(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 pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

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'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 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 Athena & Robikerottsu (アテナ&ロビケロッツ, "Athena and Robocarrots") was a Hello! Project unit consisting of Niigaki Risa, Mitsui Aika, Nakajima Saki, and Okai Chisato. Info This unit was formed in 2007 for the anime ''Robby and ...

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 founded by ex- Sunrise producer Mikihiro Iwata and it is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan's anime production firm Aniplex. History The studio was established by SMEJ's animation production divisio ...

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 Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

" was released on the group's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

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's song " Love Namidairo", which was released on iTunes 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 is a song by Miki Fujimoto (born February 26, 1985), professionally known by her birth name of , and nicknamed Mikitty, is a Japanese actress and former pop singer. After failing the audition to join girl group Morning Musume with the fourth ...

", 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 ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting habits, greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition o ...

'' 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 ne ...

— backing dancer for Aya Matsuura (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! is C-ute's 13th single, released on August 25, 2010, on the Zetima is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agency Up-Front Promotion and Up-Front Works, a music production and s ...

* " Ōkina Ai de Motenashite

* " Forever Love (Cute song), Forever Love

* " Massara Blue Jeans

* " Love Namidairo

* "

Yume Miru 15 is the official debut and first major-label single by Hello! Project idol group S/mileage, and their fifth single overall. The single was released on the Zetima Records label on 26 May 2010, distributed by Pony Canyon, after the group completed t ...

Photobooks

Digital photobooks

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

Solo DVDs

References

External links

*
Cute official blog

Chisato Okai's official USTREAM channel

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