A pioneer in the distinctly Japanese sonics of "environmental" sound design, composer Takashi Kokubo began his solo career in the early 1980s, making synthesizer compositions inspired by classical music in the vein of fellow Japanese composer Isao Tomita, but across the following decades, his productions would pay deep homage to the sounds of the natural world and its spiritually soothing properties – as both inspiration for his music, and as a prominent feature in the music itself.