Matt is a real estate marketer, event producer, and consultant. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Matt moved to Japan in 2009 after graduating from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He taught English in Miyako, a small port town in rural Iwate in the northeast of Japan’s main island, Honshu. While there, he enjoyed abundant seafood, open-minded musicians, an easy job, and the slow inaka life. But then, on March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m. all of that was washed away. A 9.1M earthquake produced a 37.9-metre tsunami that wrecked much of the Tohoku coast. While it washed across the city, he stood outside a hilltop temple, homeless, watching the city burn.

Matt spent the first two months post-disaster organizing response teams in Miyako. Following that, he moved to Tokyo to work with art galleries and NPOs active in Tohoku relief efforts. From there, his career took off, spanning market research, consulting, and serving as Executive Director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan. In a very real sense, you could say Matt is a jack of all trades, and a master of fun.

Additionally, Matt has relentlessly pursued his passion for independent, boundary-pushing music. He is guitarist for black metal bands Darkcorpse, Retch, and now Worship Pain. A respected booker and tour manager, he has managed domestic and international tours alike. Matt is also a data-hungry documentarian, cataloguing and analyzing the physical history of Japan’s rich underground music cultures. It is this methodology which he applied to the akiya market, culminating in the genesis of Akiya & Inaka.