From the tropical land of Tosa, a musician and band member from Kochi Prefecture.
When you think of bands and musicians from Kochi Prefecture, do any artists or bands immediately come to mind?
Mayo Okamoto and Ryoko Hirosue have had a lot of media exposure, so their names likely come up easily, but beyond them, it’s hard to think of many, right?
However, if you look into it, you’ll find that Kochi has produced quite a number of musicians—prompting reactions like “I remember seeing this band on TV back in the day!”, “That person from that band!”, and “That famous video game composer!”
Kochi Prefecture stretches long from east to west, and the regions—Shimanto City in the west, Kochi City and Nangoku City in the center, and Muroto City in the east—each have subtly different cultures and dialects.
In this article, we’ll introduce musicians who hail from Kochi Prefecture.
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From tropical Tosa: musicians and band members from Kochi Prefecture (1–10)
Those who fight furtherUematsu Nobuo
A composer known as the creator of the music for Final Fantasy, one of Japan’s flagship RPG series.
He wrote his first composition at the age of 12, and after spending some time as a company employee in adulthood, he joined what is now Square Enix, where he went on to produce numerous masterpieces.
By incorporating a wide range of musical styles—rock, Celtic, progressive, and more—his works deepen the games’ stories and worlds.
He is sometimes referred to as the Beethoven of the video game industry.
5 seconds before I fall seriously in loveHirosue Ryōko
Ryoko Hirosue is an actress and singer from Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture.
As an actress, she has appeared in a wide range of TV dramas and films, playing many leading and heroine roles, including Kao Hirai in Ryomaden, Mika Kobayashi in Departures, and Teiko Uhara in Zero Focus.
She has received numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Academy Awards, attesting to her talent.
She is also active as a singer, having performed the theme song for the drama Thursday’s Ghost Stories ’97: Akuryo Gakuen, the ending theme for the anime The Kindaichi Case Files, and commercial songs such as for Mitsuya Cider.
blue uniformKunizane Yuri
Yuri Kunimi, who was active as an idol singer, is from Kochi City in Kochi Prefecture.
She made her singing debut with her first single, “Aoi Seifuku” (Blue Uniform).
After retiring from the entertainment industry and working as a therapist, she resumed her singing career in 2015.
From tropical Tosa: musicians and band members from Kochi Prefecture (11–20)
Something good will surely happen.Shimazaki Wakako
Wakako Shimazaki, who works as a TV personality and actress, is from Nankoku City in Kochi Prefecture.
She is also active as a singer, and her song “Nanika Ii Koto Kitto Aru” was chosen as the theme song for the film Doraemon: Nobita and the Tin Labyrinth.
This marked her first tie-in with a feature film.
MegalithHonda Masato
A saxophonist born in Nakamura City, Kochi Prefecture.
Influenced by parents who were music teachers, he developed an interest in music from an early age and began playing the saxophone in third grade.
He went on to Kunitachi College of Music and joined the jazz orchestra.
His achievements were remarkable even while in school, including winning first place on his first appearance at the Big Band Jazz Contest and receiving the Best Soloist Award.
With the fusion group T-SQUARE, which he joined in 1991, he brought a fresh breeze not only as a performer but also in composition and arrangement.
Since 1998, he has worked as a solo artist, energetically pursuing activities as a top-tier performer with advanced technique, as well as an arranger and producer.
Zuko☆BakoMorinao Fumi (Furachinarizumu)
Furachinarhythm is a pop-rock band aiming to go from “the most successful band among the unsuccessful” to “the least successful band among the successful.” The band grew out of “Johnny Scotch,” which vocalist Morinaofumi formed in Kochi Prefecture at age 18.
They made their major-label debut in 2015 and have been active across Japan, and they’re also thriving in Kochi: hosting a regular radio show on FM Kochi, performing solo concerts in Kochi, appearing at the Yosakoi Festival, and even serving as promotional characters for the Kochi Prefectural Assembly election awareness campaign.
BY MY SIDEBe-Rock
In the amateur band contest “BS Young Battle,” hosted by NHK from 1990 to 1999, the Grand Prix in the fourth edition was won by the Kochi-based band Be-Rock.
For band kids at the time, it had an impact comparable to a local high school winning the Koshien baseball tournament—it gave them the courage to believe that bands from Kochi could succeed nationwide.
With Be-Rock and the equally popular rock band Rough & Ready appearing on a late-night TV program that was produced around then, Kochi’s band and music scene was heating up.
It’s almost miraculous that any footage remains, as very little information has otherwise survived, but there’s no doubt Be-Rock is one of the bands that most represent Kochi in the 1990s.
