Hello friends, greeting from beside Biwa-ko, the biggest lake in Japan,
near Kyoto city.

I am assistant editor of the newsletter of the MBSI Japanese Inter-
national Chapter (JIC).  JIC is the newest and first Asian chapter
of the Musical Box Society International, and we got our chapter
charter at the 1998 MBSI Annual Convention.  We have 41 members now,
and the newsletter will be published four times a year.  Our newsletter
Vol. 0 was completed in September 1998, and Vol. 1 will appear in
February 1999.  It is written in Japanese, but we have tried to attach
a table of contents and captions of inserted photographs in English.
This is our starting point.

There are now over 30 private and public museums in Japan displaying
antique mechanical musical instruments.  Those museums seem to be
rushing into the "survival game" but, on the other hand, in spite of
the Japanese financial bubble which burst in 1991, remarkable musical
box collections were still bought by Japanese after that time.  For
example, the Guido Reuge Collection was sent to Japan in 1995 and
is displayed in the Kyoto Arashiyama musical box museum now.

The more we Japanese enjoy the wonderful antique mechanical musical
instruments, the more we want to take responsibility to keep the
historical heritage of this field.  I think that the MBSI Japanese
International Chapter can do something for this issue.

Cheers,

Mr. Murakami Kazuo, Otsu-city, Japan

P.S.  Call me Kazuo which is my first name.  The order of the Japanese
name is family name coming first.

 [ A big "Welcome" to you and JIC from MMD, Kazuo.  Collectors
 [ all over the world are worried when they read that a collection
 [ of historical instruments has traveled abroad.  You and JIC,
 [ through writing to MBSI and MMD, can help to assure the world
 [ that the instruments are preserved, and that they are enjoyed
 [ by many visitors to the museums.  I hope that you will now share
 [ some stories with us, about mechanical music in Japan.
 [ -- Robbie