Born in Tokyo in 1960, he started piano lessons at five years old. He briefly pursued medicine, attending medical college for about three years and working at a Tokyo hospital from 1984 to 1985, but ultimately decided to return to music full-time.

His solo career took off in the mid-90s with his debut album The Gate Of Dreams in 1996. He followed this with Into the Light (1998), Only Heaven Knows (1999), Pan-O-Rama (2001), and Echoes (2004). Beyond his studio albums, he's known for composing soundtracks to anime and other projects, including Dead Heat, Emma, and The Twelve Kingdoms, among others.