One of the heroes of Japanese popular music: Who is Akiko Yano?

Her extensive discography, from her unique vocals to her complex piano arrangements, is the embodiment of her fearless approach to experimentation. “There's a sense of fearlessness in the music that really gets me going,” she says of her characteristic melodies.

Akiko Yano started playing the piano at the age of three, with the guidance of her mother, whose dream of becoming a pianist was dashed when the Second World War broke out. She discovered her passion for jazz only recently. Although it seems like some things have been decided on her behalf from the very beginning, this cute girl's artistic talent is not the type that can be formed only through hard work. She interrupted her education at the age of 15 to become a professional musician, which resulted in her getting involved in the jazz scene and giving concerts with Tin Pan Alley at the age of 17. It was around the same time that the musician, who was very brave in pushing the boundaries with a perspective that some might consider "revolutionary", started to use her greatest power that differentiated her from her contemporaries and started adding jazz improvisations and electronic pop tunes to traditional Japanese melodies. And so, it is not surprising that it attracted the attention of the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), the iconic electronic music trio of the period.

Akiko Yano (February 13, 1955) is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s. She has been called "one of the major musical talents of the Japanese popular music world", and her vocals and singing style have been compared to English singer Kate Bush.

In the late 70s, Akiko Yano was both dating YMO's Ryuichi Sakamoto and participating in her tours as a musician and playing with him. It is an undeniable fact that the duo, who put their artistic working environments before their relationships, contribute to each other. Even though Yano was able to establish the "mother-artist" balance when she had a child from her first marriage, she could not escape the consequences of universal problems in the male-dominated music industry with her second child born from her marriage to Sakamoto. International music travel has always been a dream, but there is neither time nor opportunity for it; she is forced to reject all offers. This included the opportunity to work with Annie Lennox, who she thought would change her trajectory.

Following her 1976 debut LP Japanese Girl, which became a hit in Japan and brought her fame, Akiko Yano recorded in many parts of the world, from Los Angeles to London; In 1978, she recorded To Ki Me Ki, which some of her fans called "his most successful album that most people don't know about" in New York, but this eclectic set of tastes did not have the chance to enter the homes of her listeners in distant lands.