Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Oscar-winning Japanese composer famed for his scores for The Last Emperor, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence and other films, has died aged 71.
Sakamoto passed away on March 28, his management team wrote in a statement on his official website on Sunday.
"We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of artist and musician, Ryuichi Sakamoto" it said.
The musician had been undergoing treatment for rectal cancer since mid 2020, following the successful treatment of his throat cancer several years earlier.
"While undergoing treatment for cancer discovered in June 2020, Sakamoto continued to create works in his home studio whenever his health would allow.
"He lived with music until the very end."
Despite his illness, Sakamoto continued to create music and perform, giving an online concert broadcast to fans worldwide back in December 2022.
The statement thanked fans for their support, as well as "the medical professionals in Japan and the US who did everything in their power to cure him".
A private funeral service was held for the musician among close family members, according to the statement.
It also shared one of Sakamoto's favourite quote, the Latin 'Ars longa, vita brevis', which translates to 'Art is long, life is short'.
Sakamoto was also known for his work with the pioneering electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) which he co-founded with fellow studio musicians Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1978.
The band's groundbreaking use of a vast array of electronic instruments brought both domestic and global success.
Artist of eclectic musical influences
Introduced to the piano as a toddler, Sakamoto lived for music. As a high school student, he rode on Tokyo commuter carriages so packed nobody could move, amusing himself by counting all the different sounds the train made along the way.
Sakamoto, who described classical musician Claude Debussy as his hero, studied ethnomusicology at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, with particular interest in the traditional music of Japan's Okinawa prefecture as well as Indian and African musical traditions.
"Asian music heavily influenced Debussy, and Debussy heavily influenced me. So the music goes around the world and comes full circle," he told WNYC public radio in 2010.
Sakamoto's first score was for the 1983 film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, in which he also played the commandant of a prisoner of war camp, starring alongside David Bowie. The score went on to win a BAFTA.
His most celebrated work was 1987's The Last Emperor — a film in which he also acted. The score won an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe.
ABC/Reuters
