Editing Mike Shinoda (section)

==Early life==
Michael Kenji Shinoda ({{langx|ja|篠田 賢治|Shinoda Kenji}})<ref>{{cite news |last=Yiju |first=Lin |url=https://www.businessweekly.com.tw/international/indep/32712 |title=聯合公園」主唱自縊身亡！查斯特兒時遭性侵「一直有輕生念頭 |language=Chinese |work=Business Weekly |date=July 21, 2017 |accessdate=March 2, 2023 }}</ref> was born on February 11, 1977, in the [[Panorama City, Los Angeles|Panorama City]] neighborhood of [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], and raised in [[Agoura Hills, California|Agoura Hills]].<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web | title = Mike Shinoda: Biography | url = {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p388572|pure_url=yes}} | work = [[AllMusic]] | first = Corey | last = Apar}}</ref><ref name="MetalHammerInterview">{{cite web|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/linkin-park-you-re-a-nu-metal-boy-band-discuss|title=Linkin Park, you're a nu metal boy band. Discuss.|last=Young|first=Simon|date=October 23, 2015|work=[[Metal Hammer]]|publisher=Louder|access-date=July 11, 2018}}</ref> His father is [[Japanese Americans|Japanese-American]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Komai |first=Chris |url=https://www.janm.org/ja/press/release/linkin-parks-mike-shinoda-opens-exhibit-japanese-american-national-museum |title=Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda Opens Exhibit at Japanese American National Museum |work=[[Japanese American National Museum]] |date=July 10, 2008 |accessdate=March 2, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=How they made it: true stories of how music's biggest stars went from start to stardom|access-date=September 27, 2010|url=https://archive.org/details/howtheymadeittru0000kimp |url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/howtheymadeittru0000kimp/page/77 77]| first = Dan | last = Kimpel | publisher = Hal Leonard Corporation | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-634-07642-8}}</ref> He has a younger brother named Jason,<ref name="allmusic" /> and he was raised as a liberal [[Mainline Protestant|Protestant]].<ref>''Russ Breimeier'' [http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/januaryweb-only/meteora.html Meteora] January 1, 2003.</ref> Shinoda's mother encouraged him to take classical piano lessons when he was six. By 13, he expressed the desire to move toward playing [[jazz]], [[blues]], and [[hip hop music|hip hop]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lptimes.com/article/RS_032603.html |title=The Mellower Half of Linkin Park |work=The Linkin Park Times |first=Austin |last=Scaggs |author-link=Austin Scaggs |date=March 26, 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019142856/http://www.lptimes.com/article/RS_032603.html |archive-date=October 19, 2013 }}</ref> He later added the guitar and rap-style vocals to his repertoire during his middle school and high school years.<ref name="allmusic"/><ref name="MetalHammerInterview"/>

Shinoda attended [[Agoura High School]] with future Linkin Park bandmates [[Brad Delson]] and [[Rob Bourdon]]. The three formed the band Xero and began to make a more serious attempt to pursue a career in the music industry. After graduating high school, Shinoda enrolled in the [[Art Center College of Design]] of [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]] to study [[graphic design]] and [[illustration]].<ref name=allmusic /> He attended classes with DJ and [[turntablist]] [[Joe Hahn]].<ref name=allmusic /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/mike-shinoda-fort-minor-interview-2015-welcome/|title=After Ten Years, Fort Minor Is Back, and Mike Shinoda Still Wants You to Remember the Name|date=June 23, 2015 |publisher=Noisey|access-date=March 12, 2018}}</ref> While studying at the Art Center College of Design, he experienced a form of [[identity crisis (psychology)|identity crisis]]. Years later, he told an interviewer:

{{Blockquote|text=I think it was probably in college that I realized that there was a difference between Japanese and Japanese-American. That's important to realize. It's not the same thing and then eventually with Linkin Park, I toured in Japan. I've been there now I think four times. I remember the first time I went, how familiar it seemed, just getting out of the plane, it smelled like my aunt's house, in the airport, it smelled like Japan. I don't know if anybody else even noticed it but I walked out of the plane and thought this is definitely familiar to me, didn't even see anything yet. And then going to Tokyo, [[Osaka]], [[Kyoto]], [[Nagoya]], you just recognize things about the way people act, the small things that people do such as how you'll grab a piece of paper. There are things that are more obvious like taking somebody's business card with two hands. You don't do that in the States. When I saw somebody do that I went, "Oh yeah, my uncle always does that," you know. There are little things that culturally come from Japan but they also exist in Japanese American culture and it made me feel like the connection was there and I kind of hadn't realized how much of it was there.<ref name="roots"/>}}

Shinoda graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts in Illustration and obtained a job as a graphic designer.<ref name="allmusic" />