Now, I'm reading Ryuichi Sakamoto's biography "onkakuwa jiyuni suru"
He mentioned his ex-wife Yano-san. I loved her songs.

I got in contact with her music because i'm a david sylvian and sakamoto fan. I know a little of her, i'd definetly like to hear more. can you e-mail me so we can talk sometime, i'd really like that.
kisses from a girl in portugal,

Hi
I think what capture me is her musicianship, a perfect pianist and a performer/entertainer on stage. Everytime you listen to her performance, you recognise there are something new in every piece she plays. Every note is well organised to bring an adour as if you were listening to "Claude Debussy".

As a freelance reporter in the 80s, I wrote a review on her about "Tadaima" in the 80's in a Hong Kong musical press together with the Yen label founded by the members of YMO. Her performance is always stunning and "breath-taking" especially her unique piano style and her arrangement to enhance Japanese traditional folk songs.

Now with the help of my Japanese friend, I could see her Satogaeru concert every year at NHK Hall to quench my thirst for her music.How I wish she could have us in Hong Kong a Demae Concert!

Pls contact me at izak_polman@hotmail.com

I Love Akiko Yano...but her CDs are so damn hard to come by in the US. So, I have to have my friends in Taiwan send them to me.

On top of all that...she never comes to the US let alone Pittsburgh, PA where I live. "Sigh" She is one of the most original pianists I've ever heard! Oops! Please mail me anything you can about her.

Hi I saw Akiko at the last concert at Pizza Express in London. My Japanese friend Yuka was so knocked out by her! And at the end Akiko sat in a little alcove and you could go over and she would sign your albums, chat everything.
Yuka loved it so much and her mother has a signed album now she has gone back to Japan!.

I just got my first taste of your talent when I got the Chieftains "Tears of Stone" and I really liked how fused Japinese music and Celtic.I'm hopeing to find more of your solo albums.

i am an irishman living in seattle. akiko yano sang a song on the chieftains cd tears of stone. the chieftains play traditional irish music, so i was very supprised to hear a song sung in japanese. it was wonderful. i'm looking forword to buying some of her cd's.

In San Francisco she wore a different dress, a sleeveless yellow non-form-fitting floor-length gown, and the reddish hair tint was indeed rather noticeable. I'd say the audience was about 85% Japanese-speaking Japanese young adults, the proportion I'd expected.

Byron's description of the LA show fits almost exactly what happened in SF; she did indeed seem comfortable, buoyant and happy. The between-song banter was mostly in Japanese, but at one point she spoke entirely and clearly in English, thanking the lighting guy for doing such excellent work.

I recognized some songs from the CD PIANO NIGHTLY, and at least two from the tape you recently sent me Byron (the "Sea Otter" one and the one called "Sayonara" that's not the same as the 50s crossover song by that name.) She did a song in English that I didn't recognize, but that the crowd seemed to know, called "You Are What You Eat," and I think made a joke in Japanese about how so many of her songs are about food or eating. Reaching back among her older songs, she performed "Ramen Tabetai" and "David." She didn't -- much to my regret -- play any of her covers of American oldies she's recorded, like "How Can I Be Sure" or the old "Sayonara/Cherokee."

Her show included two returns for encores. I was thrilled to have seen her, and was thoroughly satisfied with her performance; sure do wonder what she was saying to the audience in Japanese, though!! C

WOW NICE PAGE AND NICE SONG ,THAT'S ALL I CAN SAY ABOUT AKIKO. I SPEAK JAPANESE SO THAT WHY I THINK Da MUSIC IS THE BEST IN JAPAN. I HOPE IF I CAN MEET HER THAT WOULD BE MY DREAM....BUT I KNOW THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE AND I THINK AKIKO, YOU WONT WANT TO SEE ME EITHER CUS I WANT AKIKO TO SING FOR ME LIVE IN FRONT OF MY FACE......
OTUKARA SAMA DESTAK. ARIGATO GODAIMAS, ANTAWA MIRYOKUTEKINA HITODA
MAIL ME OK.......

I went to see Akiko Yano perform last night (4-3-01) at Hollywood's Knitting Factory. Here's how it went:

She came out to almost a packed house, mostly those of Asian descent, but also a handful of Caucasians and African-Americans. She wore a long orange skirt, red blouse with frilly trim around the neck and gold sparkly slippers.
She has a reddish rinse on her hair. She performed solo on a grand piano, singing and playing about a dozen songs, mostly in Japanese but with a few phrases of English. I recognized about 4 from the albums I have by her, but I couldn't tell you the names other than GREENFIELDS. The between song patter was almost entirely in Japanese.

She seemed in good spirits and excellent voice, laughing and smiling broadly from time to time. She sounded excellent! The crowd seemed very familiar with the selections played. Her set lasted about 90 minutes.

I would recommend her to people in New York and Boston, the final 2 stops on her US tour.

I have been an Akiko Yano fan for about 15 years. I have probably 20 of her recordings. I play her on my internet-radio show, the MARTIAN LOVE GROTTO, every Thursday 8PM-Midnight PST. People really respond to her beautiful voice and totally professional musicianship. She is INDEED a Great Talent!

Hello,
Great site. Yano Akiko is awesome. Her soundtrack to the Takahata Isao film "Hohoukekyo Tonari no Yamadakun" is her best work in years, in my opinion. I love Yano's voice especially. I also love Koshi Miharu and Togawa Jun, and they are my favorites along with Yano. I don't know, just something about Japanese women singing that I just LOVE! But I think Yano is the best and most talented composer/song writer of the three. Thank you for your site. Emailing me is welcome.

