Inspired by his father at the age of 14 to begin playing Tsugaru Shamisen, Masahiro won the Junior high school national championship title for Tsuagru Shamisen in 1998 after only playing for seven months. In 2000 and 2001 he was awarded the championship title at Kanagi`s national tournament and again won the championship title in Tokyo in 2002. <br />In 2004 he starred as Oishi Seichiro in the motion picture Overdrive and is currently involved with his Father in the performing team Nitta Oyako as well as the fusion group Esoragoto (featuring Shamisen, electric bass, taiko and saxophone), the pop band Join Join, and Monsters of Shamisen with Kevin Kmetz and Mike Penny. <br /><br />