What struck Shimomura was the diversity of Capcom’s music department. In her early days, she took inspiration from Mozart, Chopin, and Ravel as well as video game composers like Koji Kondo, whose earworm sense of melody encouraged Shimomura to approach scoring like crafting jingles. I got really down, and even cried on my way home sometimes.” Her parents disapproved of working in video games, hoping she’d find stable income as a piano teacher. Shimomura struggled at Capcom initially, telling Red Bull in 2014, “I only learned about composition in class as a minor part of a standard music education… It was really tough after joining. Although she had no compositional experience, she loved arcade games and fought for the position. While getting her degree at the Osaka College of Music in 1988, she happened upon a classified ad for composers at Capcom. She was unsure about pursuing a career in composition and figured piano teachers were in high demand. From a young age, she was fascinated by classical music and began playing piano in junior high school. Yoko Shimomura was born in Hyogo, Japan in 1967. In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, learn the story behind the legendary composer and her iconic works. One could even call the epic, classically-inspired sounds of the Kingdom Hearts, Parasite Eve, and Street Fighter II themes to be “ perfect.” In a male-dominated video game industry, Shimomura carved her own lane and cemented her place in soundtrack history through her work at developers Capcom and Square Enix. Yoko Shimomura has been crafting the soundtrack to countless childhoods for decades.
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