Learning a foreign language has an added advantage. In the case of Hidenori Ishi, Tamil language skills not only secured him a job in the customer relations section of Nippon Express, a Japanese Logistics Services Company, but also provided a reason to stay in Chennai to pursue his passion for thavil playing.

On Sunday, he accompanied nagaswaram player Tirupampuram S.H. Ramanathan at the festival of Vedanta Desikar temple in Mylapore. He will be playing in the mornings and evenings during the festival.

“I came to India to learn kanjira . The majestic sound of thavil , however, captivated me,” says 33-year-old Ishi, a native of Kamakura, a town located 50 km from Tokyo.

But for his physical features, Mr. Ishi, clad in dhoti and a shawl around his shoulder to cover his bare chest and to carry thavil , will pass as a seasoned thavil player. He prefers conversation in Tamil and carefully avoids using English words.

“Naan Parangimalail veedu vaadagaikku eduthu irukkiern (I have rented a house in St Thomas Mount). I do not eat non-vegetarian during purattasi month,” he says.

Nine years have passed since Mr. Ishi made Chennai his home. He fell for the beats of kanjira after listening to the combination of T.H. Selvaganesh and tabla player Zakir Hussain. Soon, he became a disciple of Mr. Selvaganesh. It was while learning the instrument at Triplicane, he listened to local thavil player Sekar.

“I regularly visited him. A thani avarthanam by two eminent thavil players Thanjavur T.R. Govindarajan and Mannargudi Vasudevan at a concert mesmerised me,” he recalls.

“I immediately joined a diploma course in Thiruvaiyaru College, where Mr. Govindarajan was teaching. Subsequently, I learnt from Tirukadaiyur T.G. Babu at Annamalai University, where I did my under-graduation in thavil playing,” says Mr Ishi, the only son of Keiji Ishi, a former government employee and Junko Ishi.

His parents had reservations about his passion as he decided to study thavil after schooling instead of pursuing higher studies. “But they gradually reconciled themselves to the reality. I can also play Japanese percussion instrument, Taiko. I have to practise a lot to become an ace thavil player,” says Mr. Ishi.

At the Mylapore temple, he played along with another thavil player Thirumarugal Sekar, who was encouraging Ishi to play in temples and concerts. “I will inform him whenever there is a concert and if he is not working, he will join me,” said Mr. Sekar.

Mr. Ishi’s future plans include marrying a Tamil girl and learn paddy farming at Thanjavur. “Is there any Tamil girl you know,” he asks as he packs up.

He works for a company in Chennai, plays thavil in Mylapore temple in free time and is looking for a Tamil girl to marry