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(Community Event) The Past Can Be Changed - The Lost Beat: How RADWIMPS Drummer Satoshi Yamaguchi Reclaimed Music Through Neuroscience Research and Voice-Controlled Drums

When
19 Feb 2026
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Location
Withrow Auditorium at the University of Toronto Schools 371 Bloor Street West Toronto, Ontario M5S 2R7

Satoshi Yamaguchi, the drummer of popular Japanese band RADWIMPS and Visiting Researcher at Keio University, will deliver an inspiring presentation about his personal struggle and research on Musician’s Dystonia, a neurological disorder that affects professional musicians. He will share his personal story and reflections about his musical career, which he was forced to suspend in 2015. He will then discuss how he refocused his energy on academic research, presenting findings from large-scale epidemiological studies on Musician’s Dystonia he conducted in collaboration with scholars from Canada, Japan, and other countries. The event will feature a live performance by Yamaguchi using “VXD,” a voice-controlled drumming system he co-developed.

About the Speaker:

Satoshi Yamaguchi is the drummer of Japanese band RADWIMPS and a Visiting Researcher at Keio University. He began his musical career as a teenager and performed as the drummer of RADWIMPS, a popular Japanese band that gained international acclaim for composing the soundtrack of award-winning anime movie Your Name (Kimi no Na wa). In 2009, he developed Musician's Dystonia, a neurological disorder affecting motor control, and was forced to suspend his drumming career in 2015. In 2021, he began participatory research on dystonia as a Visiting Researcher at Keio University. During a two-month research residency at Stanford University Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics in 2023, he gained insights that led to the 2024 co-development of VXD, a voice-controlled drumming system. In 2025, he launched a solo tour, The Past Can Be Changed, returning to live performance for the first time in a decade.

Speakers

Satoshi Yamaguchi

Drummer of Japanese band RADWIMPS
Visiting Researcher at Keio University

headshots

Phillip Y. Lipscy

Richard Charles Lee Director, Asian Institute
Director, Centre for the Study of Global Japan

Headshot of Rie Kijima

Rie Kijima

Assistant Professor
Director, Initiative for Education Policy and Innovation
Director, Peace, Conflict and Justice
Director, Munk One
Affiliated Faculty, Centre for the Study of Global Japan

Co-Sponsors:

University of Toronto Schools

The Eureka! Research Institute at UTS

The Japan Foundation, Toronto

The Japan Society Canada

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto

Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto

Recording Notice & Consent

Please note that this event will be recorded. By attending, you consent to being photographed and/or video recorded.

If you prefer not to be filmed, a designated seating area will be available for participants who do not consent to being recorded. Please let an event organizer know upon arrival.

Sustaining Members of the Japan Society

157 Adelaide Street West, Suite 604, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E7 CANADA
Tel: 416.366.4196 | admin@japansocietycanada.com