Sound of Harmony

This blog is dedicated to KOKIA (Akiko Yoshida), a singer-songwriter from Japan. Mostly known for her work for anime/game soundtracks, she's also very active in releasing original work. This is a fan-created, unofficial blog. Feel free to ask or submit! Upcoming and recent releases February 22, 2026 - LAYERS album April 29, 2026 - Digital release of pieces 2 July 24, 2026 - Tales of Orchestra Concert ~30th Anniversary~ concert album Upcoming performances and events May 30, 2026 - Determination at Billboard Live Osaka June 6, 2026 - Determination at Billboard Live Tokyo June 13, 2026 - Anime Symphony, Palais des Congrès, Paris, France June 21, 2026 - Reflections on 20 years of independence, sonorium, Tokyo

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📌Welcome to KOKIAfans.com!

This is an unofficial, fan-created blog to keep you up to date with KOKIA in English. Most of the information comes in the form of (blog) translations, answered questions, promotion of events, and promotion of new releases (recent ones linked in the sidebar (desktop) /header (mobile)).

As of February 17, 2026: please read this notice on the status of updates. (current information until further notice)

Contact me: Ask || Submit || Twitter || Mail: info[@]kokiafans.com

Quick links for mobile: KOKIA links ♫ KOKIA discography ♫ FAQ

This pinned post was last updated on February 17, 2026.

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On July 22, KOKIA celebrated her 50th birthday! Belated but no less happy birthday wishes to KOKIA and many more years to come!

She shared the above image on her official Instagram, thanking everyone for showing up for her birthday celebration and for all the well-wishes.

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KOKIA updates: March-April 2026

Below follows a summary of KOKIA’s activities from March and April 2026. Due to the significant backlog I have unfortunately accumulated, I have made posts per month to catch up. With this entry, I am caught up on full months and will do my best to avoid further backlog. I have combined the months of March and April 2026 below, as there wasn't a lot to cover in March. Please read this post for a further explanation, and thank you in advance for your continued patience and support.

As a note: KOKIA news is becoming scattered over platforms, so if I’ve missed something, please don’t hesitate to point it out!

Performances

On March 29, KOKIA held her concert Hidamari ('sunny spot')- anata no haru o terasu uta -A Song to Light Your Spring- at the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse #1, which sold out completely. She mentions on Instagram how the performance lived up to its title, the sun dazzling to make a sunny spot in early spring. She went to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and got really powered up by all the cherry blossoms, as she mentions on Instagram.

Her next performances will be at Billboard Live Osaka on May 30 and at Billboard Live Tokyo at June 6: Jinsei wa koko kara fukaku naru — Determination — ('life becoming deeper from hereon'). As she's reaching 20 years of independence, she's also starting to reflect on what that means and how she can bring that to these performances.

In her March 13 blog entry, she also reminds us of her June 13 appearance at Anime Symphony in Paris, France.

It turns out from KOKIA's blog entry from April 19 that she held a concert on April 11, 'a performance reflecting on my 20th anniversary of independence through stories and songs', but it sold out so fast for fan club members that tickets never went up for general sale. She talked a lot more than usual during the performance, and to sum it up, she just wants to say 'Thank you. And please continue to support me from hereon, too.'

She is planning a do-over on June 21, with a different set list, at the sonorium in Tokyo, as her 20th anniversary of independence reflection vol. 2.

Releases

On April 29, her 28th anniversary, KOKIA's album pieces 2 gets a digital release on streaming platforms, after its physical release on her web shop in 2022. This album contains tie-in songs she's done for games and anime, so it's called her outwork collection (after having done a first album of earlier tie-in songs, the first pieces). As she explains in her April 29 blog entry, it was a highly requested digital release she's now finally able to fulfill, and she personally enjoys the more rock-like song Shoudou ('Impulse') on it.

Other

KOKIA posts her reminders of her weekly radio show Kotodama potori ('the spirit of language, plop'), and she's archiving the recordings on her official YouTube channel now (with some delay after first airing).

In her March 14 blog entry, she also mentions her new cafe & gallery Hotori. Apparently people have expressed their surprise at KOKIA showing up there herself. She figured it would be self-explanatory that she would be there if she said she was opening a cafe, but here is her explicit confirmation to clean up confusion. The cafe will be open for 3 consecutive weekends in May.

Anniversary

April 29 marks KOKIA's 28th anniversary since her debut. She reflects on this milestone in her blog entry of the day itself, mentioning how she continues the 100 candles project she started last year. She lit 100 candles (referring to her song kokoro no rousoku, 'candle in the heart’) for a 100 prayers. After being lit, the candles will be signed and sold with a special postcard. Last year, she drew birds for the candles; she's considering bunnies this year. The candles will be sold at her cafe this time, as she's not doing a national tour, starting April 30 (two candles per person max). She shares a photo of the candles on her Instagram.

