The Japan Society of Boston New Year Party!

I performed for the New year party of The Japan Society of Boston yesterday. It was the duo of Mika & Richard Stoltzman and I was supporting them with Hideki Hiromoto on drums and Emily Shibata on vocal.

New year is a big deal for us Asians and that was a big new year party so I was expecting that everybody would be shouting, drinking, dancing and partying hard. I thought we were going to do the background-kind of music. Well, lest we forget, that was not a usual party but a Japanese party. Everybody was siting down nicely and quietly, and waiting for us to play. When I saw the audience from the stage all sitting noiselessly, I was stunned because I was expecting completely opposite.

That was the first concert of the year for me and it was a good one. I have a feeling that I’ll be playing lots of good shows this year!

Happy new year! Time for Osechi!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The year 2016 started with the new year party at my friend, Aiko’s place like the last year or the year before and I stuffed myself with the delicious beautiful Japanese traditional new year dish called Osechi. Thank you, Aiko-san!

I am not making new year’s resolution but I’ll just keep doing what I have been doing since last year which is self-coaching. I did a lot of things but the bottom line is that, first and foremost, I’ll make myself happy. This is it. In order to achieve that, I’ll keep in mind very basic stuff like, not to be too patient, not to be too scared, not hiding my true self too much, and most importantly, I do what I want to but not what I have to. The truth is that, if you are not kind to yourself, you cannot be kind to others. I did not know this truth till I became 41. Although I am glad I reached to the point to find out this truth in this age, I cannot say that I don’t regret why I could not find such a simple thing when I was 30. Well, I’m happy now so it’s all okay. To the young people around 30 or so, please be kind to yourself and try to do whatever you want to do now. Don't postpone.

Wonderful year to all of us!