Yoichiro Yoshikawa
Summary. Yoshikawa was born in Sakaide, Kagawa Prefecture. During his enrollment at the University of Tsukuba, he was introduced to the Butoh dance group, Sankai Juku. Over more than thirty-five years, Yoshikawa has been an artistic director for Sankai Juku's music. Yoshikawa has produced music for news programs such as the six-part documentary, "The Miracle Planet" ("Chikyu Dai Kiko") for NHK and for animated television series. In April 2014, Yoshikawa started music production for "Baby Steps" on the e-Tele anime slot at NHK Educational TV. History. At three years of age, Yoshikawa started to  learn to play the piano. He could listen to music on a hand-turned or electric gramophone imported from the United States by his great-grandfather. Yoshikawa was educated at the Sakaide elementary and lower secondary schools which were associated with the Faculty of Education at Kagawa University. At school, Yoshikawa used a tape recorder to record his piano and guitar compositions and performances. Whilst enrolled at the University of Tsukuba, Yoshikawa met Ushio Amagatsu, who was the organizer of "Sankai Juku" and a former member of the "Kinkan Shonen" piano trio. In 1986, Yoshikawa, Takashi Kako, and Yasukazu Sato  ("Yas Kaz") became the directors of Sankai Juku. Since then, the troupe's work has been performed biennially at the Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, France. In 2002, "Hibiki, Resonance from Far Away" won an Olivier award for best new dance production and in 2006, "Toki, a Moment in the Weave of Time" won the grand prize at the sixth Asahi performing arts awards. In 2013, Sankai Juku won a Japan Foundation award. Yoshikawa's signature work is the music for the 1987 NHK documentary series, "The Miracle Planet". The program's main theme won an international prize at the  1992 JASRAC awards. The program won the 29th Director General of Science and Technology Agency award. Yoshikawa's music has been released on albums including "Music for the Miracle Planet", "A Dream of Akuaku", "Kyplos" and "Taiyo no Matsuge" (Lashes of the Sun). Between 1984 and 1993, Yoshikawa was director of keyboards and music arrangements for the rock group, "Yapoos", led by Jun Togawa and was associated with the production of their album, "Yapoos Keikaku". Yoshikawa's song, "Raja Maharaja", performed by Jun Togawa, was a hit on "Minna no Uta". Yoshikawa has produced ambient music for amusement parks including  the Tokyo Sea Life Park (1989) and music for television programs such as "News 11" and "News 9" (between 1995 and 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 Educational TV. He has also produced sound tracks for animations such as "Oz" created by Natsumi Itsuki and music for the Anime cartoon, Kyo Kara Maoh! (2004). Yoshikawa has collaborated with artists such as Princess Princess, Agnes Chan, Yuki Saito and Sophie Marceau. In 2005, Yoshika produced  the DVD for the Steinberg TEK laboratory, Japan, "Cubase" music production software. Since 2010, Yoshikawa has been associated with marketing for the University of Tsukuba, including the song "Imagine the Future". In 2012, Yoshikawa was a key note speaker at the 100th anniversary of foundation of the Sakaide Elementary School. Selected works. Theatrical works. Sankai Juku - Berlin International film Festival, Reader Jury of the “Zitty” (1987), Locarno International Film Festival, Special Mention (1987)