Young Citizens of the World to Welcome Legendary Composer Hiroki Kikuta

Young Citizens of the World is delighted to announce that legendary Japanese video game composer Hiroki Kikuta will join our students for a special interview on October 15, 2026.

Kikuta is best known around the world for composing the unforgettable music of Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana. His remarkable career has also included work on Koudelka, Soukaigi, Soulcalibur V, Indivisible, Visions of Mana, and many other projects.

The interview continues an extraordinary beginning to Season 7 of Young Citizens of the World. Our season opened in Japan on September 14, when legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu met with our students in Yokohama. What began as an invitation to answer four questions grew into an unforgettable interview and live concert with Uematsu and conTIKI.

Now our students will have another opportunity to meet one of the composers whose imagination helped define an era of Japanese video game music.

During the approximately 10–15 minute conversation, children will ask Kikuta four questions about his childhood, creativity, music and the journey that led him to become a composer.

One of those questions gets right to the heart of the conversation:

“When you were young, what made you fall in love with music, and when did you first realize that creating music could become your life?”

Students from Kohana International School in Japan, whose friendship and collaboration helped make our September event possible, have also been invited to participate and contribute a question.

For YCW founder Marc-André Tremblay, the interview has a particularly personal significance. The music of Secret of Mana was an important part of his adolescence, and more than three decades later, he now has the opportunity to introduce the person behind that music to a new generation of children.

YCW now connects more than 1.5 million students, 12,000 educators and 7,300 schools across 37 countries, united by a simple idea: children should have the opportunity to ask extraordinary people their own questions.

Sometimes four questions can lead somewhere nobody expected.

Season 7 has only just begun.

Hiroki Kikuta joins Young Citizens of the World on October 15, 2026.

Students Ask • Leaders Inspire