Mariko

Watching Korean dramas made her fall for Korea; as repeated trips deepened her interest in Korean culture, a Korean music program on TV introduced her to trot. From the moment she heard it, she was certain — this was her music.

From 2009 she began entering Korean-song contests held in Japan, and competed in the national competition in 2011. After years of singing in Korean in Japan, she crossed over to Korea herself.

She competed in KBS's 2015 year-end National Singing Contest and won recognition; in 2016 she made her Korean CD debut with her first album 'Sarangirannida.' Since then she has performed on Korean TV, radio, events and military shows, and in Japan at the Korean Embassy and Korea–Japan friendship events, also teaching trot.

Her voice carries something unmistakably '80s trot. The ornaments flow naturally; the feeling moves precisely between restraint and overflow. Being Japanese, she paradoxically reaches closer to the essence of trot — that paradoxical purity is the heart of this singer.