'Beethoven of Japan' apologizes for 'causing trouble with my lies'

Takashi Niigaki, a part-time university professor, attends a news conference in Tokyo in this photo taken by Kyodo February 6, 2014. Niigaki has admitted on Thursday that he has been the ghost writer for nearly two decades for Mamoru Samuragochi, a famous Japanese classical composer who has been called "Japan's Beethoven" and who claims to be deaf. [Photo/Agencies]

In tune and top of her game

Heavy metal magic

Samuragochi collaborated with part-time university professor Takashi Niigaki for 18 years to compose his music after suffering hearing loss.

He said on Friday that he and Niigaki would meet in a coffee shop in the Shinjuku entertainment district of western Tokyo and work out how Niigaki would compose the music. Niigaki, he said, kept negotiating for higher fees.

"I wrote out what I wanted and the general plans, then Niigaki wrote the music," he said.

"If you ask if that means I defrauded people who bought my CDs, then yes, I did," he said, biting his lip.

Samuragochi gained international fame for his "Hiroshima Symphony", a tribute to the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of the Japanese city.

He also apologized to television stations and newspapers which had supported his career as well as figure skater Daisuke Takahashi, who used Samuragochi's music in his short program at the Sochi Winter Olympics last month.

"I know that it was wrong to use a ghost writer, but it is true that I wanted to use my music to bring light to people who were having tough times," he said.

The scandal has riveted Japan, with two television stations broadcasting live the first 30 minutes of the two-hour news conference.

Music industry analysts say part of his popularity was the result of promotion by an industry eager to put a human face to classical music and retain a shrinking market share as Japan ages.