Guitarist Shinji Shiotsugu passed away in a Tochigi hospital early on Sunday, suffering from heart failure. He was 57. He was scheduled to play a show in Tochigi on Saturday night, but he was taken to the hospital just before the concert after he suddenly collapsed.

Shiotsugu was a founder of the Kyoto-based West Road Blues Band in 1971, and he became one of the key figures in Japan's blues boom. He continued on with a solo career and is still recognized to this day as one of the country's top blues guitarists.