June Kuramoto of the jazz fusion group Hiroshima was one of the first performers to popularize the in a non-traditional fusion style. Reiko Obata, founder of East West Jazz, was the first to perform and record an album of jazz standards featuring the . Obata also produced the first-ever English language instructional DVD, titled "You Can Play Koto". Obata is one of the few performers to perform concertos with United States orchestras, having done so on multiple occasions, including with Orchestra Nova for San Diego's KPBS in 2010.