Hai.. i'm indonesian student in Birmingham, UK.
The first time i heard Akiko Yano.. i fell in love with her music, although i don't understand the language but i doesn't matter... i love her songs... specially "me & my sea otter" from the "elephant hotel" album... my japanesse friend introduced me to Akiko's music.. i should thank her.. please inform me and "mail me", the recent news about Akiko Yano... thank a lot....

I saw her playing piano and singing on TV the other day. Her music and singing was very unique to me who is a non japanese speaking listner. It was like a peculiar mixture of western and traditional japanese music. And her voice carried a tune in her own charms. She looked like pretty hard working player of the piano. I was shocked in a way. So, I'm searching for her in internet. I should have listened her tunes long before.

I'm a total fan of ryuichi sakamoto's music and in researching him on the web found out about akiko yano. I've never heard of her before this. I would love to hear her music. As it is, I have to order r. sakamoto's music, since he's considered "eccentric" for where I live. Could anyone "mail me" so I can find out more about Akiko yano. It took me a while to find this page!
Thanks!

hello!!
I respect Yano Akiko as a great pianist. Sometimes I try to play her songs but it is too difficult to play and sing them like her.

HELLO THERE, ENGLISH AKIKO YANO FAN AND YMO.I HAVE LOTS OF INFO REGARDING BOTH AKIKO YANO AND YMO IF YOU SEE THIS AND WOULD LIKE TO......"MAIL ME"....PLEASE DO SO.

Hi, I am Tommy from Scotland and have been told by my Japanese online buddy Hiromi that I should check out Akiko Yano after I told her I loved Kate Bush. I listened to some clips of Love Life and I intend to buy her cd at once.Your page has been a great help to me , thank you . Tommy (ther Celt)

Hello, I live in Brisbane, Australia & I hated Yano Akiko when I first heard of her because she was married to Ryuichi Sakamoto whom I adored. That was before I'd heard her music. A year or so later I was hitching in Japan and the music in the car was fantastic. I asked the guys in the car who it was and of course it was Yano Akiko. They gave me the cassette when I left them which was typical of the kindness of Japanese people when you hitch-hike. Someone stole it not long after which shows how contagious her music is & I spent about 3 years trying to replace it which introduced me to a lot of her other music. I'd love to hear from other fans of her music & Junzo, if you happen to stumble on this please send me a message.

I first became to know Akiko Yano due to Chieftains's Osaka concert. At first because of guest of Chieftains, I was interested ih ger. I was so happy, when I first heard of her songs. And after I knew that fact Yano is Ruichi Sakamoto's current wife, I was so surprised. In fact Ruichi Sakamoto is one of my favarite musicians. Oh, my Godness!!! Akiko was Sakamoto's wife!!! Anyway I think she's great, cute, cool musician. I wish a luck to Sakamoto & Yano together!!!

the only akiko yano album i've been able to find is "piano nightly." i love it very much and would like to collect some fo her other work. if anyone can help me, please "mail me." i'm intrested in the little feat connection. i know of them through my father (he's a fan). please educate the ignorant me.

Nice page. I'm also a fan of Akiko but found out about her through YMO & it's various members. Feel free to mail.

Hi, my name is Paul and I'm an English AY fan. I first heard of Akiko in the English music press when her picture was printed in Smash Hits (I think, I have it as a clipping but not the whole magazine). You can see her in the studio recording with Japan and Sakamoto. Later, I bought the Japan book Sons Of Pioneers which she also appears in. The first time I heard Akiko sing was on (SHOCK! HORROR!!) a bootleg album of Japan's 1982 Budokan concert!! After that I found the LP "From Japan To Japan" and then gradually collected the rest. I also started to collect YMO and other Japanese artists after that, so Akiko was at the start of it all!
In the Virgin Books Guide to World Music (published 1990 UK) it says Akiko and Ryuichi are no longer married. Is this a mistake?
Anyway, great to find something out about Akiko after all these years of wondering who she really was!
All the best to you and all Akiko Yano fans everywhere!
p.s. if anyone wants to correspond my e-mail address is: 106552.704@compuserve.com

Hello. How are you? I'm glad to see this page.
Yano's music is great. I feel happy listeningto her music.
By the way, I'm in Ottawa, Canada. If anyone has interest to sing her tunes, please send a mail to me. I'd like to play the piano with your voice. Thank you.

I am so pleased to see this home page. As most of you, I did not have any friend who likes (knows) her in my total life. However, now, I know a lot of people are 'really' her fans.
What is better, I am living near to Boston, so it's possible that when I go to New York, I could see AKIKO YANO by chance. The way I enjoy her music is to copy her works; there are a bunch of written pieces of her by some Japanese company. So, I sing them with my piano accompanied.
I wish I could write this letter in Japanese, but I don't have so much money. Anyway, if anybody has extra time and is interested in me, please send me an e-mail in English or "ROOMAJI" My e-mail address is : kkuroda@vax.clarku.edu

(Because of my computer or software problem, I cannot type in anything in Japanese, so do this in English.)
Hello! I am a 25-year-old female, working for an independent record label named Bad News and a big fan of Akiko for years. This is very first time to stop by here. I must tell you that you are doing a great job here. Plain, but very detailed, organized and informative, great homepage. I enjoyed very much.
Finally, let me do comments a little about Akiko's single just came out (Harusakikobeni/Hitotsudake). I liked all three tracks of Disc 1, but what interested me most was a long medley in Disc 2. Listening to this was like reviewing a history of one woman only in 12 minutes of music, who has lived her life so hard, but with lots of love and beauty. And I do not know any other artist who sings love songs so deep, and so sad in a sense...
Thank you and please keep Akkoing, everyone! (I will try to fix my computer until next time!)