Recently, with the annoucement of their disbandment, it was revealed that the two brothers and band members of Hirakawachi Icchome hadn’t started the band just because they enjoyed making music. Their second motive was that their mother had left their family when they were young and, by starting a band, they were hoping that she would come back. Fortunately for the two brothers, unfortunately for the fans, their mother returned and after discussing it for a long time, they decided to end Hirakawachi Icchome.
That leaves us with five full, original albums and thirteen singles, released over a span of five years. In 2000, when lead vocalist and guitarist Naojiro was only ten years old and lead guitarist, composer and backing vocalist Ryunosuke was twelve, they started their band on Sado Island where they lived.
Inspired by their father and the folk music they liked to listen to, the two siblings also started to compose folk inspired pop/rock music. After winning a Sony audition, they became major and were able to continue their career for quite a few years, following the rocky path that brought them struggles on their way.
Discography (albums only):
Nanatsu no Hiragana [2003]
Enpitsu de Tsukuru Uta [2004]
Umikaze wa Toki o Koete [2005]
Utaite o Kaete [2006]
Yukidoke no koro ni todoku tegami [2007]
Hirakawachi Icchome [2008]
Release Recommendation: Hirakawachi Icchome
Of course, a disbandment is usually coupled with a best of, and the self-titled Hirakawachi Icchome best of consists of 2 CDs: one with 18 tracks and the other with 7 re-recordings of a number of their first songs. The main difference between the originals and the re-recordings is Naojiro’s voice: on the original versions his voice is still boyish and high-pitched, while the re-recordings feature him with a deep, manly sound.
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Kay is the English version manager, aka editor in chief/executive editor and one of JaME’s vice-presidents. Between her job, second BA studies and random language courses, she’s able to find time to shout at her darling team members and write an article or two once in a while. If that isn’t enough, she runs a JRock company in her home country and occasionally organizes concerts of well-known Japanese rock acts.
Although she got into Japanese music through visual kei, she has now moved onto different sorts of music such as pop, alternative/indie rock and will talk your ears off about anything related to reggae in Japan. More information on this creature can be found at 
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