51 Japanese musician stubs

Ichiro Agata is the guitarist for the Japanese noise rock band Melt-Banana. Agata is known particularly for his furious stage antics, jumping and constantly moving around, and exceedingly unique approach to playing the guitar which involves extended technique heavy use of effects pedals and guitar slides resulting in sounds not easily attributed to the guitar.

Agata Morio is a Japanese folk rock singer-songwriter and actor. He also directed three films.

Umeko Ando was an Ainu singer and mukkuri player. Her participation 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.

Taimei Kawai, better known by his stage name Carpainter, is a Japanese electronic musician.

Rokusuke Ei was a Japanese lyricist, composer, author, essayist, and television personality of Chinese descent.

Takeaki Maruyama, better known by his stage name Goth-Trad, is a Japanese dubstep musician. He began composing dubstep in 2005 after being inspired by Wiley's "Morgue". He has produced five albums, the latest of which - Psionics - is due for release in September 2016. His last album New Epoch was released on Mala's Deep Medi label. Goth-Trad also runs an underground music night in Shibuya, Tokyo, called "Back To Chill". He has also experimented with other genres and styles in more recent years.

Yasutoshi Yoshida , better known by his stage name Government Alpha, is a Japanese noise musician.

Yuko Hara is the keyboardist for Southern All Stars. She is also a vocalist and writes many of her own songs.

Hikaru Kaihatsu also known as Hikakin is a Japanese YouTube celebrity and co-founder of UUUM, a Japanese multi-channel network. A video of his Super Mario Bros. beatbox went viral in 2010, reaching over 3.8 million views by mid-September of that year. He, alongside fellow Japanese YouTuber Megwin, quit their day jobs in 2012 to focus entirely on their channels. He also collaborated with Gille, appearing in her promotions for her single "Try Again", where it is stated that he is one of the most popular Japanese YouTubers.

Yoshiaki Hoshi , born in Wakayanagi, Miyagi, Japan, was a Japanese musician best known for his band Himekami.

Shinichi Ishihara is a Japanese singer, seiyū and actor from Yamanashi Prefecture. He is famous for singing the theme songs of Guyver, Kamen Rider Agito and Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGo-V, among other theme songs as well as the entire soundtrack to Juukou B-Fighter.

Ichiro Ito is a guitarist in the Japanese rock band Every Little Thing. Ito also works in composition and, sometimes, arrangement of some of Every Little Thing's songs.

Kazuhito Iwaike , known exclusively by his stage name K.A.Z, is a Japanese musician and songwriter. He is known for his work with Oblivion Dust, hide with Spread Beaver and Vamps.

Nobu Kōda 幸田延 (1870–1946) was a Japanese composer, violinist, and music teacher. She was one of the first Japanese women to study music overseas. She studied at the New England Conservatory. She later studied in Europe. She was the sister of Kōda Rohan.

Masao Koga was a Japanese composer and guitarist known for creating melodies, and a pioneer of Japanese popular music. He was regarded as a notable figure for establishing the genre enka, though Koga considered that he was a ryūkōka composer. He wrote numerous songs for Ichiro Fujiyama and Hibari Misora, and his work has been featured in various films, including Come See the Paradise, and Memoirs of a Geisha. He was the first president of the Japan Composer's Association from 1958 to 1978. A museum was built in Shibuya to honor his achievements, and visitors to the Koga Masao Museum of Music are able to view exhibits, and memorabilia featuring his work.

Toshinori Kondo was a Japanese avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter.

Yūji Koseki was a Japanese ryūkōka, gunka, march, fight song and film score composer. His real name was also Yūji Koseki, but its kanji was 古關勇治.

Yuriko Kuronuma is a Japanese violinist.

Akira Kushida , is a Japanese vocalist who is well known for his work in the soundtracks for anime and tokusatsu productions, most notably Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan, Kinnikuman, and Uchuu Keiji Gavan. His nickname from his fans is Kussy . His real given name is Akira .

Iwamoto Mari was a Japanese violinist.

