G
GROUND
Earth
Every journey
begins by touching the earth.
©NAOYA YABUKI
JUN-EI OHSAKO
Ototabi DirectorⓇ & Violinist
JUN-EI OHSAKO
Designing life
through sound.
Your life’s story, told in music.
FOUR STRINGS / ONE WORLD
Travel changes your life.
My starting point: the violin
and its four strings.
G · D · A · E
To me, these four strings are
not a scale, but the world itself.
D
DEEP WATER
Water
On a journey,
the heart quietly sways.
A
AIR
Wind
The wind
carries a life which is not yet seen.
E
ETERNAL LIGHT
Light
At the end of the journey,
we find a small light.
FOUR STRINGS / ONE WORLD
From the Earth to the Cosmos
THREE ELEMENTS OF JOURNEY
Three Elements of Travel
After five years of radio broadcasts reflecting on travel,
this is what I arrived at.
SOUND EXPERIENCE DESIGNER
What is “Ototabi Director”?
Not only “playing” music,
but “moving emotions” through music.
Journeys, places, people, time and space.
Reading the history, culture, atmosphere and feelings that flow through them,
and turning them into “memories of a lifetime” through music.
Creating “moments that move the heart”
and “unforgettable experiences that become part of your life.”
WORKS AS SOUND EXPERIENCE DESIGNER
Until a journey becomes a memory of a lifetime.
The work of an Ototabi Director goes beyond performing.
Joining from the earliest planning stage of a journey, reading the history of the land and the hopes of its people,
I use music to turn time spent traveling into memories that last a lifetime.
STORY 01
JR Kyushu Cruise Train “SEVEN STARS IN KYUSHU”
Turning a train journey
into a lifelong memory.
Involved as an advisor from the planning stage, I produced the train’s music direction. In the train, I kept playing music that accompanied the passing scenery of Kyushu and the hearts of the travelers.
For three and a half years from its launch, I performed in the train on all 305 journeys.
I spent more than 200 days a year in the SEVEN STARS train.
STORY 02
Tokyu “THE ROYAL EXPRESS”
Creating the journey itself
through music.
I joined the direction at the planning stage ahead of its 2017 launch and produced its theme music. As an Ototabi Director, I help create the journey itself.
Since then I have performed in the train on almost every journey of THE ROYAL EXPRESS, including its Hokkaido and Shikoku–Setouchi cruise trains, traveling together with our guests.
From Izu to Hokkaido and Shikoku–Setouchi: performing in the train on 424 journeys (as of October 2026).
STORY 03
Vatican City & Rome
A journey of prayer
across the sea.
Through “Inori no Shima (Island of Prayer),” a musical story about the Hidden Christians of Nagasaki and Amakusa, a UNESCO World Heritage site, I had an audience with the Pope and performed at the Church of the Gesù in Rome and at the Embassy of Japan in Portugal.
November–December 2024: audience with the Pope at the Apostolic Palace, Vatican.
JUN-EI OHSAKO
JUN-EI OHSAKO
Ototabi DirectorⓇ & Violinist
Born in Kagoshima and based in Tokyo. After graduating from Fukuoka University of Education, he continued his studies in Milan, Prague and Romania.
Beyond performing as a violinist, he has traveled with more than 20,000 guests as a “musician who creates journeys,” connecting travel, regions, culture and people’s hearts through music.SEVEN STARS IN KYUSHU: 336 journeys. THE ROYAL EXPRESS: 424 journeys (as of October 2026). In total, 760 journeys and more than 2,000 days of making music in trains.
ACROSS JAPAN
Traveling Japan with sound.
Excursion trains, hotels, local culture, concerts and radio.
Traveling across Japan, delivering music and stories.
Tap or click the map to enlarge
RADIO / ON AIR
SOUND CRUISE
Sound Cruise Journey
On air on 4 stations
FM Tachikawa
MBC Radio
FM Karuizawa
FM Tsushima
Every week at 8 p.m. (JST)
Thursdays: FM Tachikawa
Sundays: MBC Radio, FM Karuizawa, FM Tsushima
A weekly radio journey
through music and travel.
Ototabi DirectorⓇ & violinist Jun-ei Ohsako shares
the landscapes, people, culture and music he has encountered across Japan
in words and sound.
JUN-EI PLUS ONE
Keep traveling with JUN-EI OHSAKO.
Moments that cannot be shared on stage alone,
in the fan club “Jun-ei Plus One.”
JUN-EI OHSAKO
Your life’s story,
in music.
Journeys into life.
Travel time into memories.
Local culture into emotion.
Ototabi DirectorⓇ & Violinist
JUN-EI OHSAKO