amazarashi is a Japanese alternative rock band led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Hiromu Akita and background vocalist and keyboardist Manami Toyokawa. They started as STAR ISSUE in 2007 with Light, Reconsidered in Mutsu, a seaport city in Aomori Prefecture. Its name grew underground fame through word of mouth and the internet, and three years later, the band made its major debut as amazarashi with How to Build a Bomb.

The band’s anonymous profile and visual performance, and Akita’s breathtaking vocals, socially-conscious and poetic narratives and existentialist philosophy have shaped its mission to save others with hope in the face of despair. In fact, the name “amazarashi” (あまざらし) stems from the idea that “we may be weather-beaten from the rain that is the sadness and suffering we face in life every day, but still we carry on.”

In late 2023, its official fan site Apologies went available overseas, in response to an expanding fanbase of Chinese, Korean and English speakers. Its 2024 Asia Tour for eternal city will include Seoul, South Korea, for the first time.