His profound knowledge of ethnic, classical and electronic music were influenced by his Asian and Japanese Language and Literature Degree studies at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan in the Associated Kyoto Program exchange with Connecticut College. There, he studied the Shakuhachi and medieval Japanese notation from 1988 to 1989 with Nakao Tozan, director of the Shin-Tozan-Ryu School of Shakuhachi, daughter of the founder.
