Wishing everyone a peaceful New Year.
The world seems to be heading in the wrong direction..
Praying that Peace will prevail.

Wow! What a show!
Went to One Republic's concert in Tokyo yesterday and it was one of the best shows I've ever been to. Ryan Tedder is such an amazing singer. Never misses a note, and you can tell that his music comes from his soul. He was born to be a singer! So much positive energy and joy in his performance that my whole body was just filled with joy. I just felt so energized by his voice and his songs and his performance coming home. What an inspiration! Although, what we do in classical music is something totally different, hopefully what I've recieved from yesterday's concert will reflect in my music in some way.

The Divine Image
William Blake

To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love
Is God, our father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is Man, his child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.

Then every man, of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine,
Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

And all must love the human form,
In heathen, Turk, or Jew;
Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.

Here is William Blakes' "The Divine Image" to coincide with the Epiphany and end of Christmas.
A very close friend of mine gave me Malcom Guite's book "Waiting on the Word - A poem a day for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany".
It's a beautiful collection of poems by Rosetti, Keates, Chesterton, Tennyson, Coleridge, John Donne and also contemporary poets. Some of them are quite hard to understand and even to read (as some are written in old English) but for 3 years now (since my friend gave it to me as a Christmas present) every year I try to start reading it from December 1st.
It ends on January 6th which is apparently the "Feast of the Epiphany" which celebrates the visit of the magi to the Christ-Child.

I've never read William Blake, but this poem gives us a glimpse of his beautiful soul.
No matter what religion or faith, aren't our virtues all the same?

More than ever, I am praying that 2025 will be a peaceful year for our world.

I'm not sure why, but there are a few questions that really irritate me.
One of them is "Do you meditate?". Interestingly, so many people ask me this question!!
I feel like it's become a requirement for being a balanced healthy person. After Steve Jobs and the Hollywood stars made it a popular thing, it seems like it's a must to be creative. For those who do it, good for you! But please don't suggest to me that I need it.
I'm in a lucky position where I love my work and I have a fairly healthy body, and I don't live in a dangerous environment. Practicing Bach, Rachmaninoff, and just working on the piano is meditative. Having a really nice cup of tea or eating a really nice meal is meditative. Walking through nature, or just appreciating the trees and flowers in a residential area or watching children being totally carefree is meditative. Just seeing the moon when I get out of the station quite late after work and following it on my walk back home in quietness is meditative. We have all these beautiful and wonderful things around us which are inpsiring in our everyday lives. Just taking time to appreciate them, to live in the moment, and to be in awe of them, is to me much more meaningful than sitting with my eyes closed and trying to be still to "find myself".
I'd rather be working on my Rachmaninoff. I feel balanced, energized, inspired and happy after a good practice.

I had the priveledge of going to Ivo Pogorelich's recital yesterday at Suntory Hall in Tokyo and oh what a priveledge it was.
Wow - just - Wow....
It is impossible to describe what it was like but I came home loving music more and my hope for humanity renewed. It was an experience - not just a concert.
The over 3000 capacity hall was not totally full but I could tell that everyone there was really there to hear "Pogorelich" and not just a pianist.
I have never heard such a quiet sound from the piano in that hall and everyone was so intensely listening, trying not to miss a single sound.
It was as if he was inviting us into the deepest part of his soul. The sound, the music was unworldly. And it wasn't just serene but also at times passionate and full of inner energy.
Never an unintentional tone nor phrase and played with total honesty and dignity.

Apparently his recent performances are very controversial and I totally get that. I'm sure there would have been plenty of people that might have thought his playing was boring and too introvert. But in truth, it's never self indulgent nor does he exclude the audience.
There's no flashiness to his playing, no exagerated gestures. Nothing of which even the classical world has become accustomed to is there. He invites you into his world which is full of compassion and beauty in the stillness of his soul.

What a pianist!!

Wishing the world a peaceful 2024.
May we be able to find a way to live together in harmony.

I cannot believe that I haven't been able to write a single post this year!
I guess there's been too much going on that I didn't have much time to reflect.
My "word" for this year was "GO-GO" (go means "5" in Japanese and I turned 55 this year so I thought it would be a good word to get myself out of COVID mode and just go to wherever it was I wanted to go without fear.). I have to say, I did travel a lot - even more than I had planned or imagined! It did turn out to be a "GO-GO" year.
I'm thinking next year's word should be "HOME" or something along those lines!

Anyway, I do want to get back to my good habits and be strong about my priorities.
I will try to be better with my blog so if anyone's still reading it, please check in from time to time.

This is me trying to get started for 2024!

Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful year.
The world seems to be heading in the opposite direction so this year it seems even more relevant to wish for world peace. May you all be safe and warm.

I'm a real scrapbook person and I collect articles from magazines, newspapers, and any kind of printed matter. The clippings that I save are anything from essays, interviews, places I want to visit, food, art, films, music, literature, photography - basically things that I'm inspired by or which make me happy. The problem is I accumulate quite a lot and then just put them in a pile... At last I had time today to go through all the clippings that I had saved in the past few years and started filing them.

I was putting them into a file which was of photographs that were inspiring or beautiful and came across a newspaper photo/article which I didn't even remember saving. It nearly brought me to tears.

The headline "The Victory over Germany - 60th Anniversary Celebrations".

Japan was on Germany's side so I'm sure there were mixed feelings but in this photo we see the leaders of Germany, America, France, Japan and Russia - Putin himself. According to the article, this was held in Moscow, hosted by Russia and Putin made a speech saying "Today we celebrate the victory of peace and justice".

I was thinking of why I kept this photo. I love the expression on everyone's faces and how close they are standing next to each other. I think it gave me joy even back then (I'm guessing over 15 years ago?) to think that the leaders of our world are getting along and that those who are in charge and have the power to keep our world's peace are actually "happy" to be together.

What happened, President Putin????

This photo represents the world that I want to live in. It wasn't even a dream. It was a reality. What will it take for us to be able to all live together in harmony again?