Tomo Akikawabaya
Tomo Akikawabaya
Tomo Akikawabaya is a mysterious minimal synth musician from Japan, who released several singles in the 1980s before disappearing.
He debuted with the single “Mars” in 1983, which was followed by the 2x12” “The Castle” in 1984, “Anju” and “1985” in 1985, and “Kojiki To Onna” in 1986. These releases were later collected in a very limited box set titled “Rivage de la convulsion” (only 30 copies). Almost all of his records (except for “Kojiki to Onna”) feature the same model Rena Anju on cover. Her name in Japanese (安珠) as confirmation, she’s the same woman who played one of the main roles in YMO’s (brilliant) film PROPAGANDA. She’s an ex-fashion model and she’s actually quite a well known professional photographer now. Akikawabaya designed the dress that she’s wearing on the cover of “The Castle”.
Not much is known about Tomo Akikawabaya as there are no pictures of him, he never performed live and never gave interviews. The only information available can be found on the sleeve notes of his releases, all of them recorded at the same studio Bea Pot Studio, using the same engineer Takaaki Han-ya, and released on his own label Castle Records.