is a Japanese musician, songwriter and producer who is known for his compositional work and skill at keyboards.

Early life and career

Asakura's childhood consisted of piano and electronic organ lessons, though he was expected to follow the family trade of

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses piping, pipes, valves, piping and plumbing fitting, plumbing fixtures, Storage tank, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. HVAC, Heating and co ...

. He started working with Yamaha keyboards and synthesizers in his early teens. Asakura began his career with a job at Yamaha right after finishing high school. While at Yamaha, Asakura worked on the EOS synthesiser, and was also featured in the instructional video for the SY77. His talent was discovered by

Tetsuya Komuro is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is recognized as the most successful producer in Japanese music history and has introduced contemporary electronic dance music to the Japanese mainstream. He was also a former owner of t ...

TM Network TM Network is a Japanese rock/new wave/pop musical band, made up by Tetsuya Komuro (keyboardist), Takashi Utsunomiya (vocalist) and Naoto Kine (guitarist). They became popular in Japan as the "futuristic pop songs with synthesizer" after the r ...

and Asakura was pulled from Yamaha to work under Komuro as his

protégé Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

. Subsequently, Asakura played the bass synthesizer during TM Network's 1990–91 Rhythm Red tour. In 1992, Asakura met the vocalist Hiroyuki Takami and featured him in some of his solo work. The two eventually formed

Access Access may refer to: Companies and organizations * ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network * Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom * Access Co., a Japanese software company * Access International Advisors, a hed ...

(or "AXS") in 1992, after Asakura broke away from TM Network. He and Takami went on to achieve great success before splitting up in 1995. The breakup of

left Asakura open to pursue different projects that included composing and producing songs for new artists; one of the most successful acts he created was J-pop idol Takanori Nishikawa under the title of T.M.Revolution (also known as "TMR"). In the middle of 1996, Asakura started a three-man unit titled Iceman which brought Kenichi Ito (guitar) and Michihiro Kuroda (vocals) to the spotlight. After a few years, Iceman ended activity.

Other projects

During and after his years with Iceman Asakura built his wealth and reputation as a composer taking after his idol and teacher, Tetsuya Komuro. He produced singles and albums for various J-Pop vocalists. He was also the featured music composer for the anime series

Gravitation In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

. Examples of Asakura's past projects includes vocalists such as Yosuke Sakanoue, Kinya Kotani, Daichi Kuroda, Akiko Hinagata, Yuki Kimura, FayRay, Takashi Fujii and groups such as, Onapetz, Pool Bit Boys, Lazy Knack, Run&Gun and The Seeker. He also composed songs for artists such as the visual kei rock band

Shazna Shazna (stylized as SHAZNA) is a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band originally active from 1993 to 2000. Originally having a strong gothic rock, gothic/post-punk influence, the band's sound greatly shifted to a more New wave music, new wav ...

. In 1999, Asakura and Takanori Nishikawa formed their own official two-man unit, The End of Genesis T.M.R. evolution Turbo Type D (or "TMR-e", for short). They produced three singles and one album together, with Asakura performing alongside Nishikawa and appearing in their music videos. The project was officially ended in April 2000 when Nishikawa reverted to his original stage name of T.M.Revolution. Asakura is still TMR's primary songwriter. In 2001, Asakura produced his first solo album in five years and worked with Iceman guitarist Kenichi Ito in Mad Soldiers; a sort of comedic spin-off from Iceman in which both men's "sinister" alter egos "Scorpion" (Asakura) and "Snake" (Ito) produced music for Kinya Kotani, amongst others, and performed officially unrecorded cover versions of famous songs such as "Lemon Tea" by Sheena & The Rokkets and "Hungry Like the Wolf" by

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

. The name of Asakura's alter ego is a reference to his zodiac sign, Scorpio. In 2002, he reunited with Hiroyuki Takami and reformed

access Access may refer to: Companies and organizations * ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network * Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom * Access Co., a Japanese software company * Access International Advisors, a hed ...

. Asakura went off on a solo project in 2004 titled "Quantum Mechanics Rainbow", in which he released multiple CDs for a year, and each CD title referenced both a color and math property. The project featured multiple live performances and subsequent DVD releases. In 2006–2007, Asakura produced two singles for new J-pop idol Kimeru, hit the road with

for 2007's TMN Tribute tour and created new songs for the newest version of the popular dance-step game, ''

Dance Dance Revolution (''DDR'') is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance ...

''. In November 2007,

released a memory/discography book, alongside highly coveted access plushies, to commemorate their 15th anniversary. In 2012, access celebrated their 20th anniversary. In 2008, Asakura started a new solo project entitled "DA Metaverse ~100 Songs for 1000 Days," in which he would release 100 new songs over the course of 1000 days exclusively through

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. The project was launched on June 25, 2008. In 2009 he composed and produced the soundtrack for the anime adaptation of Chrome Shelled Regios. Also in 2009, Asakura composed and arranged the soundtrack for a musical rendition of

Goodbye Charlie ''Goodbye Charlie'' is a 1964 American comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Tony Curtis, Debbie Reynolds and Pat Boone. The CinemaScope film is about a callous womanizer who gets his just reward after a jealous husband kills hi ...

in which Hiroyuki Takami played one of the lead roles. Asakura has worked with J-pop artists such as Daisy x Daisy (for the opening theme song to Chrome Shelled Regios), On/Off, and May'n as a composer and/or producer. He was also featured as an MC/performer for the event concert series, "Girl's Factory", alongside Mayu Watanabe of

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol musical girl group named after the Akihabara area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48 has sold more records than any other female musical act in Japanese history. AK ...

and various guest artists. Since 2006, Asakura has been a member of the Domoto Bros. Band on the music TV series ''Shin Domoto Kyoudai'' ("New Domoto Brothers"), hosted by the duo of

KinKi Kids is a Japanese duo consisting of Koichi Domoto and Tsuyoshi Domoto under the talent agency Starto Entertainment (formerly of Johnny & Associates). Domoto was formed in 1993 as Kinki Kids and officially debuted on July 21, 1997. With more than 30 m ...

