is a Japanese songwriter, lyricist and the vocalist of

visual kei , abbreviated , is a category of Japanese musicians that have a strong focus on extravagant stage costumes that originated in Japan during the early 1980s. Koji Dejima of '' Bounce'' wrote that visual kei is not a specific sound, but rather it " ...

band Diaura. He is the main lyricist of the band, but also composes music, along with guitarist Kei. He also works as a radio DJ. His birth name is not publicly known.

Life and career

Yo-ka was born in a small village in

Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...

. He has an older brother, and his father is a chef. He attended a private Christian primary school. His parents liked listening to folk pop,

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, which made an early influence on yo-ka's own music taste. His favourite performers at the time were Kōzō Murashita, Yōsui Inoue and the band Anzen Chitai. Yo-ka started liking

in middle school, where his biggest musical influence were

Pierrot Pierrot ( , ; ), a stock character of pantomime and commedia dell'arte, has his origins in the late 17th-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The name is a hypocorism, diminutive of ''Pierr ...

. He also liked listening to

Dir En Grey Dir En Grey (stylized as DIR EN GREY and previously as Dir en grey) is a Japanese Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in February 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div., a sub-division of Free-Will. With a consistent lineup of guitari ...

and Kuroyume. Yo-ka first started singing in a band at the age of 13, covering

Luna Sea Luna Sea (stylized as LUNA SEA) is a Japanese Rock music, rock band formed in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1986. Due to the use of makeup and costumes early in their career and their widespread popularity, they are considered one of the most successf ...

songs. According to him, his singing was "very bad" at this point. He was often made fun of being a singer in junior high school, thus he decided to learn playing the guitar and started composing songs on a guitar, however, he only learned about chords later on. After graduating from high school, Yo-ka decided to study music at a college but after nine months he thought it was not possible to learn songwriting in school, and thus moved to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

on his own to create a band. He worked in a

konbini A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lottery t ...

to support his living. He met Yuu, with whom he founded a band that soon disbanded. Yo-ka then got to know Kei and found his music intriguing. They started playing together in Valluna, which also disbanded quite soon. Diaura was established from its former members, with the addition of Shoya on bass. Since August 2019, Yo-ka is a radio DJ for Radio3 Sendai FM, together with Gotcharocka singer (and former singer of ヴィドール aka

Vidoll was a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band formed in 2002. Their concept was "Occult Romance".

) Jui (樹威). The program is called and focuses on visual kei bands of the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

. It airs every other Monday for half an hour.

Discography

Valluna

The discography includes official releases only. Records distributed for free at concerts are not listed here. ;Singles * (2009) * Parasite Eve (2009) * Promise (2009) * Neo Infernal (2010) * * Silent Prayer (2010) * Funeral Days (2010) ;Mini album * Distopia (2010) ;Compilation album * Complete (2011)

Diaura

Notes

References

{{Reflist, 2 1987 births Living people People from Fukushima Prefecture Japanese male rock singers Visual kei musicians Japanese women songwriters Japanese lyricists Unidentified musicians