Style Resume. Noriaki Onuki #7

2025.9.15

Text： Kenichi Aono

Edit： Suzuki Yusuke

Whether it's fashion, music, or sports, there is a style that only each person can express in any genre. "Style is Everything." That's right, someone once said that style is everything. "Style Resume" is a series of interviews with adults who, as the name suggests, have style. Updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the 13th installment features music critic, radio DJ, and organizer of the DJ event "LONDON NITE," which will celebrate its 45th anniversary in 2025.

7 13

07. When I was a prep school student, I met a Japanese rock musician.

I didn't think I needed to go to university, but my father was very enthusiastic about education, so I took a year off and ended up attending Sundai Preparatory School in Ochanomizu. Two friends I was in a band with were attending Ochanomizu Art Academy, an art prep school, and I often went there during lunch breaks. They introduced me to Yumi Arai (Yumi Matsutoya), saying, "I know a girl you might get along with. She seems to like Procol Harum." At the time, she was attending Rikkyo Jogakuin High School while also studying at Ochanomizu Art Academy. When we met, we hit it off talking about rock and GS.

I had a lot of free time when I was in cram school, so I would often go to Yamaha in Shibuya to get information and get to know Japanese rock musicians. I remember hanging out at the apartment of Hiro Yanagida (keyboardist, member of the band April Fool with Tadashi Kosaka and Haruomi Hosono), but I'm not sure how I got to know him or ended up going to his house (laughs).

After that kind of prep school life, I entered Rikkyo University in 1970. I chose Rikkyo because the atmosphere of the buildings, including the brick chapel, was cool. I'm a bit of a trend-follower at heart (laughs). I entered the Department of Business Administration in the Faculty of Economics, but there was no particular reason for that either. I had no idea what I wanted to be in the future. I hadn't thought about anything at all.

Around 1980, I went to England and saw an Ultravox live show, and then met John Foxx, the lead singer, backstage.
With Rory Gallagher, who came to Japan for a live performance in 1973.

Profile

Noriaki Onuki (music critic and radio DJ)

Born in February 1951, Kenrocks began his career as a music critic while still a university student, and has been active for over half a century. He has a particularly deep knowledge of punk rock, and launched "LONDON NITE" at Tsubaki House in Shinjuku in June 1980, a DJ event that continues to this day and whose influence is immeasurable. In January 2025, he published "HISTORY OF KENSHO ONUKI: A Memoir." "Kenrocks Nite - Ver. 2" is currently broadcast every Friday from midnight on inter FM.

Instagram @kensho_onuki