Born in Osaka, Japan before moving to Tokyo.
Toru is a guitarist and leader in the Japanese rock band ONE OK ROCK. He was in the hip-hop group HEADS along with Ryota Kohama from ONE OK ROCK before they disbanded in 2002.
In 2005, Toru invited Ryota, their upperclassman Alex and his friend Koyanagi Yuu to form a rock band. Later, he become the leader of this band, later named ONE OK ROCK.
After Alex quit the band, Yamashita took his place, playing lead-guitar.