My biggest musical dream is to keep playing all my life. There's nothing bigger than that and that's very challenging because you have to satisfy yourself at every stage.

I love performing so much! The joy is to have the opportunity to be able to perform all around the world.

For the piano and me it is always a blind date! I meet different pianos every single day. I can't take my piano with me like a bassist can take his instrument. So whenever I arrive I am a bit nervous to see what kind of piano is waiting for me.

Everybody improvises without noticing it. Life is about improvising. You can't control what happens in your life, I mean, you don't know what can happen in your life today. So you somehow improvise.

Satisfying yourself requires challenges because when you come to a certain point, you're not happy anymore. You don't feel happy with the way you played one year ago, you have to always make progress. So that's a challenge.

The really strong key thing always comes direct to your heart. Even if it's a visual thing it doesn't come to your eyes! Even if it is a listening thing it doesn't come to your ears, it goes directly to your spirit!

I started to listen to Japanese jazz musicians when I went to high school. Some people I listened to were Yosuke Yamashita, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Sadao Watanabe.