May of this year also marks KOKIA's 20 year anniversary of independence. Alongside her reflective performances listed above, she also has a secret goal this year, which she calls her 'breath challenge': to repeat songs as little as possible in between all her performances this anniversary year. So far, she is succeeding, having only 2 songs repeated between her March and April performances and the planned set lists for May and June.

And of course, she continues to express her gratitude for the support from her fans, making two separate posts on Instagram as well.

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KOKIA updates: February 2026

Below follows a summary of KOKIA’s activities from February 2026. Due to the significant backlog I have unfortunately accumulated, I will be making posts per month to catch up. Please read this post for a further explanation, and thank you in advance for your continued patience and support.

As a note: KOKIA news is becoming scattered over platforms, so if I’ve missed something, please don’t hesitate to point it out!

Performances

In her news entry of February 7, KOKIA announces a new concert. She'll be returning to Billboard Live Osaka and Tokyo for the first time in 4 and 7 years respectively with Jinsei wa koko kara fukaku naru — Determination — ('life becoming deeper from hereon'). She'll perform two times on May 30 at Billboard Live Osaka, and two times on June 6 at Billboard Live Tokyo.

In exciting news for European fans, KOKIA announces in her news entry of February 22 that she will be returning to Paris, France for the orchestra concert Anime Symphony. She's very happy to get to return to Paris again after having performed there in the past, calling the city her home base in Europe. The performance will be on June 13 at the Palais des Congrès.

The official website mentions how this will be the world premiere for the performance, and lists multiple guests of honor alongside KOKIA, with KOKIA being credited for Origin ~Spirits of the past (the songs Chouwa oto and Ai no melody), Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ (the songs KARMA and Transparent), Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (the song Kioku no hikari), and The Ancient Magus' Bride (the song Seirei no mai ~Dance of the Spirit).

Releases

As per her news entry of February 22, the album version of LAYERS is now available on KOKIA's official web shop for the physical release, and also via various streaming services. The physical album contains 4 extra songs not available via streaming (these being tie-in songs like Chouwa oto).

Other

In her February 14 news entry, announces the name and opening of her new cafe: Cafe and Gallery Hotori ('edge'). The grand opening is on February 23, and it's at KOKIA's private studio '01073 house', where she's also performed a couple of times. The cafe is like a 'mirage' with irregular business hours; she'll announce the opening days on its Instagram page. There are only 6 tables with 17 seats total; 4 tables can be reserved ahead of time via the official website. The name comes from the tagline: "Where time slowly unwinds, at the edge of everyday life."

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KOKIA updates: January 2026

Below follows a summary of KOKIA’s activities from January 2026. Due to the significant backlog I have unfortunately accumulated, I will be making posts per month to catch up. Please read this post for a further explanation, and thank you in advance for your continued patience and support.

As a note: KOKIA news is becoming scattered over platforms, so if I’ve missed something, please don’t hesitate to point it out!

Performances

KOKIA holds her New Year's Greeting "Let's Celebrate" concert at the Cotton Club in Tokyo on January 25. She reports on Instagram how she felt it was a nice clear start of the year after a shower of sounds.

In her news article of January 28 and on Instagram, KOKIA announces that on March 29, she will perform at the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse #1 with her concert Hidamari - anata no haru o terasu uta -A Song to Light Your Spring- (with Hidamari translating to a sunny spot), to greet the start of spring and make it something special.

Releases

On January 21, the Blu-ray version of Yuki Kajiura’s LIVE vol.#21～60 Songs～ concert gets released. It features the final day of the concert, where KOKIA performed as the surprise guest artist. The digest video was uploaded on the FictionJunction Official YouTube Channel, with KOKIA showing up around the 1 minute mark performing Kaze yo, fuke ('May the wind blow').

KOKIA uploads the special trailer of her LAYERS - lights and shadows - 2025 concert on her official YouTube channel on January 16 (and a portion of it as a reel on Instagram), with the Blu-ray release now available on her web shop (shipping started around January 19) and the promise the album version will also be on sale soon.

KOKIA reveals in her January 10 blog entry that she has written a song for Hong Kong singer and actress Gigi Yim: 'Voyage...'. As it's a start of a new chapter for Gigi Yim, the song is about embracing change, and having the winds guide you to special new experiences. The song is available via multiple streaming services linked here.

