is the 27th single by Japanese entertainer

Noriko Sakai is a Japanese given name for females. Possible writings * 徳子, "benevolence child" * 法子, "method, law child" * 則子, "rule child" * 紀子, "chronicle child" * 教子, "teach child" * 範子, "pattern child" * 典子, "rule, precedent, c ...

. Written by Emi Makiho and

Tetsurō Oda is a Japanese composer, record producer, and singer-songwriter. Oda gained prominence as a songwriter in Japan during the late 1980s. He composed over 50 top-ten hit singles on the Japanese Oricon chart during the 1990s, including 12 that have ...

, the single was released on May 10, 1995, by

Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ent ...

Background and release

"Aoi Usagi" was used as the opening theme of the

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Television) ...

drama series ''

Hoshi no Kinka is a 1995 Japanese television drama series. The series revolves around , a deaf and mute girl from Hokkaido who is in love with a doctor named . After Shūichi leaves for Tokyo, he has an accident and loses his memory. Aya travels to Tokyo and en ...

'', which also starred Sakai. According to lyricist Makiho, she won a competition to write lyrics for Oda's composition to match the ''

Grimms' Fairy Tales ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob Grimm, Ja ...

''-influenced theme of the drama. "Aoi Usagi" peaked at No. 5 on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

's singles chart. It sold over 997,000 copies and was certified Double Platinum by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include p ...

, becoming the biggest-selling single in her career. The song was also ranked No. 1 downloaded song on the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

in 2009 before her drug scandal with her then-husband Yūichi Takasō prompted Victor to withdraw all of her media from stores. The music video features Sakai performing

Japanese Sign Language , also known by the acronym JSL, is the dominant sign language in Japan and is a complete natural language, distinct from but influenced by the spoken Japanese language. Population There are 304,000 Deaf and Hard of Hearing people who are above ...

while singing the song, as she played a deaf and mute girl in ''Hoshi no Kinka''. She did a similar performance on the 46th ''

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 ...

'' in 1995, her first and only appearance on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

's New Year's Eve special. Makiho self-covered the song on her 1996 album ''Aromatister'' while Oda covered it on his 2006 cover album ''Melodies''. Sakai re-recorded the song as the B-side of her 2007 single "

Sekaijū no Dare Yori Kitto is the 25th single by Japanese entertainer Miho Nakayama and a collaboration with the band Wands. Written by Show Wesugi, Nakayama, and Tetsurō Oda, the single was released on October 28, 1992, by King Records. Background and release "Sekaij ...

". In 2014, Sakai recorded a Chinese-language version of the song, titled "Jìmò de xiǎo bì tù" (寂寞的小碧兔); this version is included in her 2016 compilation album '' The Best Exhibition: Noriko Sakai 30th Anniversary Best Album''. In October 2021, Sakai re-recorded the song and placed an

NFT A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the ...

of it and promo photos on auction to promote the fourth season of the drama series ''Producer K'', which marked her first drama appearance in eight years.

Track listing

Charts

Certification

Cover versions

* McKee covered the song in Tagalog as "Ako Ay Maghihintay" on their 1996 self-titled album, released exclusively in the Philippines. *

Marie Miyake is a Japanese voice actress from Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She is affiliated with Pro-Fit. Voice roles Bold ''denotes leading roles.'' Anime ;2007 *''Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!'' as Taikai Uehara ;2011 *''Sket Dance'' as Saori Yasuda (eps ...

(as Nana Abe) covered the song on the 2013 soundtrack album '' The IdolM@ster Cinderella Master Cute Jewelries! 001''. *

Nanase Aikawa is a Japanese singer. She publishes her music under the Motorod label, a division of Avex Group. Biography Early life Nanase Aikawa was born on February 16, 1975, in Osaka, Japan. Throughout her school years, Nanase had sung and participate ...

covered the song on the 2015 tribute album ''Treasure Box: Tetsurō Oda Songs''.

References

External links

* * * {{authority control 1995 singles 1995 songs Songs written by Tetsurō Oda Japanese television drama theme songs Victor Entertainment singles