Celebrated Japanese composer admits fraud

Mamoru Samuragochi was celebrated as a prolific musical genius whose compositions appeared in popular video games and the competition routine of a top figure skater in the Sochi Olympics. His deafness won him praise as Japan's modern-day Beethoven.

But his magnum opus was a masquerade. Last Thursday, Japan learned that Samuragochi (50) had staged an elaborate hoax in which someone else had secretly written his most famous compositions, and he had perhaps even faked his hearing disability.

People across Japan reacted with remorse, outrage, and even the rare threat of a lawsuit after Samuragochi’s revelations that he had hired a ghostwriter since the 1990s to compose most of his music.

The anger turned to disbelief when the ghostwriter himself accused Samuragochi of faking his deafness, apparently to win public sympathy and shape the Beethoven persona.

Confession
The scandal began last Wednesday, when Samuragochi confessed that someone else had written his most famous works. These include Symphony No 1 Hiroshima, about the 1945 atomic bombing of his home city, which became a classical music hit in Japan; the theme music for the video games Resident Evil and Onimusha; and Sonatina for Violin, which Japanese Olympic figure skater Daisuke Takahashi is scheduled to use in his performance in Sochi.

Expressed remorse
Last Wednesday, Samuragochi expressed remorse for the deception, though he did not reveal why he had chosen to come forward at that particular moment.

“Samuragochi is deeply sorry as he has betrayed fans and disappointed others,” said a statement released by his lawyer. “He knows he could not possibly make any excuse for what he has done.”

The reason for this sudden repentance became clear on Thursday when the ghostwriter revealed himself to be Takashi Niigaki (43), a largely unknown part-time lecturer at a prestigious music college in Tokyo. Niigaki said he had written more than 20 songs for Samuragochi since 1996, for which he received the equivalent of about €51,000.

He said he felt so guilty about the deception that he had threatened to go public in the past, but Samuragochi begged him not to. – (New York Times service)