One of my goals on this trip was to visit a Beckerath organ in Japan. I asked ChatGPT for a list of Beckerath organs here and this is what I got:

• Kunitachi College of Music — Tokyo — 1983 — 67 stops (concert hall instrument). 
• Rikkyo (St. Paul’s / Rikkyo) University — Tokyo — 1984 — III / 26 (manuals/stops listed on opus list). 
• Hijirigaoka Church (Shibuya) — Tokyo — 1984 — II / 13 (small church instrument). 
• Okayama Church — Okayama-shi (Okayama) — 1984 — II / 12 (church instrument). 
• Plover (Plover Cultural / Plover Hall) — Matsue (Matsuo / Matsue City) — 1986 — III / 33. 
• Doshisha University — Kyoto — (Beckerath lists an organ for Doshisha University — year not shown on the short projects page; see builder projects). 
• Tohokagakuin University — Sendai — (listed on Beckerath “Projects in Asia” page). 
• Other small venues in Japan (wedding hall, “Shibuya” entries, etc.) — Beckerath’s projects page also lists several additional Japanese projects (wedding hall, “Shibuya”, small university/chapel instruments) that may be local or small-venue instruments; consult the builder’s opuslist / projects page for exact names and details.  

We tried to see the organs at Kunitachi College of Music and St. Paul’s University, but unfortunately, Kunitachi was unavailable because of another event. We’ll go to Evensong at St. Paul’s to perhaps hear the Beckerath organ there but i won’t be able to play it.

So today we were fortunate to visit Hijirigaoka Church, a parish of the United Church of Christ in Japan. However, although playing the organ was fun, the real highlight was visiting with Munetaka Yokota, a distinguished organbuilder, meeting his assistant, Mori, and talking with one of the organists of the church, Kensuke Ohira. (Yes, we were told the church has 2-3 organists on staff. I told Munekata having multiple organists on staff is unknown in Hawaii!)

I remarked to him how unusual it is to find women organ technicians and he replied that he has more women than men on his staff!

This organ dates from 1984, which means the instrument was built after the death of Rudolf von Beckerath in 1976. It was voiced by Tim Sckopp, who also worked on the organ in Honolulu. Although the organ is small at only 13 ranks, I told Bill it was “gutsy and colorful.” We timed our meeting with Yokota-san to correspond with their lunch break, which allowed me to play for an hour or so.

One thing that was unusual was that the stops were in “reverse order” : the lower stops were at the top while the higher pitches were at the bottom! (This is the opposite order of most organs.)

Our second stop today was the Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu), a Shinto shrine established in 1920 to commemorate Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. It is located in a huge forest in the middle of urban Tokyo, a place of respite and peace (except for announcements made on the loudspeakers!)

After a late lunch, we headed towards the Tokyo Prefectural Office observation deck on the 45th floor which afforded a 360° view of the Tokyo metropolis. Even though it was cloudy today, it was spectacular.

It was a HUGE day, at least in terms of walking. 16,980 steps today — oh, my aching feet!