is a pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 singer famous in her native Japan for her piano ballads. She rose to fame after performing the end-title track for the Madhouse

Madhouse (company)

is a Japanese animation studio, founded in 1972 by ex–Mushi Pro animators including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It has created and helped to produce many well known shows, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! in 1973, and including western favourites Ninja...

 film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in 2006. She was signed to a major record label the preceding year.

Biography

Oku's musical training began at age 5 with piano lessons, but by age 9 she was also learning the trumpet and was a member of her school's brass band.

In 2004, Oku began to perform on the streets of Tokyo, mainly in Shibuya

Shibuya, Tokyo

is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km²....

 ward, but once sold 402 CDs in four hours outside Kashiwa railway station

Kashiwa Station

is a railway station operated by East Japan Railway Company and the Tobu Railway located in Kashiwa, Chiba Japan.-Lines:*East Japan Railway Company**Jōban Line* Tobu Railway**Noda Line-JR East:...

. Later that same year she released her first mainstream single Fireworks and performed her debut one-woman show to an audience of 135. Approached by Chiba TV, she made an appearance on the show Chiba Fighting Spirit.

Over the next year she toured western Japan and self produced two more CD singles before releasing an album in April 2005. Soon afterwards she was signed up by record company Pony Canyon

Pony Canyon

is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966 , which publishes music, DVD and VHS videos, movies and video games. It is a subsidiary of Japanese Media Group, Fujisankei Communications Group.-History:...

.

In April 2006, the animated film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was released, with the theme song Garnet sung by Oku.

Come spring 2007, Oku performed to a sell-out crowd at Shibuya C.C. Lemon Hall

Shibuya Public Hall

or is a live theatre in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. It was completed in 1964. In the 1964 Summer Olympics, the weightlifting events took place there.The theatre was sponsored by Dentsu and Suntory, which paid ¥80 million to have its name associated with the building from 2006 to 2011.-External links:*...

, and with the release of her album Time Note, she once again performed sold-out concerts there over three nights in July 2007.

Oku still occasionally busks in Tokyo railway stations, drawing a crowd, and selling her CDs there.

Since June 2005, Hanako Oku has hosted her KameKameHouse radio show on bayfm78 every Sunday night from 22:30 to 23:00. At the end of 2009, the show was re-named Lagan de Talk!. In 2010, Oku began hosting a new radio show E-Tracks Selection once a fortnight on FM OSAKA

Fm osaka

is a radio station in Osaka, Japan. It is an affiliated station of Japan FM Network .- History of FM OSAKA :On April 1, 1970, FM OSAKA started broadcasting as the first private FM station in Nakanoshima, Osaka nationwide as the only FM radio station affiliated with Japan FM Network in the Kansai...

. Starting January 12, the show airs from 21:00 to 21:30.

Albums

Release Date:	| Title:
April 20, 2005	Vol. Best (Indies Best)
March 1, 2006
March 21, 2007	Time Note
March 5, 2008
July 15, 2009	Birthday
August 18, 2010

Singles

Release Date:	| Title:	| Notes:
August 26, 2004		Independently released single
July 27, 2005
January 18, 2006
February 15, 2006
July 12, 2006		End-title track for the Madhouse Madhouse (company) is a Japanese animation studio, founded in 1972 by ex–Mushi Pro animators including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It has created and helped to produce many well known shows, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! in 1973, and including western favourites Ninja...  film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
November 29, 2006
January 23, 2008
July 23, 2008		Theme song to NHK NHK NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.... 's
November 19, 2008
June 3, 2009
August 7, 2009		Re-mastered and re-released
March 17, 2010
August 5, 2010		Used as the theme song for the video game Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X , pronounced Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon Cross, is a remake of the Game Boy Color RPG, Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon, for the PlayStation Portable developed by Namco Tales Studio and published by Namco Bandai. It released in Japan on August 5, 2010. The original game was the first... .

DVD

Release Date:	| Title:
July 18, 2007	Hanako Oku: 2007 Spring Concert: Time Note at Shibuya C.C. Lemon Hall
March 18, 2009	Hanako Oku Live Tour 08: Hajimete Band de Utaimasu!
March 18, 2009	Hanako Oku Live Tour 08: Mochiron Hitori de Hikigatari!

External links

• Hanako Oku's official website (In Japanese)
• Hanako Oku's profile on Pony Canyon's website (In Japanese)
• Hanako Oku's personal blog (24 February 2010 to present) (In Japanese)
• Hanako Oku's personal blog (21 January 2008 to 24 February 2010) (In Japanese)
• Hanako Oku's personal blog (4 October 2004 to 22 January 2008) (In Japanese)
• KameKameHouse radio show blog (In Japanese)