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"The first time I came here 25 years ago I felt like I had been here in a previous life. So I want to die here," he says with a smile.
After a couple of hours with this multi-talented man you start to understand why he is looking to hand over his unique yet very practical piano-tuning business to an apprentice and devote his working hours to "Buddhist art".
Born into a family of Buddhist monks, Akita was trained as a piano tuner. He married his Newari wife in Osaka 22 years ago and five years later the couple returned to her roots in Patan. "I was just tuning pianos for friends, and I started wondering how many pianos there were in Kathmandu. I put up a notice at a supermarket and people began calling," Akita recalls.
Today, he carries a binder full of letters recommending his skills as a tuner, a list of pianos in the Valley and their condition, along with advice on the instrument's care and value.
Besides pianos, Akita has also learned to care for the human body, having developed a physiotherapy technique that one satisfied patient, an ambassador here, calls "body tuning". Today Akita\'s son runs the Sotai Japanese Traditional Physiotherapy clinic in Jawalakhel.
That frees up Akita\'s time for his thanka business (Mababa Buddhist Thanka Gallery and nepalthanka.com) and to his goal of revitalising the art with what he calls the true spirit of Buddhism. "Much of Buddhist art has been going in the wrong direction," he says, "my aim is to convey the exact feelings of the Buddha."
But when the stress of healing others "gives me a headache" Akita reaches for his piano, where his favourites range from Chopin to Andre Gagnon to easy listening.
But Akita is not completely happy because there is no peace in Nepal. He adds: "I have a dream. Peace will come to Nepal and then I'll go to the mountains and play piano."
Marty Logan
