Musician: 65 people
Kazuhiko Hattori (Japanese: 服部和彦, romanized: Hattori Kazuhiko; born in 1944) is a Japanese composer, producer, and…
Kazuhiko Hattori (Japanese: 服部和彦, romanized: Hattori Kazuhiko; born in 1944) is a Japanese composer, producer, and music critic.
Hiroshi Yoshimura (吉村 弘, Yoshimura Hiroshi; 22 October 1940 – 23 October 2003) was a Japanese musician and composer. He…
Hiroshi Yoshimura (吉村 弘, Yoshimura Hiroshi; 22 October 1940 – 23 October 2003) was a Japanese musician and composer. He is considered a pioneer of ambient music in Japan. His music lies mostly in the minimalist genre of kankyō ongaku, or environment music—soft electronic melodies infused with the sounds of nature: babbling brooks, steady rain, and morning birds. However, not all Yoshimura's work included nature sounds. Green (1986) only had them in the United States release, as they were excluded in the Japanese version.
Tōru Murakawa (村川透, Murakawa Tōru; born March 1937 in Yamagata Prefecture) is a Japanese film director. He is most…
Tōru Murakawa (村川透, Murakawa Tōru; born March 1937 in Yamagata Prefecture) is a Japanese film director. He is most famous for his collaborations with the actor Yūsaku Matsuda in both film and television.
Yasunao Tone (刀根 康尚, Tone Yasunao; 31 March 1935 – 12 May 2025) was a Japanese multidisciplinary artist born in Tokyo…
Yasunao Tone (刀根 康尚, Tone Yasunao; 31 March 1935 – 12 May 2025) was a Japanese multidisciplinary artist born in Tokyo, Japan, and working in New York City. He graduated from Chiba University in 1957 with a major in Japanese Literature. An important figure in postwar Japanese art during the 1960s, he was active in many facets of the Tokyo art scene. He was a central member of the early noise music collective Group Ongaku and was associated with a number of other Japanese art groups such as Neo-Dada Organizers, Hi-Red Center, and Team Random (the first computer art group organized in Japan). Tone was also a member of Fluxus and one of the founding members of its Japanese branch. Many of his works were performed at Fluxus festivals or distributed by George Maciunas’s various Fluxus operations. Relocating to the United States in 1972, he henceforth gained a reputation as a musician, performer and writer working with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Senda Nengudi, Florian Hecker, and many others. Tone is also known as a pioneer of "Glitch" music due to his groundbreaking modifications of compact discs and CD players. Tone died on 12 May 2025, at the age of 90.
Takeo Watanabe (渡辺 岳夫, Watanabe Takeo; April 16, 1933 – June 2, 1989) was a Japanese musician and composer. In addition…
Takeo Watanabe (渡辺 岳夫, Watanabe Takeo; April 16, 1933 – June 2, 1989) was a Japanese musician and composer. In addition to composing the well known theme song for Cutie Honey he has also composed music for multiple anime television series and films including Lone Wolf and Cub, Candy Candy, and Mobile Suit Gundam. Tomei Tengu BGM written and performed by Takeo Watanabe was used in the soundtrack of the 2003 movie Lost in Translation fourteen years after his death. In 2008 Takeo Watanabe posthumously received an Award of Merit from the Tokyo International Anime Fair. He died at the age of 56.
Yoko Ono (Japanese: 小野 洋子, romanized: Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana as オノ・ヨーコ; born February 18, 1933) is a…
Yoko Ono (Japanese: 小野 洋子, romanized: Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana as オノ・ヨーコ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese retired artist, musician, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono was born and grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York City in 1952 to join her family. She became involved with New York City's downtown artists scene in the early 1960s, which included the Fluxus group, and became widely known outside the contemporary art world in 1969 when she married English musician John Lennon of the Beatles, with whom she would subsequently record as a duo in the Plastic Ono Band. The couple used their honeymoon as a stage for public protests against the Vietnam War with what they called a bed-in. She and Lennon remained married until he was murdered in front of the couple's apartment building, The Dakota, on December 8, 1980. Together, they had one son, Sean, who later also became a musician. Ono began a career in popular music in 1969, forming the Plastic Ono Band with Lennon and producing a number of avant-garde music albums in the 1970s. She achieved commercial and critical success in 1980 with the chart-topping album Double Fantasy, a collaboration with Lennon which was released three weeks before his murder, winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. To date, she has had twelve number one singles on the US Dance charts, and in 2016 was named the 11th most successful dance club artist of all time by Billboard magazine. Many musicians have paid tribute to Ono as an artist in her own right and as a muse and icon, including the B-52's, Sonic Youth and Meredith Monk. As Lennon's widow, Ono works to preserve his legacy. She funded the Strawberry Fields memorial in Manhattan's Central Park, the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland, and the John Lennon Museum in Saitama, Japan (which closed in 2010). She has made significant philanthropic contributions to the arts, peace and disaster relief in Japan and the Philippines, and other such causes. In 2002, she inaugurated a biennial $50,000 LennonOno Grant for Peace. In 2012, she received the Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Human Rights Award and co-founded the group Artists Against Fracking.
