His work includes the Studio Ghibli films Whisper of the Heart (1995) and The Cat Returns (2002), as well as the Kyoto Animation television series Nichijou (2011).
His mentor was Ryuichi Sakamoto, whom he helped with Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise and The Last Emperor (both 1987).
[1][2] He then collaborated with Sakamoto on multiple soundtracks, assisting with composing and arranging the soundtrack for The Adventures of Milo and Otis (1986), additional arrangement for music for The Last Emperor (1987), and arrangement and composition for Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise.
[1][2] His first work for Studio Ghibli was the soundtrack for the animated feature Whisper of the Heart (1995), after which he worked on several different projects for them, including the short films Kujiratori (2001) and Koro no Daisanpo (2002), and the feature film The Cat Returns (2002).
[1] "Nonki katsu Kakoku na Eiga-Ongaku" in Ozu Yasujiro Taizen (The Complete Book of Ozu Yasujiro) by Matsuura Kanji and Miyamoto Akiko (Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. 2019) ISBN 9784022515995