Chisato Okai
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(born June 21, 1994, in Saitama, Japan) is a former Japanese pop singer, actress, model, and television personality. She first gained recognition when she joined Hello! Project Kids and later became one of the main vocalists of the
Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese popular culture, Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idol ...
girl group Cute which she joined in 2005 and engaged in until 2017.


Career


2002–2005: Hello! Project Kids

In 2002, Okai auditioned for Hello! Project Kids with the song "Country Road" by Yoko Honna. Her audition tape was aired on
Morning Musume , formerly and commonly known as and colloquially referred to as , is a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon, Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most to ...
's variety show '' Hello! Morning''. She was placed in the group with fourteen other girls. In the same year, she appeared in the movie ''Koinu Dan no Monogatari''.


2005–2017: Cute

In 2004,
Berryz Kobo was a Japanese idol girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2004 and associated with Hello! Project. The group's members consisted of Hello! Project Kids members Saki Shimizu, Momoko Tsugunaga, Miyabi Natsuyaki, Chinami Tokunaga, Maa ...
was created with the intention of rotating all of the members of Hello! Project Kids to make time for school, but the idea was later scrapped, and the remaining girls who were not chosen were re-branded under the name Cute on June 11, 2005. In September 2007, Okai was added to a new unit called Athena & Robikerottsu with Risa Niigaki, Aika Mitsui, and Saki Nakajima. They sang the opening and ending theme songs for the
A-1 Pictures is a Japanese animation studio and production company founded by ex- Sunrise producer Mikihiro Iwata. It is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan's anime production firm Aniplex. History The company was established by SMEJ's animat ...
anime ''Robby & Kerobby''. The unit was effectively disbanded in March 2008, entering into an indefinite hiatus when the series ended. In 2009, Okai joined a newly formed unit called Tanpopo#, a revival of former Hello! Project unit Tanpopo, with Eri Kamei, Yurina Kumai, and Aika Mitsui. On November 9, 2010, a solo video of Okai performing the dance to Cute's then-latest single " Dance de Bakōn" was released on the group's official
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channel. The video received more than 100,000 views in two days, and had received over 1.2 million views by May 2011. Following the video's success, more solo "dance-cover" videos of Okai were uploaded, including her cover of
Aya Matsuura is a former Japanese pop singer and actress, from Himeji, Hyogo, Japan. Career 2000–2009: Hello! Project Aya auditioned in 2000 for the fourth Morning Musume & Heike Michiyo Protegee Audition and was selected along with Sheki-Dol to become ...
's song " Love Namidairo", which was released on
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on November 27 as Okai's first digital single. Her first solo live event, "Chisato Okai (Cute) Solo Live 2011 Vol.1: Kaisha de Odotte Mita!!" was held on January 25, 2011, at Pacific Heaven. A CD containing Okai's cover of Miki Fujimoto's " Romantic Ukare Mode", with "Love Namidairo" as the coupling track, was sold exclusively at the venue of her second solo live, but was also released digitally as part of Hello! Project's '' Hello Cover'' series. In August 2016, Cute announced plans to disband in June 2017. Okai expressed interest in becoming a television personality on variety shows following disbandment. She retired from the entertainment world on April 30, 2020.


Personal life

Okia announced in April 2019 that she would be taking time off from all entertainment activities. She noted that she had been in entertainment for 17 years, and sought to experience life from outside of the industry. Okai's sister, Asuna Okai, was a member of Hello Pro Egg.


Discography


Singles


Digital albums

* ''Okai Chisato Solo Collection Vol. 2'' (2012)


Other solo songs

* (February 2, 2012) * ( Cute cover) (April 18, 2012) * (April 18, 2013)


Appearances


Movies

* (December 14, 2002) * (June 5, 2004) * (December 17, 2011) as Kaori Maruoka * (2011)


TV series

* (2011) as Mai * (2012)


TV shows

* (2002–2007) * (2007–2008) * (2008) * (2008–2009) * (2010–2011) * (2011–2012) * (2012–2013) * (2013–?)


Other

* 54th NHK
Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...
— backing dancer for
Aya Matsuura is a former Japanese pop singer and actress, from Himeji, Hyogo, Japan. Career 2000–2009: Hello! Project Aya auditioned in 2000 for the fourth Morning Musume & Heike Michiyo Protegee Audition and was selected along with Sheki-Dol to become ...
(December 31, 2003)


Theatrical plays

* (November 27 — December 28, 2004) * (March 17–22, 2011) * (2012) * (2012) * (2013) as Mei Koyamada


Solo events

* (January 25–26, 2011) * (February 13–14, 2011)


YouTube

* " Dance de Bakōn!" * " Ōkina Ai de Motenashite" * " Forever Love" * " Massara Blue Jeans" * " Love Namidairo" * " Yume Miru 15"


Photobooks


Digital photobooks

* (October 5, 2010) * ''Cutest'' (Chisa Version) (March 6, 2012) * (October 22, 2012)


Solo DVDs


References


External links

* on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Okai, Chisato 1994 births Living people 21st-century Japanese actresses 21st-century Japanese singers Cute (Japanese idol group) members Japanese female idols Japanese women television personalities Singers from Saitama Prefecture Tanpopo members