Osamu Kitajima (喜多嶋修), also known by the pseudonym Justin Heathcliff, is a Japanese musician, producer, composer, and

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

History

After studying the classical guitar and the piano as a child, in the 1960s Kitajima was a member of his cousin Yūzō Kayama's band The Launchers. After graduating from

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

, and already a successful composer of TV and advertising jingles, he moved for one year to the UK in 1971, which brought him in to contact with British folk and

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

. Inspired in particular by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

Tyrannosaurus Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It live ...

and

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, guitarist and songwriter who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Until his departure in 1968, he was Pink Floyd's frontman and primary songwriter, ...

, he dubbed himself "Justin Heathcliff" (picked for its English-sounding quality) and issued his lone eponymous album. Released only in Japan, the album became highly prized in collector's circles for its good-natured idiosyncrasy and casual melodicism. After this album, he dropped the pseudonym and in 1974 released his debut album, ''Benzaiten'' (Island Records), under his own name. This instrumental

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

album was melodically rich and can be defined as a mix of

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

and traditional Japanese music. The album also featured Haruomi Hosono and it utilized various electronic equipment such as a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

, rhythm machine,

electronic drum Electronic drums are a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the Drum synthesiser, synthesized or Sampler ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

s, and

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

. In 1974, he moved to the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

area, USA, where he signed a contract with

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

Later he opened the East Quest Studios there. In 1991, Kitajima released his critically acclaimed album ''Behind the Light'' in the USA (Higher Octave Music), again under his own name. In it, he blended elements of

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

and traditional Japanese music, e.g. he used the sounds of koto and

shakuhachi A is a Japanese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .

. Wishing to explore the expanding world of dance and electronica music, Kitajima began his collaboration with instrumentalist/composer/producer Chris Mancinelli. During the early 1990s the production team initiated a partnership by producing and arranging the albums of many artists in the Asian markets for Warner Bros, Sony Music, Toshiba-EMI, and Pony Canyon Records. These included remixes for the Warner Bros. release of Mari Henmi's "Mon Cheri Mari" and a highly revered re-mix of the all-time classic song "

Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish that is prepared and served in the '' nabemono'' (Japanese hot pot) style. It consists of meat (usually thinly sliced beef) which is slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in ...

" by Japanese legend

Kyu Sakamoto , legally registered as since 1956, was a Japanese singer and actor. He was best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (known as "Sukiyaki (song), Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japane ...

for Sony Music. These collaborations lead to a record deal with the Virgin/CyberOctave label and the ground breaking release of ''Beyond the Circle''. The guys also found time to create the underground smash Fabulous Breaker Boys techno/surf release which was a #1 seller on the now infamous

Napster Napster was an American proprietary peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application primarily associated with digital audio file distribution. Founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, the platform originally launched on June 1, 1999. Audio shared ...

and mp3.com websites. Following this was a project recorded for Miles Copeland's Ark21/mondorhythmica label entitled ''Two Bridges Crossing'' (2004). This music was also featured on the label's acclaimed compilation series ''Zen and the Art of Chilling'' (2002). Copeland shuttered the record label but the project was later released independently. Kitajima began to receive even wider interest in the West when the track "You Know What I Mean" was featured on the Asian volume of the '' Love, Peace & Poetry'' compilation series in 1999, and has since been reissued on CD. After releasing the album, Kitajima has continued to work under his own name. Now associated more closely with

New Age music New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecstasy rather than tra ...

than pop, he currently resides and works in

. In 2000, he founded East Quest Records, Inc., a record company. In 2004, he earned a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

music therapy Music therapy, an allied health profession, "is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music t ...

Personal life

He married Yōko Naitō in 1970. They have three children; one of their daughters, Mai Kitajima, is an actress.

Discography (selection)

* Justin Heathcliff – ''Justin Heathcliff'' (1971) * Fumio & Osamu – ''Shinchuugoku'' (1972) (フミオ* & オサム* – 新中国) * ''Benzaiten'' (1974) (弁才天) * ''Osamu'' (1977) (オサム) * ''Masterless Samurai'' (1978) (素浪人) * ''Dragon King'' (1979) * ''Face to Face'' (1983) * ''The Source'' (1986) * ''Passages'' (1987) * ''In Minds Way'' (1987) * ''FM Shrine'' (1987) * ''California Roll'' (1988) * ''Sweet Chaos'' (1990) * ''Mandala'' (1991) (曼荼羅) * ''Behind the Light'' (1992) * ''Beyond the Circle'' (1996, EP) * ''Breath of Jade'' (2001) * ''Two Bridges Crossed'' (w/ Chris Mancinelli) (2004) * ''The Sound of Angel'' (2004) * ''Epitome'' (2009) * ''The Sacred Land: NHK HD Documentary Soundtrack '' (2010) * ''Over the Brink'' (2013) * ''Torii In The Sea'' (2019) * ''Around the Edges'' (2020) * ''Sweet Chaos'' (2021) * ''Sundry Spirits'' (2024)

References

External links

Dr. Osamu Kitajima's Website

*
Osamu Kitajima biography by Craig Harris, discography and album reviews, credits & releases
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Osamu Kitajima discography, album releases & credits
at Discogs.com
Osamu Kitajima albums to be listened
as stream at Spotify.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Kitajima, Osamu New-age musicians Ambient musicians Japanese male singer-songwriters Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Kanagawa Prefecture Jingle composers Progressive rock musicians