The city of Tokyo has a whopping eight professional orchestras, but until recently, only three – the NHK Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony – have been considered major players on the national and international scene. Now, though, two of the lesser ensembles, both notable for operating without a major commercial sponsor, are making a major push for promotion to the top ranks of orchestras. But market factors are also at work, and with many in Japan (as elsewhere) questioning how many orchestras even the biggest cities need, the upstarts still have a long road ahead.