Sushi date sees Taka finally reunite with the mate he calls a “f*#%ing genius”. 

Back in early 2019, the frontman for Japanese rock band One Ok Rock, Taka Moriuchi, made the trip out to meet English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran at the Decoy recording studio in Suffolk, England.

After a short time working together, alongside Coldrain’s frontman Masato Hayakawa, the trio had co-written the single “Renegades“, which ended up appearing in the soundtrack for Rurouni Kenshin: The Final in 2021.

▼ “Renegades”

Since their collaboration at the studio, One Ok Rock went on to join Sheeran in April that year as special guests on the Asian leg of his Divide World Tour. The two singers ended up forming a close bond in the process, with Sheeran gifting Taka a bottle of fine wine for his birthday, along with a song he’d requested he play on tour.

▼You know the bromance is real when your mate plays a song in front of thousands just for you (scroll through for the video).

When Sheeran’s Japan leg of the tour kicked off, Taka was there to introduce him to the best of what Japan has to offer.

▼ True Japanese-style omotenashi includes cosplay and mochi rice pounding.

Some of the places the duo visited in Japan included Wagyu Mafia, which is also a favourite with fellow famous Brit David Beckham.

▼ And Hakkoku, a posh sushi restaurant in Tokyo’s swanky Ginza district.

Following the tour, Sheeran made a surprise appearance at Yokohama Arena in November 2019, playing his hit song “Shape of You” with One Ok Rock for one night during their Eye of the Storm Japan tour.

▼ The bromance blossomed on stage as the two sang “Shape of You” together.

Just as their bromance was hitting peak blossom, however, the pandemic hit, changing everything. Travel restrictions meant U.K.-based Ed and L.A.-based Taka were separated for two years, leaving fans to wonder if their friendship would ever bloom again.

However, nobody should have doubted the strength of this brotherly bond, because as soon as travel guidelines deemed it safe for Ed to travel overseas to promote his new album Equals, he made a point of reuniting with Taka in Los Angeles.

The reunion was a long time coming, so when Taka posted these photos on his Instagram yesterday, fans hearts melted upon seeing the bromance between the two singers was still alive and strong.

▼ “Love you bro always”

The image above shows the two enjoyed dinner together at Sushi Ginza Onodera, a two-Michelin-starred sushi restaurant in Los Angeles. A scroll through the images shows Taka and Sheeran also met up with music producer Benny Blanco and American musician Tyler Carter during their night out.

▼ Watch out, Sheeran — looks like there might be another bromance blooming here between Taka and Carter.

Fans were overjoyed to see Taka and Ed reunite after years of being apart, leaving comments online like:

“I’m so glad you could hang out with Ed again! Of course you had sushi together!”
“You guys are like brothers!”
“What lovely smiles! Enjoy your time together!”
“I bet you had a lot to talk about after being apart for so long!”
“Congratulations on the reunion!”
“Does this mean you’re going to collab on a new project???”

While there’s no answer to that last question just yet, we wouldn’t put it past them, because when these two get together, there’s no telling what might happen.

▼ Don’t fxxk with Ed & Taka!

It really is nice to see the friendship between the two talented performers has withstood the pressures of the past two years. Hopefully we’ll be able to see them both together in Japan soon, where they might want to visit the cat island that made a whole music video asking Sheeran to visit, or the cafe where the cats ran away when Ed started singing “Thinking Out Loud” to them.

Source: Instagram/10969taka via Net Lab
Featured image: Instagram/10969taka
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