Ryuichi Sakamoto has crossed numerous musical and cultural boundaries throughout his groundbreaking, highly accomplished career. As one-third of Yellow Magic Orchestra, he helped build the foundation for synth pop, electro, and techno during the 1970s and early '80s. He won several major awards for his scores to the films Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) and The Last Emperor (1987), and he fused pop, classical, and global rhythms on guest-filled albums like Neo Geo (1987) and Beauty (1989). He turned toward classical with releases like 1996 and BTTB (1999), and remained productive composing music for films, television series, video games, and art installations. During the 21st century, Sakamoto worked extensively with experimental ambient and glitch artists Fennesz, Alva Noto (including 2015's The Revenant score), Christopher Willits, and Taylor Deupree. He continued receiving acclaim for later experimental works such as 2017's async and 2023's 12.