After Rescue, Gaza's Only Grand Piano Makes Public Comeback

Japanese pianist Kaoru Imahigashi plays the piano during a concert to mark the debut of Gaza's only grand piano after it was rescued from conflict. (AP)
Japanese pianist Kaoru Imahigashi plays the piano during a concert to mark the debut of Gaza's only grand piano after it was rescued from conflict. (AP)
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After Rescue, Gaza's Only Grand Piano Makes Public Comeback

Japanese pianist Kaoru Imahigashi plays the piano during a concert to mark the debut of Gaza's only grand piano after it was rescued from conflict. (AP)
Japanese pianist Kaoru Imahigashi plays the piano during a concert to mark the debut of Gaza's only grand piano after it was rescued from conflict. (AP)

The only grand piano in the Gaza Strip was played in public for the first time in a decade, following a complicated international restoration effort to fix the instrument after it was nearly destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, said a report by The Associated Press.

Some 300 fans attended the performance on Sunday, staring in awed silence as Japanese and local artists performed for them. For many, it was the first time they had ever heard a piano performed live.

"Playing this piano is feeling like playing history," said Japanese pianist Kaoru Imahigashi. "It's amazing. I felt the prayer of peace for many people."

The piano's story goes back many years, mirroring in many ways the story of Gaza.

The Japanese government donated the piano some 20 years ago, following interim peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians. At the time, Gaza was envisioned as becoming the Singapore of the Middle East.

Fayez Sersawi, a Culture Ministry official, said he was responsible for receiving the piano, which was placed at a large theater in the newly built al-Nawras resort in northern Gaza. He said music festivals were a regular activity before the beginning of the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in 2000, said the AP.

In 2007, the resort closed the theater and the swimming pool and scaled down most activities after the Hamas movement took control of Gaza by force after winning legislative elections.

Under Hamas rule, many forms of public entertainment, including bars, movie theaters and concert halls, have been shuttered.

An ensuing Israeli blockade, meant to weaken Hamas, and severe damage after a three-week war with Israel in January 2009 closed the resort altogether.

The piano was silenced and sat unused until 2014, when an Israeli airstrike during a third war with Hamas destroyed the al-Nawras hall. The piano was miraculously found unscathed, but rickety and unplayable, reported the AP.

After the piano was discovered, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, which sponsors development programs in Gaza, got involved.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry confirmed that a piano was donated to the Palestinian Authority in 1998. Workers from the cooperation agency took the serial number and contacted Yamaha, its producer. The company confirmed that the instrument had been manufactured between 1997 and 1998.

"Everything matched," said Yuko Mitzui, a representative of the cooperation agency.

The Belgian nonprofit group Music Fund, which supports music instruction in the Palestinian areas, sent a French expert in 2015 to restore the piano. Another Belgium restorer visited Gaza last month and put the final touches on the instrument. A limited, private concert was held as trial.

On Sunday evening, all 300 seats of the theater hall at the Palestine Red Crescent Society were occupied with fans of all ages, as the rapt audience listened eagerly and clapped in applause at the end of each performance.

Kaoru, the pianist, stroked the keys smoothly as opera singer Fujiko Hirai performed the Japanese folk song "Fantasy on Sakura Sakura."

It was the first time that Yasmin Elian, 22, attended a piano concert. "I liked how people interacted" with the artists, she said. "This encourages me to learn piano."

Gaza has one music school, the Edward Said Conservatory, with 180 students. It suffers a lack of funding and operates in several rented rooms at the rescue services' main ambulance station.

A group of students from the conservatory partnered with the Japanese artists and played the Palestinian national anthem, drawing huge applause from the audience.

Ismail Daoud, a conductor who heads the school, said it's hard to bring pianos to Gaza because of their weight and their prices, but that his school "desperately needs them."

In 2009, Washington-based aid group Anera bought two upright pianos to Gaza and helped coordinate their crossing through Israel's then strictly closed border.

Now, the Culture Ministry has given the piano to the conservatory — "to the place where it belongs and where it should be," Daoud said. "The revival of the piano is like the revival of the Palestinian people."



