Author, Researcher and Lecturer with a Passion for History, Music and Japan
Even after finishing Not by Love Alone, I still wonder at the rapid spread of Western music in 19th– and early 20th-century Japan. Like others writing about the history of Western music in Japan, I made much of the Japanese pioneers who studied in the West or had Western teachers….
Birthdays in July include TOKUE Hisako 徳江尚子（比佐子, b. 1945) on 6 July, FURUSAWA Iwao 古澤 巌 (b. 1959) on 11 July, GOTÔ Ryû 五嶋 龍 (b. 1988) on 13 July, TENMA Atsuko 天満 敦子 (b. 1955) on 18 July, as well as FUJIKAWA Mayumi 藤川 真弓 (b. 1946) and SUMI…
TÔGI Yûji 東儀祐二 (1928–1985) on 11 May ÔNO Tadasuke 多 忠亮 (1895-1930) on 3 May Both of this month’s violinists come from traditional gagaku families. Gagaku (court orchestra music) originally came to Japan from China and is closely associated with the imperial court. So it is hardly surprising that it was reorganized soon…