This month also sees the release of the Drama CD Mo Dao Zu Shi Soundtrack on January 23, featuring KOKIA with the song Kono uta ni chikaou ('let's vow to this song').

Other

For a limited time, KOKIA sells New Year's Lucky Bags on her official web shop in January. Many Japanese stores offer these surprise goodie bags around the start of the year, often all with different items, and KOKIA has joined them this year with her own Happy Bag. It sells for ¥ 5,000, with her listing the value of the content is at least ¥ 9,000 and also includes a KOKIA illustration and signature.

On January 10, KOKIA makes her first blog post of the year. She explains how the new year started a bit late for her as she was spending time with her son, Leo. He had come to Japan from boarding school in London, with KOKIA picking him up straight after her Tales of concert in December. They celebrated Christmas in Finland and stopped by in Sweden before arriving in Japan for the New Year's. They then celebrated Leo's tenth birthday a little early, as he had to return to London before his birthday proper, so it has been a busy time in the KOKIA household.

In her blog entry of January 12, KOKIA reminds us that she has started her new radio show Kotodama potori ('the spirit of language, plop') on January 4, and shares information she already told there. This includes the two concerts mentioned above under Performances, but also a reminder of her free mail magazine, called KOKIA no ki ('KOKIA tree'). In that magazine, she will announce more details of her new cafe that she's starting. The name will be revealed on the coffee coupons handed out to everyone attending her Cotton Club performance on January 25.

[kokiafans]

KOKIA updates: December 2025

Below follows a summary of KOKIA’s activities from December 2025. Due to the significant backlog I have unfortunately accumulated, I will be making posts per month to catch up. Please read this post for a further explanation, and thank you in advance for your continued patience and support.

As a note: KOKIA news is becoming scattered over platforms, so if I’ve missed something, please don’t hesitate to point it out!

Performances

As already announced before on weibo, KOKIA has a very short news update on December 1 on her own website to announce the January 30 performance of LAYERS in Shanghai has unfortunately been canceled.

She does still have one performance left in 2025: the Tales of Orchestra concert on December 21. KOKIA looks back on the concert on Instagram, citing how it's been a while since she last performed with a full orchestra and how grateful she is to the audience. (Cast photo via the Tales of series events official Twitter).

Releases

On December 20, KOKIA announces via Instagram that pre-orders are now open for her LAYERS Blu-ray, scheduled for release in the new year on February 22.

The Tales of Orchestra concert ~30th anniversary~ concert album is also announced almost immediately after the concert, accepting pre-orders until March with a scheduled release date of July 24, 2026. KOKIA is featured with the songs Follow the Nightingale, New day, New Life and say goodbye & good day.

Other

After her previous radio show The Essence of Music was discontinued half a year ago, KOKIA announces on December 14 that she's starting fresh in the new year, on January 4, with a new radio show: Kotodama potori ('the spirit of language, plop'). She hopes to show a new side of her to her audience through talking, saying things she can't say through song. The potori (onomatopoeia for something plopping in) refers to the sound that echoes in the heart from the good spirit of language, inviting in good things. To liven things up, she asks her audience to send her stories, thoughts, and questions via kokia[@]musicbird.co.jp.

The radio show is currently being archived on her official YouTube channel.

KOKIA also uploads a teaser of her virtual avatar KoKii on her official YouTube channel, featuring the new song Kokoro no hi ('light of the heart'). In her December 15 news entry and the new KoKii page on her website, KoKii has the following description:

"A miracle born in that one instant when the heartbeat of the dragon that watches over the cycle of life overlaps with KOKIA's music.

A songstress who loves singing, chanting, and ice cream.

In the space between the everlasting past and the eternal future, one tiny azure drop resonated through the ripples in the ether.

And we meet her.

Observing and remembering her songs and her adventures."

The new page shares the full design of KoKii, as designed by Tokiwata.

Finally, KOKIA makes her last Instagram post of 2025, sharing she went on a white fairy tale trip to recharge. She shares her well wishes for herself and everyone for the new year and thanks her fans for coloring her life. Onto 2026!

[kokiafans]

KOKIA updates: November 2025

Below follows a summary of KOKIA’s activities from November 2025. Due to the significant backlog I have unfortunately accumulated, I will be making posts per month to catch up. Please read this post for a further explanation, and thank you in advance for your continued patience and support.

As a note: KOKIA news is becoming scattered over platforms, so if I’ve missed something, please don’t hesitate to point it out!

