Makiko Hirata

On History and Culture: On the 75th Anniversary of the First Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima.

Nikkan San "The Way of the Pianist" /

The phrase “history is written by the victors” rang in my ears during a recent conversation with a friend. He asserted that history, as a narrative, needed simplicity; and that its need for simplicity prohibited it from embracing all perspectives and that there will always be the voiceless. In reaction, I thought that may be one of the powers of culture, art and creativity was to give voice to the voiceless.

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Glass Half Full = a Matter of Perspective

Nikkan San "The Way of the Pianist" /

Now that I am live-streaming regularly, I am grateful. People from all over the world get to share the time of music appreciation together: Mexico, Japan, California, New York, Netherlands… I don’t know their life circumstances, but for that 30 minutes to an hour, we get to focus on the same thing – the beauty of music, and the joy of sharing that experience. Had this pandemic happened twenty years ago, none of this would have been possible. I am grateful for the computer, the internet, and social media…all the technology that allows me to share my music even under our current circumstance.

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