Yojiro Noda

is a Japanese singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and actor. Noda is the lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist of the Japanese rock band Radwimps and also began a solo project, illion, in 2012.

Life and career

Early life, Radwimps

Noda was born in Tokyo, Japan, to a businessman father and piano teacher mother. From the ages of six to ten, Noda lived overseas in the United States. He first became interested in the guitar in junior high school, after hearing Oasis. He tried to learn how to play the chords with a guitar his family owned.

While studying his first year of high school at Tōin Gakuen in Yokohama, he joined a band in 2001. The band was named Radwimps, and Noda became the band's vocalist, guitarist, and sole songwriter. They released their debut independent album, Radwimps, in 2003, and the band made their major debut under Toshiba EMI in 2005. In 2006, the band became widely popular in Japan, with their fourth album Radwimps 4: Okazu no Gohan being certified platinum.

In 2008, Noda produced a song for another artist for the first time. He wrote and produced the song "Labrador" for Japanese singer Chara, which was used as the leading promotional track for her album Honey. In 2015, Noda wrote the song for Hanaregumi's sixth studio album What Are You Looking For.

Solo career

Noda's solo project, Illion, was first announced in November 2012. He began the solo career to perform overseas, which is a goal his band, Radwimps, did not share. His debut album, Ubu, was released in Japan and Europe, first on February 25, 2013, in the United Kingdom. The album was promoted with two singles, "Brain Drain" in January 2013, which received a 24-hour exclusive live music video, He planned to perform at the Tokyo Rocks rock festival in Tokyo on May 12, however the event was cancelled.

In 2015, Noda made his debut as an actor in the film Pieta in the Toilet, which he starred in as the lead character Hiroshi. Radwimps also performed the theme song for the film, entitled . In May, Noda debuted as an author with Rarirure-ron, a book of essays written while RADWIMPS were on their Grand Prix 2014 Jikkyō Namachūkei tour of Japan, as well as his decision to star in Pieta in the Toilet.

In 2016, Noda resumed his Illion solo project with a series of live concerts in July. This began with a performance at the Fuji Rock Festival, followed by two solo billed concerts in Tokyo and Osaka, billed as his Illion Japan Tour 2016.

In 2019, Noda composed the theme song 気まぐれ雲 for the movie Day and Night. In 2024, he provided the music for the Netflix film The Parades.

Noda provided original songs for the television series Glass Heart in 2025 including writing the lyrics for the single "Crystalline Echo". The song ranked first in Spotify's "Daily Viral Songs" in Japan in the second week of August 2025. Also in 2025, he collaborated with Peterparker69 on the song "Hey Phone", which reached fourth on Spotify's "Daily Viral Songs" chart.

Discography

Studio albums

+ List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak positionsJPN Ubu As Illion Released: February 25, 2013 Label: Warner Formats: CD, digital download, LP 7 P.Y.L As Illion Released: October 12, 2016 Label: Warner Formats: CD, CD/DVD, digital download, LP 8

Singles

+ List of singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions AlbumBillboard Japan Hot 100 "Brain Drain" (Illion) 2013 30Ubu "Mahoroba" (Illion) 27 (Yojiro Noda (Radwimps) / Taka (One Ok Rock) 2016 46 Non-album single "Water Lily" (Illion) —P.Y.L "Hilight" (Illion featuring 5lack) — "Told U So" (Illion) — "Miracle" (Illion) 2017 —"—" denotes items which did not chart.

Production discography

+ List of songs, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions AlbumOricon Singles ChartsBillboard Japan Hot 100 (Chara) 2008 — 67 Honey "EMI"(Terakoya) 2010 — 81 Non-album single (Hanaregumi) 2015 — 87 What Are You Looking For (Aimer) 2016 10 8 Daydream (Sayuri) 17 22 Mikazuki no Koukai"—" denotes items which were not released as physical singles, so did not qualify for the Oricon singles chart.

Filmography