Performances

On November 9, KOKIA holds her concert Chronicles of Kami Songs (unmei o kanderu kamikyoku), at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. It's her first concert to only feature tie-in songs she's done for games, anime and the like. In her November 11 blog entry, she mentions how it's been a while since she last performed in this familiar venue, and how the autograph session at the end was a last-minute decision. She really enjoyed hearing people tell her they never expected to hear certain songs performed on stage, and considers a volume 2 to cover the songs she had to cut this time, despite how challenging it was to put together. She also shares some photos on Instagram, expressing her gratitude for the standing ovation she received.

She also mentions the previously announced Tales of Orchestra concert again scheduled for December 21, and drops in information for the new year in the blog entry as well as her November 11 news entry (and Instagram): on January 25, 2026, she will open the new year with KOKIA 2026 New year's Greeting ”Let’s celebrate!!” at the COTTON CLUB in Marunouchi, Tokyo. It'll be her first time performing at this venue, which has a stylish atmosphere and isn't all that big, so she suggests to buy tickets early.

November is also when her China tour picks up, with KOKIA hitting 6 different cities. Our Story Goes On starts off in Chengdu on November 14, noting her impression of this city was of pandas (which is apt, going by the photos on Instagram). She really enjoyed her time here.

Next up is Chongqing on November 15, where she hasn't been before, and she mentions on Instagram how her audience taught her about its stilt building complex Hongya Dong and how lovely the landscapes of the city are. She went out to see the complex later. In her next post, she expresses of course her gratitude to her audience giving her a warm reception in a new place, making it an unforgettable time. She also thanks her 'sound rangers' later, her tour members this time: Kenichirou Shinzawa (piano), Norihito Sumitomo (saxophone/keyboard) and Falcon (guitar).

The tour then continues to Shenzhen on November 21, Guangzhou on November 22 and Hangzhou on November 23.

After all that, KOKIA ends the month with a long blog entry on November 28. She calls a mission accomplished on the year, although there is still the Tales of Orchestra concert at the end of December. She is working hard on a Blu-ray and CD release of LAYERS, hoping to finish in time to enjoy a winter break. She praises herself lucky for her good health this year, and wishes for the same for the upcoming year. In 2024-2025, she's performed a lot locally where she hasn't been in a long time, but she won't be doing tours in Japan in 2026. Instead, she'll for a while focus on one-night-only concerts in big cities, mostly Tokyo, as she used to do. She plans on going overseas in 2026 however, as well as a new album and new challenges for herself.

Releases

As shared in KOKIA's news entry on November 2, the final day of Yuki Kajiura’s LIVE vol.#21～60 Songs～ concert is broadcasted on TBS channel, as a marathon after volumes #19 en #20 from the previous two years. KOKIA performed during this concert and is thus prominently featured. The broadcast is ahead of the Blu-ray release, scheduled for January 21, 2026. (Source Natalie.mu for the photos)

On November 26, The Ancient Magus' Bride Complete Best album releases on CD and streaming. The limited first edition (left) has an extra CD with instrumental tracks and a booklet, the normal edition (right) has 2 CDs. Both editions feature KOKIA's Seirei no mai ~Dance of the spirit.

Other

In her November 11 blog entry, KOKIA announces her virtual avatar KoKii into the world with the words 'I am KoKii'. It's one of many new things she's decided to try out, figuring out where she wants to be going the next 5 to 10 years after 2024-2025 and moving back from London. KoKii is also her, and she foresees endless possibilities when both KOKIA and KoKii come together.

[kokiafans]

KOKIA updates: October 2025

Below follows a summary of KOKIA’s activities from October 2025. Due to the significant backlog I have unfortunately accumulated, I will be making posts per month to catch up. Please read this post for a further explanation, and thank you in advance for your continued patience and support.

As a note: KOKIA news is becoming scattered over platforms, so if I’ve missed something, please don’t hesitate to point it out!

Performances

It turns out KOKIA had planned a secret concert for October 11 at the sonorium in Tokyo, fittingly titled Ghost. (Graphic below via padme_3333 on twitter, who also posted the set list.) KOKIA talks about it later in her blog entry of October 17, and mentions how the concert was a time to spend with loved ones who have passed, with the music blurring the border between this world and the next. KOKIA remembered her own lost loved ones during her performance and found it healing, hoping this was also the case for her audience. She kept it low-key due to it being the first time she's doing a performance like this, but would like to do it again.

Next up is her performance at Tokushima Yatsura Shrine rural community stage + music live, on October 19 for the 14th Humanoise project, although she doesn't appear to post much this month about the concert after her performance is over.

KOKIA does cover her upcoming concert on November 9, Chronicles of Kami Songs (unmei o kanderu kamikyoku), at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, in her October 4 news entry. She mentions here how it's been highly requested over the years that she performs the songs she's done for games and anime in concert, and this performance will mark her first tie-in songs only concert, also marking the first time for many of these songs to be performed live at all. She hopes to express the worlds from the works the songs originated from in her performance, making for a bedazzling concert. She also posts on Instagram for good measure on October 29.

