‘Japan’s Beethoven’ Mamoru Samuragochi not even deaf, says ghost composer

The musical brains behind a supposedly deaf composer dubbed “Japan’s Beethoven” claimed on Thursday that the mock maestro was a scheming manipulator who could hear normally – but couldn’t even write sheet music.

The startling allegations come a day after Mamoru Samuragochi confessed to hiring another man to write his best-known works, including a smash hit that had been adopted by classical music-lovers as an anthem to Japan’s tsunami-hit communities.

In a press conference that lasted for more than an hour and was broadcast live on television, part-time music school teacher Takashi Niigaki said for the last 18 years he had been penning the tunes.

“I am an accomplice of Samuragochi because I continued composing just as he demanded, although I knew he was deceiving people,” he said.

Niigaki told reporters he had been paid just 7 million yen (US$70,000) over the nearly two decades of their collaboration, during which he had composed more than 20 pieces.

“I told him a few times that we should stop doing this, but he never gave in. Also he said he would commit suicide if I stopped composing for him.”