Japanese music master Ryuichi Sakamoto has passed away at the age of 71. According to Japan’s Sponochi Sports Daily, Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away at a hospital in Tokyo on March 28.
Ryuichi Sakamoto first discovered throat cancer in 2014, and was diagnosed with the fourth stage of rectal cancer in June 2020. He launched an online concert in a pre-recorded manner on December 11 last year. It was broadcast live and even recorded once, and this performance became Ryuichi Sakamoto’s last public performance.
Faced with the death of “YMO” partner Yukihiro Takahashi in January this year, Ryuichi Sakamoto posted a speechless gray photo on social media at that time; when he was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 2020, the attending physician judged that he had only half a year to live. Coupled with the metastasis of cancer cells, Ryuichi Sakamoto underwent six surgeries in just one year to fight cancer, but in the end he lost to the disease and passed away.
Ryuichi Sakamoto started playing the piano at the age of 3. In 1978, he formed the band “YMO” with Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono. His avant-garde music style still influences many people. He also won an Oscar and a Grammy Award in 1988. The first Japanese musician to win two awards in the United States.