Arimura Ryutaro was born in March 06, 1973 in Chiba, Japan. He developed the need to be alone at an early age, as he endured an unsteady life due to moving around and changing schools constantly. Making friends was hard since he wasn't going to be at the same place for a long amount of time. His strange dialect also caused him to be made fun of by fellow class mates. However, Ryutaro found company through his concern and love for animals. He would volunteer to feed the classroom pets and would even talk to them.
During Junior High he became very interested in music. In his senior year of high school he joined his first band band boom. Though he had the passion for music, he was unable to get very far with performing due to stage fright.
In the 1990's he met Akira Nakayama (who would later be Plastic Tree's guitarist) and the two were in the bands RELIGION MIX and DROP'IN SHOP LIFTERS. The bands broke off eventually and Ryutaro found himself doing some solo work. He worked part time jobs to get by but continued to search for a songwriter that he could sing for. This was until he met Takashi Hasegawa. Takashi was also an aspiring musician, who was already in a band, and Ryutaro took a deep liking for his style and wanted to work with him. A friendship sparked instantly due to the fact they had many similarities, such as movies and music interests. The two formed CAM-FLAGE in December of 1993, later joined by past band mate Akira and a drummer named Koji. Koji was later replaced by Shin in September of 1994. Their first mini album was released in December 1993 with their new band name, Plastic Tree.
Ryutaro enjoys poetry and his love for it is very predominant in his lyrics. Foreign music, such as Western or Brit pop, has a heavy influence on his work, with such favourite bands as THE CURE and The Smiths. He considers music to be his only hobby but wishes to travel more often. As a very serious musician, Ryutaro because easily disgusted once he let's tension get to him. Ryutaro adores his fans and is always happy to hear when people are enjoying his music. He's not too reserved to give off a laugh or crack a joke but is very polite in his words and actions.
Ryutaro's angelic odes allow music to be written after the lyrics. "…I used to write them down in my notebook. I have clear images in my head which I want to write, and I arrange it into songs which members bring to me or I make, based on a theme I want to do. I can't say when, but when I write I write a lot, when I don't, I don't write at all. Doesn't matter… if I'm taking a bath (laugh), taking a train, in a car, before I sleep. I pull the words together and put them into the music, changing from the words to the lyrics, which I often do in bed. (laugh)" Ryutaro is also more concerned with what a song expresses rather than what genre it might fall into. "I think a voice is living entity… The most important thing is whether I can convey my various emotions and heart to the audience, so I don't care about rhythm and pitch very much."
Ryutaro is never completely happy unless he's working with music. He considers Plastic Tree his family and with the band getting recognized more internationally, he hopes to tour more around the world and go to the hometowns of the fans that wrote him letters.
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