, born October 30, 1981 and known professionally as , is a Japanese actress and former singer. From 1998 to 2008, Nagate was part of

Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but has s ...

as a member of the Japan-based

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 ...

Coconuts Musume was a Japanese idol girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 1999 and associated with Hello! Project. It was promoted as the "girls from Hawaii". After nine years, the group officially disbanded when Ayaka Kimura graduated from Hello! Project. ...

History

Nagate joined

in 1999 after being discovered by , fellow

Sharan Q was a Japanese rock band composed of lead singer , on guitar, on drums and on keyboards. Biography They debuted with in 1992. They were not an instant hit initially, but their fourth single broke the top 50 of the Oricon charts. Even ...

bandmate of

Tsunku , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer, record producer, and songwriter. He is the lead singer of the rock band Sharam Q. As a songwriter, Tsunku is the primary producer for Morning Musume and other Hello! Project acts, such as Coconut ...

, with four other girls, forming

. Having lived most of her teenage years in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and attending English schools in Japan, Nagate is fluent in both Japanese and English. She is best known by foreign fans for her "Ayaka no Totsugeki

Eikaiwa or are English conversation schools, usually privately operated, in Japan. It is a combination of the word and or . Although the Japanese public education system mandates that English be taught as part of the curriculum from the fifth grade, ...

" (Ayaka's Surprise English Lessons) TV segment, where she would test the English skills of

Morning Musume , formerly simply and colloquially referred to as , are a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles with an ...

members. On April 30, 2008, Nagate left from

and

to pursue acting. The following day, it was revealed that she had signed with Tristone Entertainment, going under the stage name of Ayaka Nagate.

Personal life

On July 14, 2008, it was announced that she and professional golfer

Hideto Tanihara is a Japanese professional golfer. He has won 17 tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour. Professional career Tanihara has won 14 tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour and featured in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking. His highest ranking ...

had married.

Photobooks

* September 5, 2003 –

References

External links

Ayaka's Official Blog
1981 births Coconuts Musume members Petitmoni members 11Water members Japanese television personalities Japanese actresses People from Kobe People from Hawaii Living people Musicians from Kobe {{Japan-singer-stub