Umeko Ando (安東 ウメ子, Andō Umeko; November 20, 1932 – July 15, 2004) was an Ainu singer and mukkuri player. Her…
Umeko Ando (安東 ウメ子, Andō Umeko; November 20, 1932 – July 15, 2004) was an Ainu singer and mukkuri player. Her participation in Oki Kano's second album Hankapuy, helped her gain recognition. She recorded several albums, including her solo debut album, Ihunke, produced by Oki in 2001, that was praised by critics and artists alike, and many music publications in Japan declared it the best world music album of the year. It was followed by her second studio album, Upopo Sanke, in 2003, with Chikar Studio, which gained worldwide attention. She died from cancer on July 15, 2004, at her hometown Makubetsu-cho, Hokkaido, at the age of 71. She is featured posthumously on the Samurai Champloo soundtrack with her song "Pekambe Uk" (ペカンベ ウㇰ; "Wheat Harvesting Song"). The seventeenth episode, "Lullabies of the Lost", which featured this song, was dedicated to her memory with the message "May her soul rest in peace" in the ending credits.
Hideo Saito (齋藤 秀雄, Saitō Hideo; May 23, 1902 – September 18, 1974) was a Japanese cellist, conductor, and music…
Hideo Saito (齋藤 秀雄, Saitō Hideo; May 23, 1902 – September 18, 1974) was a Japanese cellist, conductor, and music lecturer.
Yoshiya Tanoue (Japanese: 田上義也, Tanoue Yoshiya) was a Japanese architect. He was a pupil of Frank Lloyd Wright. He…
Yoshiya Tanoue (Japanese: 田上義也, Tanoue Yoshiya) was a Japanese architect. He was a pupil of Frank Lloyd Wright. He designed the Sakaushi residence in Otaru, Hokkaido, which was constructed in 1927. It is a blend of Japanese and western architecture.
Rentarō Taki (滝 廉太郎, Taki Rentarō; 24 August 1879 – 29 June 1903) was a Japanese pianist and composer of the Meiji era.…
Rentarō Taki (滝 廉太郎, Taki Rentarō; 24 August 1879 – 29 June 1903) was a Japanese pianist and composer of the Meiji era. Taki was born in Tokyo, but moved to many places during his childhood owing to his father's job. He went to Tokyo Music School (now known as Tokyo University of the Arts) and was taught by Nobu Koda, graduating in 1901. One of his famous pieces is "Kōjō no Tsuki" (Moon Over the Ruined Castle), which was included in the songbook for junior high school students, along with the "Hakone-Hachiri" (箱根八里). "Hana" (花, "Flower") is also a well-known song. In the same year, Taki went to the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany for further studies, but fell seriously ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and therefore returned to Japan. He lived quietly in the country afterwards, but soon died at the age of 23. His posthumous work is a solo piano piece called "Urami" (憾, "Regret"), which he wrote four months before he died.
Tokichi Setoguchi (瀬戸口藤吉, Setoguchi Tōkichi; 28 June 1868 – 8 November 1941) was a Japanese composer, music educator…
Tokichi Setoguchi (瀬戸口藤吉, Setoguchi Tōkichi; 28 June 1868 – 8 November 1941) was a Japanese composer, music educator, conductor and clarinetist.
Demon Kakka (Japanese: デーモン閣下, Hepburn: Dēmon Kakka; "His Excellency Demon"), previously known as Demon Kogure (デーモン小暮…
Demon Kakka (Japanese: デーモン閣下, Hepburn: Dēmon Kakka; "His Excellency Demon"), previously known as Demon Kogure (デーモン小暮, Dēmon Kogure), is a Japanese musician, songwriter, entertainer, journalist, sumo commentator, actor and voice actor. He first gained fame in the 1980s as vocalist of the heavy metal band Seikima-II, before starting a solo career in 1990 and branching out into other forms of entertainment. His real name is not publicly known and he is noted for always working entirely in character, which includes wearing face paint. In 2018, readers and professional musicians voted Demon the third best vocalist in the history of hard rock and heavy metal in We Rock magazine's "Metal General Election".
Midori Suzuki (Japanese: 鈴木 美登里, Hepburn: Suzuki Midori) is a Japanese classical soprano, specializing in Baroque…
Midori Suzuki (Japanese: 鈴木 美登里, Hepburn: Suzuki Midori) is a Japanese classical soprano, specializing in Baroque music. She has recorded many cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach with the Bach Collegium Japan, both as a soloist and as a member of the ensemble.
You Liang is a Singapore-born DJ and record producer based in Tokyo, Japan. They began releasing music in 2023 and were…
You Liang is a Singapore-born DJ and record producer based in Tokyo, Japan. They began releasing music in 2023 and were named a Pete Tong DJ Academy Future Talent in 2025.
Ino Hidefumi (猪野 秀史, Ino Hidefumi; born July 26, 1970) is a Japanese jazz, and electronic musician. He releases his…
Ino Hidefumi (猪野 秀史, Ino Hidefumi; born July 26, 1970) is a Japanese jazz, and electronic musician. He releases his music solely on Innocent Record, a label he created with the concept of "One label, one artist.”