[4] Kagawa was born in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan anchored by the major centers of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe.

As a student at Kyoto Sangyo University, Kagawa was active in the school's popular music club, singing in Beatles and Rolling Stones cover bands.

The same year, he would participate in the recording of Nakagawa Isato's omnibus live album Hanauta to otsuki-san [Hummed Tunes and Mister Moon] with fellow artists Ito Takao, Otsuka Masaji, Kanamori Kosuke, Shiba, Nishioka Kyozo and Osada 'Taco' Kazuyoshi in Kobe.

[9] Despite the artist's roots in Japan's protest folk movement and the highly critical, anti-war sentiment underpinning his signature "Kyokun I," Kagawa claimed in published interviews to be largely ignorant of "politics.

Kagawa also noted with unease what he sees as a trend toward emphases on patriotism in Japan in recent years, and suggested that this is precisely the time at which anti-patriotic voices need to be heard.