Keigo Oyamada, better known as Cornelius, is one of Japan's most recognized musical exports. His innovative approach to electronic music on his 1997 breakthrough album "Fantasma," which has sold more than 300,000 copies worldwide, and then on 2001's "Point" have won him fans in Europe, America, Australia and beyond, leading to endorsements and remixes from such foreign luminaries as Beck and Damon Albarn, who seem to regard the multi-instrumentalist as something of a wunderkind.
Moreover, his music and the methodology behind it are revered by a young generation of Japanese electronic musicians. And the older generation too, for that matter: last year Oyamada toured with Ryuichi Sakamoto as the guitarist in his backing band alongside Steve Jansen from the group Japan.
He's also famous for biting off at least as much as he can chew. Alongside a plethora of side projects, he closely controls the stunning visuals for his live show, his mesmeric music videos, and myriad merchandise items that have included record players, watches and Cornelius-themed A Bathing Ape T-shirts.