, as a keyboardist. Asakura formed a group with other musicians from the show's band in 2009 called "Sugar and the Honey Tones", and they have produced one album. Asakura and

formed the unit PANDORA in 2017, having produced one mini album including a track featuring the artist Beverly, "Be the One" for the Japanese

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live-action films or television programs that make heavy use of practical special effects. Credited to special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, ''tokusatsu'' mainly refers to science fiction film, science fiction, War fi ...

show Kamen Rider Build. Asakura was featured in his own radio talk show, ''Neo Age Circuit'', which aired every Saturday at 11pm (JST) on FM Nack5 79.5 until it ended in March 2021. His official fanclub, "Smile", was temporarily the official fanclub for access until their breakup in 1995. It was active in relation to Asakura's activities until March 2021.

Discography

Singles

* ''Cosmic Runaway'' (February 1, 1995) * ''Siren's Melody'' (May 10, 1995) * ''Black or White?'' (May 25, 1995) * ''Rainy Heart – Doshaburi no Omoide no Naka'' (June 10, 1995)

DA Metaverse

* Dream Ape Metaverse (June 25, 2008) * Repli Eye-Program"d (June 25, 2008) * Nothung Syndrome (June 25, 2008) * Ya･Ti･Ma (July 30, 2008) * Sonic Cruise (September 24, 2008) * So・U・Shu・Tsu – mould (November 12, 2008) * Fall Fear (November 12, 2008) * Leaf Fall (November 12, 2008) * The Transmuters (November 19, 2008) * 創出 (Soushutsu) (November 19, 2008) * Kiss For Salome (November 19, 2008) * Chimera Draft (November 26, 2008) * Star Cascade (November 26, 2008) * Gate I (November 26, 2008) * X-Night (December 17, 2008) * Der Rattenfänger Von Hameln (January 7, 2009) * Fractal Vibe (February 25, 2009) * St. Electric (March 4, 2009) * 'Blanca' (April 29, 2009) * Rip (June 10, 2009) * Prime Diffusion (June 17, 2009) * Sphere Valley (June 24, 2009) * A Midsummer Night's Dream (July 1, 2009) * YaTa-Raven Chronicle (December 2, 2009) * Space Closer (December 16, 2009) * 3x10^8 Lucks (November 5, 2014) * Topology (November 12, 2014) * 0 Game (November 19, 2014) * Ambition Rising (January 21, 2015) * Grid Justice (January 21, 2015) * Remote Space (February 25, 2015) * March Hare (March 25, 2015) * Danteroid (December 11, 2015) * Coda Growth (January 29, 2020) * Meme Crack - Growth20 (February 29, 2020) * Wavelet Petal (March 29, 2020) * Entanglement Capriccio (May 11, 2020) * Olympus (October 2, 2020)

Albums

* '' Landing Timemachine'' (October 25, 1991) * '' D-Trick'' (September 2, 1992) * '' Electromancer'' (July 12, 1995) * '' 21st Fortune CD'' (November 20, 2002) * '' Quantum Mechanics Rainbow I : Violet Meme'' (March 30, 2004) * '' Quantum Mechanics Rainbow II : Indigo Algorithm'' (May 31, 2004) * '' Quantum Mechanics Rainbow III: Blue Resolution'' (July 30, 2004) * '' Quantum Mechanics Rainbow IV : Green Method'' (September 15, 2004) * '' Quantum Mechanics Rainbow V : Yellow Vector'' (November 30, 2004) * '' Quantum Mechanics Rainbow VI : Orange Compile'' (December 31, 2004) * '' Quantum Mechanics Rainbow VII: Red Trigger'' (March 30, 2005) * '' d・file -for TV programs-'' (July 19, 2006)

Compilations

* ''DA's Best Works '91–'95'' (June 24, 1998) * ''DecAde: The Best of Daisuke Asakura'' (November 21, 2001) (July 1, 2002) * ''D・Collection: The Best Works of Daisuke Asakura'' (July 19, 2007) * ''DA METAVERSE I + II'' (March 8, 2013)

Soundtrack albums

* ''Daiva'' (November 4, 1992) * '' Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2'' * ''

'' (Anime OST) * ''Koukaku no Regios : Sound Restoration'' * ''Koukaku no Regios : Sound Restoration 2''

Remix albums

* ''Sequence Virus 2003'' (December 20, 2003) * ''Sequence Virus 2004'' (August 14, 2004) * ''Sequence Virus 2005'' (October 17, 2005) * ''Sequence Virus 2006'' (December 23, 2006) * ''Sequence Virus 2007–2008'' (July 25, 2008) * ''Sequence Virus 2009'' (March 31, 2010) * ''Sequence Virus 2015'' (June 29, 2016) * ''Sequence Virus 2017'' (August 29, 2018) * ''Sequence Virus 2019'' (May 13, 2020)

DVD

* ''21st Fortune Complete Box'' (September 19, 2002) * ''21st Fortune DVD'' (November 20, 2002) * ''Daisuke Asakura Live Tour'04 Cultivate Meme: About Quantum Mechanics Rainbow'' (March 4, 2005) * ''Daisuke Asakura Quantum Mechanics Rainbow'' (October 17, 2005) * ''Drive Meme-over Quantum Mechanics Rainbow-'' (March 20, 2006) * ''D-Clips''

Tour

* ''Electric Romance'' (December 14, 1995) to (January 9, 1996) * ''Quantum Mechanics Rainbow'' (2004–2005)