Then, in her news entry of October 21 and later on Instagram, KOKIA reveals she's performing at the December 21 orchestra concert Tales of Orchestra concert at the Pacifico Yokohama convention center, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Tales Of game series with the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra. KOKIA is featured as a special guest, having previously written for Tales of Innocence and its remake with the singles Follow the Nightingale and New Day, New Life.

Releases

Harmonie, the 2014 short movie that KOKIA provided the ending song for, has become available on d anime store for streaming starting early October. The movie can be viewed through a monthly subscription or as a one-time purchase for unlimited viewing.

[kokiafans]

KOKIA updates: September 2025

Below follows a summary of KOKIA’s activities from September 2025. Due to the significant backlog I have unfortunately accumulated, I will be making posts per month to catch up. Please read this post for a further explanation, and thank you in advance for your continued patience and support.

As a note: KOKIA news is becoming scattered over platforms, so if I’ve missed something, please don’t hesitate to point it out!

Performances

September 13 marks the final chapter for KOKIA's LAYERS concert. In her September 16 blog entry afterwards, she mentions how after keeping this performance with multi-layers of sounds and voice warm for almost a decade, after the initial 2016 performance. This final performance featured some new songs and rearranged the previous songs and staging, making the whole performance fresh. She thanks everyone for their support and attendance, and hired 3 photographers to capture the show - she shares some on Instagram here, here and here.

She also takes the opportunity to announce an album of LAYERS, and that the photo pamphlet sold at the venue along with a postcard set with QR codes for performance videos are now available on the official web shop.

September also marks the start of her China tour, Our Story Goes On, kicking off in Shanghai on September 19. She immediately shares some photos after that performance on Instagram.

Ahead of the fan meeting in Shanghai on September 21, KOKIA posts a video and several animated gifs on her weibo page on September 12, and another video on September 15. She later on thanks everyone for attending and supporting her, in her audience photo on Instagram.

The next performance won't be until November, so she caps off this part of the tour with a final photo from Shanghai on Instagram.

In her news entry of September 8 and later on Instagram, KOKIA announces a new performance: she will perform at the Tokushima Yatsura Shrine rural community stage + music live on October 19 along with several other artists for the Humanoise project (archived official page here, English information by padme_3333 on Instagram). This will be a return, as KOKIA performed here for the same project before.

Another new performance is scheduled for the new year already, as announced on Instagram on September 29: LAYERS live in Shanghai, on January 30, will indeed mark KOKIA's performance of her LAYERS concert in Shanghai. Unfortunately, it will eventually end up being cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances, as announced on weibo on November 28.

Radio

KOKIA appears as a guest on Nippon broadcasting's 'Fumio Takada's Radio Beverly Hills' on September 9, as shared in her news entry a day earlier and on their Twitter (source for the photo below).

As per her September 26 news entry, she also makes an appearance on September 30 at MUSIC BIRD's Gow Wao!Radio program.

Other

To celebrate her 300th Instagram post, KOKIA shared a photo with herself and her son in front of the kokia/kochia plant (a nice red in fall, but now still green).

[kokiafans]

KOKIA updates: August 2025

Below follows a summary of KOKIA’s activities from August 2025. Due to the significant backlog I have unfortunately accumulated, I will be making posts per month to catch up. Please read this post for a further explanation, and thank you in advance for your continued patience and support.

As a note: KOKIA news is becoming scattered over platforms, so if I’ve missed something, please don’t hesitate to point it out!

Performances

Starting August 1, KOKIA performs at Yuki Kajiura’s LIVE vol.#21～60 Songs～. The performances are scattered over various locations: August 1 in Tokyo, at Shouwa’s Women University’s Hitomi Memorial Hall, on August 17 in Nagoya, PORTBASE, and on August 23/24 in Omiya, Sonic City. KOKIA perfomed the songs Rainbow ~Main Theme~ and Kaze yo, fuke ('may the wind blow'), which she previously recorded for Kajiura's albums The Works for Soundtrack and its part II. KOKIA posts on her Twitter on August 24, now that the final performance the day before has wrapped, expressing her gratitude and enjoyment of those 4 performances over the summer. Mission complete! Kajiura responded, thanking KOKIA in return for participating and letting her join in her KOKIA world. And of course, as it was a celebration of Kajiura's birthday, KOKIA congratulates her on Instagram later as well.

