is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

singer, actress and fashion model. She is a former first generation member of the

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 ...

ese

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 ...

Nogizaka46 is a Japanese female idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto, created as the of the group AKB48. They are the first group from the Sakamichi Series, which also includes sister groups Sakurazaka46 (formerly Keyakizaka46), Yoshimotozaka46, and ...

and a regular model for the fashion magazine ''sweet''. Her lead roles as an actress have included Mana Hayase in the Japanese remake of ''

You Are the Apple of My Eye ''You Are the Apple of My Eye'' (, ) is a 2011 Taiwanese Coming of age film, coming of age romance film. It is based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Taiwanese author Giddens Ko, who also made his directorial debut with ...

'', and Midori Asakusa in both the film and TV adaptations of ''

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Sumito Ōwara. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Big Comic Spirits'' since 2016 and has been collected in seven ''tankōbon'' volumes as of July ...

''.

Early life

Saitō was born on August 10, 1998 in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. Her mother is from

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

and her father is from

. Saitō debuted as an actress in 2007 in the film ''

Sakuran , is a Japanese manga series by Moyoco Anno. The manga is about a girl who goes through different names throughout the story and becomes a , or high ranking (courtesan). North American publisher Vertical Inc published it in English in July ...

,'' playing the protagonist as a child.

Career

In 2011, encouraged by her mother, she successfully passed the audition for the first generation of idol group

, debuting as an idol on the group's first single "

Guruguru Curtain is the debut single by Japanese girl group Nogizaka46, released on February 22, 2012. It reached number two in the Oricon Weekly Chart and sold 136,309 copies in the first week. It reached number three on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. Release ...

" in February 2012. Saitō became the center member on the 15th Nogizaka46 single, "

Hadashi de Summer is the 15th single by Japanese idol girl group Nogizaka46. The center position of the title track is held by Asuka Saito. It was released on July 27, 2016. The song became number-one on the weekly Oricon Singles Chart, with 728,189 copies sol ...

", in 2016. Saitō is active as an actress and model outside of Nogizaka46. She has played lead roles in the Japanese remake of the Taiwanese film ''

'' and 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) ...

horror drama ''Zambi''. In 2015, Saitō became the exclusive model for the fashion magazine ''CUTiE'' published by

Takarajimasha is a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is known for publishing subculture-oriented fashion magazines aimed at teens, fashion magazines in general, as well as guide books. History The company was founded on September 22, ...

, which stopped publication in the same year. Saitō then became a regular model for another fashion magazine from the same publisher, ''sweet'', as the magazine's youngest model since its publication. In 2017,

Gentosha is a Japanese publisher, headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. Gentosha publishes manga magazine ''Comic Birz'', Web comic magazines '' GENZO'', ''SPICA'', '' Comic MAGNA'', literary magazines '' Lynx'', ''papyrus'', as well as business magazine ''GOET ...

published Saitō's first photobook. Titled ''Shiosai'', the photobook sold 58,215 copies in the first week. As of December 2018, the photobook has sold over 200 thousand copies. Saitō announced her graduation from Nogizaka46 on November 4th, 2022. She would stay in the group until the end of 2022 and plans a graduation concert in 2023. She is the penultimate first generation member to leave the group. Asuka officially graduated from the group on December 31, 2022, and her graduation concert took place on May 17–18, 2023, at the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...

, attended by 100 thousand people.

Discography

Singles with Nogizaka46

Albums with Nogizaka46

Other featured songs

Filmography

Film

Television

Bibliography

Photobooks

* ''Kikan Nogizaka vol.3 Ryōshū'' (4 September 2014, Tokyo News Service) * ''Shiosai'' (25 January 2017,

)

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saito, Asuka Living people 1998 births 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese actresses J-pop singers Japanese child actresses Japanese female models Japanese idols Japanese people of Burmese descent Nogizaka46 members Singers from Tokyo