Laughter and Beauty as Life’s Essentials.

This is the English translation of my Japanese article for Nikkan San, a part of my bi-weekly column, “The Way of the Pianist.” 

Happy New Year to all my readers. My bi-weekly column that started on January of 2019 now welcomes its forth year. Thank you, always, for your readership.

In Japan, there is an old saying “warau kado niwa fuku kitaru (fortunes come to laughing gates).” On New Year’s Day, people play Fukuwarai (Fuku means fortunes, and warai means laughter). A blindfolded player tries to construct a face by placing cut-out features like an eye, brow, nose and mouth. It usually ends up looking like a very bad Picasso, making the player and the observers breaking out in laughter.

As children growing up in Japan, my schoolmates and I played traditional Japanese games on the first day of every year, like Hanetsuki, Takoage (kite flying), and Fukuwarai. I wonder if children today still play these games in Japan.

Is laughter necessary to live? …I guess the answer depends on what we consider “living” to be.

To inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, to sustain our metabolism as a living organism, laughter is not necessary. But to celebrate life as a conscious human being, laughter is essential just as music, rituals, and communities are. Neuroscience, anthropology, archaeology, psychology, philosophy ….various scholars of variety of expertise that I have come across all seem to agree on this.

I use my ability to laugh as a barometer for my own well-being and perspective. With the right attitude and perspective, I believe I should be able to laugh under any circumstances. When I find it hard to laugh, I consider that to be an indicator of my lack of perspective on the situation at hand. Similarly, I use my sense of aesthetic as my guide for my words and deeds. What I consider to be beautiful does not require efforts or manipulation or any artificial, superficial remedies. I don’t subscribe to the standard of beauty promoted by the media and the market to brainwash their consumers. The most sustainable, the most natural constructs and moves are ultimately the most beautiful – that is what I have now come to believe after pursuing my musical ideals at the piano all my life since the age of three.

Beauty, and music, are like laughter. They are both essential for us to live with pride and dignity. Do I think this because I am a musician?