(Ensemble photo via Encore on Twitter)

Promotion for her Chinese tour Our Story Goes On continues, with her posting the ticket details for the November 14 performance in Chendu on her weibo, with the details for Beijing on November 19 following a bit later, and the ones for Shenzhen on November 21 after that. Shanghai is coming up first on September 19, and she announces merchandise for it on her weibo, including SVIP/VIP packages for the performance, adding more information on that later. The meet-and-greet is planned for the Sunday, September 21, which she details in a later weibo video.

Newly announced, first in KOKIA's Instagram post for August 1, is a concert at the Tokyo opera city concert hall on November 9: Chronicles of Kami Songs (unmei o kanderu kamikyoku). As the graphic for it shows with the titles in the background, it's a concert where she will only perform songs she's previously done as tie-ins to anime, games etc.

Releases

On August 7, KOKIA announces via Instagram that the Chinese language version of her song Arigatou... ('thank you...') is now available via several Chinese platforms (QQ Music, Kuwo and NetEase), with releases in other countries planned for the future. She writes a bit more in Chinese on her weibo on August 25.

The game Yuukyuu no Tier Blade, previously released on PlayStation Vita in 2016, was announced as available for the Nintendo Switch on August 7. KOKIA provided several songs for the original game.

Promotion

On August 14, KOKIA uploads an image video for the song Kumo no ito ~karma~ ('the spider's thread'), from her LAYERS concert, in preparation for the September 13 conclusive performance. The video can be watched on her official YouTube channel. In the news page update on the entry, she also links back to the promotional video for the original 2016 performance, which received a Blu-ray release a while ago. She does mention on Instagram that the 2025 performance won't feature these aerial performances, which were done by Mizuki Shinagawa, as the staging has changed.

KOKIA is featured on the radio program Afternoon Paradise on August 14 as a guest, performing several of her songs and promoting her upcoming concerts. A recap and photos can be found here on KOKIA.life.

KOKIA later on also appears on August 22 as a guest in Musicbird's ODAIBA RAINBOW STATION. This appearance gets posted on YouTube, with KOKIA first appearing around 22 minutes in.

She pops up again for Musicbird on August 31, this time at Gorou Ooishi Premium G.

[kokiafans]

KOKIA updates: July 2025

Below follows a summary of KOKIA’s activities from July 2025. Due to the significant backlog I have unfortunately accumulated, I will be making posts per month to catch up. Please read this post for a further explanation, and thank you in advance for your continued patience and support.

As a note: KOKIA news is becoming scattered over platforms, so if I’ve missed something, please don’t hesitate to point it out!

Performances

KOKIA's Once-in-a-lifetime meeting tour has come to an end in July, after wrapping up Kyoto, Sagas, Oita, Yamaguchi and Aichi. On July 29, she posts a collage on Instagram of all her performances. She expresses her gratitude to all the meetings and the growth of her musical family. This may be the end of one trip, but the beginning of a new one, as she'll appear at Yuki Kajiura's Live in August.

In her news entry of July 15, as well as on Instagram, KOKIA announces the concluding part of her 'LAYERS' concert on September 13, almost a full decade after the initial 2016 performance. She's adding new songs and a fresh production to this final chapter, transforming it into a world of layered voices and creating a whole world via song, imagery and dance. The concert is held at the great hall of the Meguro Persimmon hall in Tokyo.

On weibo, KOKIA posts ticket information for the Chongqing performance on November 15 for her Our Story Goes On tour in China, and later on for the performance on November 22 in Guangzhou. There will also be a fan meeting in Shanghai, the first performance on September 21.

In new performances, KOKIA notes in her July 30 news entry that fan club members should have received information about the pre-sale for her 'KOKIA Concert Chronicles of Kami Songs', which will be held on November 9.

Releases

On July 3, KOKIA announced the re-release of her 'The VOICE 10th anniversary concert' DVD, originally recorded on April 16, 2008. The DVD has the same footage as previously, except now including a new cover and a booklet. The bonus footage is a documentary of her world tour, 30 minutes including footage from France, Belgium and the closing Tokyo concert. The DVD is for sale on her official web shop.

On July 25, KOKIA announces on Instagram that there will be a Chinese version of her song Arigatou... ('thank you...'), with this version being the first time a chorus has been added to it. She's looking forward to it and will be sharing more details soon.

Other

From her news entry on July 2, KOKIA now has a free mail magazine, called KOKIA no ki ('KOKIA tree'). You can sign up by registering on this page to get news about KOKIA performances and other updates. Paid members of her fan club do get extra benefits, like pre-sale registration for concert tickets and access to limited events.

