by Yoshimasa Kasahara
日本語でThe COVID-19 situation in Japan drastically started to change in late February. I gave a recital on 20 Feb. (there, among other pieces, I performed the Japanese premiere of Laurence Lowe's Earthsongs, the recording of which is also on my YouTube channel). In that week, a small number of concert cancellations already occurred. However, they were mostly because of some performers from abroad who couldn't make the trip, so we weren't that upset. Things suddenly changed on the 26th, when the prime minister called on citizens to avoid events with large number of people. Almost all concerts were cancelled by second week of March. Until the middle of the month, some concerts took place as livestreams without audience (including a monumental production of “Götterdämmerung” in Biwako Hall), but soon faded away when crowded orchestral seating itself became an issue.
While performing arts events shut down quickly and obediently, the government was slow to restrict other economic activities. A large percentage of office workers continued (and, yes, still continue) to commute in notoriously packed (and punctual) trains, at least in mid-April. I might add that two orchestral auditions (not in Tokyo) for which I was applying, took place as scheduled, with much care placed on appropriate social distancing and hand sanitizer...
It was not until the Olympic/Paralympic games were officially postponed (24 Mar.) that both the PM and Governor of Tokyo started to persuade people to stay home (there's more to talk about on this topic, but it gets too political for this forum).
The Laudatio video was shot on April 7th, the day a state of emergency was declared by the PM for large cities, with an advance notice the day before. A scheduled rehearsal was cancelled, so I took advantage of the free time to make a video recording of this piece (in mid March I had relearned the piece for a lesson to a student who was preparing it for the IHS52 solo competition). Shibuya was definitely not uninhabited, but looked somewhat different. Less than usual, but still many people continue to come to work. Is this really an emergency? Who knows? Anyway, this solemn and heartfelt music seemed to fit the unreal mood of the day.
Stay safe, and keep on annoying your neighbors with the sound of your horn!
