Fumio Miyashita

Japanese New Age Music Pioneer

Fumio Miyashita (sometimes known as simply Fumio) was a staggeringly prolific yet largely unheralded new age artist from Japan. Fans of Japanese psychedelia know Miyashita best as a founding member of Far Out and Far East Family Band, two pioneering progressive/space rock bands that existed during the mid-'70s. Like Far East Family Band's most well-known member, Kitaro, Miyashita began making solo electronic music and composing soundtracks after the group broke up around 1977. Eventually he started making music specifically focused on healing, meditation, therapy, and sleep, and released over a hundred albums, which sold well in his native country.