Hotei Tomoyasu

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Tomoyasu Hotei (布袋寅泰 Hotei Tomoyasu) was born on 1 February, 1962, in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture.

At 190cm (6 foot, 3 inches), Tomoyasu Hotei is one of the most intimidating people in the Japanese music world. This image has also been put to good use when casting him as the villain in movies and TV commercials, most notably as the sinister man in black chasing Masatoshi Nagase in the Boss coffee ads.

Hotei first began playing the guitar in junior high school. In high school, his band, Blue Film, finished runners up in a school contest to Death Penalty, a band led by Kyosuke Himuro. Hotei was expelled shortly before graduation. The reason was that, when warned about his long hair he replied, "Jesus had long hair!"

Shortly after, he went to Tokyo where one day he received a phone call from Himuro. The two had never really known each other but hit it off and went on to hold auditions for a new band, which in 1981 became the six-member 'Boøwy'. The band became major stars in Japan, in 1985 played the Marquee in London, and in 1986 had their first million seller, 'Beat Emotion'.

When the band broke up in 1988, Hotei established himself as a solo star, as did Boøwy singer Kyosuke Himuro.

Hotei composed & performed the score for Hiroyuki Nakano's 'Samurai Fiction', as well as starring in the film. His songs have also appeared on the soundtrack to 1998's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas', and the song 'Battle Without Honor or Humanity' was used in the Quentin Tarantino film 'Kill Bill'.

In 2005 his song 'Thrill' was used in the Nintendo DS music video game, 'Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan'.

Tomoyasu Hotei's wife, Miki Ima, is also a popular singer and actress.