about jun togawa!! 💗

Have you ever wanted to learn more about Jun Togawa? I'm sure you've heard the name before. Togawa is a very successful musician and actress in Japan and I'm here to share all I can about her!

To start, Jun's full name is Junko Togawa. She was born March 31, 1961. This means currently as I'm writing this she is 61!! She was born Shinjuku City of Tokyo. She started her music career in 1979 and is still active to this day! She is a vocalist, musician, actress and can even play drums! 

Jun is a very important woman. She has had many influences on the avant-garde movement of Japan and is even a huge influence around the world too! She also took a inspired and took on the eroguro genre with her music by writing music seen as "violent" or "intense". She is truly amazing and has always shown to go against societal standards in Japan, she does this through her way of singing, performing, writing, self-expression and her personality. She's a bold person and has never seemed to try and fit into what society thinks is "pretty", "perfect" or "acceptable". Jun has had a huge influence on artists everywhere and surprisingly her work is not recognized enough. You may have heard of her song '好き好き大好き' or seen as 'Suki Suki Daisuki' but have you heard of any other of her albums, or maybe the other bands she was in? 

Next, Jun has appeared in many things! Such as bands, albums and movies. Some of the bands she has been in and appeared in are Yapoos, Guernica and Halmens!! She also helped a bit with her sister's music (which i will talk more about later!) Jun appeared in many films such as 'One-Room Story', 'Ai Ni Tsuite, Tokyo', and 'The Family Game' which are the films she is most well known for!

Jun has been active in her career for a long time! She has been active in music since 1979 and still performs and writes music!! In 2016 to mark her 35th anniversary of being in the music industry she released collaboration albums with Vampillia and Hijokaidan. She is currently on tour so if you're able to go to Japan go see her before she stops performing!

Have you ever wondered about the people Jun is close with? Some of the people she was closest with were her sister, Kyoko Togawa, and her friend, Susumu Hirasawa. Her sister Kyoko was also a music artist and actress! Kyoko released 4 albums and 4 singles. Her and Jun would help each other on their music. Unfortunately, Kyoko passed away June 18th of 2002 due to suicide, the reason being unknown since there was no note. I have yet to listen to her music!

Then, more on Jun's friend, Susumu Hirasawa. He is a Japanese musician and composer. Hirasawa is well known for working with Satoshi Kon and for the animated adaption to the series 'Berserk'. He has also worked to arrange lots of things for the band P-Model! Togawa has helped as a guest vocalist for multiple releases of his and he has helped as support for her.

Jun Togawa has had two solo projects. One, obviously being 'Jun Togawa' and the other being titled 'Jun Togawa Unit'. 'Tamahime-Sama', 'Choujikuu Korodasutan Ryokouki', 'Ura Tamahime', 'Kyokuto Ian Shoka', 'Suki Suki Daisuki', 'Tokyo no Yaban', 'Showa Kyonen', '20th Jun Togawa' and 'TOGAWA FICTION' are all the albums she has released solo. She is most known for 'Suki Suki Daisuki' and 'Tamahime-Sama'!! Jun's music is often misinterpreted as some "Yandere" thing but that is far from what it is, especially when it comes to 'Suki Suki Daisuki'. She is expressing her love and said it is merely just a romance song and album. Her music has very talented writing. 'Suki Suki Daisuki' was meant to be a satirical take on Japanese Idol music, meant to show how she's against the way its used, although still could be classified as new wave partially, Jun stated she took a J-Pop approach on the album.

Next, is the most popular and well known of Jun's bands, YAPOOS! Although still incredibly underrated. YAPOOS formed as a backup band for Jun in 1993, she officially joined in 1994 and then the band was formed. It is considered as a new wave and experimental band and takes on a lot of the avant-garde and eroguro genres. The band is still active though they have not released new music, in this time they've had many lineup changes. The current lineup is; Jun togawa on vocals, Nakahara Nobuo on bass and synthesizer, Lion Merry on keyboard, Norihiro "BERA" Ishizuka on guitar and last but not least Atsunobu Yakabe on drums. Jun met the first drummer and guitarist of the band through Halmens! Their albums consist of 'YAPOOS keikaku', 'Dai Tenshi no You Ni', 'Dial Y wo Mawase!', 'Dadada ism' and 'HYS'. They've also released many singles, live albums and a mini album titled 'CD-Y'!!

