Takashi Kawabata’s body floats up and down on the black chair before a grand piano while punching and sliding smoothly and consistently on the keys with his fingers.

With the lights fixed down on him, Kawabata played his favorite piece, Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903,” before an audience in Knuth Hall on April 13.

Kawabata, will graduate this month with a master’s degree in music from SF State. He will spend the next 12 months seeking as many performance opportunities as possible, during a training period for international students who are pursuing sponsorship for a working visa.

The 25-year-old said he wants to stay in the United States or possibly in other countries, but not in Japan.

“In my opinion, people appreciate musicians more here or in Europe,” Kawabata said. "I can be more expressive here. The more expressive you are, the more you would be appreciated.”

Kawabata grew up in a music-loving family in Kobe, Japan, and has played piano since he was 4 years old. But it was only three years ago, after participating in an international piano competition in Cuba, that he decided to commit to a musical instrument for the rest of his life.

Originally an English major, Kawabata came to SF State as a foreign exchange student in 2002, during his last year at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies in Japan. He was also interested in filmmaking, he said, but he took film classes and a music class for fun.

The following year, he was selected by the university to participate in the piano competition in Cuba.

Even though he was a semi-finalist, he was disappointed with his performance and said he felt he could have done better. He said he chose to be a pianist a couple days after the contest.

“I told myself that I have to focus on one thing if I want to accomplish (anything) in playing piano,” said Kawabata. “The more I thought about my future, the more I would be at (a) loss if I didn’t decide at that moment. This (piano) is the only thing I want in my life.”

Roger Woodward, one of Kawabata’s music professors at SF State, said he quickly found professional talent in him and encouraged him to compete in another international contest in Panama last year. Kawabata finished seventh among top-level pianists from Russia, Spain, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Israel, Canada and the United States.

“He already had an international apparatus to play,” said Woodward, himself an internationally celebrated pianist. “I think in Japan, maybe, people will begin to hear about this remarkable young pianist in the next few years.”

Kawabata said he knows it will be hard being a pianist, but he has a positive outlook about his future.
“If you think negatively, you can have nothing,” said Kawabata. “I believe that there is always a chance.
“In this music world, no matter how talented you are if you don’t get a chance, you can’t make it. Nothing is equal or fair, generally speaking in the world.”

One friend, violinist and SF State graduate Joseph Tang, said he does not play music for a living anymore because it was too hard to survive as a musician. Instead, he is a professional poker player these days.

“(Kawabata) is very tough on himself, maybe too much, but I think that’s what he needs these days to survive as a musician,” said Tang, 25. “You have to have the highest standard, or you won’t make it.”
His last 21 years with the piano were valuable experiences, Kawabata said. He hated the piano most of the time when his mother was his piano teacher and he had to practice piano everyday. He even felt uncomfortable in the recitals where the other performers were all girls.

“I was probably trying to escape from the reality that I had no idea what I was going to be in the future,” Kawabata said, describing the uncertainty he felt about his future while he was studying English. “Now, it’s totally different.”

“I’ve realized what I want in my life, finally. I needed (that) time, the time I was away from piano.
“That’s why I love music more and more. It would not happen that way if I studied only music and didn’t do anything else.”