Dearest Lenny Letters from Japan and the Making of the World Maestro

Leonard Bernstein was indisputably among the world’s most important musicians in the twentieth century. As a composer, he was deeply rooted in European art music but was also versatile in diverse musical across genres and styles and created numerous original, ambitious, brilliant works. As a conductor, he not only became the first American to lead the New York Philharmonic but also worked with the world’s top orchestras and championed lesser-known composers and their works such as Mahler symphonies. Having fallen in love with music through his encounter with the piano, he performed classical piano concerti and boogie-woogie with equal brilliance. A passionate educator, he dedicated himself to working with young musicians throughout his life. His charisma and charm made him an outstanding media personality, as evidenced in his role in Young People’s Concerts series. Moreover, he was a committed social activist who devoted his time and energy to causes ranging from nuclear disarmament to AIDS research and support for patients, influencing and inspiring people all around the world.
 
Much has been written about this artist of extraordinary talent and energy who was legendary for his passionate love of life and many relationships. In this book, I tell the story of deep connections Bernstein formed with two little-known Japanese individuals, through the personal letters that had never seen before. Kazuko (Ueno) Amano began writing fan letters to Bernstein in 1947 when she was nineteen. Her thoughtful, articulate letters written over the decades in elegant handwriting on beautiful stationery reveal her deep appreciation for Bernstein’s art and the central place he occupied in her heart and mind throughout various stages of her life. Kunihiko Hashimoto met Bernstein at the end of his Japan tour in 1979, spent the night together, and fell madly in love. He expressed not only his passion and yearning but also his awe and respect for the great artist in his hundreds of love letters to the maestro. He later became involved in Bernstein’s work in Japan, assisting in the realization of the maestro’s dreams. The moving letters of these Japanese individuals not only reveal their deeply personal emotions and relationships but also illuminate how Bernstein’s compositions, recordings, and performances touched his audiences around the world.
 
The book also traces the making of a global Bernstein amidst the shifting landscape of classical music that made this American celebrity turn increasingly to Europe and Japan. The dramatic change in Japan’s place in the world and its relationship to the United States during the postwar decades shaped Bernstein’s connection to the country. The book interweaves the intimate story of personal love and relationships with the analysis of complex relationships—between the United States and Japan, art and commerce, artists and the state, private and public, conventions and transgressions, dreams and realities—that were at the core of Bernstein’s greatest achievements and challenges that made him truly a maestro of the world.
 

(Written by YOSHIHARA Mari, Professor, Center for Global Education / 2025)