Hitomi Yaida

Hitomi Yaida (矢井田 瞳, Yaida Hitomi, born July 28, 1978 in Toyonaka, Osaka) is a Japanese pop/folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. She often goes by the nickname Yaiko. Her musical style is often called "heart rock" by her fans. Yaida is an established musical artist in Japan and has also had minor club hits in the United Kingdom. She graduated from Kansai University with a degree in French language and French Literature.

Career

2000

Yaida first became well known when her first single ("Howling" which included the track "How?") was released in 2000 on Aozora records, an independent label pre-dominantly distributing to the Kansai area of Osaka only, and reportedly sold in excess of 10,000 copies. Widespread airplay on Osaka's local radio stations and word-of-mouth resulted in both Yaida and Aozora records becoming the focus of a bidding war between the larger record companies for both recording and distribution contracts, the final Japanese distributing rights being sold to Toshiba-EMI with Aozora retaining artist control and independent label status.

Hitomi

Hitomi Furuya (古谷 仁美, Furuya Hitomi, born January 26, 1976), known mononymously as hitomi, is a Japanese singer-songwriter. She began her career as model, but after meeting Tetsuya Komuro he began managing her career as a pop singer. In 1998 she left the "Komuro Family" and started working with other musicians and producers, oriented to other musical genres such as pop rock, and more recently to electropop.

Biography

Early life

Born Hitomi Furuya (古谷 仁美, Furuya Hitomi) in Tochigi, Japan, Hitomi's family relocated to Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture when she was a child. Consequently, Hitomi always identified herself as a girl from Kanagawa. hitomi was an enthusiastic athlete throughout her childhood, playing baseball, soccer, and basketball, as well as an avid reader of manga. When hitomi was 16 years old, she was spotted and approached by a scout from a modelling agency. Hitomi signed a short modelling contract and began appearing in magazines while she was still in high school.

In 1993, then 17 years old, Furuya was spotted by eminent Avex music producer Tetsuya Komuro at an audition. Komuro signed Furuya to Avex, put Furuya through vocal training, and decided that she should use an all-lowercase 'hitomi' as her stage name. The following year, in November 1994, hitomi released her debut single, "Let's Play Winter", through Avex Trax, to which she wrote the lyrics. Since then, Hitomi has been the lyricist for almost all of her songs.

Hitomi (voice actress)

Hitomi (ひと美, born February 15, 1967), is a Japanese voice actress from Osaka, Japan. She has also done voice work, especially in eroge, under the name Minami Hokuto (北都 南, Hokuto Minami). As of July 2009, she has been in over 400 works. She is married to fellow voice actor Kazuya Ichijō.

Adult Roles

Eroge

1998

1999

2000

2001

Hitomi (album)

Hitomi is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 2000. It was also issued on the Cargo label and reissued in 2004 on the Important Records label. Hitomi was Fahey's last official release prior to his death in 2001.

History

Hitomi continues Fahey's interest in sound collages and experimental music. It was his last official release prior to his death in 2001.

"Hitomi Smiles" is an unreleased song from the sessions for Old Girlfriends and Other Horrible Memories and "A History of Tokyo Rail Traction" is by the John Fahey Trio from a live session for KBOO Radio. Fahey would go on to release two more albums with the Trio; John Fahey Trio KBOO and John Fahey Trio, Vol. One.

Track listing

All songs by John Fahey unless otherwise noted.

Personnel