A man once dubbed "Japan's Beethoven", who now admits someone else wrote his music and whose ghost composer claims he can hear perfectly well, has apologised for his deception but insisted he used to be deaf.
Mamoru Samuragochi says his impairment has improved but, that when he had first paid part-time music school teacher Takashi Niigaki to pen works in his name, he had been unable to hear.
Not "Japan's Beethoven" after all: Mamoru Samuragochi can't even write sheet music.Credit: AFP
"I feel deeply ashamed of myself for living a false life," Samuragochi said in a statement on Wednesday.
"I also apologise to Mr. Niigaki, whose life went wrong because of complying with my demands for 18 years.
Mamoru Samuragochi's CD sales surge.Credit: Reuters
"In recent years I have started to be able to hear a little bit more than before ... since about three years ago I can hear words if people speak clearly and slowly into my ears.
"It is true that I received a certificate proving I had a hearing disorder and that I couldn't hear anything up until three years ago."
The scandal broke last week when Samuragochi, who is credited with being behind an anthemic tribute to the tenacity of Japan's tsunami survivors, admitted he had been paying someone else to write his music for nearly two decades.
A day later, Niigaki came forward to hold a lengthy press conference in which he revealed he had earned just Y7 million ($A75,700) for writing more than 20 pieces and claimed Samuragochi's hearing disability was an act.
"I've never felt he was deaf ever since we met," Niigaki said last week.
"We carry on normal conversations. I don't think he is (handicapped).
Japan's often sentimental media had previously lapped up Samuragochi's story, feasting on the narrative of a tortured genius who had been robbed of the ability to hear the beautiful music he made.
Samuragochi's star burned all the brighter after a documentary entitled Melody of the Soul, was shown on NHK last year.
Cameras followed Samuragochi, whose long, flowing hair and permanent sunglasses made him look the part, as he toured the tsunami-battered Tohoku region to meet survivors and those who lost relatives in the 2011 catastrophe.
The film showed Samuragochi playing with a small girl whose mother was killed in the disaster and apparently composing a requiem for her.
"I'm determined to quit telling lie after lie," his Wednesday statement said.
"I swear by heaven and earth that what I write here today is the truth."
AFP