A Japanese musician has been forced to cancel performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe after her instruments were stolen from the venue. Sachie Mikawa, 48, said the trumpet and vintage melodica that went missing from the Rotunda Theatre where she was performing a musical comedy held great sentimental value, particularly as the trumpet was inherited from her father. She said it was his only thing to survive the tsunami which hit parts of Japan in 2011 and was her last connection to her dad, who died last year.
The theatre said the items were stolen on Monday along with six laptops and an iPad among other items of tech. Police Scotland confirmed they received a report of the incident. A melodica is a handheld instrument played by blowing air into a reed, which is attached to a keyboard.
Mikawa, who now lives in London with her partner, said the stolen trumpet was one of the only items to survive when her family lost everything in the Tōhoku earthquake in 2011. The natural disaster caused a devastating tsunami and had a magnitude of 9.0 which produced waves up to 132 feet (40m) high. Speaking to BBC Scotland, she said: "My dad gifted me the trumpet when I was sixteen.
"It was the only thing I had left connected to him and the only thing that survived. "In the tsunami we lost everything, all my childhood memories, toys and photos were gone." Mikawa, who is scheduled to perform at the venue based at George Heriot's School until 16 August, has cancelled two shows so far. She does not know if she will manage the rest.
"I had carried that trumpet for 32 years, it came all over the world with me and I used it during my first performance as a clown in 2005. "I have performed at festivals everywhere and nothing like this has ever happened before. "The instruments had massive sentimental value to me.
They were both gifted to me by my dad who passed away this week last year," she said. How affordable are Edinburgh's festivals? Amanda Knox comedy show 'sincere' but 'just not very funny' KT Tunstall returns to the Fringe 30 years on with ground-breaking musical The musician and performer said the loss was another blow during an already difficult week.
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