Kazutoshi Sakurai

Kazutoshi Sakurai
Birth name櫻井 和寿
Born (1970-03-08) March 8, 1970 (age 54)
Nerima, Tokyo, Japan
GenresRock, pop
Occupation(s)Musician, singer-songwriter, composer, record producer
Years active1987–present
LabelsToy's Factory

Kazutoshi Sakurai (桜井 和寿, Sakurai Kazutoshi, born 櫻井 和寿, March 8, 1970, in Tokyo) is a Japanese musician. 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 No. 8 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singers of All Time"[1] and in 2007 was voted No. 4 as the "ideal father image" by Oricon.[2] 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.[3]

  1. ^ "日本のシンガーTOP30 – 第8位 (Top 30 Japanese singer -Top 30- #8)" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 9, 2007.
  2. ^ "理想の父親像アーティストランキング、桑田佳祐が1位 (Ideal father image artist rank and Keisuke Kuwata is #1)" (in Japanese). June 16, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2007.
  3. ^ "TIME Magazine: Moguls & Entrepreneurs – Kazutoshi Sakurai and Takeshi Kobayashi". Time. October 17, 2007. Archived from the original on October 21, 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2008.