Masayo Sawada , better known by her stagename Sister MAYO, is a Japanese singer. She is a member of the Columbia Music Entertainment duo Cyber Nation Network, and a vocalist in Project.R which performs many theme songs for the Super Sentai series, some have reached the top ten in Oricon's charts. Her best-known songs as a soloist have been the opening theme of Haré+Guu and the ending theme of Mahou Sentai Magiranger. She is the younger sister of heavy metal musician Taiji, with whom she was in the rock band Otokaze.

Michiya Mihashi, born Michiya Kitazawa in Kamiiso, Hokkaidō, was a famous enka singer in postwar Japan. Along with Hachiro Kasuga and Hideo Murata, he was regarded as one of the most notable singers to have established the genre enka.

Yoko Misumi is a Japanese classical pianist.

Toshio Nakanishi , also known by the pseudonyms Tycoon To$h or Typhoom Tosh, was a Japanese musician and graphic designer who was best known as the founding member of new wave band Plastics in 1976. He was initially a part of the technopop fever in Japan and later acted as a pioneer of the Japanese hip hop scene with his band Major Force.

Sōju Nosaka II was a prominent Japanese koto player, specializing in contemporary music. Her real name was Keiko Nosaka .

Kazuyuki Kishino , known by his stage name KK Null, is a Japanese experimental multi-instrumentalist active since the early 1980s. He began as a guitarist, but soon added composer, singer, electronic musician and drummer to his list of talents, and also studied Butoh dance at Min Tanaka's workshop.

Ryuichi Ogata , also known monomously as Ryuichi, is a Japanese former singer, dancer, rapper, and guitarist associated with Rising Production. In 2001, he rose to fame as a member of the pop group W-inds as the group's dancer, back-up vocalist, and rapper. In 2013, he formed the rock band All City Steppers and is their backing vocalist and guitarist.

Tomomi Ogawa , known for both her full name or by her stage name Tomomi, is a Japanese musician, singer and songwriter. She serves as the bassist and backup vocalist of the Japanese rock band Scandal. She co-wrote most of their songs throughout the band's career.

Oki Kano , known professionally as OKI, is a Japanese musician of Ainu ancestry. He was born in Hokkaido, and grew up in Kanagawa Prefecture. He studied industrial arts at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. His father, Bikki Sunazawa, was a renowned wood sculptor. Oki uses the tonkori, an Ainu stringed instrument, in his performances and mixes traditional Ainu music with reggae, dub and other styles of world music. He also plays guitar and traditional Ainu percussion instruments.

Tomohiro Oura is a Japanese conductor.

Makoto Ozone is a Japanese jazz pianist.

Rankin' Taxi is a Japanese reggae artist, from Yokohama. In 2011, he re-recorded his 1989 anti-nuclear song 誰にも見えない、匂いもない with Dub Ainu Band, which despite receiving little airplay in the mainstream Japanese media, attracted the attention of the New York Times in June 2011 in an article by Dan Grunebaum titled Japan's New Wave of protest songs, after it became popular following the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

starRo is the moniker of Grammy nominated R&B producer Shinya Mizoguchi. His debut album Monday was released world wide October 20, 2016 and subsequently rose to the top of the charts in Japan. In 2016 he became the first Grammy nominated producer from Japan rising him to fame in his country of origin. Uproxx later wrote, "starRo may well be one of the first, true SoundCloud producers to be nominated for a Grammy." The LA-based, Japanese-born producer also became the first to host a Beats1 Radio show focused on Tokyo culture. Since then, he produced for a number of Japanese and Korean R&B/Hip Hop stars including the Korean group Common Cold called "WASH!WASH!" which went to number 3 in Korea and received critical acclaim in Korea.

Masayuki Suzuki , nicknamed "Ampan", has been the drummer for the heavy metal band Loudness since 2009, a year after the death of their original drummer, Munetaka Higuchi.

Rina Suzuki , better known for both with her full name or by her stage name RINA, is a Japanese musician, singer and songwriter. She is the drummer and vocalist of the Japanese rock band Scandal. Suzuki is also part of a supergroup called Halloween Junky Orchestra led by established musicians such as Hyde and K.A.Z of Vamps for their October 2012 hit single Halloween Party..

