Hatano Jazz Band (Japanese: Hatano Orchestra ハタノ・オーケストラ) was a Japanese band founded by graduates from Tokyo Music School in 1912.[1] The leader of the band was Fukutarō Hatano[1][2] who went on to become a songwriter. Although some described it as the first Japanese jazz band,[3] Hatano himself stated that he had "never had much to do with jazz".[2] Hatano (cornet and violin) co-founded the band with a cellist, banjoist, accordionist and drummer, and it played aboard the trans-Pacific ship, the Chiyo Maru.[4] On stopovers in San Francisco, the musicians were exposed to different forms of music, which they took back to Japan.[4] "Within five years the Hatano orchestra had 12 members, mostly string players."[4] Hatano recalled the dance music they played in Japan in 1921: "we played fox trot, one-step, and two-step scores, which I'd bought in America, as they were. Nobody knew anything about ad-libbing yet".[5]