Ryuishi Sakamoto (b. 1952)
Back in the 80s I saw the film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (a.k.a. Furyo) (1983) directed by Nagisa Ôshima and was emotionally shaken by its synthetic score. Beautiful melodies, perfumed harmonies and subtly-changing ostinatos sounded by silky, analogue synthesizers. The score incorporates an English hymnal. The music was by the lead actor of the film, I heard he’d agreed to play the part only if he could also compose the film’s soundtrack.
From that work I discovered his band: Yellow Magic Orchestra. A few of their pieces are very good (check out Rydeen).
