is the drummer

Drummer

A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

 of the Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 rock band Asian Kung-Fu Generation

Asian Kung-fu Generation

, typeset as ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, is a Japanese rock band formed in Yokohama, Japan in 1996. For nearly its entire career, the band has consisted of vocalist Masafumi Gotō, guitarist Kensuke Kita, bassist Takahiro Yamada, and drummer Kiyoshi Ijichi...

. Ijichi credits the origin of his drumming ability to playing in marching band

Marching band

Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...

s in junior high.

He met fellow band members Masafumi Gotō

Masafumi Goto

is the lead vocalist, main songwriter and rhythm guitarist of the Japanese rock band Asian Kung-Fu Generation. Masafumi met fellow band members Kensuke Kita and Takahiro Yamada while attending a music club of Kanto Gakuin University. The three formed Asian Kung-Fu Generation in 1996, with drummer...

, Kensuke Kita

Kensuke Kita

is the lead guitarist and backing singer of the Japanese rock band Asian Kung-Fu Generation. Kensuke met fellow band members Masafumi Gotō and Takahiro Yamada while attending a music club of Kanto Gakuin University. The three formed Asian Kung-Fu Generation in 1996, with drummer Kiyoshi Ijichi...

, and Takahiro Yamada

Takahiro Yamada (musician)

is the bass player and backing singer of the Japanese rock band Asian Kung-Fu Generation. Yamada met fellow band members Masafumi Gotō and Kensuke Kita while attending a music club of Kanto Gakuin University...

 while attending Kanto Gakuin University

Kanto Gakuin University

is a private university located in Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The school's official English name is Mabie Memorial School.-History:It traces its roots to The Baptist Theological Seminary of Yokohama established by Albert Arnold Bennett, a missionary of the American Baptist Missionary Union, in...

 in 1996. Unlike the others, Ijichi had prior band experience and was a member of another college band when approached by the three. After parting ways with his old band, Ijichi joined Gotō, Kita, and Yamada to form Asian Kung-Fu Generation and the four have been together ever since.

Aside from drumming, Ijichi is a skilled pianist and can be heard playing an excerpt of "Claire de Lune" from Debussy's Suite bergamasque

Suite bergamasque

The Suite bergamasque is one of the most famous piano suites by Claude Debussy. Debussy commenced the suite in 1890 at age 28, but he did not finish or publish it until 1905.-History:...

for the intro of "Moonlight." He has a degree in engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 and his favourite bands are Brian Setzer

Brian Setzer

Brian Setzer is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He first found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly revival group The Stray Cats, and revitalized his career in the late 1990s with a jazz-oriented big band.-Career:Setzer was born in Massapequa, New York...

, Link, King Bee and Hi-Standard

Hi-Standard

Hi-Standard is a Japanese punk rock band who formed in 1991. The release Making the Road sparked sold-out Japan shows and US/European tours with punk bands such as NOFX, No Use for a Name and WIZO. Although members of Hi-Standard were Japanese born, all of the band's major releases were sung in...

. In comparison to his bandmates, Ijichi is fairly indifferent towards British alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

, instead preferring American and Japanese punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

. He is the only member of the group who listens to heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

. Kiyoshi is a part of a small number of Japanese Christians

Christianity in Japan

Christianity is a minority religion in Japan, with less than one percent claiming Christian belief or affiliation. Nearly all known traditional denominations of Christianity, including Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodox Christianity are represented in Japan today.The root of the Japanese...

.