Leading Kawai Toward Its Second Century
In February 2024, Kentaro Kawai became the fourth president of Kawai Musical Instruments — taking the helm three years before the company marks a full century of piano-making in 2027.
A steady hand at a pivotal moment
Kentaro Kawai stepped into the presidency on February 28, 2024, succeeding Hirotaka Kawai. He had spent years preparing for the role — most recently as Executive Vice President — and inherited not only a company but a countdown: a global piano maker three years from its hundredth year.
Every day, I feel the weight of responsibility that comes with leading a company with such a rich history.
From Kobe to the presidency
His rise inside Kawai was measured, not sudden — two decades of preparation before he took the fourth chair.
- 2001
Graduates Kobe University, Faculty of Economics
- 2007
Joins Kawai Musical Instruments
- 2016
Appointed a division head
- 2020
Named Executive Vice President
- 2024
Becomes the fourth president & CEO
“Let your life resound”
Under his leadership, Kawai has redefined its guiding philosophy around a single idea — “Let your life resound” — and carries it into the world through the brand message “Instrumental to Life”: the belief that, wherever you are in the world, Kawai is there.
We are not merely manufacturers and sellers of musical instruments. Through our instruments and services, we have the power to accompany people’s emotional lives.
The vision for a second century
His ambition for the centennial is plainly stated: to make Kawai the world’s leading keyboard instrument manufacturer.
Digital pianos at the core
Digital-piano growth anchors the strategy, with an ambition to reach the top global market share. A new factory in Indonesia expands digital-piano production to meet it.
One global company
He has integrated domestic and overseas sales into a single operation and formulated both a ten-year vision and a medium-term plan to reach it.
The piano of choice
A stated ambition for Kawai to be the piano chosen by the world’s finest artists — and heard on the stages that matter most.
Education and materials
Looking past the instrument itself, the plan reaches into music education and materials-processing — new ground for a company built on the piano.
I truly believe that music is essential to human life.
“Yaramaika” — meaning something like “Let’s give it a try!” The more we challenge ourselves, the more we grow.
A century behind, a century ahead
The story that began at a founder’s workbench in 1927 now runs through its fourth president — and toward its second hundred years. The instruments are where that vision becomes something you can hear.