Stomu Takeishi is a Japanese jazz bass player. He generally plays fretless five-string electric bass guitar, as well as a Klein five-string acoustic bass guitar. He often uses looping or other electronic techniques to enhance the sound of his instrument.

Masanori Taki , better known by his stage name Pierre Taki , is the front man for Japanese synthpop group Denki Groove, which consists of himself and Takkyu Ishino. As of 2001 he was involved in an exhibit called Prince Tongha with Hideyuki Tanaka in New York City. He also frequently appears as an actor in film and on television.

Rentarō Taki was a Japanese pianist and composer of the Meiji era.

Choichi Terukina is a well-known Ryukyuan classical musician and sanshin grandmaster.

Kumoemon Tochuken was a popular rōkyoku recitalist in Meiji Japan. His immense popularity helped rōkyoku break into the mainstream. At his height, he performed Chūshingura productions to sell-out crowds at some of the biggest theatres in Tokyo and Osaka. These performances also roused nationalist sentiment during Russo-Japanese War.

Shintarō Tokita is a member of the J-pop band, Sukima Switch. He was born February 25, 1978 in Midori-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture Japan. He has also produced Chitose Hajime's comeback single "Kataritsugu Koto", ending theme to Blood+. He enjoys soccer, judo and skiing. He especially loves music. He is usually identified with his large afro and wispy goatee.

Daisuke Tsuda , also known as Daisuke-han (ダイスケはん), is the harsh vocalist of the Japanese band Maximum the Hormone, while fellow band member Ryo Kawakita does most of the clean voices. He was born in Takamatsu, Kagawa.

Kazuhisa Uchihashi is a Japanese guitarist involved in free improvisation music. Born in 1959 in Osaka, Uchihashi began to play the guitar at age 12, playing in various rock bands, though he later studied jazz music. In 1988 he joined the band the First Edition, and in 1990 formed the band Altered States. He was also a member of Otomo Yoshihide's Ground Zero from 1994 to 1997. Uchihashi also plays daxophone, and in addition to his role as a free improviser, Uchihashi has been the musical director for Osaka theatre group Ishinha, has held improvisation workshops in various cities in Japan, as well as London, Oslo, and currently in Vienna also. Uchihashi has set up his own record label, Innocent Records a.k.a. Zenbei Records, had held a music festival annually since 1996 Festival BEYOND INNOCENCE.

Kana Uemura , known professionally as Ka-Na, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, who debuted in 2004. She is best known for her song "Toilet no Kamisama", an acoustic ballad about her grandmother, which became a hit in 2010.

Kazutoki Umezu is a Japanese jazz saxophonist.

Uragami Gyokudō　or Urakami Gyokudō was a Japanese musician, painter, poet and calligrapher. In his lifetime, he was best known as a player of the Chinese seven-string zither, the guqin, but people came to appreciate his paintings after his death. His art features strong brushwork, often in patterns of strokes that build up a strong rhythm, and they reflect his musical compositions in relying on a limited number of possibilities that build up to powerful compositions. His Snow Sifted Through Frozen Clouds is recognized as a National Treasure.

Paul Weingarten, Ph.D. was a Moravia-born pianist and music teacher.

Sawao Yamanaka is the frontman of the bands: The Pillows, with Yoshiaki Manabe and Shinichiro Sato, and The Predators, with drummer, Shinpei, from Straightener, and bassist, Jiro, from Glay. Sawao also did a side project with his brother, Hidetoshi, called Spiky Brothers, and produced 2 demo tapes with 10 songs in total. He also appeared in a movie called Colors of life.

Susumu Yokota was a Japanese composer. He released several albums under pseudonyms including Stevia, Ebi, and others.

Tatsuya Yoshida is a Japanese musician; drummer and composer who is the only consistent member of the renowned progressive rock duo Ruins, as well as of Koenji Hyakkei. He is also a member of the progressive rock trios Korekyojinn and Daimonji. Outside his own groups, Yoshida is renowned for his tenure as drummer in the indie progressive group YBO2, a band also featuring guitarist KK Null, whom he also joins in the current line-up of Zeni Geva and he has played drums in a late edition of Samla Mammas Manna. He has been cited as "[the] indisputable master drummer of the Japanese underground".

Joji Yuasa is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.