In Redmond, Microsoft offered employees a chance to blow off steam and have fun with intramural sports teams. I loved spring and summer days where I’d drive over to the Microsoft campus, sit in the sun and watch Dan and his coworkers play softball.
Well, gone are those days. They don’t have intramural sports team at Microsoft Japan. They have Microsoft Orchestra!
As common as it is for Americans to grow up playing sports to learn about being part of a team, exercising and sportsmanship, it’s more common in Japan for children to grow up playing a musical instrument (typically a string or woodwind) to exercise discipline, preciseness and learn to make beautiful music.
Dan and I got tickets to the Microsoft Orchestra through his coworker Junko, who is a wonderful violinist. It was held at a music hall in Suginami on a nice Saturday afternoon.
We took our seats in a crowded auditorium and enjoyed the orchestra, accompanied by a choir. It’s amazing that these people practice so hard after a long day of work, it sounded wonderful and in the last act a choir of children came out and sang. It was a great experience and I hope they perform again soon!
This is why they’re so smart 🙂