Who is Good Music Japan?

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Born in 1985 in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Covington, Kentucky. After growing up in the Cincinnati punk rock scene and graduating from high school, Chuck moved to Lexington, Kentucky to study at the University of Kentucky. Here, he got involved with WRFL 88.1FM Radio Free Lexington as an on-air DJ and went on to become the Training Director, Hip Hop Director, and, ultimately, the General Manager.  From 2007-2009, as General Manager, he supervised a staff of eleven other employees as well as a volunteer staff of over 100 students and community DJs.  While maintaining relationships with record labels and promoters, he organized over 100 concerts and events and oversaw the station's 20th anniversary celebrations, including the planning of the FreeKY Music Fest, which successfully initiated the efforts to raise the station's broadcasting radius from 250 to 7900 watts. 

In 2009, after completing the KIIS Japan program through Murray State University, Chuck moved to Japan to Shimonita Town, Gunma Prefecture to teach English for two years via the JET Programme. While teaching at 4 nursery schools and 4 elementary schools, he helped translate government documents including Shimonita's successful Japanese Geopark application as well as Tomioka Silk Mill's successful UNESCO World Heritage application. Weekends were spent getting to know the Tokyo and Gunma music worlds as both an audience member and as a musician. 

In 2012, Chuck returned to Kentucky and spent four years working as a Sales Engineer (セールスエンジニア) at Fuso USA (扶桑工機株式会社). This job entailed coordinating daily technical translations between English-speaking customers, local machine shops, OEMs, and Japanese engineers via email, conference calls, and on-site meetings in the U.S. and Japan. He developed and maintained all domestic and international sales relationships as well as purchasing contracts with automobile OEMs such as Honda, Toyota, TOA, and Denso.  

In 2016, while still DJing at WRFL 88.1FM, Chuck left his Japanese automotive job to help develop 2 brand new local, independent radio stations as the General Manager of Radio Lex: WLXL 95.7FM and WLXU 93.9FM. For almost 2 years, he helped grow and stabilize these start-up non-profit radio stations by developing a DJ training manual and training program, bringing a second FM station (WLXU 93.9FM) on the air, recording, engineeing, producing, and preparing over 150+ hours of programming, establishing an underwriting program, writing and fulfilling grants, and supervising a staff of 2 full-time employees as well as a bilingual volunteer staff of over 180 community DJs and interns. He also helped establish and develop El Pulso 95.7FM as Lexington's only Spanish-language FM radio station. While in Lexington, he also hosted a weekly interview show called Bluegrass Bios, volunteered as a translator for the Lexington Sister Cities Commission, as well as coordinated concerts and events with the Japan American Society of Kentucky. 

In 2018, Chuck was awarded a fellowship by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) to come to Japan and study Japanese hip-hop. This trip was the impetus to return to Japan and, in August 2018, Chuck moved to Amami Oshima to teach English for the Setouchi Board of Education across four different islands (Amami Oshima Island, Kakeroma Island, Uke Island, and Yoro Island). On Amami, while DJing at various concert venues and exploring Amami's rich Shima-uta musical heritage, Chuck hosted a radio show in a mix of Japanese, English, and the indigenous Amami Oshima Shimaguchi language called World Chuck Melody (ワールドチャックメロ) on FM Setouchi 76.8FM. After passing the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) N2 test, he also assisted with English interpretation for international visitors, diplomats, and helped write English translations for local tourism programs, WW2 ruins maps, as well as assisted with Amami Oshima's successful UNESCO World Natural Heritage application.

As of August 2023, Chuck relocated to Kyoto and continues to work as a freelance journalist and international music integration specialist, helping Japanese musicians reach the world and vice versa.

Past articles:

10/4/2022 Undermain: Did Japan Invent Hip-Hop?: YMO, Bambaataa, & The 808

8/23/2018 Undermain: 20 Female Japanese MCs Changing The World of Hip-Hop

7/9/2018 Undermain:  UK Cafe: Why is There a University of Kentucky Themed Restaurant in Osaka, Japan? 

2/10/2018 Undermain:  Saving Kentucky: Kentucky Natural Lands Trust & The Pine Mountain Collective 

12/1/2017 MD Update :  Fighting Opioid Overdose in Kentucky, One Spray at a Time

11/29/2017 Undermain: Scene & Heard: Abraham Mwinda

10/15/2017 Undermain: Traveling Through Time With Italian Beaches

3/4/2015 Chevy Chaser Magazine: A Healing Dose of Bear Medicine

12/18/2014 Chevy Chaser Magazine: Sullivan's Travels: Chris Sullivan releases his solo debut album

Spring 2008 RiFLe Magazine: A Few Moments in Time with Bootsy Collins

2007 RiFLe Magazine: Bonnaroo: Fear and Loving in Manchester, TN

Based in Amami Oshima and born in 1978, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from high school in Nagoya, she moved to California to hone her skills as a jazz singer. After working odd jobs, she was hired as an Administrative Assistant of the Japanese Equity Department at Mizuno Securities, while still performing and studying music. She moved to San Francisco and eventually to New York with the job, moving up the career ladder as a corporate access representative, traveling with and advising CEOs/CFOs of NIKKEI-listed companies, and visiting institutional investors located in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Japan. 

While in New York, she impressed the ear of Romero Lubambo, a first-call Brazilian guitarist in the New York’s jazz scene and she released two albums – “Secret Of Life” in 2010 and “Begin Anywhere” in 2011 from BounDEE Inc. (now Space Shower Music). Both were supported by performances from Lubambo and other highly-acclaimed musicians such as Gil Goldstein, Cyro Baptista, Anat Cohen, and Cesar Mariano Camargo and were well-received by the Japanese and New York music communities.

After leaving her 12-year career in finance and 18 years of living in the U.S., she returned to Japan and relocated to Amami Oshima Island, where she launched her own business connecting artists to local communities, advising international clients, and started studying Amami’s indigenous Shima-uta music. She is an active performing artist working in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Kagoshima, as well as on Amami. 

She believes that her mission in life is to help connect different worlds/areas/value systems through her music and businesses so that humanity, beauty, and peace can prevail in this world, for a longer period than anticipated. 

She tries to enjoy cooking and walking on the beach (3 minutes away from her residence) while at home, but it is always a challenge. 

Find out more about Tomoko at https://tomokomiyata.net/

Find her music at https://tomokomiyata.bandcamp.com/