Tomoko Yokota

Tomoko "Tomtom" Yokota

is based in Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku in Southern Japan. She is co-founder of a country wide drum circle group, Orange Boom Boom with two other leading facilitators, covering Northern, Central and Southern Japan. As a response to the success and increasing demands for her drum circle work within her local community, Tomtom is dedicated to delivering the joy of music making and working energetically towards building a healthy community.

Tomtom has worked with people of all ages, backgrounds and lifestyles both is Japan and internationally. Her work with children has encompassed circles for working mothers and their infants, kindergartens, elementary, junior-high, high school and college students, as well as classed for learning challenged students. Tomtom has organized and facilitated “Drum about Japan” events with Arthur Hull in Japan and introduced Japanese drum circle strategies to Southern California based facilitators at Remo Center in Los Angeles.

She has organized successful drum circles for mental health programs, physically challenged groups, hearing impaired students, elderly in day care and pregnant women at maternity clinics.

Tomtom continuously promotes drumming as a means of empowerment, communication and a dynamic force for healing.

She is a student of tsuzumi, a traditional Japanese drum used in Noh drama, and a keyboard instructor and arranger. She is an endorser for REMO.