 Mitsuda was born in <unk> , Yamaguchi , Japan , on January 21 , 1972 , and was raised in <unk> District . He took piano lessons beginning at the age of five , but he was more interested in sports and never took music seriously , quitting by the age of six . For a while , he wanted to become a professional golfer . While in high school , Mitsuda rediscovered music , inspired by Vangelis ' Blade Runner and Henry Mancini 's The Pink Panther film scores . After watching <unk> , he decided to become a music composer . He became interested in PCs after his father bought him one , which was a rare item at the time . He started to program computer games and compose music for them , as well as take more technically oriented classes . 
