Japan's Ryuichi Sakamoto, composer of 'The Last Emperor' score, dies aged 71

Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Oscar-winning Japanese composer famed for his scores for 'The Last Emperor', 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence' and other epic films, has died aged 71.

Sakamoto was also known for his acting, and for his work with the pioneering electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) which he co-founded.

"He lived with music until the very end," Avex, the recording company he worked with, said on its website. He had been suffering from cancer, but kept working in his home studio whenever his health allowed, the statement added.

He died on 28 March, Avex said.

Introduced to the piano as a toddler, Sakamoto lived for music. As a high schooler, he rode on Tokyo commuter carriages so packed nobody could move, amusing himself by counting all the different sounds the train made along the way.

Sakamoto, who described French composer Claude Debussy as his hero, studied ethnomusicology at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, with particular interest in the traditional music of Japan's Okinawa prefecture as well as Indian and African musical traditions.

"Asian music heavily influenced Debussy, and Debussy heavily influenced me. So the music goes around the world and comes full circle," he told WNYC public radio in 2010.

Embracing electronic music, he and fellow studio musicians Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi formed YMO in 1978. The band's groundbreaking use of a vast array of electronic instruments brought both domestic and global success.

Sakamoto's first score was for the 1983 film 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence', in which he also played the commandant of a prisoner of war camp, starring alongside David Bowie. The score went on to win a BAFTA.

His most celebrated work was 1987's 'The Last Emperor' - a film in which he also acted. The score won an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe.