was a Japanese popular music (''

ryūkōka is a Japanese music genre, musical genre. The term originally denoted any kind of "popular music" in Japanese, and is the East Asian cultural sphere, sinic reading of ''hayariuta'', used for commercial music of Edo period, Edo Period. Therefore, ...

'') singer. At of the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she was one of the most popular female singers in Japan, competing with

Hamako Watanabe was the stage name of a Japanese popular singer, who was active during the Shōwa period of Japan, before, during and after World War II. Her real name was Hamako Kato. Early career Watanabe was born and raised in Yokohama, and claimed that her ...

and

Noriko Awaya was a Japanese female soprano chanteuse and popular music (''ryūkōka'') singer. She was dubbed the "Queen of Blues" in Japan. Life and career Awaya was born as in Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. She was the oldest daughter of a wealthy ...

. In addition, she took part in the ''

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 ...

'', one of Japan's most famous annual musical television shows, ten times.

Biography

She was born in the city of

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

, and raised in Miyoshi city,

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

. She graduated from the

Tokyo Music School or is the most prestigious art school in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained renowned artists in the fields of painting, scul ...

. Impressed by Takeo Masunaga (also known as Ichiro Fujiyama) at a performance held by the music school, she debuted in 1936. Her famous song was released in 1939. On August 6, 1945, she narrowly avoided the

atomic bombing of Hiroshima The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...

because she was riding a train traveling through a tunnel at the time of the explosion. She ceased activity as a singer in 2003, and retired in Hiroshima Prefecture. She died in Hiroshima on August 16, 2011.Akiko Futaba
/ref>

Discography

* : 1936 * : 1937 * : 1939 * : 1940 * : 1946 * : 1946 * : 1948 * : 1949 * : 1950

References

External links

* 1915 births 2011 deaths Hibakusha Tokyo Music School alumni Musicians from Hiroshima 20th-century Japanese musicians 20th-century Japanese women singers 20th-century Japanese singers {{Japan-singer-stub