeds of Hope, which intertwines the story of Tela’s Reefs and Tela’s dive master Christian Carias, as well as Paper Lanterns, a film about atomic bomb survivor, Shigeaki Mori. Chad scored both of these films.

And in Tokyo, I’m especially blown away that we’ll have a very special book launch/film screening/min-concert for my new book The Shell Seeker, which will be be released on July 7.

It’s going to be an incredible trip! Be sure to follow along on our social media.

Details of each can be found in this comprehensive press release at PR Times. A schedule of events is available on our website in both English and Japanese.

See you in Japan!