Far East Family Band were one of the first and finest progressive rock bands to emerge from Japan — a keyboard-drenched space-rock outfit whose cosmic, Pink Floyd-influenced soundscapes still sound otherworldly today. Led by the remarkable Fumio Miyashita and featuring, in its early ranks, the future new-age superstar Kitaro, the band drew the attention of German electronic pioneer Klaus Schulze, who shaped two of their albums. Theirs is some of the most atmospheric, transporting music to come out of 1970s Japan.

The short version

Far East Family Band were a Japanese space-rock and progressive band, active in the mid-1970s and led by guitarist, singer and composer Fumio Miyashita. Often regarded as Japan’s first true prog band, they played long, cosmic, keyboard-heavy pieces in the vein of early Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream, with a distinctly Eastern flavour. Their ranks included the young keyboardist Masanori Takahashi — soon to become world-famous as Kitaro — and two of their albums were shaped by Klaus Schulze. The three records here, from 1975 to 1977, capture them at their cosmic peak.

From Far Out to the Far East Family Band

The band grew out of Far Out, a Floyd-inspired prog group formed by Fumio Miyashita — a karate black belt and former cast member of the Tokyo production of “Hair” — whose sole 1973 album gave them a signature piece in “Nihonjin.” Around 1975, Miyashita reshaped Far Out into the six-piece, synth-heavy Far East Family Band, recruiting keyboardists Akira Ito and Masanori Takahashi (the future Kitaro). Playing huge outdoor concerts — including at the foot of Mount Fuji — they quickly earned a reputation as the first Japanese proponents of progressive rock.

Cosmic Japanese space rock

Far East Family Band’s music is vast, hazy and hypnotic — built on banks of organ, synthesizer and Mellotron, with Hirohito Fukushima’s Gilmour-esque guitar floating over the top. The debt to early Pink Floyd, especially the “Meddle” era, is obvious, as are echoes of Tangerine Dream, but the band added their own Eastern colour and a meditative, spiritual quality all their own. Long, slowly unfolding pieces drift between bombast and ambient calm, conjuring a sense of cosmic space that few bands anywhere matched. It is music designed to transport the listener far beyond the everyday.

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The albums and Klaus Schulze

After a Japanese-language debut, “The Cave Down to the Earth” (1975), the band reached a wider world with “Nipponjin” (1975) — an English-language reworking of earlier material, crowned by its epic title track and mixed by the German electronic master Klaus Schulze. Schulze returned for “Parallel World” (1976), recorded in England, whose deeply electronic, side-long pieces are often considered the band’s finest hour. Their last album, “Tenkujin” (1977) — made without Schulze, and without Kitaro and Akira Ito — leaned further toward the new-age music its members would soon make their own.

Album by album

Three of Far East Family Band’s cosmic albums, in order. Tap any title to explore.

The players

Far East Family Band were led throughout by Fumio Miyashita — guitarist, singer, composer and producer, and one of the most singular figures in Japanese music. Their most famous alumnus is keyboardist Masanori Takahashi, who left to become Kitaro, the Grammy-winning new-age icon; fellow keyboardist Akira Ito also went on to a new-age career. The classic line-up was completed by guitarist Hirohito Fukushima, bassist Akira Fukakusa and drummer Shizuo Takasaki. After the band, Miyashita spent decades making healing and ambient music, releasing over a hundred albums. He died in 2003.

Where to start

Start with “Parallel World” (1976), widely regarded as Far East Family Band’s masterpiece — the most fully realised of their cosmic albums, shaped by Klaus Schulze into a deep, immersive electronic journey. From there, “Nipponjin” (1975) offers a more song-based, Floydian entry point, including that magnificent seventeen-minute title piece. Two records that capture everything special about this pioneering Japanese band.

Why they still matter

Far East Family Band matter as pioneers — arguably the first true progressive rock band from Japan, and one of the great space-rock acts anywhere. They proved that the cosmic, keyboard-led sound of Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream could be reimagined with an Eastern sensibility, and in doing so they launched the career of Kitaro and pointed the way toward the ambient and new-age music that would follow. For anyone drawn to the spacey, meditative frontier of prog, they remain an essential discovery.

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