HAMAMATSU, Japan It was a sight fit for an episode of the Twilight Zone: Dressed in black formal wear, a crowd of musicians filed into a concert hall west of Tokyo and sit down to play. But instead of ...

The celebratory sound of taiko (drum) has become integral to many festivals and performances across Japan. For centuries, taiko artisans and ensembles have helped preserve and advance these ...

Consider the saxophone player's pandemic dilemma: How to play at home in a Japanese apartment, notorious for paper-thin walls, without making your neighbors want to kill you. In a pre-COVID-19 world, ...

This flat rectangular brass instrument has four sets of lines on it, two sets on each side. Each set consists of four nested L-shaped lines and six shorter lines that run across them. Some of the ...