My 7-year-old is learning to play a uniquely Japanese instrument. The shamisen? No. The koto? No. Like virtually every other first-grader here, my son is learning to play the kenban hamonika (keyboard harmonica).
If you're not Japanese, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. The kenban hamonika is a simple instrument with a piano keyboard. But it is actually a wind instrument. To produce sound, you press the keys while blowing into a mouthpiece connected to the keyboard by a long plastic tube. Many Japanese refer to it by its most common brand names, Pianica and Melodion.
Although the keyboard harmonica is hardly known outside of Japan, it is based on a German vertical harmonica with keys along the body, according to a spokesman for Suzuki Musical Instruments, the company that introduced it to Japan around 1960. The company modified it by adding the long tube so that the keyboard could sit on a desk.