He then studied Japanese gagaku music (learning the wind instruments "hichiriki", "shō", and "ryūteki") in the spring of 1962 with Masatoshi Shamoto in Hawaii, and a Rockefeller Foundation grant allowed him further gagaku studies with Masataro Togi in Japan (1962–63). Also while in Japan, he studied and played the "nagauta" ("kabuki") "shamisen" and the "jōruri" ("bunraku") "shamisen". In recognition of the musical styles he studied in Japan, he wrote "Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints", Op. 211 (1965), a concerto for xylophone and orchestra.