Renowned Japanese musician and actor Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away at the age of 71. Avex, the recording company in Japan, announced on Sunday that Sakamoto had died on March 28 while receiving treatment for cancer. The artist had been battling with throat cancer since 2014 and revealed in 2022 that he had terminal cancer, after disclosing his diagnosis of rectal cancer a year earlier.

Sakamoto was a pioneer of electronic music in the late 1970s and was a founding member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, along with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi. Despite Takahashi’s passing in January, Sakamoto continued to create music, releasing a full-length album titled ’12’ on his 71st birthday in January 2023. In a statement accompanying the album, Sakamoto expressed that composing had a “small healing effect” on his body and soul, amid his ongoing battle with cancer.

As a world-class musician, Sakamoto won both an Oscar and a Grammy for his work on the 1987 film ‘The Last Emperor’. He was also an accomplished actor, starring in the BAFTA-winning movie ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence’ in 1983. Although he was mainly based in New York in recent years, Sakamoto regularly visited his home country of Japan. He was born in Tokyo in 1952 and began studying music at the age of 10, with influences from Debussy and the Beatles.

The world of music and cinema has lost a true innovator and icon in Sakamoto, whose work has left an indelible mark on the industry.

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