Born on January 17, 1952, Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本龍一; Sakamoto Ryūichi) was a Japanese musician, composer, record producer, pianist, activist, writer, actor and dancer who based his time between Tokyo, Japan and New York City.

Along with fellow session musicians 高橋幸宏 (Yukihiro Takahashi) and 細野晴臣 (Haruomi Hosono), Sakamoto was best known as one of the members of the pioneering electronic group YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, as well as his film scores, with the anthemic “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” being his most famous film score composition.

Sakamoto began film scoring in 1983 for Nagisa Oshima’s wartime movie, 戦場のメリークリスマス (Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence), where he also starred as the film’s antagonist Captain Yonoi, alongside an all-star cast featuring British rockstar David Bowie, Scottish actor Tom Conti, Japanese comedian “Beat” Takeshi in his first dramatic role on film, and Australian actor Jack Thompson.

His other film scores of note include Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Oriental Trilogy” of The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky, and The Little Buddha, Pedro Almodovar’s Tacones lejanos (High Heels), and Peter Kosminsky’s 1992 movie adaptation of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights.

In 2014, Sakamoto was diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer, taking a year-long pause from work while he recovered. He resumed working in 2015, announcing that he had written music for the movie 母と暮らせば (Nagasaki: Memories of My Son), directed by the legendary director Yoji Yamada, and also composing the score for The Revenant, where he received a Golden Globe nomination but was ineligible for the Academy Award at the 2016 Oscars as it was deemed “assembled from the music of more than one composer,” since Bryce Dessner and Alva Noto, both long time collaborators of Sakamoto, also took part with the soundtrack. An ironic predicament, given he was previously awarded “Best Soundtrack” in 1989 for his work with Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor, which also contained music written by David Byrne of Talking Heads, and Chinese composer and music professor Cong Su.

Outside of music, Sakamoto became heavily involved with activism, dating back to his college days joining protests and demonstrations. Among his involvements included producing the campaign EP Zero Landmine, featuring musicians from countries and areas affected by landmines, including Angola, Serbia, Mozambique, and the Korean peninsula.

Days after his birthday in January 2021, Sakamoto announced that he would live “alongside with cancer,” as his previous cancer had now metastasized into rectal cancer. He had previously held a livestreamed concert, “Playing The Piano 12212020,” and held a similar live online concert two years later, “Playing The Piano 2022.”

On his 71st birthday, Sakamoto released his final album, 12, a series of compositional sketches he made in between his cancer treatment.

Despite his declining health, he continued to write music, even attempting to start writing official transcriptions of his music, as well as write more soundtracks, including for the Netflix anime series Exception.

On the evening of April 2, 2023, KAB, which manages Sakamoto’s internet presence, announced his death four days prior, on March 28, 2023 at the age of 71. He had previously announced in June 2022 that, despite continuous medical treatments, his rectal cancer had progressed to stage 4.

Sakamoto’s management announced it will continue to run his public presence to “celebrate his works and legacy.”