Another one of her bands she was in is Guernica!! It is a trio consisting of Jun togawa (vocals), Koji Ueno (composer and orchestration) and Keiichi Ohta (lyricist). Koji Ueno and Jun met through the band Halmens! It formed in 1981 and lasted until 1989. The band took on a theme of the pre-WW2 industrialization of Japan while still taking on the avant-garde influence, the music is considered to be a pastiche of operatic pop. It uses a mix of classical instruments and synthesizers and some of their music having more of an ochestric sound. Guernica has has a few albums; 'Kaizou eno Yakudou', 'Ginrin wa Utau c/w Marronnier Tokuhon', 'Shinseiki eno Unga' and 'Denrisou Karano Manazashi'. The band has a very unique sound and should definitely get more recognition!

Then, for the last of bands, we have Halmens! Jun was not a member of this band but she did guest vocals on multiple of their songs. Quite a lot of Halmens songs were covered by YAPOOS! The drummer from Halmens was YAPOOS' first drummer and so was their guitarist/synthesizer, he most likely was their backing vocalist too. Halmens formed in 1980 and after almost three years broke up in 1982. The band was inspired by avant-garde, art pop and new wave movements. The lineup of this band was, Saeki Kenzo on vocals, Higae Takao on guitar and synthesizer, Ishihara Tomohiro on bass, Koji Ueno as a composer, pianist and violinist (from Guernica!), Senzui Toshirou on drums and backup vocals and last but not least Jun Togawa as a guest vocalist! Halmens releases consist of 'Halmens no Kindai Taiso', 'Halmens no 20 Seiki', 'Masked Party', and then some tribute albums with Hatsune Miku and 21seiki-san to sing their songs, the albums released in 2010!

Jun Togawa has done many collaborations over the years. Such as her 35th anniversary collaborations with Vampillia and Hijokaiden, the colab with Vampillia being titled 'Watashi Ga Nakou Hototogisu' and the one with Hijokaidan, 'Togawa Kaidan'. These were released in 2016. She also had a collaboration with Kei Ookubo in 2018 called 'Jun Togawa avec Kei Ookubo'! I'm sure there's more that I don't know of.

Jun is an actress as I've stated earlier, she has been in MANY films. These movies besides the ones i stated she was well known for include, 'Untamagiru', 'Free and Easy', 'Paradise View', 'The Legend of the Stardust Brothers', 'Chibusa', 'Main Theme', 'Love Bites Back', 'Tsuribaka Nisshi', 'Hope and Pain', 'Ruby Fruit', 'Checkers in Tan Tan Tanuki', 'Yabanjin no You Ni', 'Tora-san, My Uncle', 'Spy Games',  'Peach: I'll Do Anything For You', 'Kirai Ja Nai Yo', 'Hunting Tigers', 'Swimming With Tears', and most likely more!

As you can tell, Jun Togawa appeared as a guest for multiple artists. Some of these guest vocal Jun has done include multiple of Susumu Hirasawa's albums, 'Chojiku Korodasutan Ryokoki' by Apogee & Perigee, 'Shijin no Ie' by Joe Jackson & The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, 'All Dogs Go To Heaven' the soundtrack to Keralino Sandorovich's stage play, 'Dreams' by Otomo Yoshihide, 'Good Girls Get Fed, Bad Girls Get Eaten', 'Like the 20th Century' by Kei Ohkubo and some plays such as 'Histoire du Soldat'(including Neko Saito, Koichi Makigami, Jun Togawa and Demon Kogure)!

Overall, Jun Togawa is a very successful musician and actress. She has accomplished a lot and is a big influence and inspiration from many artists. More people should give all of her music recognition! Rather than just 'Suki Suki Daisuki'. Jun is amazing at what she does and it's amazing she continues to be active after all these years. I encourage looking into her music!