As shared before, KOKIA celebrated her 49th birthday on July 22, sharing a lovely photo on her Instagram along with her gratitude for all the well wishes, surprise songs, cakes and everything joyful.

Finally, KOKIA made a guest appearance on the radio show J-WAVE on July 26, and was put in charge of selecting songs for their Summer Breeze Songs theme.

[kokiafans]

Travel back in time - backlog update

First of all, my sincere apologies for the significant delay on updates for this blog. As I have explained in this post, I intended to make monthly summaries for all the months I haven't covered yet. I can now finally tell you that I have prepared all the posts, from July 2025 up to and including April 2026.

In order not to overwhelm the blog with new posts, I am setting these posts on a queue to post 3 times a day, meaning it should be all caught up on Tuesday, May 12 (I have combined March and April of this year).

After that, I will set aside some time later next week to update the sidebar and the discography page as well, so that everything should be up to date again for the time being.

From then on, I will try my best to at least deliver on monthly summaries. It has gotten more hectic to stay up to date, with KOKIA news all over various platforms these days, so it is probably not feasible to return to the old style anyway (as KOKIA doesn't make many blog posts herself anymore, for example).

Again, I am not planning on giving up on this blog, but I still need to find a way to keep it updated without too many sacrifices.

Thank you for your continuing patience, and I hope this blog can still serve as an English KOKIA information source, even if only from an archival point of view for the time being.

[kokiafans]

Status of updates, future of this blog

It might be very overdue, but I hope 2026 has started off well for you.

As you may have noticed, I have gotten severely behind on updating this blog, with the last updates covering June and KOKIA's birthday in July 2025.

Unfortunately, personal circumstances have made it very hard for me to stay on top of KOKIA news, especially now that is has become scattered over multiple platforms. It has gotten to the point where I will need to take some time off work to be able to play catch-up.

While I definitely do want to do that, that time off won't be for a while, so I wanted to leave you an update so you know what to expect for the near future.

For now, the blog will be on a semi-hiatus. I will work behind the scenes to prepare summary posts of all months from July 2025 until the present (one post per month seems reasonable). Once those are all done, I will queue them to post over a couple of days instead of all at once. However, please be aware this might still take at least another month for me to accomplish.

After that, I hope I will be able to post monthly summary posts again, so that I won't get as far behind as I am now. Unfortunately, that is merely my wish, and the factors that determine whether it can come true aren't all in my own hands. I will try my best, and I am still not giving up on this blog! However, with the state of the blog right now, I felt I owed you at least a little bit of an explanation, as unsatisfactory as it might be.

Thank you so much for your continuing patience as I attempt to sort it all out!

[kokiafans]

🛠 Tech update

A quick notice to let you know that after losing access to it for a while, the e-mail address of info[@]kokiafans.com is back in business to get in touch with me (remove the brackets).

I have also made a page that opens all track lists for KOKIA's full discography at once (linked on the discography page itself; direct link here). I am currently not able to come up with a more elegant solution than just 'make the same page twice with one line of code difference', but hopefully this works for now if you want to search KOKIA's entire discography at once.

This was just me hopping by taking care of some simple household stuff on this blog. I hope to get at least a summary post out in not too long. My apologies and thank you once more for your understanding and patience!

[kokiafans]

Hello, dear people. Can you tell me about the existence of the "spirits" off vocal/karaoke/instrumental version? I have searched through the whole discography, every single tracklist, but I only found the original song released in 2015. Meanwhile applemusic is presumably selling this karaoke and also there are a couple of people covering the song on YouTube. How come they get a song that was never released? If it was, why there is no information about it in wiki? Where do I get it? Thank you!

Hello there!

As it turns out, the instrumental version of Spirits was released back in 2015, as a bonus track on the soundtrack of Arcadia no aoki miko ('Blue maidens of Arcadia'), the game the song was written for. I had indeed not listed this before in the discography page, but this has been updated now. I wasn't actually aware of an instrumental version existing, so thanks for bringing it to my attention! I hope this helps you.

Your question made me realize here was no button to easily open all track lists in the discography page, making it tricky to search the full page. For now, I have put a link at the top that will open all track lists at once (direct link here). This separate page was a very quick fix I could do now. I hope to come up with a better solution later, but hopefully this is at least a little helpful for searching through KOKIA's entire discography at once.

(If you're referring to the actual wikipedia page for KOKIA: I'm sorry, but I'm not a wikipedia editor, so I cannot help you there. I hope the update on this website helped you though!)

[kokiafans]

A very happy birthday to KOKIA!!! 🌻🌻🌻

The very best wishes and many more years to come!

KOKIA herself shared the above post on Instagram to thank everyone for their well wishes, surprise songs, cakes and everything joyful.

