Akira Takasaki

Akira Takasaki is the guy I point to whenever someone claims Japan never produced a world-class guitar hero. As the frontman of LOUDNESS, he kicked the door down overseas back when that was almost unheard of, making Western crowds go "wait, a Japanese band shreds like this?" And here's what I love: he's fast, sure, but he never plays speed for speed's sake. His guitar actually sings. Behind the sunglasses and the tough-guy scowl there's this melodic instinct that makes the riffs stick in your head long after the volume fades. Born in Osaka in 1961, he's been hammering out that signature roar for decades without losing the fire, and that stubborn devotion is its own kind of cool. You don't need a juicy anecdote to get it; one earful of that tone tells you everything. The man's a genuine guitar lifer.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Akira Takasaki is a Japanese guitarist and composer born on February 22, 1961, in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the heavy metal band LOUDNESS, which pioneered the international breakthrough of Japanese rock music. Takasaki attended Meiji University Nakano High School. He stands 170 cm tall and maintains an official website at akiratakasaki.com.

Name (English)

Akira Takasaki

Name (Japanese)

高崎晃

Reading

たかさき あきら

Born

February 22, 1961 (age 65)

Origin

Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Height

170cm

Occupation

Guitarist / Composer

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Pisces / Ox

High school

Meiji University Nakano High School

Works summary

Appearances

58 (1982–2019)

By year

1982: 2, 1983: 4, 1984: 2, 1985: 1, 1993: 1, 1994: 1, 1996: 1, 1997: 1, 1998: 1, 1999: 1, 2000: 3, 2001: 4, 2002: 1, 2004: 1, 2005: 1, 2006: 2, 2007: 1, 2010: 3, 2012: 2, 2013: 1, 2015: 1, 2016: 2, 2018: 2, 2019: 1

Debut work

ジャガーの牙〜TUSK OF JAGUAR 1982/04/01

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttp://www.akiratakasaki.com
• Xhttps://x.com/loudness222
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E5%B4%8E%E6%99%83
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2527502

Tags

• From Osaka Prefecture
• Guitarist
• Composer

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.