People often asked me to make the sound brighter. At first I didn’t give it much consideration. I merely thought that there couldn’t be many people who would be after a darker sound. But now I think differently. I’ve learned that the single word ‘brighter’ has many shades of meaning.

The basic A above middle C is set at 440 hertz for a school piano. Apparently the first cry of any infant in the world is projected at 440 hertz. Hertz means the number of times per second that the air vibrates. The higher the number, the higher the sound. Until the end of World War Two, A above middle C in Japan was set at 430 hertz. If you go back further in time to the Europe of Mozart’s day, it was 422 hertz. It’s gradually getting higher over the years. Nowadays it’s often set at 442 hertz. Concert pitch for A above middle C for an oboe in an orchestra is set at 444 hertz, and since pianos tend to be adjusted to suit that, their pitch will probably climb even higher – nearly one whole semitone higher than when Mozart was composing. In other words, the sound we perceive now is simply no longer the same A above middle C.

There’s no reason for standard pitch to change, but the fact that it’s become slightly higher over time must, I imagine, indicate that people want a brighter sound.

‘The way the standard pitch keeps on going up, it feels as though everyone’s flustered and in a rush,’ I said.

Mr Yanagi and I were at a takeaway joint near the office. He was counting out the coins on his palm as we waited for our salmon nori bentos.

‘You’re right. At the very least they want the sound to be brighter,’ he said. ‘I’ve seen that too in the last few years – how home pianos are shifting from 440 to 442 hertz. It’d be a little creepy, though, if the client had such perfect pitch they could tell a difference of two hertz.’

‘Will the pitch get higher and higher, do you think?’

‘That would be my guess.’ Mr Yanagi said this playfully, but then suddenly leaned into me. ‘You know, Mr Akino once said this to me: if you do your best to tune a piano for a brighter sound but the client wants it brighter, brighter still, then it’s better to show them how to modify their own piano technique.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Meaning, it’s not good to rely entirely on tuning to get a brighter sound. Oh, thank you.’

The two bento meals were ready and Mr Yanagi smiled and patted his stomach hungrily. We grabbed the food from the counter and left.

Outside, the spring sunshine was spreading its rays through the trees. A gentle breeze carried with it the faint scent of vegetation.