Yoshikazu Mera News

Yoshikazu Mera stands less than 5 feet tall, barely a head higher than the closed lid of the piano next to him. His face appears ensnared in eternal boyhood. His hair is cut in a cuddly Beatle mop. He is wearing a white shirt with puffy sleeves and shoulders, billowing gold lamA© pants, platform shoes and a dramatic cape. He is the Hello Kitty of countertenors, men who sing in a woman's range.

Mera, 34, is giving a recital in Tokyo Opera City's airy 1,600-seat auditorium, a shoebox-shaped space with a soaring pyramidal, cantilevered ceiling. The wood on the walls feels freshly cut, and the acoustics are lovely. I am surrounded by Mera's fan base of teenage girls and middle-aged women (and the boyfriends and husbands they've dragged along), and nothing makes sense.