he started to play acoustic guitar aged 12, inspired by british folk music from the likes of bert jansch, and later the work of frank zappa and andy partridge. in 1986 he formed the band tipographica, with saxophonist naruyoshi kikuchi and jazz pianist akira minakami. after four albums, the group disbanded in 1996. in the 90s he formed the instrumental trio meatopia with tadahiko yokogawa of 4-d mode1 and p-model & osamu matsumoto. they released one self-titled album under this band in 1993.