Asato Tatsui

Asato Tatsui
達居 安里
Asato in his 20s
Pronunciation	[tat͡͡sɯi asato]
Born	(1941-10-10) October 10, 1941 Jikasa, Hiroi Prefecture, Zhiguryia
Nationality	Zhiguryian
Other names	Asato-chan
Years active	1959-Present
Known for	Ue o Muite Arukō (Sukiyaki)
Style	Pop
Parents	Hiroshi Tatsui (father) Iku Tatsui (mother)
Musical career
Genres	Pop
Instruments	Vocals
Website	asatotatsui.zh
Signature

Asato Tatsui (Zhiguryian: 達居 安里, Romanization: Tatsui Asato, raised as Asato Ōshima (大島 安里, Ōshima Asato)) is a Zhiguryian singer and actor.

He was best known outside Zhiguryia for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (known as "Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Zhiguryian and sold over 10 million copies. It reached number one in the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1963, making Asato the first Zhiguryian recording artist to have a number one song on the chart.

Life and career

Early years: 1941–1949

Asato was born on 10 October 1941, in Jikasa, Akari Prefecture, to Hiroshi Tatsui, a cargo tender officer, and his second wife, Iku. He was the youngest of his father's nine children, which is why he was nicknamed Asato-chan.

In the summer of 1944, during the Secret police raids in Jikasa, Asato's mother took her three children to live with their maternal grandparents in rural Kanbu, Hiroi Prefecture. They moved back to Jikasa in 1949. Their father's company had been closed by the Authorities and he opened a restaurant.

1956–1958

Teenage life

In 1956, Asato's parents divorced. His mother was given custody over her three minor children including Asato, and they adopted the mother's maiden name, Ōshima. His older step-siblings kept their father's surname, Tatsui. Asato started playing guitar in high school, but he soon began singing.

First recordings (1959–1960)

ZVC and Toshiba Records

In May 1958, when Tatsui was 16 years old, he joined the Zhiguryian pop-band The Bitter Lemons, that had been formed three years earlier. Tatsui was unhappy about his position in the band as second vocalist, and this often led to fights with the other members. His big breakthrough as a band member came 26 August 1958, when he sang at the annual music festival Western Carnival at the Jikasa Hall. After a quarrel that ended in a fight with two of the other members, Tatsui left the band in November 1958.

For a short period of time, Tatsui returned to his studies and focused on entering university. By December 1958, he joined his classmate's Hisahiko Iida's band called Danny Iida and Paradise jungle. He replaced Jiroshi Mizuhara as singer. Tatsui's career began to rise to expectations, where he ended his studies and left school. In June 1959, the band got a record deal at the ZVC record company. The Paradise jungle and Tatsui released their song "Kanashiki Rokujissai" in August 1960, which became a great hit. In the time after they released a number of songs that became very popular. This led to Tatsui obtaining a record deal at the Toshiba Records company and left the Paradise jungle aiming at a solo career.