Akira Ifukube studied modern Western composition theory with Alexander Tcherepnin when Tcherepnin visited Japan the year after Ifukube won first prize in 1935 with his orchestral work Japanese Rhapsody in an international young composers’ competition supported by Tcherepnin.
Alexander Tcherepnin worked in Japan; Akira Ifukube is explicitly named among Tcherepnin’s students.
