Haruomi Hosono

Okay, Haruomi Hosono is one of those guys where the more you dig, the more absurd it gets. He basically proved you could rock in Japanese with Happy End, then turned around and helped invent the global sound of synth-pop with YMO, and decades later he's scoring Kore-eda's Shoplifters and picking up an award for it. Who does that? What I love is he never seems to be flexing. His solo stuff drifts from that warm HOSONO HOUSE living-room vibe into this playful tropical exotica, always curious, never chasing a trend, just wandering off into whatever sound he feels like. He plays bass like he's letting the song breathe, and he's somehow always a few steps ahead while looking totally relaxed about it. Genuinely one of my favorite musical minds anywhere.

Haruomi Hosono made his major-label debut in 1969 as the bassist of April Fool, and went on to co-found the seminal Japanese rock band Happy End with Eiichi Ohtaki, Takashi Matsumoto, and Shigeru Suzuki in 1970. In 1978 he formed Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) alongside Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto, pioneering technopop on a global scale. Beyond his band work, he has had a prolific solo career as a singer-songwriter and record producer, and composed the music for Hirokazu Kore-eda's 2018 film Shoplifters, earning the Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Music.

Name (English)

Haruomi Hosono

Name (Japanese)

細野晴臣

Reading

ほそのはるおみ

Born

July 9, 1947 (age 78)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Boar

Origin

Minato, Tokyo, Japan

Blood type

A

Height

170 cm

Agency

Medium

Active years

1969–present

Occupation

Musician / Music Producer / Singer-Songwriter / Bassist

Elementary school

Shiroganedai Elementary School, Minato (municipal)

Junior high

Aoyama Junior High School, Minato (municipal)

High school

Rikkyo High School (now Rikkyo Niiza High School)

University

Rikkyo University, Faculty of Sociology (graduated 1971)

Debut

1969, major-label debut as bassist of April Fool

Awards & achievements

• 2008 Agency for Cultural Affairs Minister's Award for Fine Arts (Popular Entertainment)
• 2015 42nd Kinema Junpo Readers' Award (column "Let's Listen to Movies")
• 2019 42nd Japan Academy Film Prize – Best Music (Shoplifters)
• 2021 2020 Asahi Prize

Timeline

1. 1969Major-label debut as bassist of April Fool
2. 1970Co-founded Happy End with Eiichi Ohtaki, Takashi Matsumoto, and Shigeru Suzuki
3. 1973Happy End disbanded; released solo debut album HOSONO HOUSE; co-founded Caramel Mama
4. 1978Co-founded Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) with Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto
5. 1983YMO disbanded; moved to Teichiku and launched the Non Standard and Monad labels
6. 1985Composed the soundtrack for the anime film Night on the Galactic Railroad
7. 1993YMO reunited
8. 2018Composed music for Hirokazu Kore-eda's film Shoplifters; won Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Music
9. 2019Conducted a world tour commemorating 50 years since debut
10. 2021Received the 2020 Asahi Prize

Spouse

Private (married 1971; later reported to be living separately)

Children

One daughter (publicly acknowledged)

Parents

Private

Siblings

Private

Hobbies

• Drawing and illustration
• Listening to music

Specialties

• Bass playing
• Music production
• Composition and arrangement

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.hosonoharuomi.jp/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/haruomihosono_information/
• Xhttps://twitter.com/hosonoharuomi_
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B4%B0%E9%87%8E%E6%99%B4%E8%87%A3

Tags

• Happy End
• Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO)
• Technopop
• Minato, Tokyo
• Rikkyo University
• Music Producer
• Solo Singer-Songwriter
• Pioneer of Japanese-language rock

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.