is a

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

singer, and an original member of the group

Super Monkey's were a Japanese pop-singing and dancing group that spawned the careers of Namie Amuro and some members of the girl group MAX, the group was active between 1992 till 1995 and that disbanded on 1996. History Pre-debut The group was originall ...

. She was born in

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and is the granddaughter of film director

Masahiro Makino was a Japanese film director. He directed more than 260 films, primarily in the chanbara and yakuza genres. His real name was , but he took the stage name Masahiro, the kanji for which he changed multiple times (including , , and ). Career Masa ...

. She made her debut as a solo

singer on 22 January 1987, aged 15. Her first song "Love Song Sagashite" was adopted for the promotion song of a video game ''

Dragon Quest II ''Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line'', titled ''Dragon Warrior II'' when initially localized to North America, is a role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System ...

'', having a NES/Famicom synth version on the load screen. She released another single, "Hitomi ha genkina Sky Blue". She stayed in Tokyo, going to dance school and appearing in musicals for a year before returning to Okinawa to teach at the

Okinawa Actors' School is a school in Ginowan, Okinawa which has another branch in Osaka. It was founded in 1983 by Masayuki Makino who became the first principal of the school. Notable alumni * Namie Amuro * Hitoe Arakaki * Rina Chinen * D&D * Da Pump * Folder 5 * ...

, where her father, founder Masayuki Makino was president. At 20, Anna decided to try her luck in show business again, becoming the oldest member of the group

. She left in 1992 (being replaced by

Rino Nakasone is a Japanese dancer, choreographer, artistic director and actor. Nakasone and her dance crew, Beat Freaks, participated in the third season of '' America's Best Dance Crew'', where they finished in second place. Nakasone has worked as a choreog ...

), to become the chief dance instructor at Okinawa Actor's, where she worked until 2002, when she left to start her own dance school 'Love Junx', which is a dance school for children with Down Syndrome.

References

1971 births Living people People from Okinawa Prefecture Musicians from Okinawa Prefecture 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers {{Japan-singer-stub

See also

References