His crew-cut hairstyle, tanned craggy skin, thick bushy brows, manly side-burns and stubble reinforces his devilishly-handsome image. But when he sings, he sounds like an angel. He sounds so gentle and soothing that he is hailed as having ‘the most tender voice on earth’. However, Kousuke, 27, thinks that new-age singer Enya is more deserving of the title. ‘I’m happy to be described as having a tender voice but I’m just singing in my natural way.

‘To me, Enya has the most tender voice on earth as it’s very comforting to hear her sing,’ he told The New Paper in an interview in Taipei recently. Others have said the same of Kousuke’s vocals. Just ask Malaysian singer-songwriter Michael Wong, whose hit song Tong Hua (Fairytale) has been covered by many singers including Kousuke. Michael said: ‘When you listen to him, it’s as if you’re in paradise and surrounded by beautiful scenery.

‘Tong Hua is a simple tune, but his way of singing it makes it feel like a breath of fresh air.’ China singer Cecilia Han Xue, who did a duet, Last Forever, with Kousuke as part of cultural exchanges between China and Japan, feels he has a ‘memorable voice’. ‘Unlike other artistes who use a lot of synthesizers and effects, he relies on his unique voice and uses simple musical equipment and arrangements. ‘I like that because what I remember is his voice,’ she said.

Kousuke hails from the Japanese island of Amami-oshima, about 1,200km southwest of Tokyo. His singing style is influenced by Amami-shimauta, or Japan’s traditional island folk songs, and he’s adept at injecting falsetto and vibrato into his singing. SELF-TRAINED But if you thought he has been trained from a young age, you’d be wrong. His melodious voice is the result of self-training.