Joe Hisaishi is a Japanese composer and director born in Nakano, Japan, on December 6, 1950. Working under a catalog that began in 1981, he has released more than 100 soundtracks and conventional albums, and his music is associated with classical, cinematic classical, and contemporary classical styles. His releases have been issued through Universal Music LLC.
He is best known for his long-running collaboration with animator Hayao Miyazaki, which produced the soundtracks to Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Princess Mononoke (1997), My Neighbour Totoro (1988), and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1983), works that helped define his reputation beyond Japan and within anime film music. Hisaishi is also closely associated with filmmaker Beat Takeshi Kitano; his soundtrack credits for Kitano include Dolls (2002), Kikujiro (1999), Hana-Bi (1997), Kids Return (1996), and Sonatine (1993), showing the breadth of his work across live-action cinema as well as animation. Beyond composing for film, he has worked as a typesetter, author, arranger, and head of an orchestra. In 2026, he was also announced as part of a main-theme collaboration for the game Professor Layton and the New World of Steam with Lila Ikuta, and his new Concerto for Orchestra was scheduled for its Japan premiere.
