Born in 1952 in Tokyo. He made his debut with Thousand Knives in 1978 and in the same year he formed YMO. Since the band's breakup he has been active in many other fields. He won an Academy Award for the soundtrack for Merry Christmas, Mr.Lawrence, and a Grammy Award for The Last Emperor. He often works with environmental and peace issues, establishing the forest conservation organization "more trees", among other activities. He was Artistic Director of the 10th Anniversary Program of Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) in 2013, while in 2014 he took on a more active role in the art world as guest director of Sapporo International Art Festival 2014.