Takako Minekawa

is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, and writer.

Career In her childhood, Minekawa acted in film and television. Minekawa's first musical venture was playing in Lolita, a band she formed with several college friends.

With her second studio album, Roomic Cube (1996), Minekawa began pursuing a more refined musical style rooted in influences from bossa nova, French pop music and experimental electronic music. She released her third studio album Cloudy Cloud Calculator in 1997. Minekawa and Wong released two subsequent collaborative albums, Savage Imagination (2014) and Are Euphoria (2017). The duo also collaborated with American experimental music band Good Willsmith on the album Exit Future Heart, recorded in Chicago and released in 2018.

Musical style and influences

Minekawa's musical skills set her firmly outside of the J-pop "idol" tradition: she writes and composes most of her own material, singing about subjects such as clouds, cats, and the color white (her personal favorite). Her love of electronic music pioneers, such as Kraftwerk, as well as French pop music can be seen in her unique experimental sound. She often makes use of vintage Casio keyboards as well as vocoders and other electronic instruments.

Minekawa's musical influences are varied. Some of her favorite French artists include Françoise Hardy and Pierre Bachelet. The influence of the British band Stereolab can also be heard in her music, and there are touches of humor in her lyrics and tone. She also enjoys Krautrock, particularly the earlier works of Kraftwerk, to whom she dedicated the song Kraftpark!

Other ventures Minekawa has written professionally as a regular columnist for the Japanese edition of Keyboard magazine. She also contributed a serialized novel to the Japanese quarterly Bungei.

Personal life Minekawa married fellow musician Keigo Oyamada ( Cornelius) in 2000. They divorced in 2012. Minekawa and Cornelius have collaborated on several projects, including a remix of Minekawa's Cloudy Cloud Calculator track "Milk Rock", and several tracks on Minekawa's album Fun 9.

Discography Studio albums Chat Chat (1995) Roomic Cube (1996) Cloudy Cloud Calculator (1997) Fun 9 (1999) Toropical Circle (2013) Savage Imagination (2014) Are Euphoria (2017) Exit Future Heart (2018) Traces of the ceiling (2025)

Extended plays (A Little Touch Of) Baroque in Winter (1995) Athletica (1997) Recubed (1998) Ximer... C.C.C. Remix (1998) Maxi On (2000) Kannazuki (2019)