I knew tonight would be special because Toru-kun, Kato-san’s youngest boy, had invited a friend of his to come over to the house and chat. I knew he could play guitar, but I didn’t know to what extent. I didn’t know how special this kid was.
Yutaro Takahashi sounds like an average Japanese name but this could not be further from the truth. From the kanji is his family name, which is a mezurashii variant of one of the few kanji I recognize takai, to his pure enjoyment of speaking the English language, this kid is unique.
Just for kicks I asked him to play my guitar and show me how it is done. It was mindblowing. I recorded him playing a song that he wrote and I got his permission to put it up here on the blog. To be fair, he had no idea that we had an internet space for this sort of thing, so he wasn`t doing this to show off, only because I asked him to.
The songs name is “Litany and Judy.” Yutaro gave me a present of a cd with three songs he wrote and subsequently recorded in his basement. This is good stuff. We talked until about 23:00 and he kept asking me to play something for him, but in the face of that level of skill, I had to decline. Repeatedly.
We talked at length about his plans for the future, specifically music and education. Yutaro wants to study abroad in the USA or England. We talked about GSE and that led into discussions about the other Rotary programs available for foreign exchange high school and college students.
Yutaro seemed very excited about what little knowledge I could give him about the programs and I truly hope he takes advantage of them. He appears to be a person who truly has a lot to offer.
I keep saying that Japan’s treasures are it’s people. This kid is definitely one of them. A big thanks to the Kato family for giving us a place to hang out, and a total WOW to Yutaro Takahashi for taking his Friday night to hang out with a strange guy from half a world away.
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