History Music / RyuichiSakamoto

* CoverVersion: Both the Japanese and international versions of ''Beauty'' feature a cover of "We Love You" by Music/TheRollingStones.

* LighterAndSofter: His soundtrack to "The Adventures Of Chatran" is incredibly relaxing, as suits the mood of the movie it was made for.
* LiveAlbum: Several, with "Media Bahn Live" being his first.

* CutAndPasteTranslation: ''Hoo boy''.
** It started with ''B-2 Unit'', which had the single "Warhead" added and "Participation Mystique" taken out on the UK version.
** Then the UK/US version of ''Left Handed Dream'' was largely different outside Japan (featuring his work with Robin Scott), as was his later ''Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia'', a single LP featuring half the tracks plus the two singles "Field Work" and "Steppin' into Asia".
** In the 90s, Sakamoto reworked his albums ''Beauty'' and ''Heartbeat'' for the international market to make them more marketable-- some tracks were translated from Japanese into English, and ''Beauty'' gained the single "You Do Me" and the single remix of "We Love You" but lost "Adagio", whereas ''Heartbeat'' gained two David Sylvian-sung tracks "Heartbeat (Tainai Kaiki II)" and "Cloud #9" and lost the original "Tainai Kaiki". Also, ''Heartbeat'''s unique foldout sleeve was not replicated on the International Version due to being too expensive to produce.
** Sakamoto went one further with ''Sweet Revenge'', remixing and overdubbing the album noticeably, translating two of the songs into English and rearranging some others entirely, and cutting out "Anna" and the Music/DavidByrne collaboration "Psychedelic Afternoon". Sakamoto intended for this version of the album to be an alternative experience, and it definitely is.

Acting-wise, his best known roles are without much doubt the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII-era Captain Yonoi, who ends up [[FoeYay extremely troubled]] by Music/DavidBowie as a prisoner of war in ''Film/MerryChristmasMrLawrence'', and Masahiko Amakasu in ''Film/TheLastEmperor''. He also composed the soundtracks for both films and plenty of others works such as the 1992 film version of ''Literature/WutheringHeights'', ''Film/TheRevenant'' or ''Recap/BlackMirrorSmithereens'', as well as the 1992 Summer UsefulNotes/OlympicGames in Barcelona.

* MarketBasedTitle: The movie ''Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence'' was renamed ''Furyo'' in some territories, resulting in Sakamoto's soundtrack being renamed that too.

* UpdatedRerelease: The 1990 CD of "The Arrangement" added the A and B-sides of two singles released shortly before the EP (and consequently making it as long as a proper studio album), these being "War Head"/"Lexington Queen" and "Front Line"/"Happy End". With the exception of "Happy End" (a slight remix of a YMO track, itself based on an earlier solo instrumental), these three songs all feature Robin Scott's vocals in some capacity, like the ones on the EP. The bonus tracks are removed on the 2015 CD.

* UpdatedRerelease: The 1990 CD of "The Arrangement" added the A and B-sides of two singles released shortly before the album (consequently making the EP as long as a proper studio album), these being "War Head"/"Lexington Queen" and "Front Line"/"Happy End". With the exception of "Happy End" (a slight remix of a YMO track, itself based on an earlier solo instrumental), these three songs all feature Robin Scott's vocals in some capacity, like the ones on the EP. The bonus tracks are removed on the 2015 CD.

* UpdatedRerelease: The 1990 CD of "The Arrangement" added the A and B-sides of two singles released shortly before the album, these being "War Head"/"Lexington Queen" and "Front Line"/"Happy End". With the exception of "Happy End" (a slight remix of a YMO track, itself based on an earlier solo instrumental), these three songs all feature Robin Scott's vocals in some capacity, like the ones on the EP.

* ''Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia'' (1984)[[note]Released internationally in 1986.[[/note]]

* ''Ongaku Zukan'' (1984)[[note]]A heavily altered version was released internationally as ''Illustrated Music Encyclopedia'' in 1986.[[/note]]

** Then the UK/US version of ''Left Handed Dream'' was largely different outside Japan (featuring his work with Robin Scott), as was his later ''Ongaku Zukan'' (made into ''Illustrated Music Encyclopedia'', a single LP featuring half the tracks, and the two singles "Field Work" and "Steppin' into Asia" added).

** Sakamoto's solo compositions "Thousand Knives", "The End of Asia", and "Happy End" were reworked with Music/YellowMagicOrchestra in the early 80's. In the same vein, YMO's [[Music/SolidStateSurvivor "Behind the Mask"]] was based on a jingle Sakamoto wrote for a watch commercial, and Sakamoto would in turn rearrange the song as a solo single in 1987, based on a CoverVersion by Music/MichaelJackson that went unreleased until 2010.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: A number of early 80's releases Romanized his given name as "Riuichi" instead of "Ryuichi," despite the latter having been used since his debut album. The "Ryuichi" spelling would eventually become standard with the release of ''Film/MerryChristmasMrLawrence'' in 1983, which credited him as "Ryuichi Sakamoto" for audiences around the world to see.

* ''Ongaku Zukan'' (1984)

* SpecialGuest: Several of Sakamoto's solo albums feature collaborations with well-known western musicians, usually to try and make his work easier to market outside of Japan; many of them were even released as singles.

* CanonDiscontinuity: On Sakamoto's Spotify page, ''Thousand Knives'' is listed as an EP rather than an album despite having been billed as the latter. As such, ''B-2 Unit'' is treated as his first "proper" solo album on the platform.

** It started with his album B-2 Unit, which had the single "Warhead" added and "Participation Mystique" taken out on the UK version.
** Then the UK/US version of his album ''Left Handed Dream'' was largely different outside Japan (featuring his work with Robin Scott), as was his later ''Ongaku Zukan'' (made into ''Illustrated Music Encyclopedia'', a single LP featuring half the tracks, and the two singles "Field Work" and "Steppin' into Asia" added).

