Takeharu Kunimoto

Japanese actor, composer and shamisen player who utilized this traditional instrument of his native culture to play bluegrass music. He brought traditional Japanese music to the United States and helped spread Bluegrass Music in Japan. He died December 24, 2015 at the age of 55 following a brief illness. In Japan, he was a cherished entertainer and television personality whose love for bluegrass was spurred by his attending a Bill Monroe performance when Takeharu was a teenager. He traveled to the United States as a cultural exchange student in 2009, and studied at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. There he immersed himself in the Bluegrass, Old Time & Country Music Studies department and formed his own group, Takeharu Kunimoto & The Last Frontier, with whom he toured extensively in the US, Canada and back in Japan. Three bluegrass albums were released with Last Frontier, on top of the many recordings he made in Japan.