道南の室蘭市は、小生が中学二年の二学期から高校一年の途中まで住んだ町である。住んだ時期は短かったが、今まで住んだ地域の中で一番気に入っている場所である。今年のYOSAKOIソーラン祭りに室蘭市からは、常連となっている三チームが出場する。それら三チームのプロフィールを手短に紹介する。（I lived in the city of Muroran in the southern part of Hokkaido for slightly over two years starting with the fall semester of my eighth-grade year. Although the time of my residence in the city was brief, it is the most favorite town in my memories. Three teams from Muroran are scheduled to participate in the upcoming YOSAKOI/Soran Festival this year. The following are brief profile of each of them, which have made regular appearances to the festival.）
室蘭百花繚蘭（MURORAN HYAKKA-RYOURAN [lit., "hundreds of flowers blooming wildly in Muroran"）：26回目の出場。今や、トップ１０に入るのが当たり前のようになってきている「アスリート系」と呼ばれるチーム。室蘭工業大学等の生徒と社会人で構成される。今年こそ「頂へ」昇り詰めてほしい。画像は昨年のYOSAKOIソーラン祭り最終日、6月11日、大通パレード会場でのファイナル・パレードの折に撮影したもの。（By now, many YOSAKOI/Soran fans take it for granted that this team, which will make their 26th appearance to the festival, advances to the top-ten-finalist competition in the festival. Acclaimed as an "athletic" team, its members are either students--e.g. of Muroran Insitute of Technology--or young working adults. I hope they will win the grand prize to make true their routine call during the performance, "to the top!". Posted below are some snap shots of their street performance at the Odori Avenue in downtown Sapporo on June 11 last year--the final day of the festival--during the exhibition dancing by top-ten finalist teams.）
室蘭ルネッサンス：今年で結成三十年目となり、本祭には28回目の参加となる。子供から親世代まで、幅広い年齢層で構成される。画像は、昨年6月10日、YOSAKOIソーラン祭り、澄川会場にて。(MURORAN RENAISSANCE: This year marks the 30th anniversary of this team's foundation, and 28th participation in the festival. Ages of its members range widely from children to parental levels. The following images show some clips of their stage performance at a park in the suburb of Sapporo on June 10 last year during the festival.)
AJG KIDS（えじぇっくきっず）：平均年齢十二歳。出場回数が今年で二十五回目。扇子など数々の小道具を手にして、アクロバティックな演舞を披露する。（AJG KIDS [as a team name, it reads "EJEKKU KIZZU"]: Average age of its members is 12. They will dance in the festival for the 25th time this year. Their performance, with use of fans and other hand-held items, is quite acrobatic. I took posted images here at the same location and on the same day as above.）
