In 1938 Kuo participated in a solo harmonica contest sponsored by the Tokyo municipal government at which he took third place. The next year he took part in a performance at Tsuneo Fukushima's musical academy. At that point he was already skilled enough to play Mozart's Turkish March using five harmonicas.
1938 年，郭芝苑參加東京市口琴獨奏比賽，獲三等獎；隔年參加福島口琴研究所演奏會，他已經可以用 5 支口琴演奏莫札特的〈土耳其進行曲〉。