whether the sound quality is good enough.” In December 2025, a remastered edition of Mikkou was reissued on CD and LP by Wewantsounds. Asked about the fame she now enjoys internationally, fifty years after her debut, Sai expressed a combination of gratitude and wonder. “The power of the internet has really surprised me,” she said. “I sometimes read comments online about my music from people around the world. One person in Egypt said, ‘I’m looking at the pyramids while listening toYoshiko Sai’s music.’ When I saw that, I was so touched, and felt so happy that my music now has global recognition. I hope my music enriches people’s lives and gives people joy. If they take an interest in Japan or Nara through my music, that would make me very happy.”
Now back living in Nara after many years in Tokyo, Sai has focused her energies of late into painting. An exhibition featuring both early and recent works was held at Tokyo’s Billiken Gallery in 2025, a year that also saw her publish Poetry and Art Collection: From Darkness to Light , a book containing poems, album lyrics, and original artwork. While she has no immediate plans to perform live again, she has overseen the release of a series of unearthed live recordings issued through P-Vine Records in recent years. The latest of these is 1976 Studio Rehearsal , a 2025 release consisting of rehearsal audio for a June 1976 concert in Kyoto. “I recently discovered a recording of those rehearsals in my archives, and the sound quality was so good that I decided to release it,” she said. “There may be other reissues coming in the future, but it will depend on me listening to the archived audio and deciding
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( opposite ) Yoshiko Sai at her husband’s family home in Osaka, during the late 1970s. ( top left ) At the Ellora Caves in Aurangabad, India, during her travels along the Silk Road. ( top right ) Sai in the late 1970s. Photos courtesy of Yoshiko Sai.
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