Japanese Music Industry
H. John Nonaka keeps in mind that his grandfather, who established the family owned music business, always supported musicians - an element of the business John happily continues. Since joining Nonaka Boeki in 1983, John has focused on marketing and promotions while at the same time creating...
Reiko Suzuki discovered her passion for music at a young age as she watched her father and mother operate a company that manufactured harmonicas and other instruments. This coupled with her father, Manji Suzuki’s desire to spread the joy of music to children later served as her inspiration to...
Takeomi Nishimura found his way to Suzuki Musical Instruments while studying engineering in college. Upon returning home from school one day a friend suggested he work for the company and the rest is history. Within the company, Takeomi has served a variety of roles including production control,...
Seiki Kato is the president of KORG, the Japan based electronics company that has created innovative musical products since his father first established the company in the 1970s. Seiki provided meaningful insight into the international growth of KORG as well as his philosophy moving forward as it...
Jun-Ichi Miki joined the Roland Corporation in 1977 right after graduating from university. After working in research of sound synthesis and analysis for electronic musical instruments, in 1994 he joined the Board of Directors. In 2013, Jun-ichi was named Roland’s new CEO and his background in...
Makoto Muroi's passion for music began in school when he played the French Horn. He studied computers in college and worked on microcomputer development. While working on drum machines at Roland, Mr. Kakehashi suggested to Makoto that he explore how video and music can better work together with...
Yoko Leader learned to play as a student of the Yamaha Electone school, but later graduated university with her major in Mathematics. When Yoko was picked up from graduation by Matsushita Electric, her interest in music steered her towards joining the Electronic Musical Instruments Division, which...
Ryo Okumoto began his professional musical career as a keyboardist during the height of the electronic musical instrument boom of the 1970s. The synthesizer was growing nearly every month and new sounds were being created at nearly every NAMM Show, an opportunity Ryo-san took full advantage of as...
Keisuke Kobayashi is the Director and Chief Marketing Officer for Audio-Technica in Japan. His long and very interesting career in the music products industry started when he began working for Yamaha in the 1970s. The company asked if Keisuke-san would travel to the United States as a management...
Hiroaki Oh-oka sat on a thin mat in front of a leg-less table in his traditional Japanese home where he outlined the history of the bamboo flutes his five- man company produced. The company, which his father started as a street vendor in Tokyo, holds a patent for the colorful plastic ends on the...