, born February 24, 1987, in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, is a Japanese singer, model and actress. She played

Sailor Mercury , better known as is a fictional character in the ''Sailor Moon'' manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi, a teenage Japanese schoolgirl, and a member of the Sailor Guardians, supernatural female fighters who protect the Solar System from evil. ...

in the Sailor Moon musicals and was Naru Osaka in the

live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...

adaptation of

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...

. Several of her songs have been used in anime series and other television shows, from a localization of ''

Lizzie McGuire ''Lizzie McGuire'' is an American television comedy, comedy television series created by Terri Minsky that premiered on Disney Channel on January 12, 2001. The series stars Hilary Duff as the titular character who learns to navigate the person ...

'' to ''

Ouran High School Host Club is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Bisco Hatori. It was serialized in Hakusensha's '' LaLa'' magazine between the September 2002 and November 2010 issues. The series follows Haruhi Fujioka, a scholarship student at Ou ...

''. She was born to a Japanese father and

Spanish Filipino Spanish Filipino or Hispanic Filipino ( Spanish: Español Filipino, Hispano Filipino, Tagalog: Kastílang Pilipino, Cebuano: Katsílà) are people of Spanish and Filipino heritage. The term may also include Filipino mestizos of Spanish ances ...

mother.

Biography

Career

Kawabe was involved in the Sailor Moon Musicals in 2000 when she was 12. She played Sailor Mercury and participated in five productions including the 10th anniversary special in 2002. She made guest appearances at Fan Kansha and released a DVD called ''Sera Myu''. Afterwards, she handed her Sailor Mercury role to Wakayama Manami, but got involved in the live-action ''Sailor Moon'' drama as Naru Osaka in 2003. Kawabe released the single "Be Your Girl" on April 27, 2004. This became the ending theme song to the anime ''

Elfen Lied is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Lynn Okamoto. It was serialized in Shueisha's Seinen manga, manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from June 2002 to August 2005, with its 107 chapters collected into twelve volumes. ''El ...

'', and her other song, "Hoshi ni Negai wo" was the end theme song to '' Otogizoshi''. She released "Shining" in 2004, and "Kizunairo" in 2005. The song "I Can't Wait", from the "Kizunairo" single was used as the theme song to the Japanese version of the show ''

''. She released her first album, ''Brilliance'' in March 2005, and the single "Candy Baby" in July. Kawabe's next major single was "Sakura Kiss" which was the theme song for the anime ''

''. The single charted in Oricon, peaking at 71. In addition to acting and singing, she has worked as a model, appearing in publications such as Tokuma Shoten's ''Love Berry'' magazine. She hosted a weekly show in

Harajuku is a district in Shibuya, Tokyo. Harajuku is the common name given to a geographic area spreading from Harajuku Station to Omotesandō, Tokyo, Omotesando, corresponding on official maps of Shibuya, Tokyo, Shibuya ward as Jingūmae 1 Japanese a ...

. Since April 2016, she currently works as a certified

Pilates Pilates (; ) is a type of mind-body exercise developed in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates, after whom it was named. Pilates called his method "Contrology". Pilates uses a combination of around 50 repetitive e ...

instructor.

Personal life

Kawabe married producer Masato Ochi on August 8, 2008, and started using the name during that time they were married in both public and personal activities. After 7 years of marriage, the couple amicably divorced in 2015. They have one daughter, who is under Ochi's custody. Shortly after divorcing, she went back to using her maiden last name, but with different characters. In November 2020, she announced on her blog the registration of her second marriage to an orthopedic doctor 5 years older after meeting in one of Kawabe's Pilates lessons. They celebrated their wedding in June 2021 at her husband's hometown in

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

. On June 1, 2022, she gave birth to her second daughter.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ochi, Chieko 1987 births Actresses from Tokyo Anime musicians Japanese film actresses Japanese gravure models Japanese musical theatre actresses Japanese women pop singers Japanese people of Filipino descent Japanese people of Spanish descent Japanese women television personalities Living people Stardust Promotion artists Singers from Tokyo 20th-century Japanese actresses 20th-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese actresses 21st-century Japanese women singers Pilates instructors