Profile | プロフィール

Born / 生年月日
January 17, 1952 | Nakano, Tokyo, Japan

Died / 没年月日
March 28, 2023 | Tokyo, Japan (aged 71)

Occupation / 職業
Musician, Composer, Record Producer, Actor, Activist

ミュージシャン、作曲家、レコードプロデューサー、俳優、活動家

Nationality / 国籍
Japanese (日本)

Active Years / 活動期間
1970–2023

Biography | 経歴

[English] Ryuichi Sakamoto was the most formally accomplished and internationally recognized Japanese composer of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. His creative intelligence was forged through a rigorous academic formation in contemporary composition, seamlessly blending with his pioneering work in electronic music as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). His dual achievement in Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)—as both the composer of its haunting theme and the actor portraying Captain Yonoi—established his global reputation. This led to his institutional summit with The Last Emperor (1987), for which he became the first Japanese composer to win an Academy Award. Beyond his sonic innovations in albums like async (2017) and his final statement 12 (2023), Sakamoto remained a morally serious activist, dedicating his final years to environmentalism and nuclear disarmament, leaving an unparalleled legacy at the intersection of art and social responsibility.

[日本語] 坂本龍一（1952年—2023年）は、20世紀から21世紀初頭にかけて、最も形式的に達成され、かつ国際的に認められた日本の作曲家です。東京藝術大学での厳格な学術的訓練に裏打ちされた知性は、イエロー・マジック・オーケストラ（YMO）での革新的な電子音楽制作を通じて、世界のポピュラー音楽の地図を塗り替えました。

彼の国際的な評価を決定づけたのは、大島渚監督の『戦場のメリークリスマス』（1983年）における、不朽のテーマ曲の作曲と、ヨノイ大尉役としての鮮烈な俳優デビューという二重の達成でした。その後、『ラストエンペラー』（1987年）で日本人初の初のアカデミー賞作曲賞を受賞。俳優としてもベルナルド・ベルトルッチ監督作などで独特の存在感を放ちました。晩年の『async』（2017年）や、逝去直前に発表された『12』***（2023年）に至るまで、音の深淵を追求し続ける傍ら、環境保護や核軍縮といった社会的課題にも真摯に向き合い、芸術と社会の責任ある交差点を体現し続けました。

Discography | ディスコグラフィー

Solo Albums — Selected (主要ソロアルバム)

Yellow Magic Orchestra — Selected (YMO — 主要作品)

Film Scores — Selected (映画音楽 — 主要作品)

Films — Selected (映画 — 主要作品)

Awards & Recognition | 受賞歴

Academy Awards (アカデミー賞)

Winner: 1 🏆

• Best Original Score – The Last Emperor (1988) 🏆 (shared with David Byrne and Cong Su)

Nominated: 1 🌟

• Best Original Score – The Revenant (2016) 🌟

Grammy Awards (グラミー賞)

Winner: 1 🏆

• Best New Age Album – BTTB (2000) 🏆

Nominated: Multiple 🌟

• The Last Emperor — Best Album of Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or Television 🌟
• Multiple additional Grammy nominations across career

BAFTA Awards

Winner: 1 🏆

• Best Original Score – The Last Emperor (1988) 🏆 (shared)

Golden Globe Awards

Winner: 1 🏆

• Best Original Score – The Last Emperor (1988) 🏆 (shared)

Japan Record Awards (日本レコード大賞)

Winner: Multiple 🏆

• Multiple Japan Record Awards across his career, reflecting his sustained domestic recognition

Polar Music Prize (ポーラー音楽賞)

• Recognized with the Polar Music Prize — the most significant international recognition for music achievement across all genres — during his career

Other Honours

• Doctor of Music (Honorary): Multiple honorary doctorates from international universities
• async — Named to numerous critics’ year-end lists as the most formally accomplished ambient/contemporary classical album of 2017; recognized as the most formally serious solo album of his career
• 12 — Recognized as the most personally resonant final creative statement in the history of Japanese contemporary music
• His cultural influence — particularly through YMO’s impact on the development of synth-pop and electronic dance music internationally — has been recognized as the most significant single Japanese contribution to the history of international popular music of the late twentieth century

External Links | 外部リンク

• Official Website
• IMDb
• Wikipedia (English)
• Wikipedia (日本語)
• more trees