Who is Itoko Toma?

Itoko Toma, a composer, vocalist, pianist, and lyricist, was born in 1977 in Kurashiki, Japan. She started to learn classical piano at four years old, but was exposed to pop music, from the Beatles when she was 11 years old, which allowed her to have versatility in writing and playing music in various genres, ranging from contemporary to classical to pop. In the early 2000s, Toma worked with Masaktasu Takagi, a musician and filmmaker to release three albums in 2003 and 2004 as a vocalist, but she made her official debut as a pianist and composer in 2010, with the album “dreamtime.” Now, she works as a composer, and most of her songs are piano based. Toma’s most recent song is ReBrith, released on May 20th of 2023.

Toma’s style is to show a landscape through piano music. She paints nature in a light and dreamy way in her songs. Most of her albums are inspired by specific parts of nature, like her album “when the world will mix well” being inspired by the sea/ocean. Many songs of that album show a different part of the ocean, like the ocean waves and seabirds. Her album, “beyond the mountain” is inspired by a foggy mountain, and shows a person’s journey as they walk up a mountain.