Kazutoshi Sakurai

Kazutoshi Sakurai (桜井 和寿, Sakurai Kazutoshi?, born 櫻井 和寿, March 8, 1970 in Tokyo) is a Japanese musician and entrepreneur. He is known as one of the greatest songwriters and lyricists in Japan. He composes and writes almost all of the songs for his band Mr. Children, in addition to writing lyrics and singing for his solo project group Bank Band. In 2006, Sakurai ranked #8 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singers of All Time" and in 2007 was voted #4 as the "ideal father image" by Oricon. Also, in 2009, he was chosen as one of the Young Global Leaders in World Economic Forum. As an entrepreneur, he co-founded AP Bank, where he personally provided $1 million dollars of seed money to launch and fund the nonprofit lending group which finances environmentally friendly projects.