Japanese fusion guitarist Nozomi Itani has announced two shows in Tokyo, Japan for March.

March 18th - Otsuka/Tokyo - Live House Welcomeback

Itani: "This will be a special show with the young lovely female violin player, MAiSA. Besides of the fact that she is already a great veteran classical player, she is also a huge fan of thrash metal (her favorites: Testament and Megadeth). So, on the 18th, Itani will feature her performance on the hard and heavy tunes of the past three albums."

March 25th - Akasaka/Tokyo - Live Bar Tonalite

Itani: "Both guitarists of Itani, Nozomi Itani and Hirokuni Honjou, will perform with the outstanding Japanese female jazz voclist Mami Yamamoto. The trio will perform - amongst jazz tunes - several well known hard rock tunes of the '70s and '80s (AC/DC, Aerosmith, Deep Purple, etc.) rearranged as acoustic jazz numbers."

Itani's roots as a musician were planted in Germany, where he lived from the age of four for over 30 years when his father – a pioneering businessman that helped introduce Japanese companies to the Western world – moved to Europe in 1962. In that time he carved out a successful albeit behind-the-scenes career, which eventually brought him home to Japan.

On November 9th, 2014, Germany celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Itani, who was in the country at the time, recalled the epic event for BraveWords in 2015:

"It's been 25 years since the fall of on the Berlin Wall. At that time, I still lived in Germany. I came home from a gig late night, turned the TV on, and I saw a bunch of guys standing on the Berlin wall and destroying it. First I thought 'An intresting TV movie' and then I heard the newscaster shouting 'This is not a fiction! This happens right now! What a picture!'

For me and most of my generation in Germany, Berlin wall was 'always there.' We grew with the existence. All of sudden, the social situation we knew changed and/or fell apart. It was more anxiety I felt than surprise.

One year later, I visited the former East Germany. It was very impressive to be in a taxi and drive under the Brandenburg Gate. But it was more shocking to see that the unemployment rate in some towns in former East Germany was higher than 80%. I felt bad things coming.

Unfortunately, I was right. The economic situation in Germany decreased, crime rate has increased. I noticed many drug addicts I've never seen in the town where I lived. So called Neo-Nazis increased. The times of 'Germany is safe' were over.

There were a lot of personal reasons why I moved back to Japan in 1997, but it was not totally independent from the social situation at that time in Germany.

Now, after 25 years, there are many Germans who love Japanese manga, anime and pop stars. In 2015, you hear people in Germany saying 'I love Pokemon!' or 'Baby-Metal is really cool!' Time has changed (and by the way, I'm 25 years older...) but I still feel that peace and richness are not self-evident. You have to endeavor every single day for it."

For a look at Itani's career history go to BraveWords scribe Carl Begai's interview at this location.