Japanese Music Industry
Shiro Arai was the founder of Aria Guitars, a Japanese electric guitar company that gained great international success in the wake of the Beatles invasion—both in America and Japan. Mr. Arai was an early pioneer of Japanese/American commerce, developing one dealer base that represented both...
Hajime Yamaguchi was born on September 26, 1944 in Tokyo, Japan. At the age of 18 he traveled the country as a professional drummer and a year later landed a stellar job as drummer for a late night TV talk show in Japan. After a few years his girlfriend (and future wife) explained her parents...
Karl Hirano was an electronic engineer for Yamaha in Japan during the great MIDI boom of the early 1980s. In fact, Karl was a member of the team that gathered at the 1983 NAMM Show to discuss the MIDI spec and agree on the protocol and how MIDI would be engineered into the vast number of new...
Yukio Sakurai studied photography and art at the university in Tokyo before his uncle asked if Yukio would come to work for him. His uncle was the founder of the Japan Music Trade Magazine and Yukio was very interested to work in the music industry, which in publishing required his training as an...
Kazuo Kashio was president of the Casio Musical Instrument Company during the heyday of electronic keyboard sales. The company produced some innovative products during that time and continues today to focus on product design and innovations. Mr. Kashio provided the rich history behind how the...
Fujio Suzuki was the president of the Suzuki Musical Instrument Company in Japan in 2003 when the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music celebrated the launching of the new Hammond-Suzuki B-3. Fujio Suzuki took the stage alongside the president of the United States office of Suzuki and legendary...
Ikutaro Kakehashi, the founder of Roland Corporation, created more than a successful business with a host of important innovations in electronic musical instruments; he has also paid tribute throughout his career to those who first inspired him. Mr. Kakehashi was born in Japan and formed Ace...