Rake is a Japanese singer-songwriter who topped the Japanese charts in the early 2010s. ∙ After being tapped as the theme song for the TV drama TAXMEN, Rake’s 2010 debut, “Fly Away,” got so much airplay that it hit No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart. ∙ His 2011 single “100mankai no ‘I Love you’” reached No. 25 on the Japanese charts and went on to become the singer’s signature song. ∙ “Yumewo Idaite Hajimarino Clis Road,” from his 2013 album, Free Bird, was used as the closing theme of the anime TV series Naruto: Shippuden. ∙ After announcing in 2015 that he was leaving music behind, Rake re-emerged three years later as an aspiring travel influencer, heading up a new venture called Samurai Japan Project.