Kazutoshi Sakurai

Kazutoshi Sakurai (桜井 和寿, Sakurai Kazutoshi, born 櫻井 和寿, March 8, 1970 in Tokyo) is a Japanese musician and entrepreneur. He composes and writes almost all of the songs for his band Mr. Children, in addition to writing lyrics and singing for his solo project group Bank Band. In 2006, Sakurai ranked #8 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singers of All Time" and in 2007 was voted #4 as the "ideal father image" by Oricon. Also, in 2009, he was chosen as one of the Young Global Leaders in World Economic Forum. As an entrepreneur, he co-founded AP Bank, where he personally provided 1 million dollars of seed money to launch and fund the nonprofit lending group which finances environmentally friendly projects.

Musical career

Kazutoshi Sakurai is a person that many people, regardless of interest, respect in the Japanese music industry. As a lyricist, he is regarded as being one of the best, even going as far to being deemed a genius in the genre of rock and pop by many of his fans and peers, causing his lyrics to be frequently analyzed in music magazines, and is one of the main reasons why Mr. Children is still popular after 15 years in Japan. As a lyricist, the topics Sakurai focuses on ranges from various subject such a social issues ('So Let's Get Truth'), science/technology ("Everything is made from a dream"), depression ("Surrender"), love ("Shirushi" (しるし)), and war ("1999 Nen, Natsu, Okinawa" (1999年、夏、沖縄)). As a vocalist, his voice is very distinct thus making Mr. Children songs easy to recognize. Alongside his vocal and writing talents, he can also play various instruments including the guitar, piano and harmonica.