[kokiafans]

KOKIA updates: April-June, 2025

Below follows a summary of KOKIA’s activities from April 21 to June 30, 2025. For now, this will remain the style of updates of this blog for the foreseeable future - please read this post for a further explanation, and thank you in advance for your continued patience and support.

As a note: KOKIA news is becoming scattered over platforms, so if I've missed something, please don't hesitate to point it out!

Once-in-a-lifetime meeting tour 2025

Most of KOKIA's news entries have been about the upcoming performances in her Once-in-a-lifetime meeting tour 2025. The entries for May 1 and May 8 list the pre-sale for fan club members and general ticket sales respectively, and in the different entries for June 21, she adds links for Saga, Oita, Yamaguchi, and what seems to be a newly added performance in Kyoto (thus far missing from the line-up, although I might have missed it myself before).

In her June 21 blog entry, KOKIA talks about how much she's enjoying the tourand how many people came to see her for the first time in Osaka (May 17 and 18) and Sapporo (June 7). Via Instagram, she shared the wonderful venue in Osaka. The rest of the entry is a summary of the July schedule with ticket links, and she mentions looking forward to the summer as a summer child herself (with her birthday being July 22). The tour will have its finale in Nagoya, Aichi prefecture.

Remainder of tour:

July 5 and 6, 2025 - Kyoto prefecture, Kyoto Cultural Museum annex hall

July 20, 2025 - Saga prefecture, Roman-za

July 21, 2025 - Oita prefecture, BRICK BLOCK

July 26, 2025 - Yamaguchi prefecture, Jazz Club BILLIE

July 27, 2025 - Aichi prefecture, Denkibunka hall The Concert Hall

Upcoming new performances

In her June 10 news entry, KOKIA reveals fan club members have received notice of pre-sales for KOKIA LAYERS 2025 - Lights and Shadows - shinrabanshou ('the whole of creation'). PRTimes.jp reveals that this conclusion to her 2016 performance will be held on September 13 in Tokyo, at the Meguro Persimmon Great Hall with 5 new songs in a new production, completing the multi-layered voice concept from the first performance.

The article also mentions the long awaited album release of LAYERS coming up.

Finally, it concludes with planned overseas performances in January 2026, as mentioned by KOKIA before, though no countries are listed yet.

Next, KOKIA announced on Instagram the start of a new Chinese tour in September: Our Story Goes On - songs interweaving our hearts-. She'll visit Shanghai, Chongqing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen... (she trails off there, but the poster doesn't seem to list more places either).

Later on Instagram, she reveals Shanghai will be first, on September 19. In the next Instagram post, she reveals tickets will be on sale starting June 23, with ticket links in the post. It'll be at AIA Grand Theater (北外灘 友邦大劇院).

She also uploaded an announcement video on weibo and bilibili.

Promotional events

KOKIA's May 16 news entry shares the digest video on her official YouTube channel of her 2024 tour, which is currently on sale on Blu-ray on the official web shop. It was also posted as a reel on Instagram. Featured songs, in order, are Hana ('Flower'), Kotou ('isolated island'), Kirin ('Giraffe'),  Chouwa ('Harmony'), Il mare dei suoni ('The sea of sounds'), Yume no tochuu ('on my way to my dream’).

In her May 5 blog entry, KOKIA mentions she celebrated her 27th anniversary on April 29; she lit 100 candles (referring to her song kokoro no rousoku, 'candle in the heart') for a 100 prayers, as she is already looking ahead to her 30th anniversary. She plans to do this every year until her 30th anniversary. She lit all the candles, signed an numbered them, and would sell them all with a special postcard at the Osaka performance (see also her Instagram post). The candles serve as a way to connect to her fans, to strengthen the flames in their hearts, may prayers and wishes come true with them. Like the lyrics of the song go: 'A light to illuminate the darkness, a candle in the heart, soul, a candle per person in our heart, to illuminate someone with a soft light'.

On Instagram, she announced that Sunday, June 29 was the last episode of her radio show The Essence of Music, and she thanks everyone for keeping her company at nap hour (since it aired at 1:30 AM).

Other

KOKIA posted a picture of the sea on April 29, her 27th anniversary. She quotes from the song I believe ~umi no soko kara~ ('from the bottom of the sea'): 'I believe this voice will surely reach you, I believe that, I'll keep singing the sea of sounds'. She believes as surely as this sea connects to places, so her sea of sounds connects to everyone.

She also made an Instagram post of her going to see the blue Nemophila flowers at the Hitachi seaside park; next when she'll be there, it's the season of KOKIA (kochia bushes).