There are many individuals in Japan who have memories of taking piano lessons as a child. However, not every single one of them look forward to the weekly lessons. There are some who dread it, but were pushed by their parents to get it done. Back in 1979, the sales of piano in Japan peaked at 310,000 units. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said today. The number has now fallen drastically to a rough estimate of only 17,000.
Yamaha and Kawai Musical Instruments, the two major Japanese manufacturers, are now looking towards the South East Asia market instead as there are quite a number of similarities in the business climate. Towards the end of August, Hirotaka Kawai, 66, the third-generation president of Kawai, opened the company’s first overseas music school in a commercial building in one of Tangerang’s neighborhoods in Jarkata. “The future of our company rests on our success here in Indonesia,” he stated at the school’s opening ceremony.
In an attempt to promote sales as well as cultivate artistic sentiment, both Yamaha and Kawai opened music schools in Japan back in the 1950s. Both of their business strategies were similar in the sense that they wanted to build familiarity with their products by having people routinely use them in schools. They hoped that through this, it would lead to future purchases.
Yahama was actually the first to bring piano classes to Southeast Asia. They realised that Chinese society traditionally puts a significant amount of focus on education in the arts. “People of Chinese ancestry live all across Southeast Asia. There are business opportunities for us,” explained Yosuke Harima, 47, who is in charge of popularizing music for Yamaha in emerging countries. Also, with close to 240 million people, Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous nation. Furthermore, the median age is late 20s based on the Jakarta office of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). “It is thought that last year the number of middle-class households with average annual incomes of between $5,000 and $35,000 outnumbered those in the low-income bracket,” noted Toshimasa Sakai, 46, who works as a coordinator at JETRO’s Jakarta office. According to experts, more than 70 percent of the nation’s population will achieve middle-class status by 2020. For more of the story, you can read it here.
In Singapore, there are a variety of music schools for one to choose from. Aside from schools, there are also freelance teachers available to conduct such lessons. Awesome Piano is an agency that helps in referring such teachers. One of our unique points is that we only refer certified teachers to our students. If you would like to find out more about us, do refer to our website.