Ichiro Yamaguchi was born in
Otaru, Hokkaido in 1980. He grew up listening to a wide variety of music, as his father ran a business that acted as a cafe during the daytime and as a bar at night. His father had lived in Europe for many years, so often played music such as the German electronic band
Kraftwerk. The business would occasionally hold performances for musicians, such as Japanese folk singer Masato Tomobe. Yamaguchi acted as the band's vocalist and primary songwriter. Yamaguchi and the band were scouted and trained by
Victor Entertainment, however the group never formally debuted with Victor. In 2002, the band released
Demonstration, an album compiled of seven demos the band recorded between 2000 and 2002. Yamaguchi kept the name Dutchman for his solo project as a DJ, where he created techno and club music. He thought it would be interesting to mix electronic music with Japanese-style "folky melodies," and were moved to the main Victor Entertainment artist roster. moving from Hokkaido to Tokyo in the spring of 2008. In 2010, the band had their break-out hit "
Aruku Around", debuting at number three on
Oricon's single charts. Since "Aruku Around", the band has seen greater commercial success, with their albums
Documentaly (2011) and
Sakanaction (2013) both certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of Japan. In 2012, Yamaguchi began writing music for dramatic productions, such as the band's single "
Boku to Hana", which was written specifically for the drama
Sanjūnana-sai de Isha ni Natta Boku: Kenshūi Junjō Monogatari. Increasingly, songs Yamaguchi has written for Sakanaction have been used in dramatic works, including "
Music" (2013), used as the theme song for the
Fuji Television drama
Dinner, "Eureka" used as the ending theme for the film
Judge!, "Hasu no Hana" (2014), written for the film
Close Range Love and "Shin Takarajima" (2015), written for the live action adaptation film version of the manga
Bakuman. Aside from Sakanaction, Yamaguchi has collaborated with several musicians. In 2010 he wrote the song "Magic Time" from
Johnny & Associates veteran boyband
SMAP's 20th album
We Are SMAP!. He collaborated with them again in 2012 to write their single "
Moment", which was used to promote the
Tokyo Broadcasting System broadcast of the
2012 Summer Olympics, and debuted at number one on the Oricon single chart. Since 2012, Yamaguchi has served as a host for a segment on the
Tokyo FM radio show School of Lock!, called Sakana Locks!. == Personal life ==