Hideaki Kikuchi

I have a genuine soft spot for guitarists like Hideaki Kikuchi — the ones who aren't trying to be the face of the band but whose playing is so deeply embedded in the sound that you'd notice its absence immediately. Growing up in Hachioji and citing Joe Perry of Aerosmith as a hero tells you a lot: this is a guy who grew up worshipping that big, strutting rock guitar tone, then figured out how to transplant it into something distinctly Japanese. The Yellow Monkey's whole glam-meets-hard-rock thing in the 1990s wouldn't have landed the way it did without that foundation he was laying every night. Nihon University, a mid-80s debut, then joining the band in 1989 and riding it through to one of J-rock's more dramatic breakup-and-reunion arcs — that's a full career's worth of story right there. He keeps a low profile for someone who's played to arenas, which honestly just makes me respect the craft more.

Hideaki Kikuchi is a Japanese guitarist born on December 7, 1964, in Tokyo, Japan. He attended Nihon University. Further career details and personal information are not publicly disclosed.

Name (English)

Hideaki Kikuchi

Name (Japanese)

菊地英昭

Reading

きくち ひであき

Born

December 7, 1964 (age 61)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Sagittarius / Dragon

Origin

Tokyo, Japan

Occupation

Guitarist

University

Nihon University

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.baj-inc.com/#/artist/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8F%8A%E5%9C%B0%E8%8B%B1%E6%98%AD

Tags

• From Tokyo
• Guitarist

Last updated

2026-06-02

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