Hiroji Miyamoto Japanese Singer With 871K Followers on X

Early life

Hiroji Miyamoto was born on 12 June 1966 in Akabane, Japan. He grew up close to music. During the third to fifth grades of elementary school he sang with the NHK Tokyo Children's Choir, and at the age of ten he released a solo single, "Hajimete no Boku Desu". The record credited him with his name written in hiragana rather than kanji. It was broadcast on the NHK programme Minna no Uta and sold more than 100,000 copies. He later studied at Tokyo International University, which is listed as his alma mater.

Career

In 1981, while still in middle school, Miyamoto formed the rock band Elephant Kashimashi with his classmates. He serves as its lead vocalist and songwriter. The group made its major debut in 1989 on the Epic/Sony Records label and was still performing and recording as of 2023.

Alongside music he has worked as an actor. His acting debut came in 2000 in the Japanese television drama Friends, broadcast on TBS.

Miyamoto began a solo career in 2018 under the talent agency Amuse and the label Universal Music Japan. His first solo release was a digital duet single, "Kemono Yuku Hosomichi", recorded with Ringo Sheena. The song served as the theme for the Nippon TV news programme zero news. In the same year he appeared on the NHK New Year programme Kōhaku Uta Gassen, in its 69th edition, as a solo performer for the first time. The single "Fuyu no Hana" followed in 2019.

In 2020 he released his first full-length solo album, Miyamoto, Dokupo. He then turned to a different repertoire with Romance, a collection of covers of kayōkyoku songs. His discography also includes the album Jūō-Mujin, and in 2022, on his birthday, he issued his first home-video release, Jūō Mujin Kanketsu-hen, on DVD. Reference works describe his recordings as rock and children's songs, and list the guitar as his instrument. By one count his solo output includes four albums, five physical singles, four digital singles and two video releases.

Beyond the band and his own records, his catalogue includes collaborations with other artists, such as the duet with Ringo Sheena mentioned above. Elephant Kashimashi has its own separate discography.

Recognition

For his acting debut he received the Best New Actor award at the 26th Television Drama Academy Awards. In 2021 he was recognised in the pop-entertainment category of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Prize, an official award for outstanding work in the arts.

Public roles

Miyamoto is the figure most associated with Elephant Kashimashi, and he is also known to a wider audience through his solo work and appearances on national broadcasts such as the Kōhaku programme. On social media he has a large following; his account on X was listed with about 871,000 followers in July 2026.