Yoichiro Yoshikawa

Yoichiro Yoshikawa
Native name 吉川洋一郎
Born October 8, 1957
Sakaide-shi, Kagawa-ken, Japan
Genres Soundtrack, J-POP
Occupation(s) Composer, Arranger, Film producer
Instruments Keyboard
Website www.yoichiroyoshikawa.com

Yoichiro Yoshikawa(吉川洋一郎)(born October 8, 1957) is a composer, arranger and film producer.

Summary

Yoichiro Yoshikawa was Born in Sakaide-shi, Kagawa Prefecture. He joined the activities of Butoh dance group “Sankai Juku ” while attending University of Tsukuba, and joined them for their world tours. Since then, he has been involved with the music production of all Sankai Juku works, which continued for more than 35 years. As of 2014, Sankai Juku has been to 43 countries, performing in over 710 cities in total. Yoshikawa also handled numerous music pieces for special news programs such as the NHK special “The Miracle Planet (Chikyu Dai Kiko)” and various NHK TV animation series during this time. He is currently in charge of the music for “Baby Steps” that started in April 2014 on E-Tele Anime.

Brief Personal History

Yoichiro started learning piano from the age of three. He had access to electric and hand-turned gramophones from his early life at home. His great-grandfather Kagoro had brought these items back from the United States where he lived as an immigrant. During his days in Sakaide Elementary and Lower Secondary School (attached to the Faculty of Education, Kagawa University), Yoshikawa became fascinated by the tape recorders that they used during piano lessons. It soon became his hobby to play piano or guitar and record it. He started composing in his high school days, and aspired to pursue a career in music. During his time as a student at the University of Tsukuba, Yoshikawa met Ushio Amagatsu, the organizer of “Sankai Juku” and former member of the piano trio group “Kinkan Shonen”. After 1986, Yoshikawa together with Takashi Kako and YAS-KAZ took over as organizers of Sankai Juku. Since then they released new works every two years, produced by THÉÂTRE DE LA VILLE PARIS.

“HIBIKI – Resonance from Far Away” won Best New Dance Production prize in 2002 at Laurence Olivier Awards, in UK. “TOKI – A Moment in the Weave Time” won Grand Prize in the 6th Asahi Performing Arts Awards (2006). Sankai Juku also won the Japan Foundation Awards in 2013. Yoshikawa also managed video production of Sankai Juku theatrical works from 2006, conducting artistic activities in wide range of genres.

His representative work is the music for NHK special “The Miracle Planet” (1987). This main theme won an International Prize at the JASRAC Awards in 1992. The program “The Miracle Planet” won the 29th Director General of Science and Technology Agency Award at the Science and Technology Film/Video Festival.

He released numerous solo albums including “Music for the Miracle Planet,” “A dream of AKU AKU,” “KYPLOS” and “Lashes of the Sun (Taiyo no Matsuge).” During the 9 years between 1984 and 1993, Yoshikawa was in charge of keyboards and music arrangements in the rock group “Yapoos” lead by Jun Togawa. He was also involved with albums such as “Yapoos Keikaku” amongst others. “Raja Maharaja” (song: Jun Togawa) became one of the most popular pieces of music featured on NHK “Minna no Uta” in history.

In addition, Yoshikawa produced ambient music for various amusement parks including Tokyo Sea Life Park (1989) and created BGM pieces for various TV Programs such as “News 11” and “News 9” (between 1995 to 1999), “News 10” (2001), “Hello Japan (Ogenki Desuka Nippon Retto)” (between 2003 and 2009) for NHK, and “Together with Mew and Eep (Nyan Chu to Issho)” (between 2003 and 2006) for NHK Educations. Yoshikawa also produced sound tracks for animations such as “OZ” created by Natsumi Ituki and numerous others. “Demon King from Today! (Kyo kara Mao!)” (from 2004 onwards) by NHK Satellite Anime Theatre is broadcast around the world on the Cartoon Network. His productions and music contributions feature artists such as Princess Princess, Agnes Chan, Yuki Saito and others. Yoshikawa has also provided music to a theatrical work by Sophie Marceau, and produced music for overseas stage directors. Since 2010, Yoshikawa has been involved with branding activities for his alma mater, the University of Tsukuba, such as composing and arranging of a message song “IMAGINE THE FUTURE” and giving lectures.

WORKS

Theatrical works

Sankai Juku
Sophie Marceau
Shantala Shivalingappa

TV program music

1980~
1990~
2000~
2010~

CD・DVD

1980
1990
2000
2010

Amusement parks, concerts

1980
1990
2000

Book publications

“Opinel and Peacock Day” by Gentosha Literary Publication; a youth graffiti describing with witty touch how Sankai Juku World Tour had started.

Lecture

Gave lecture at 100th Foundation Anniversary Event at Sakaide Elementary School Attached to the Faculty of Education, Kagawa University (2012)
Appearances: Kenji Yamaji (professor emeritus of University of Tokyo), Minako Nakano (former broadcaster of Fuji TV)

Education

Produced and released “Steinberg TEK LAB DVD” (2005) from Steinberg Japan, a textbook DVD for “Cubase” which is a music production software that became the world standard.

External links