Good music and good wine.

Born in Kobe, Japan and spent grade school years in Vancouver B.C., Coos Bay, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Came back to Japan in the mid 60s and living in Tokyo ever since.
After working in a consumer products company and IT companies for some thirty years, I left the corporate world in 2006 to follow my passion for music and wine (though I still do some marketing consulting work for multi-national firms from time to time)

Music
Started classical piano at age 8 but was playing something like boogie woogie by age 10. Then I got into the blues and switched to guitar soon after (see the Music section below).
I currently jam with my friends in Tokyo regularly at local joints and studios.

Wine
My love for wine eventually led me to earn the diploma from L’Ecole du Vin de Bordeaux in France and also the Advanced Certificate from WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) of London.

A Japanese playing the blues? Well, to me, the blues is universal. Yes, those little things you must go through when you are growing up, say, the one you loved didn’t know you even existed, or you really got mistreated, and so on. That’s how I met the blues music as a young boy. It really helped me. If it wasn’t for the blues, I think I wouldn’t have made it till today. So here I am playing the same old blues…
But as far as listening concerned, I do listen to more Jazz music than the straight blues.
My favorite guitarists are: Herb Ellis, Tiny Grimes, Melvin Sparks, David T Walker, Cornell Dupree, Robben Ford, Eric Gale, Chris Cain, Larry Carlton, Stanley Jordan, Jim Mullen, and of course, Chris Standring.
Other instruments/vocals: Dinah Washington, Etta Jones, Ruth Brown, Esther Phillips, Ernestine Anderson, Randy Crawford, Diane Reeves, Diana Krall, Eva Cassidy, Joe Williams, Jimmy Witherspoon, Bill Doggett, Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Shirley Scott, Joey DeFrancesco,Bobby Timmons, Ray Bryant, Hank Crawford, David Sanborn, Rusty Bryant, Houston Person, etc.

Digitizing old vinyl records
Collecting/drinking wine (Bordeaux blends in particular)

Thin music and thin wine.