Masaru was born in La Paz, Bolivia, the son of a Japanese father and Bolivian mother. He is currently a teaching artist and freelance pianist in Phoenix, Arizona. Masaru has been dedicated to promoting Latin-American and Bolivian classical music. His doctoral thesis on Bolivian composer Jaime Mendoza-Nava (1925-2005) is a landmark study of the development of Bolivian musical nationalism. Together with soprano Allison Stanford, he has performed the program titled Bolivian Voices for American audiences, and, as part of the Dúo Boliviano Arawi, he is excited to release his first album, País de Sombra.

Masaru has performed in music festivals in Bolivia, Peru, and the U.S. and has also been invited as a guest artist to the Saarburg International Music Festival in Germany, and the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) in Vienna, Austria. He was top winner of several piano competitions in Bolivia and also won the First Honorable Mention in the Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition in 2003 in Chile and the First Prize in the University of Central Arkansas Piano Competition in 2010. 

 

Masaru obtained his diploma in piano from the Bolivian National Conservatory in La Paz, where he studied under Russian pianist Irina Efanova. Upon graduating from the conservatory in La Paz, he received a scholarship to the University of Central Arkansas, completing his masters degree and graduate certificate in Piano Performance as a student of Dr. Neil Rutman. He later pursued his doctoral degree in Collaborative Piano at Arizona State University, where he studied under Prof. Russell Ryan.