WTetuzi Akiyama is a Japanese guitarist, violinist, and instrument-maker.
WASA-CHANG & Junray is a band founded by Japanese percussionist ASA-CHANG, who was the founder and original bandmaster of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. After leaving the group in 1993, he formed ASA-CHANG & Junray in 1998 with programmer and guitarist Hidehiko Urayama. They were joined in 2000 by tabla player U-zhaan. Live, the group used a portable sound-system called 'Jun-Ray Tronics', hence the name; the word 'junray', however, also means 'pilgrimage'.
WMaki Asakawa was a Japanese jazz and blues singer, lyricist and composer. She was an important voice of the Japanese urban counterculture.
WBlonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace that formed in New York City in 1993. The band's earliest albums were noted for their noise rock influences, though their sound evolved by the early 2000s with the releases of Misery is a Butterfly (2004) and 23 (2007), which both incorporated elements of dream pop, shoegaze and other genres. They have released nine regular studio albums and have toured internationally.
WIkue Mori , also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, electronic musician, composer, and graphic designer.
WToshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese musician, active in free improvisation and Japanese onkyo.
WYoko Ono is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art, which she performs in both English and Japanese, and filmmaking.
WOtomo Yoshihide is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist. He plays guitar, turntables, and electronics.
WTaku Sugimoto, born December 20, 1965, in Tokyo, is a Japanese guitarist.
WYasuhiro Sugihara , better known by his stage name Sugizo, is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, composer and record producer. He is the lead guitarist and violinist of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989.
WAyuo Takahashi is a Japanese-American composer, poet, lyricist, singer and performer of plucked string instruments including guitar, bouzouki, Irish harp, Chinese zheng, Japanese koto, and medieval European psaltery. He is adept at adapting the ancient music of Japan, China, Persia, Greece and medieval Europe to create a new and original music without abandoning their strict forms, while simultaneously making them relevant to contemporary music styles. He has composed for classical ensembles including string quartets, piano, various chamber ensembles and orchestra, as well as composed, produced and performed with rock, jazz and musicians of various traditional music from around the world. He has also composed many music theater pieces, some of which has been released on CD in the United States and Japan.
WYann Tomita is a Japanese musician, composer, record producer, writer, and steelpan player based in Tokyo. In Japan during the 1980s and 1990s, he pioneered various music genres, including hip hop, dub, acid jazz, exotica, and electronic music. He is the first professional Japanese steelpan player, first Japanese hip hop producer, and the president of the Audio Science Laboratory record label, which he founded.
WYasuhiro Yoshigaki is a Japanese jazz drummer and percussionist. He is known as a founding member of the bands Altered States and Sights, as well as his work with composers Otomo Yoshihide and John Zorn.