Yasuhiko Fukuda

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Yasuhiko Fukuda (Fukuda Yasuhiko; 福田裕彦) was born on May 3, 1957, in Itabashi, Tokyo. He is a Japanese composer and keyboardist known for his work on video games and anime. He started playing piano at age 4 and grew up during Japan’s early anime era. He finished Takeheya High School in 1976 and studied literature at Waseda University from 1978 to 1980, winning a Yamaha band contest prize.

After graduating, Fukuda began his professional career as a keyboard player with the band QUYS, soon recording with other artists. His first recording came in 1981 on Jun Yamagishi’s All The Same, and his major debut was with Hideo Saito in the band YOU. He also played with Bakufu Slump in 1982 and toured with Minami Kousetsu in 1983, then became a sought-after studio musician, contributing to more than a thousand songs for many artists.

With Noritaka Ubukata, Fukuda helped create a DX7 patch called “Shofuku” in 1984, and they released music under the Shofuku name in 1988. He wrote DX7 books, including Yamaha DX7 Digital Synthesizer, which was translated for Western readers.

Fukuda is best known for his soundtracks for video games and anime, especially for Hudson Soft’s Bomberman series. He currently plays with the jazz-funk fusion band BeatNuts and has performed with YOU, QUYZ, and Kodomo Band. He is often credited as “Hirohiko Fukuda.”