Departures of note

Akira Sudo was a Japanese music producer and director who shaped some of the most beloved works of Japanese popular music. Born in Toyama Prefecture, he graduated from the University of Tokyo before joining CBS/Sony in 1977, where he worked as a production assistant and later as a music director. He became known for his lyric-focused production style and his deep engagement with the words of the artists he guided.

Sudo produced and directed landmark recordings for Yutaka Ozaki, including the debut single "15 no Yoru" and the album Seventeen's Map, as well as works by Shogo Hamada, Koza Murashita, Koji Tamaki, and later Ishizaki Hughie and Toshifumi Baba. He went independent in 1996, founding the company KARINTO FACTORY, and also wrote several books about Ozaki and the music world.

In his later years he devoted himself to his home region, serving as a policy advisor to Toyama City and, from 2015, as artistic director of the Toyama City Cultural Business Organization, where he produced local arts events and the Toyama Prefecture hometown song. He died in October 2026 at the age of 74.