Acting-wise, his best known roles are without much doubt the JsefulNotes/WorldWarII-era Captain Yonoi, who ends up [[FoeYay extremely troubled]] by Music/DavidBowie as a prisoner of war in ''Film/MerryChristmasMrLawrence'', and Masahiko Amakasu in ''Film/TheLastEmperor''. He also composed the soundtracks for both films and plenty of others works such as the 1992 film version of ''Literature/WutheringHeights'', ''Film/TheRevenant'' or ''Recap/BlackMirrorSmithereens'', as well as the 1992 Summer UsefulNotes/OlympicGames in Barcelona.

Acting-wise, his best known roles are without much doubt the World War II-era Captain Yonoi, who ends up [[FoeYay extremely troubled]] by Music/DavidBowie as a prisoner of war in ''Film/MerryChristmasMrLawrence'', and Masahiko Amakasu in ''Film/TheLastEmperor''. He also composed the soundtracks for both films and plenty of others works such as the 1992 film version of ''Literature/WutheringHeights'', ''Film/TheRevenant'' or ''Recap/BlackMirrorSmithereens'', as well as the 1992 Summer UsefulNotes/OlympicGames in Barcelona.

* ''Series/BlackMirror:'' ''[[Recap/BlackMirrorSmithereens Smithereens]]'' (2019)

* MachineMonotone / CreepyMonotone: Sakamoto used an early text to speech voice on the Futurista track "Milan 1909", which certainly has this effect. It is paired with disconcertingly uncomfortable music, which goes on for over a minute before the voice comes in. This was over a decade before Music/{{Radiohead}} were noted for doing the same thing on [[Music/OKComputer "Fitter Happier"]].
* MarketBasedTitle: The movie ''Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence'' was renamed "Furyo" in some territories, resulting in Sakamoto's soundtrack being renamed that too.
* RearrangeTheSong: In 2013, Sakamoto and Music/DavidByrne re-recorded their 1994 collaboration "Psychedelic Afternoon", with redone lyrics and Byrne taking up vocal duties this time, as part of a project to raise awareness and funds for children impacted by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

* UpdatedRerelease: The 1990 CD of "The Arrangement" added the A and B-sides of two singles released shortly before the album, these being "War Head"/"Lexington Queen" and "Front Line"/"Happy End". With the exception of "Happy End" (a YMO track which was slightly remixed), these three songs all feature Robin Scott's vocals in some capacity, like the ones on the EP.

** Sakamoto went one further with ''Sweet Revenge'', remixing and overdubbing the album noticeably, translating some of the songs into English and rearranging some others entirely, and cutting out two Japanese tracks. Sakamoto intended for this version of the album to be an alternative experience, and it definitely is.

* ''Film/TheLastEmperor'' (1987)[[note]]Collaboration with Music/DavidByrne and Cong Su. Also appears in the film as Masahiko Amakasu.[[/note]]

* ''Film/TheLastEmperor'' (1987)[[note]]Collaboration with Music/DavidByrne and Cong Su.[[/note]]

He graduated from Tokyo National University's Fine Arts & Music program with a M.A. in music composition with special emphasis on {{electronic|music}} and [[WorldMusic ethnic]] music, which would define a good chunk of his musical career. He has pursued a diverse range of styles both solo and, famously, as a member of Music/YellowMagicOrchestra. He also collaborated with former Music/{{Japan}} frontman Music/DavidSylvian extensively in his early solo career.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: A number of 80's releases of Sakamoto's material Romanized his given name as "Riuichi" instead of "Ryuichi," despite the latter having been used since his debut album. The "Ryuichi" spelling would eventually become standard with the release of ''Film/MerryChristmasMrLawrence'' in 1983, which credited him as "Ryuichi Sakamoto" for audiences around the world to see.

Acting-wise, his best known roles are without much doubt the World War II Captain Yonoi, who ends up [[FoeYay extremely troubled]] by Music/DavidBowie as a prisoner of war in ''Film/MerryChristmasMrLawrence'', and Masahiko Amakasu in ''Film/TheLastEmperor''. He also composed the soundtracks for both films and plenty of others works such as the 1992 film version of ''Literature/WutheringHeights'', ''Film/TheRevenant'' or ''Recap/BlackMirrorSmithereens'', as well as the 1992 Summer UsefulNotes/OlympicGames in Barcelona.

* AllThereInTheManual: Even though the Japanese title appears on the cover, the Japanese release of Left Handed Dream features the English title on the inner gatefold.

* MachineMonotone / CreepyMonotone: Sakamoto used an early text to speech voice on the Futurista track "Milan 1909", which certainly has this effect. It is paired with disconcertingly uncomfortable music, which goes on for over a minute before the voice comes in. This was over a decade before Radiohead were noted for doing the same thing on [[Music/OKComputer "Fitter Happier"]].
* MarketBasedTitle: The movie "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" was renamed "Furyo" in some territories, resulting in Sakamoto's soundtrack being renamed that too.
* UpdatedRerelease: The 1990 CD of "The Arrangement" added the a and b sides of two singles released shortly before the album, these being "War Head"/"Lexington Queen" and "Front Line"/"Happy End". With the exception of "Happy End" (a YMO track which was slightly remixed), these three songs all feature Robin Scott's vocals in some capacity, like the ones on the EP.

* MachineMonotone / CreepyMonotone: Sakamoto used an early text to speech voice on the Futurista track "Milan 1909", which certainly has this effect. It is paired with disconcertingly uncomfortable music, which goes on for over a minute before the voice comes in. This was over a decade before Radiohead were noted for doing the same thing on "Fitter Happier".