The following article appeared on July 12 2020 on the digital site of Japan's Asahi Shimbun [News].
The target audience are teenagers. The contents is familiar to long-time Nobuyuki Tsujii fans. It comes with a photo that might be a recent one taken at Nobu's home studio. Nobu is seen wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt, with his characteristic dazzling smile -- if you look closely, you can see stubble on his slightly unshaven face!
https://www.asahi.com/articles/DA3S14546572.html
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Photo 辻井伸行さん＝北村玲奈撮影 Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii, taken by Rena Kitamura
[Translated from Japanese]
The piano has been a part of my body since I was little, like a friend. I'm better at expressing in music than expressing in words, so it's indispensable to me.
At the age of 10, I co-starred with an orchestra and, at the age of 12, I performed a solo recital. At the age of 17, I participated in the Chopin Competition and received the "Critics' Award". Ar the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition , which I participated at the age of 20, I was able to win the championship, which made me cry -- a rare thing for me.
I decided to become a pianist when I was 10, when I won a competition. I took violin lessons from the age of 4 to the second grade of elementary school, but the piano has a wider range of expressions and it can produce a wider range of sounds. Did you ever hate practicing the piano? It has never happened.
Diagnosed with "small eyeballs" where the eyeballs do not grow, causing blindness. I couldn't see, but I can play the piano and do the same things like everyone. So I didn't like being called a 'blind pianist'. I wanted to be seen as a pianist, regardless of my disability.
There were also rebellious periods during my puberty. My mother would let me do whatever I like, and praise me for winning the competition, but my father, an obstetrician and gynecologist, often said, "You must study something other than the piano." At that time I thought he was just being noisy.
The relationship began to change after I was in high school. I had the opportunity to go for a walk together with him, and from this point on, I started to think that he said these things because he cared for me. I made a song called 川のささやき "Whisper of the River" to commemorate our walk along the river. I 'm so grateful. These days, my father and I have drinks together.
I did what I liked, and I hope that you will find something you like and move towards a dream while your mind is fresh. I hope you will try many things. (（聞き手・西村奈緒美 Interviewer: Naomi Nishimura)
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Pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii Born in Tokyo in 1988 . Played the ending song in the movie "The Sheep and the Forest of Steel". He was also active as a composer and won the Japan Film Critics Award for his music for the movie "Kami-sama no Karte" [God's Medical Chart] .
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This is how the article appears in print, in Japan , compliments of a post on Intagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/CChYZFGgazE/
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NOTE: The "song" mentioned in the article that Nobu wrote about his walk with his father 川のささやき "Whisper of the River" is well known in Japan. There are many videos with the piece as soundtrack, but they are not played by Nobu. An official recording posted by his official website can be listened to here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMzsxMPAk94
PHOTO below -- From left: Nobu's mother Itsuko Tsujii, Nobu, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and Nobu's father Takashi Tsujii at an event at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, September 26 2016
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RELATED ARTICLES
♪ Nobuyuki Tsujii English Wikipedia Page
♪ The Nobuyuki Tsujii Story
The target audience are teenagers. The contents is familiar to long-time Nobuyuki Tsujii fans. It comes with a photo that might be a recent one taken at Nobu's home studio. Nobu is seen wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt, with his characteristic dazzling smile -- if you look closely, you can see stubble on his slightly unshaven face!
https://www.asahi.com/articles/DA3S14546572.html
Photo 辻井伸行さん＝北村玲奈撮影 Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii, taken by Rena Kitamura
辻井伸行さん＝北村玲奈撮影
辻井伸行さん＝北村玲奈撮影
（１０代の君へ）好きなこと、夢につないで 辻井伸行さん
(To teenagers )Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii: His interests; his dreams
[Translated from Japanese]
The piano has been a part of my body since I was little, like a friend. I'm better at expressing in music than expressing in words, so it's indispensable to me.
At the age of 10, I co-starred with an orchestra and, at the age of 12, I performed a solo recital. At the age of 17, I participated in the Chopin Competition and received the "Critics' Award". Ar the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition , which I participated at the age of 20, I was able to win the championship, which made me cry -- a rare thing for me.
I decided to become a pianist when I was 10, when I won a competition. I took violin lessons from the age of 4 to the second grade of elementary school, but the piano has a wider range of expressions and it can produce a wider range of sounds. Did you ever hate practicing the piano? It has never happened.
Diagnosed with "small eyeballs" where the eyeballs do not grow, causing blindness. I couldn't see, but I can play the piano and do the same things like everyone. So I didn't like being called a 'blind pianist'. I wanted to be seen as a pianist, regardless of my disability.
There were also rebellious periods during my puberty. My mother would let me do whatever I like, and praise me for winning the competition, but my father, an obstetrician and gynecologist, often said, "You must study something other than the piano." At that time I thought he was just being noisy.
The relationship began to change after I was in high school. I had the opportunity to go for a walk together with him, and from this point on, I started to think that he said these things because he cared for me. I made a song called 川のささやき "Whisper of the River" to commemorate our walk along the river. I 'm so grateful. These days, my father and I have drinks together.
I did what I liked, and I hope that you will find something you like and move towards a dream while your mind is fresh. I hope you will try many things. (（聞き手・西村奈緒美 Interviewer: Naomi Nishimura)
＊
Pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii Born in Tokyo in 1988 . Played the ending song in the movie "The Sheep and the Forest of Steel". He was also active as a composer and won the Japan Film Critics Award for his music for the movie "Kami-sama no Karte" [God's Medical Chart] .
***
This is how the article appears in print, in Japan , compliments of a post on Intagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/CChYZFGgazE/
***
NOTE: The "song" mentioned in the article that Nobu wrote about his walk with his father 川のささやき "Whisper of the River" is well known in Japan. There are many videos with the piece as soundtrack, but they are not played by Nobu. An official recording posted by his official website can be listened to here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMzsxMPAk94
PHOTO below -- From left: Nobu's mother Itsuko Tsujii, Nobu, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and Nobu's father Takashi Tsujii at an event at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, September 26 2016
***
RELATED ARTICLES
♪ Nobuyuki Tsujii English Wikipedia Page
♪ The Nobuyuki Tsujii Story
西村奈緒美）***