#174 The Seal Registration Certificate Brought a 30-Year-Old Dream✨

That's a strange title, isn't it? A seal registration certificate is a document you get at a government office, and it doesn't usually have much to do with a "dream." Well, perhaps you might get one when buying your dream home. Today is a story about seal registration certificates and dreams.
(Header photo: The Embassy of Japan in the Netherlands, where the Imperial Chrysanthemum Crest shines?)

You cannot get a seal registration certificate abroad

I am a researcher at a university in the Netherlands, and for a small matter, I needed a Japanese seal registration certificate. However, since I canceled my resident registration when I moved abroad, the Japanese government officewill not issue me a seal registration certificate.When someone living abroad absolutely needs to use their registered seal, they must go to the Japanese Embassy, sign a designated form in front of an official, and after receiving a"signature certificate"stating "This is Mr./Ms. So-and-so's signature," they sign the document. You cannot use a seal. The point is that you must sign in front of the official, so you cannot apply by mail; you must go to the embassy. The Embassy of Japan in the Netherlands is located in The Hague, a city about an hour and a half by train from Eindhoven, where I live. The embassy district is very beautiful, and diagonally across from it is the Australian Embassy.

Inside, it's completely Japan!

Once you pass the security check and go inside, it's completely Japan! The Dutch staff also speak Japanese, and for some reason, there is a poster"Golgo 13" saying, "If you move abroad, you have to register!"posted on the wall, and there are Japanese manga you can read while waiting. It's a shame that you can't take photos inside. When your name is called, they just call out "Sasaki-san~," so it feels like a brief moment in Japan. Almost everyone visiting is either Japanese or a traveler to Japan. While nervous, I signed in front of the official and safely received my signature certificate. I also received a certificate of residence, and the total fee was 19 euros (about 3,000 yen), which is definitely Dutch pricing.

After finishing my business, the "dream" on the way home

I took a tram from the stop near the embassy and returned to The Hague Central Station. As I approached the station, my tension increased. Can you guess why my "tension increased" when approaching the station to go home after finishing my business at the embassy? It was because I had a plan at the central station. It was this, in the middle of the concourse at The Hague station!

It used to be in an inconspicuous place inside the ticket gates, but it has been moved to a "station piano" on a round stage outside the gates. I watch various people take turns playing. An elderly gentlemanwho keeps his fingers on the keys without making a sound, staying still for a long time(Could he have been playing"Silent Piece" John Cage's "4'33""?), a child playing by hitting the keys without sitting on the chair, and a man in his 60s who scolds the child, says"Let me play for you,"and starts playing a jazz-like song and singing. A few minutes later, the song the man is playing changes to Baroque, then next to Mozart and Beethoven. Although the notes aren't perfectly even, it's a cheerful and wonderful performance that conveys the joy of music. The child he was supposed to be playing for has left, and I, who have been watching the whole thing, and a boy who seems to be a local high school student, start talking.

* * *

Dialogue with the boy

In the Netherlands, there is no rule like "station pianos are limited to 5 minutes per person," and there are people who play for about 30 minutes in a "one-person station live" state. Conversely, if someone stops playing, negotiating by saying "Let me play for a bit too" is not disliked at all. I'll try asking the man in the Dutch way.

A dream I had held for about 10 years was"to play my favorite song on a station piano."Since I used to work at a musical instrument store, I check the sound quality of pianos at various stations, and I knew that the Yamaha one at The Hague station was well-tuned and had a good sound. I had been to the embassy twice before, but the first time was before I started practicing piano (just longing), and the second time was one month after I started practicing (I couldn't let people hear it yet), so this time I thought, "It's about time."

Without a moment's hesitation, I sat down with my scarf wrapped and coat on, and immediately started playing a piece called "Etude." It is a variation consisting of six parts where the theme is interspersed with four variations, but I can only play up to the third part now. Since it wouldn't look right, I went from the third part back to the second part again to make it sound like an ending and finished playing.

* * *

The two people + two people who were by my side during the performance

Today was the first time in my life that I played the piano in a place where strangers were watching. I have performed on the saxophone several times, but this was my very first time on the piano. Even so, for some reason, I didn't feel nervous, and although I stumbled in a few places, I didn't stop and was able to play at the tempo written in the score. It might make people laugh if I write the reason, but I will (laughs). My friends have heard this story dozens of times, so I'm sure they're tired of it, but the song I played today,
"Etude" (1993) composed by Hiroko Kokubu,was the ending theme song for the novel "Flow into time ~To the Lighthouse of Time~" that I submitted to note's "Creative Awards 2024" last summer (I decided that myself). At the end of the story, there was a scene like this. I will quote a part from the final episode.

Aki's feelings in the section above are my own; after finishing this novel, I fully embodied Aki, actually bought a digital piano, and started practicing 'Etude'.

'Etude' is a piano and guitar duo piece, so it came with the bonus of having to arrange it myself to play it on piano alone. This song is a song of memories for the story's protagonists, Takatsu and Nanae, and it was the same in reality. If my past self heard that I would end up playing a song I had thought, 'I want to play this someday,' for 30 years, at Den Haag Centraal Station in the Netherlands, what would she think? (laughs) More than that, I want to applaud myself for continuing to want to play the same song for 30 years.

I could only play up to the third part today, so there is still half left. Once I can play it to the end, this time, just like Aki, I will play it on the piano at St. Pancras Station in London.I think Aki and Makoto might appear holding hands when I finish playing. The reason I wasn't nervous was because while I was playing,
the two of them, Nanae-san and Aki,were with me. When I finished playing, the two of them suddenly vanished, and I passed the baton of the piano to a high school student. Then, the man who had given up his turn spoke to me. It seemed thatthe man in reality and the two high school studentshad also been listening.

The man continued to listen intently to the high school student's performance afterward. This is a photo I took of the two of them from the top of the stairs. Since this station piano is on a round stage, the level of nervousness is off the charts!

Until now, I had assumed,“The first time I play a station piano in my life, I'll surely be so nervous that my performance will be a mess, no one will listen, and I'll go home feeling miserable.” That turned out to be the exact opposite. The first piano I played in front of people was listened to and praised by an advanced player. This was the true nature of the 'happiness that the Certificate of Registered Seal brought me'✨

Finally, please enjoy the original 'Etude' by Hiroko Kokubu & Kiyotsugu Amano.

But surely, the Certificate of Registered Seal that was today's purpose will bring even bigger dreams.
(January 28, 2025: Station Piano Debut Anniversary🎹)