is a former member of the female Japanese idol group

Sakurazaka46 , formerly , is a Japanese idol girl group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. The group was created on August 21, 2015, becoming Nogizaka46's first sister group under the Sakamichi Series. The group was rebranded as Sakurazaka46 after their last conce ...

. She also serves as a regular model for the female fashion magazine ''LARME'' since July 2017 and an exclusive model for the female fashion magazine ' since November 2017. Like other members, Watanabe is represented by Sony Music Labels.

Biography

Born on 16 May 1995 in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

, Watanabe passed first generation member audition of Keyakizaka46 on August 21, 2015, and started her activities. On 6 May 2017, she made her runway debut at the fashion and music event '' GirlsAward 2017 SPRING ／ SUMMER'', held at the

Yoyogi National Gymnasium Yoyogi National Gymnasium, officially is an indoor arena located at Yoyogi Park in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, which is famous for its Suspended structure, suspension roof design. The arena holds 13,291 people (9,079 stand seats, 4,124 arena sea ...

. She is also part of the subgroup along with

Risa Watanabe is a Japanese fashion model and former idol. She is an exclusive model for the women's magazine ''non-no'' and a former member of the female Japanese idol group Sakurazaka46. Biography On August 21, 2015, Watanabe passed the audition for Keya ...

, Akane Moriya,

Yūka Sugai is a Japanese ''tarento'', actress, radio personality and former Japanese idol, idol. She is the former captain of idol group Sakurazaka46, represented by Sony Music Records. Career Sakurazaka46 On August 21, 2015, Sugai along with 22 other ...

and Manaka Shida. As part of the subunit, Watanabe made appearances in three songs: "Aozora Chigau" in " Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai", "Wareta Sumaho" in "

Fukyōwaon is the 4th single by Japanese idol girl group Keyakizaka46. It was released on 5 April 2017. It reached number-one on the weekly Oricon Singles Chart with 632,667 copies sold. It was also number-one on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. "Fukyōwaon ...

, and "Namiuchigiwa o Hashiranai ka?" in "

Kaze ni Fukarete mo is the fifth single by Japanese girl group Keyakizaka46. It was released on October 25, 2017, by Sony Music Japan. Track listing All lyrics written by Yasushi Akimoto is a Japanese record producer, lyricist, and television writer, best know ...

". On 10 July 2017, ''LARME'' announced that she will be one of the magazine's regular model. On 16 November 2017, ' announced that she will be one of the magazine's exclusive model.

Personal life

She is nicknamed , , and Pe-chan (ペーちゃん). She is close with

, who from also from Ibaraki and shares the same family name. Fans call them collectively as "W Watanabe" or "Beri Beri". and is also close with Nagasawa Nanako and

Neru Nagahama is a Japanese television personality, television presenter, and actress. She is a former member of the idol girl groups Keyakizaka46 and Hiragana Keyakizaka46 and current chairperson of the Tokyo Idol Festival. Nagahama joined Keyakizaka46 i ...

, and are well known among fans as ''Hotoke-zu''. She is shy and clumsy, and her treasure Whale Shark Plush "AOKO" of Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is popular among the fans.

Skills

Her special skills are playing the piano and Japanese calligraphy (

shodō , also called , is a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, of the Japanese language. Japanese writing system, Written Japanese was originally based on Man'yōgana, Chinese characters only, but the advent of the hiragana and katakana Japane ...

Preferences

Her favorite food are bread, chocolate, meat, and potato. She does not like fish and tomato. Her favorite movies are ''

Tangled ''Tangled'' is a 2010 American animated musical film, musical Adventure film, adventure fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairy tale "Rapunzel" in th ...

'' and other Disney movies.

Hobbies

Her hobbies are visiting neko cafes, shopping, sleeping, and looking up a place with good food and eating there. She has decided to eat

curry Curry is a dish with a sauce or gravy seasoned with spices, mainly derived from the interchange of Indian cuisine with European taste in food, starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and British, and then thoroughly internatio ...

on Thursdays. She prefers dogs over cats.

Discography

Singles

; Keyakizaka46 ;Sakamichi AKB

Videos

Filmography

Events

Bibliography

Magazine Serializations

Photobook Release

On October 11, 2017, it was announced that Rika Watanabe will release her first photo collection. She became the first member in Keyakizaka46 to have a photobook.

References

External links

* – Keyakizaka46 Official Site * – Keyakizaka46 Official Site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Rika 1995 births Living people Japanese idols Japanese female models Keyakizaka46 members Singers from Ibaraki Prefecture Sakurazaka46 members