Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to AKIRA KOMATSU. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

AKIRA, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Risk is a trigger to draw out your hidden or unexpected power and ability. You have to think out of the box to find the solution. It is mainly related to money, which means life itself. There’s no doubt you need money for food and rent first. Sometimes, you must throw your pride and ego away to go through the new door, and it’s mentally tough. Why do I have to do this? How can I do this? You may think, but you have no choice when facing the risk. You must find the unexpected ability inside of you and encounter some new possibility in front of you. That is the excellent enlightenment of life. I always take a bit risky way, not overwhelming, if it seems exciting and worth trying when I choose to take one out of some methods and enjoy struggling to find something new.

AKIRA, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi, this is Akira Komatsu, a film composer and a guitarist living in Toluca Lake. I moved to LA in December 2017 for a US O-1 visa from Tokyo, Japan. My career began as a jazz guitarist and instructor in Tokyo, Japan, when I returned from Los Angeles and graduated from MI/GIT. I had played small clubs in Tokyo and had been teaching at MI Japan. I was leading an instrumental band and composing all the materials played. Actors, filmmakers, or their media artists came to talk to me after the shows from time to time, and it would be nice to have my composition in their works, but I could not take those opportunities at first because I did not have good DTM tips back then. I gradually got TV commercial and indie movie gigs about a year later since I started bedroom composing, and my career had shifted from guitarist to composer naturally. But why America, again? It is not again, but a journey of my lifelong story.
The beginning was the movie “Kenny & Co.”, a coming-age comedy in a Southern California suburb depicting the days of three teenagers. That was my first impression of America in the very early years of my life, and it was kept deep in my soul. I have wanted to go to the U.S. since then, and music was connected to the thought afterward. Luckily, I met Don Coscarelli, the movie’s director and actors, here in LA last year. Thank God!
Then, I went to study jazz guitar improvisation at MI /GIT Hollywood after graduation from Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. My school days at MI were thrilling and crazy fun, learning from great instructors and hanging out with friends worldwide. I was always hoping that time could stop or last forever.
I had always wanted to challenge myself to make my dreams a reality in LA again, and finally, I decided to come back after decades had passed since I went back home once.
I am working mainly on horror/suspense music library and indie films. I am still enthusiastic about learning; I studied music licensing and business with Cathy Heller and Ari Herstand, participated in orchestration, and arranged workshops at Local 47 and 20th-century harmony classes with Norman Ludwin.
Recently participated in “Quarantine Music Chain with Kenny G” produced by Imre Czomba, with 100 musicians from 16 countries (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRd5LMJhcK4), and I often played accompaniment guitar at improv comedy shows with Hollywood renowned improv team “Jetzo.”

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Life in LA has seemed to be smooth initially, but NOT. My compositions were pitched to Westworld and Judd Apatow’s TV show some weeks after I moved to LA. I got so excited as I heard my pieces were to be attended by music supervisors of such significant programs and foolishly believed some of those would be used, but they were not all taken as you imagined. Rejection has been a good friend of mine since then.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There were some changes of courses to tell what inspired me to play the guitar and become a film composer long after that. And it is tough to talk about my career because I live my life just as it occurs, with no logical way of thinking or intense desire or decision.

I took to the guitar because I saw Back to the Future as a high school student. The big violin-shaped guitar Michael J. Fox played in the movie was so cool, though I had no idea what Gibson or Fender was back then.
I bought an affordable guitar that looked like it the next day and practiced old rock’n roll and top 40-type music through my high school days.

I met Jazz later in university and was fascinated by the freedom of improvisation, but I had yet to learn that you would be a prisoner of music to obtain that freedom, and still, I am.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.akirakomatsu.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akirakomatsucompose/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/akira.komatsu.752/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akira-komatsu-439134133/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AkiraKomatsu4
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@akirakomatsu5967/featured

Image Credits
Akira Komatsu Todd Hunter Adam Sartain