Hamamatsu City Govt Repairing, Renting Out Unused School Musical Instruments So They Don’t Remain in Storage

By Kazuya Nakajima / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

12:59 JST, June 26, 2025

HAMAMATSU — Efforts to utilize secondhand musical instruments are underway in Hamamatsu, a city of musical instruments where world-famous manufacturers such as Yamaha Corp. and Kawai Musical Instruments are based.

The city government has launched an initiative to repair and utilize musical instruments that are no longer used for club activities at schools. The number of brass band clubs has been decreasing nationwide due to factors such as the declining birthrate, reforms in teachers’ work styles and the diversification of how students spend their time after school.

The municipality aims to create more opportunities for children to appreciate music through lending musical instruments and offering experiential performances at elementary schools.

At his home in Iwata, Shizuoka Prefecture, a 10-year-old boy picked up a brass instrument. It was a cornet, which had once been used by a school brass band club. His mother rented the instrument for him in January from Bardon Gakki, a musical instrument store in Hamamatsu that has been lending repaired instruments no longer being used and stored at schools.

“Wind instruments are expensive, so it’s difficult for us to buy one for him to try. We are very grateful,” said the 44-year-old mother.

Bardon Gakki offers five types of instruments for loan — cornets, trombones, alto horns, euphoniums and tubas. The instruments were once used at elementary schools in the city, and rental prices for 30 days range from ¥1,100 to ¥5,500 with tax, depending on the instrument.

“We are happy to loan them to overseas users as long as they can be returned within the rental period,” said a city official in charge.

Against the backdrop of the city’s initiative is a sense of crisis over the situation that children have started to have less opportunities to learn music due to the declining number of brass band clubs.

According to statistics by the All Japan Band Association, the number of brass band clubs at elementary schools nationwide peaked in 2013 at 1,173, but the number dropped by more than 30% to 803 in January this year. Among municipal elementary schools in Hamamatsu, the number plummeted from 61 in fiscal 2020 to five in fiscal 2024.

The city learned in surveys conducted in fiscal 2023 and 2024 that about 900 wind instruments were left unused at 36 schools in the city.

“If wind instruments are left unused for six months, they become rusty and moldy. It was sad to see so many instruments left unused,” said Keiji Tsukamoto, 53, president of Bardon Gakki, which took part in the surveys.

Commissioned by the city, the store repaired 72 instruments that were found in good condition. When the shop started loaning them out on a trial basis at the end of last year, reception was positive, with customers saying, “I would like to try playing the trombone,” and “I want my son or grandchildren to experience it.” So, the shop began the full-scale rental program from this fiscal year.

The company started offering experiential performance events at elementary schools using the repaired instruments and plans to hold similar events at large commercial facilities during this fiscal year. It has received inquiries from universities and musical instrument stores outside of the prefecture.

“Brass bands would provide a highly effective educational experience that allows students to learn the joy of creating something together with others,” said an official of the city’s cultural promotion division. “We hope the initiative will help encourage children to take musical instrument classes or attend concerts.”