Update: 05/01/08
This year has been incredibly busy and productive. I gave recitals consisting of the works by Japanese contemporary composers in Canada to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of Japanese-Canadian diplomatic relations in February. And I traveled to Brazil with violinist Airi Yoshioka for a tour that included performances at famed Teatro de Santa Isabel in Recife and Teatro da Paz in Belem among others. I met some wonderful people along the way, and ate some wonderful food as well!

When you travel to different parts of the world, you sometimes encounter difficulties in language communications. But the language of music is so universal that you feel at once the solidarity with audiences, fellow musicians, etc. anywhere you go. And even when you come back to New York where everything is familiar, you still fondly remember of the people you have met and the experiences you shared on the other side of the planet. I feel I come back enriched.

The next stop, Osaka, Japan. I hope to have similarly wonderful encounters there as well.

Update: 03/15/07
I will be playing a solo recital next summer (Aug.,2008) as a part of the Evolution Series at the Phoenix Hall (300 seats) in Osaka, Japan. I was chosen to present a program of Japanese and American contemporary music. I am very excited!

Born in Osaka, Japan, raised in Los Angeles, and studied in New York, I consider myself a bicultural product of Japan and the United States. And with the background, I think I am uniquely suited to present the great contemporary music of both countries. I hope to be a bridge between the two cultures that nurtured and developed me as a person as well as a musician.

And lots of people consider contemporary music as "difficult"and does not like it. My mission is to amend that! I would like to present a diverse program so that everybody can find something to get excited about. I want the audience to go home after the concert, saying "What a great concert!", "Contemporary music can be cool!", "What else is out there."
At the Weaving Japanese Sounds Concert Series, we have the same mission. We try to present programs that show the diversity of Japanese contemporary music and also to educate, enlighten, and entertain our audiences!

Speaking of which, our next installment of Weaving Japanese Sounds will be on May 11, 2007, 8 pm at Tenri Cultural Institute (43A West 13th Street, New York, NY). We are presenting the works of such prominent composers as Toshi Ichiyanagi, Akira Nishimura, and Somei Satoh, as well as the work by young and up-and-coming composers such as Dai Fujikura, Moto Osada, and Mari Takano. We will have lots of guest artists including a Koto player (the first Japanese traditional instrument we are presenting!). It will be a very exciting concert, so I hope you can all come and hear us!

(See the details in the Weaving Japanese Sound page).

Update: 03/01/07
I am now back from Italy. My trip to Italy was just FABULOUS!
First, let me tell you why I went to Italy. Jim Luce of the Luce Group invited me to make a recording at Fazioli Concert Hall (Fazioli being the amazing piano maker!) in Sacile, Italy. Sacile is 50 miles north of Venice, and it's just beneath the Italian Alps. The weather was great (unseasonably warm), and the recording went relatively well in spite of a very limited amount of time. I recorded a program of standard repertoire, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Debussy, Mozart, and Takemitsu. The CD will be released soon.

And after the recording, I traveled to Venice and Florence. Venice was at the end of the annual Carnavale when I visited. Lots of people! But the day after the Carnavale’s last day, the city went back to a quiet self, and its beauty was simply mesmerizing. I hope to keep the memory forever in a little corner of my head.

And the food! I ate so well every single day! It was so good that I didn’t get tired of pasta at all! But not to worry, I walked so much during the day, I don’t think I gained much weight!