Page 6 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • February 29, 2012 Ridgewood Japanese musicians set tsunami benefit concert by John Koster Ridgewood marimba virtuoso Kayo Toda and Ridgewood pianist Naoko Sawada will be the featured performers at a benefit and memorial concert for victims of the 2011 Japanese tsunami and nuclear meltdown at the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Maywood at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 11. The concert will also feature guitarist Shinji Hawada and the church choir. Ridgewood area residents may take Paramus Road to East Pleasant Avenue in Maywood and then turn into the church parking lot. All are welcome to attend the benefit performance. Kayo Toda, the featured performer, is a graduate of Osaka Music College and president of the West Japan Marimbist Association and has performed all over Japan and at three cultural exchange programs in China. She was the featured performer at Naoko Sawada, Hiroki Toda and Kayo Toda. Hiroki Toda and Kayo Toda play their instruments. the Ridgewood Library’s ESL banquet last year and at a January concert at the library with Sawada, a graduate of the University of South Florida. Toda’s young son Hiroki also appeared as percussionist at that event. The concert included traditional American favorites, light European classics, and several Asian-style pieces. Toda and Sawada both moved to Ridgewood in 2007 and are active in the local Japanese cultural activities. Last year, Sakura-Bana, a Japanese restaurant in Ridgewood, held a benefit dinner and flea market-style sale to help raise funds for the survivors of the tsunami. In addition, Glen Rock Mayor John van Keuren hosted a 2011 meeting that served as an electronic greeting card. Residents gathered at Glen Rock Borough Hall to offer prayers and encouragement for the Japanese of Sendai Province, where about 20,000 people died in the tidal wave. Japanese families and their friends also had yard sales and sent large-scale donations. “Please pray for Japan,” Toda said at her concert at the Ridgewood Library in January. “We really appreciate your great support and encouragement.”