There was a fan who always wrote “Take care of your hands” in every letter sent to me.
I remember it was back when I was still in junior high or high school. That person, who was around my age, sent me fan letters quite frequently. And the letters always ended with the words “Take care of your hands”. There were even times when a postcard would arrive with just those words on it. The handwriting was fine and gentle, with its distinctive style.
My mother used to smile as she read the letters with me saying, “This person is always so kind to worry about you”. Though I was taking care of my hands fairly well, I felt that I had to be more conscious about taking good care of them when I received those words so often.
The image of that handwriting “Take care of your hands” in those curved and fine characters
still comes to mind. And it makes me want to care about my hands even more.
The existence of my fans is something I am truly grateful for. Looking back over the 50 years since my debut, I really feel that I have been able to come this far, thanks to the support of so many people.
From the days when I was a student, fan letters were very precious “gifts” that I waited for especially as I debuted at a very young age.
I kept the fan letters in a large cardboard box and when I got exhausted by practicing, I’d take them out and read them. It refreshed my mind and I could go back to practicing again.
I tried to write back as much as I could to those fan letters and postcards, and sometimes, it continued in a sort of pen-friend relationship. But when my performance schedule got hectic and more demanding, replying became difficult, and I felt uneasy about it for a while.
But many of the letters I received not only encouraged me but also described the fans’ own efforts as they pursued their dreams.
I remember really well when a high school baseball player sent me sand from the Koshien Stadium and an armband from that tournament.
His letter, written in neat handwriting, expressed both the frustration of being defeated in the match early and also the refreshing sense of having done his best. It touched my heart too, and for a while, I carried his “token of youth” with me in the little pouch in my violin case.
At the time, I was struggling to balance the time between my studies and stage performances, constantly on the verge of tears, feeling driven into a corner. So, the “gift” from that high school baseball player, the sand from Koshien and the precious armband, became a secret anchorage for me. They were like lucky charms tucked inside my violin case, the sand and armband that gave me strength during that difficult time.
For a 12-year-old child like me wondering into the adult world, gave me huge stress. The encouragement and comfort that I received from the various fan letters from children of the same generation was so big!
The presence of fellow beings striving through the same era, even if in different fields, certainly took my hands and lead me forward when I sometimes had to crouch on the roadside.
Times have changed, and letters are rarely exchanged these days.
It feels so strange how addresses and phone numbers used to be so open to anyone back in those days. Now, details like where one lives are kept private to avoid personal information leaks.
Meanwhile, the current method of communication is SNS. I too, switched from a flip phone to a smartphone belatedly, during the pandemic, and I started Instagram and Facebook which changed my world.
Communicating with many people via SNS feels similar to exchanging letters like the old days.
When I read comments from concertgoers, they blow away my fatigue, with such words like
“I’ll come to your next recital” that fills me with energy. I do recognize those who comment frequently, and I’m also delighted to read the first-time comments.
Though I can’t reply to each person individually, reading their kind words makes me feel a deep sense of closeness, almost like being friends. With elder or younger people, a feeling of family-like kinship starts growing.
It is me ultimately, who steps onto the stage and performs, but right now, I have the feeling that so many people are supporting me, and patting me on my back, encouraging me to go on the stage.
I am now in the latter half of the year of my 50th anniversary since debut.
I am feeling once again, that I want to stand on the stage thanking everyone from the bottom of my heart.