ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION

ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION are a Japanese alternative rock band formed in 1996 through a music club at Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama. Vocalist/guitarist Masafumi Gotoh, guitarist/vocalist Kensuke Kita, and bassist/vocalist Takahiro Yamada started the band together, with drummer Kiyoshi Ijichi later joining from the same club. Their earliest material was written entirely in English, before the group began using Japanese lyrics and building a following through independent shows around Yokohama and Tokyo.

Their first formal release, mini-album ‘Houkai Amplifier’, arrived independently in 2002 and was reissued by Ki/oon in 2003, the year the band also released their first major singles and debut full-length ‘Kimi Tsunagi Five M’. The 2004 album ‘Sol-fa’ became one of the band’s defining records, with songs such as ‘Rewrite’ joining earlier track ‘Haruka Kanata’ in reaching a large international audience through anime including Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto.

Alongside their own releases, ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION created NANO-MUGEN FES. and developed a long-running international live presence. Their overseas history has included tours and headline shows across Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America.

In 2026, ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION celebrated their 30th anniversary with special concerts in Tokyo and Jakarta and a four-stop Latin American run. Gotoh’s NPO also opened MUSIC inn Fujieda, a residential recording studio in Shizuoka Prefecture where the band recorded ‘Fujieda EP’, while ‘Skins’ was selected as the opening theme for the final cour of Dr. STONE: SCIENCE FUTURE. A 21-date Japanese hall tour and three arena shows were announced for 2027. Three decades after forming, the same four members remain at the centre of one of Japanese alternative rock’s most enduring catalogues.