Japanese Music Industry
Kazuo Yairi was one of the most renowned guitar luthiers in Japan. His long career began as a child when he watched his father building unique handcrafted instruments for local students and musicians. The company expanded under Yairi-san's leadership to include several new models, but always with...
Hirotaka Kawai is the president of the Kawai Music Corporation in Japan and has followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, the company's founder and his father, who expanded the company after World War II. Kawai-San has played a vital role in the development of factories both within Japan and in...
Toyomasa Namikawa was the founder and chairman of the board for the Japan music publisher Teine Corp., which was named after his initials. He dedicated his life to providing students and teachers with band instrument publications throughout Japan. While attending the Midwest Band Clinics in the...
Toyoshi Namikawa grew up in the music publishing business because his father was the founder of the Teine Corporation. Located in Tokyo Japan, Teine has played an important role in the Japanese industry, providing exclusive distribution of publications from C. Barnhouse and Neil Kjos. Following in...
Yoshinori Kimbara was a former Yamaha Japan Corporation executive who worked under Genichi Kawakami beginning in the 1950s. He was the first general manager of the Yamaha Music Foundation, which was created to strengthen music education in Japan. Kimbara-San was associated with recreational music...
Kenji Ito has committed himself to music education and the safety of those who take lessons from his music studios and stores. As Chairman of Ito Music Corporation in Japan, he prays each day for the care and safety of the more than 20,000 students that learn music from his some 600 teachers. He is...
Tsutomu Chiba is the president for the Barock Music Company in Japan. He is also a musical instrument designer for many products. With the distribution company named PlayWood Professional Percussion Instruments, Chiba-San has introduced his own designed products ranging from drum sticks and mallets...
Tadamichi Fukuda was the Chairman for the Global Corporation, located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1975 based on the repairing of musical instruments, especially violins. Fukuda-San soon expanded the company to become the exclusive supplier of many brands in Japan...
Peter Suzuki's career parallels the rise of Yamaha and the highly successful Yamaha Music Schools in Japan and the United States. Mr. Suzuki started with Yamaha in 1962 as a retail keyboard salesman in Tokyo. Faced with ever-increasing Electone Organ production, Mr. Suzuki realized the Electone to...
Kiyokazu Ishibashi is proud to be in the music products industry and to follow the path of his father, who started the business following World War II. The music store was small in the beginning and in fact first carried sporting goods as well as musical instruments. When Kiyokazu was just 12 years...