, known professionally as Yasuha, is a Japanese singer-songwriter,

tarento Television personalities in Japan, known as in Japanese, are celebrities who regularly appear in mass media in Japan, especially as panelists on variety shows. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, bankable stars in America were described as "tal ...

, record producer, and entrepreneur. Ebina's personal life has often sparked controversy and received widespread media coverage. As well as her singing career, she was also successful as a tarento, appearing in numerous Japanese television and radio programs. Ebina was born in

Taitō is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. In English, it is known as Taitō City. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 186,276, and a population density of 18,420 persons per km2. The total area is . Thi ...

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 ...

as a child of a

rakugo is a form of ''yose'', which is itself a form of Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone sits on a raised platform, a . Using only a and a as props, and without standing up from the seiza sitting position, the rakugo artist depicts a long ...

performer Hayashiya Sanpei I and a novelist Kayoko Ebina. She established her singing career in 1981. As a singer, Ebina is best-known for "Flyday Chinatown" (1981), which peaked at number sixty-nine on the

Oricon Weekly Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

. She also embarked on the tarento career, appearing in the Japanese variety television program ''Gogo wa MaruMaru Omoikkiri TV'' (1987–1988) as a host. In 1988, Ebina retired from the entertainment business after her marriage with a rakugo performer Shūnpūtei Koasa. After a messy divorce with her ex-husband, Ebina officially returned to the entertainment industry in 2007, founding a production company ''Iron Candle''.

Early life

Yasuha Ebina was born on January 17, 1961, in

, as the second child of a

performer Hayashiya Sanpei I and a novelist Kayoko Ebina. Her grandfather, Hayashiya Shōzō VII was also a

performer, as well as her two brothers, Hayashiya Shōzō IX and

Hayashiya Sanpei II is a Japanese ''rakugo'' comedian and ''tarento''. His ''debayashi'' is "Matsuri-bayashi". He is sometimes called . He was known as . Hayashiya was the star performer of Rakugo Kyodai. He was once represented with Horipro is a large Japa ...

. Her sister, Midori Ebina is a former actress. As a child, Ebina learned

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

, however, after failing to enter college of music, she began pursuing a career as 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 instead.

Career

In 1979, Ebina began her

career, appearing in the numerous television and radio programs such as the Japanese television variety shows ''Variety Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do'' (1979–1982) and ''Gogo wa MaruMaru Omoikkiri TV'' (1987–1988). Ebina established her singing career in 1981, releasing her debut single "Flyday Chinatown" via

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

. The song was a moderate success, peaking at number sixty-nine on the

and selling approximately 56,000 copies. As a singer, she has released seven

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s and two

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s as of June 2020. She has also written few songs for other artists, including Shohjo-Tai's hit "Motto Charleston" (1986), which reached number sixteen in Japan. In June 1988, Ebina married a rakugo performer Shūnpūtei Koasa, and subsequently retired from the entertainment industry to support Koasa as a president of his production company, Haru Haru Dō. However, in November 2007, the couple announced the divorce in the press conference at the

Imperial Hotel, Tokyo The is a hotel in Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda ward, Tokyo. It was created in the late 1880s at the request of the Japanese aristocracy to cater to the increasing number of Western visitors to Japan. The hotel site is located just south of the Impe ...

, and the relaunch of Ebina's entertainment career. Ebina drew mass public attention for publishing a book about the divorce, "Kaiun Rikon", and appearing in the

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

match with

Yoji Anjo (born March 28, 1967) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Professional wrestling career Universal Wrestling Federation and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1985–1988) A former practitioner of judo, sumo and muay th ...

as a player. In November 2008, she released her first single in the last twenty-two years, "Ohisama yo Hohoende" via her own record label, Iron Candles.

Personal life

Relationships

Ebina married a

performer Shūnpūtei Koasa in June 1988 and retired from the entertainment business in order to support Koasa as a wife. Ebina and Koasa announced their separation on November 12, 2007, in the press conference. The divorce drew big public attention and widespread media coverage after Ebina slurred Koasa, calling him a "blonde pig asshole", and published a book "Kaiun Rikon", in which she wrote about her divorce with Koasa. On September 20, 2017, Ebina announced that she engaged with an Iranian businessman, Mehdi Kazempour, whom she met on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. The couple called off the engagement and parted ways in April 2018.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

As a lead artist

Songwriting credits

Bibliography

Selected filmography

References

External links

* {{authority control Japanese women singer-songwriters Japanese singer-songwriters Japanese women pop singers Japanese women television personalities Singers from Tokyo 1961 births Living people People from Taitō 20th-century Japanese women singers 20th-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singers