Career
She often makes use of vintage Casio keyboards and analog Moog synthesizers, as well as vocoders and other electronic instruments. Although as a child Minekawa had a short acting career, this interest has not resurfaced in her adult life (aside from her voice exclaiming "PlayStation!" in a recent commercial for the product). She has written professionally, as regular columnist in the Japanese edition of Keyboard Magazine.
She also contributed a serialized novel to the Japanese quarterly Bungei.
Minekawa"s musical influences are as varied as her lyrics. The influence of the British band Stereolab can also be heard in her music
While there are certainly touches of humor in her lyrics and tone, she is a sincere fan of Krautrock, particularly the earlier works of electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk, to whom she dedicated the song Kraftpark! Another influence is former Yellow Magic Orchestra member Haruomi Hosono, who she paid tribute to with cover versions of his song "Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa" (1984), in 1995 and again in 2007 with Ryuichi Sakamoto. In an interview, Minekawa explained her admiration for the band: "I decided to describe the landscape of Kraftpark with sound and narration.
This song is not a parody of Kraftwerk.
I did it because I love them!"
After a 13-year hiatus, Minekawa recorded a new album, Toropical Circle with collaborator Dustin Wong, in 2013.
