坂本 龍一 (Ryuichi Sakamoto), January 17, 1952 – March 28, 2023

Ryuichi Sakamoto, 71, passed away from stage 4 cancer in March 28, 2023.

His death was announced on April 2, 2023.

He first debuted with "A Thousand Knives Of..." in 1978 which was released through Better Days label. In the same year, he formed the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) with Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono.

He then released another album in 1980 named "B-2 Unit", released through Alfa, which features "Riot in Lagos" a song that will influence electro and hip-hop in the future.

He had a radio show in NHK named "Sound Street" in 1981, which showcases demos of himself, YMO, and others who submitted their cassette tapes.

When YMO disbanded in 1983, at the same year he would compose and star in the movie "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" (Also known as "Furyo"), and then he would release "Ongaku Zukan" in 1984 through Midi label (Midi Inc.), which features "Tibetan Dance".

In 1989, he would release his album "Beauty", which was released under the US Virgin label and features the single, "You Do Me".

In 1993, he reunited with Hosono and Takahashi as ~~YMO~~ (Billed alternately as "Not YMO") for "Technodon" and performed in Tokyo Dome.

He would release several albums on For Life label such as "Sweet Revenge" (1994), "Smoochy" (1995), and "1996" (1996).

Then he would be on Warner Music with "BTTB" (1998), "Comica", "Elephantism" (both 2002), and "Chasm" (2004).

When Haroumi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi formed Sketch Show, Sakamoto didn't want to see them only play together, and so they would reunite as HASYMO (HAS as in Human Audio Sponge). It was only in 2008 the rights to the name "Yellow Magic Orchestra" was given back to them and performed for "World Happiness Day" and "NO NUKES" until 2012.

He would then start his label Commmons, which released "Out of Noise" (2009) and "Three" (2012).

Then he released "Plankton" (2016), "async" (2017), and his final album, "12" (2023).

He composed for films such as "The Last Emperor" (1987), the original version of "子猫物語" (A Kitten's Story, but known in other versions as "The Adventures of Milo and Otis") (1986), "Shining Boy & Little Randy" (2005), and more.

His last public words was to stop the Jingu redevelopment plan, since it would impact the nearby Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue, and lamented that he could only write letters since his energy was down to the point where he can't make music.

Arigato, Sakamoto-san. See you in the eastern wind...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROlkrcCuFRw

https://twitter.com/ryuichisakamoto/status/1642507238467309568

Additional update:

The social media team of Ryuichi Sakamoto will keep his accounts active in order to preserve his legacy:

https://twitter.com/ryuichisakamoto/status/1653506629969616903