Hisaishi Joe

Hisaishi Joe (Japanese: Hisaishi Yield／Hisaishi affection, romanized: Hisaishi Jō, December 6, 1950 -), whose real name is Fujisawa Mamoru, is a Japanese composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist. Born in Nakano City, Nagano Prefecture, graduated from the Composition Department of the National University of Music. The stage name "Hisaishi Joe" comes from his idol, the African American musician and producer Quincy Jones. He chose the Chinese character "Kuishi Jō", which has a similar pronunciation to "Quincy Jones", and then changed the pronunciation of "Kuishi" from the pronunciation to the pronunciation, and it became the current stage name (Hisaishi Jō). His main musical activity is to create film soundtracks, especially works by directors such as Hayao Miyazaki, Takeshi Kitano, and Nobuhiko Obayashi. In 2015, Joe Hisaishi won the Japan Film Awards Best Music Award eight times and the Japan Film Awards Music Award seven times. In 2009, he was awarded the Purple Ribbon Medal by the Japanese government. In addition to film scores, Joe Hisaishi is also committed to classical music composition, and his works include symphonies, concertos, string quartets and other minimalist music.