Yoshihide Otomo

August 1, 1959

Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

Otomo Yoshihide (大友 良英, Otomo Yoshihide, born 1 August 1959) is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist known for his work in experimental music, free improvisation, and film scoring. Emerging in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental group Ground Zero, he became an influential figure in avant-garde and electroacoustic improvisation. Otomo has built an extensive career as a composer for film and television, contributing music to dozens of projects across Asia and beyond. His early film work includes The Blue Kite (1993), The Day the Sun Turned Cold (1994), and Blue (2002), with the reception of his 1994 score helping establish his reputation in cinema. His most widely recognized work is the soundtrack for the NHK television drama Amachan (2013), which became a major commercial success, reaching No. 5 on the Oricon Albums Chart and earning him the Japan Record Award. Beyond music, he is also known for founding Project FUKUSHIMA! following the 2011 earthquake, for which he received the Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts in 2012.