Japanese musician
Musical artist
Junji Ishiwatari (いしわたり 淳治, Ishiwatari Junji, born August 21, 1977, in Towada, Aomori) is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is also famous for being a guitarist of the Japanese band Supercar.
Biography
Ishiwatari found an ad looking for band members that had been posted by Miki Furukawa at a musical instrument store in Hachinohe. He made contact with her in 1995, invited his childhood friend Kōji Nakamura, and while still in high school they formed a band. Kōdai Tazawa later joined the band, which was named Supercar.[1]
Supercar made its debut with a major label in 1997 and in 1998 it released the influential debut album, Three Out Change.[2] Music critic Ian Martin has called it "one of the all-time great Japanese rock albums."[3] Ishiwatari played guitar and wrote all the lyrics.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Supercar continued to perform and produced albums that increasingly combined alternative rock with electronic music. Supercar has been characterized as having "almost foundational importance to 21st century Japanese indie rock".[4] The band broke up in 2005, and Ishiwatari began working as a lyricist and record producer.
In 2010, Ishiwatari released the single "Kamisama no Iutōri" with Yoshinori Sunahara who was a former member of Denki Groove. They featured Etsuko Yakushimaru (Sōtaisei Riron etc.) as a vocalist. This song was featured as the closing theme for the anime, The Tatami Galaxy.
