(英会話リスニングスクリプト)
Interestingly, the reasons for this love
of classical music can be found in the military history
of Japan.
At the beginning of the First World War
the Japanese, as enemies of the Germans, took control of
a German-occupied island in the Pacific called Qingdao.
5,000 German soldiers were taken prisoner
and brought back to prison camps in Japan.
The prisoners were encouraged to enjoy sport
and culture.
They enjoyed playing classical music, especially
Beethoven, greatly influencing their Japanese prison guards.
The second part of this story happened twenty
years later.
When Hitler came to power in Germany, many
Jewish musicians decided to leave the country.
One of them, the conductor Joseph Rosenstock,
came to Japan to develop the Japanese Radio Orchestra.
Audiences thought he was wonderful and,
even now, he is a kind of father figure to Japanese musicians.
Rosenstock started the tradition of playing
Beethoven's Ninth during the last few days of December,
and this has continued right up to the present day.
On December 4, 1983, an estimated 10,000
people took part in a performance of Beethoven's Ninth in
the Osaka area.
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