Before launching his solo career, Japanese singer-songwriter and composer Kazumasa Oda was a member of the ’70s and ’80s soft-rock band Off Course. ∙ Oda cowrote and was featured on “Ima Dakara,” a 1985 No. 1 pop-rock hit for Japanese superstar Yumi Matsutoya. ∙ His 1986 solo debut album, K. Oda, featured the award-winning American session musicians Dann Huff (guitar), David Hungate (bass), and Jeff Porcaro (drums). ∙ “Love Story Wa Totsuzen Ni,” the chart-topping theme song for the TV drama Tokyo Love Story, was Japan’s best-selling single of 1991. ∙ In 1997, Oda’s ’80s-pop throwback “Tsutaetai Koto Ga Arunda” won Best Theme Song at the Television Drama Academy Awards. ∙ He became the oldest Japanese solo artist to have a No. 1 album when 2005’s Soukana topped the charts. ∙ Dōmo, from 2011, won Best Album at the Japan Record Awards, the country’s equivalent of the Grammys.