Japanese kawaii metal sensation Suzuka Nakamoto is best known for being part of the band Babymetal. Also known as Su-metal, she entered the world of showbiz with Jewel Drop commercials and later won a kids’ audition. She has also been part of the idol girl group Sakura Gakuin.
Apart from being a keyboardist and songwriter for the Yellow Magic Orchestra, Japanese pianist and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has also been a solo artist and composed tracks for films such as The Last Emperor and The Revenant. He now has a Grammy and an Academy Award in his kitty.
Miyavi is a Japanese singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and record producer. Apart from being an entertainer, Miyavi is also a volunteer at UNHCR; since 2013, he has been visiting several refugee camps across the world. He was made an official UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in November 2017.
A multi-talented personality, Hiroyuki Sawano is a Japanese composer, arranger, musician, and lyricist. He is best known for his work on anime TV series, films, and TV dramas. He has composed music for films and series like Attack on Titan and Blue Exorcist. He started a new vocal project under the name ''SawanoHiroyuki[nZk] in 2014 and has released many albums.
Japanese pop icon Ayumi Hamasaki had started a TV career after moving to Tokyo at 14. She later gained fame with her dance hits and ballads. Also known for her dramatic costumes and videos, The Empress of J-pop has been rendered totally deaf in one ear, owing to a ear infection.
Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and musician. A self-taught musician, Uematsu is best known for his work in the Final Fantasy video game series. A prolific composer for several video games, Nobuo Uematsu is sometimes called the Beethoven of video game music. In 2006, he founded his own record label, Dog Ear Records.
Tomohisa Yamashita is a Japanese singer, TV host, and actor. After joining talent agency Johnny & Associates at the age of 11, Yamashita has been active on TV ever since. He is best known for his portrayal of Kusano Akira in the 2005 TV drama Nobuta Wo Produce. Over the years, he has won several Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix awards.
Joe Hisaishi is a Japanese composer and musical director who has composed over 100 film scores and solo albums. Active since the 1970s, he has explored and incorporated numerous genres in his work. He often collaborates with animator Hayao Miyazaki and has composed music for most of his films. He has received a Medal of Honour with a purple ribbon.
With his Billboard number one track Sukiyaki, Kyu Sakamoto became the first to score a pop number one with a song entirely sung in Japanese. Born to a restaurateur, he had started his career singing in jazz clubs. He died in a 1985 plane crash that killed over 500 people.
Hikaru Utada is a Japanese-American singer, producer, and songwriter. She achieved popularity after releasing her first Japanese-language studio album First Love, which became Japan's best-selling album of all time. Utada was regarded as the most influential artist of the 2000s in Japan. She is also one of the most decorated Japanese artists of her generation.
Award-winning Japanese manga artist Naoki Urasawa is best known for his thriller Monster and the sci-fi 20th Century Boys. Fans love his intricate and psychologically complicated plots. He also teaches at the Nagoya Zokei University and is a skilled rock musician who once performed as Bob Lennon.
Hide (real name: Hideto Matsumoto) began his music career as lead guitarist for the metal group X-Japan. He achieved fame as a musician, singer-songwriter and record producer during the 1990s. His untimely death at just 33 shocked the music fans around the world.
Takahiro Moriuchi, better known to fans a Taka, soared to fame as the lead singer of the Japanese rock band One Ok Rock. He was previously part of the boy band News. The eldest son of popular singers Shinichi and Masako Mori, he now owns a lavish home in Hollywood Hills.
One of Japan’s most well-known adult stars, Yuma Asami had begun her career at age 18. She mostly worked with studios that specialized in soft porn. The Grand Prix award-winning actor was later diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Post-recovery, she ditched the adult industry and began working as a singer.
German-Japanese classical pianist Alice Sara Ott began learning the piano at age 5. At 13, she was the youngest finalist of the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy Competition ever. She has also designed bags and app stickers. In 2019, she announced on Instagram that she had been suffering from multiple sclerosis.
Kazunari Ninomiya is a Japanese singer, radio host, songwriter, voice actor, and actor. He is best known for his association with the popular boy band, Arashi. Over the course of his successful career, Kazunari Ninomiya has won several prestigious awards, such as Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix, Japan Broadcast Film Arts Award, Hochi Film Award, Hashida Award, and Galaxy Award.
Damo Suzuki is a Japanese musician best known for his association with the German experimental rock band Can where he was the lead singer from 1970 to 1973. Suzuki, who has been living in Germany since the 1970s, is an exponent of a genre of experimental rock called Krautrock, which was developed in the 1960s and 1970s in West Germany.
Donna Burke is an Australian singer, narrator, voice actress, and businesswoman. Apart from contributing to anime songs and TV commercials as a voice actress, Burke also contributes as a lyricist. In 2007, a documentary named Climate in Crisis which was narrated by her won the silver medal at the New York Television Festival.
Misia is a Japanese record producer, singer, and songwriter. She is best known for her album Mother Father Brother Sister which went on to become the seventh best-selling debut album of all time in Japan. Widely regarded as Japan's first R&B superstar, Misia is also credited with releasing one of the best-selling Japanese singles of all time, Everything.
Mai Kuraki is a Japanese R&B and pop singer-songwriter best known for her debut album Delicious Way, which is the ninth best-selling Japanese album of all-time. Kuraki is the only female singer to release singles that have been successively debuting in the Top 10 since 1999.