Part Toy, Part Fashion, the Arrival of the Viral Labubu Was a Long Time in the Making

A person holds up Labubu dolls in a store during an organized press tour to Popland, a theme park opened by Chinese toy company Pop Mart, in Beijing, China, 02 June 2025. (EPA)
A person holds up Labubu dolls in a store during an organized press tour to Popland, a theme park opened by Chinese toy company Pop Mart, in Beijing, China, 02 June 2025. (EPA)
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Part Toy, Part Fashion, the Arrival of the Viral Labubu Was a Long Time in the Making

A person holds up Labubu dolls in a store during an organized press tour to Popland, a theme park opened by Chinese toy company Pop Mart, in Beijing, China, 02 June 2025. (EPA)
A person holds up Labubu dolls in a store during an organized press tour to Popland, a theme park opened by Chinese toy company Pop Mart, in Beijing, China, 02 June 2025. (EPA)

Labubu, the plush toy from China's Pop Mart is a social media darling, but the toothy little monsters are far from an overnight success. Having appeared a decade ago, Labubus may have finally cemented their place in the collectible toy market for years to come.

The Labubu, by artist and illustrator Kasing Lung, first appeared with pointed ears and pointy teeth, in three picture books inspired by Nordic mythology in 2015.

In 2019 Lung struck a deal with Pop Mart, a company that caters to toy connoisseurs and influencers, to sell Labubu figurines. But it wasn't until Pop Mart started selling Labubu plush toys on key rings in 2023 that the toothy monsters suddenly seemed to be everywhere, including in the hands of Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and NBA star Dillon Brooks. K-pop singer Lisa of Blackpink began posting images of hers for her more than 100 million followers on Instagram and on TikTok, where Labubu pandemonium has broken out.

There are 1.4 million #Labubu TikTok posts and counting, videos of fans unboxing them, showing styles inspired by them, and of course, Labubu cosplay.

Fans have latched on to Labubu’s mashup of play and fashion, making them accessories on handbags, backpacks and belts, or hanging them from car mirrors.

“The character has evolved into a collectible and style symbol, resonating with fans who connect with its quirky aesthetic and unique backstory,” Emily Brough, Popmart’s head of IP licensing in the Americas, said.

Labubu has been a bonanza for Pop Mart. Its revenue more than doubled in 2024 to 13.04 billion yuan ($1.81 billion), thanks in part to its elvish monster. Revenue from Pop Mart's plush toys soared more than 1,200% in 2024, nearly 22% of its overall revenue, according to the company's annual report.

Aside from their ability to pique the interest of toy aficionados and fashionistas, Labubu latched on to the blind box phenomenon, where the purchaser doesn't know exactly which version of the plush toy they'll get.

And Pop Mart made sure there is a Labubu for everyone, regardless of income. Most are priced in a wide rage between $20 and $300, with certain collaborations or limited editions priced higher, according to Brough.

Unlike many toys, Labubu devotees include a large number of adults. Buyers ages 18 and over drove a year-over-year increase of more than $800 million in the US toy market in 2024, according to market research firm Circana. Adult shoppers, mostly female, bought the toys for themselves. In 2025's first quarter, toy sales for those ages 18 and over rose 12% from the prior-year period. At $1.8 billion, adults also accounted for the highest spending among all age groups in the quarter.

Like many retailers, Pop Mart is actively monitoring negotiations between the US and just about every one of its trading partners as prices may be impacted. The situation with China is at the forefront, with President Donald Trump saying on Friday that the country “violated” an agreement with the United States on trade talks.

Right now Pop Mart, whose products are manufactured across Asia, says that it is continuously scaling production and expanding distribution across its online shop, retail stores and blind box vending machines to meet increasing demand.

Short supply has led to long lines at stores and at least one physical fight at a shopping center in the United Kingdom. Pop Mart said in an Instagram post late last month that it was temporarily suspending all in-store and blind box machine sales in the UK Peter Shipman, head of Europe, said in a Facebook post that the company is currently working on a new method to distribute toys to stores.

Resellers have become problematic and many Labubu fans are still willing to pay exorbitant price markups.

Kena Flynn was at The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles recently when she stumbled upon some Labubus being sold at a kiosk. Flynn said in a TikTok on Sunday that the prices were “really bad,” but her boyfriend bought two anyway.

“At a certain point, you can’t buy them,” Flynn said in her video. “I just want a Labubu and I cannot buy one from Pop Mart, so here we are.”

Looking to keep up with the overwhelming demand, Pop Mart says it's on track for 50 more retail locations in the US by the end of the year. That'll give shoppers more chances to hunt for Labubus, as Pop Mart says it's planning multiple new Labubu releases tied to seasonal moments and holidays throughout the rest of the year.