is a J-Pop

J-pop

, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...

 singer famous in her native Japan for her unconventional light singing style and ukulele

Ukulele

The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....

 music. She rose to fame after performing the end-title track for the Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli

is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...

 film The Cat Returns

The Cat Returns

is a Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Hiroyuki Morita, produced by Studio Ghibli and theatrically released in Japan in 2002 and in 2003 in the United States through Walt Disney Pictures....

in 2002.

Biography

In 1993, Ayano Tsuji attended Kyoto City Dohda Senior High School of Arts. It was here, during an activities class, that she first started to learn the ukulele after finding her hands were too small to correctly hold and play the guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

.

She graduated as a historian from Ryukoku University

Ryukoku University

is a private university located in Kyoto, Japan.It was founded as a school for Buddhist monks of the Nishi Hongan-ji denomination in 1639, and became a secularized university in 1876. Professors and students of the university established the famed literary magazine Chūōkōron in 1887. It has three...

, Department of Oriental History.

Albums

Release Date:	| Title:
October 10, 1998
September 22, 1999
March 15, 2000
April 18, 2001
April 17, 2002	Balanço
December 11, 2002
May 21, 2003
May 19, 2004	Cover Girl
November 23, 2005	Calendar Calendar
July 5, 2006	Tsuji Best
September 22, 2006
December 19, 2007	Sweet, Sweet Happy Birthday
September 24, 2008	Cover Girl 2
September 16, 2009
September 8, 2010

Singles

Release Date:	| Title:	| Notes:
January 26, 2000
October 18, 2000
March 1, 2001
November 21, 2001
February 27, 2002
June 27, 2002		End-title track for the Studio Ghibli Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...  film The Cat Returns The Cat Returns is a Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Hiroyuki Morita, produced by Studio Ghibli and theatrically released in Japan in 2002 and in 2003 in the United States through Walt Disney Pictures....
January 22, 2003
March 19, 2003
May 21, 2003
December 17, 2003
April 6, 2005
June 22, 2005	Shiny Day /
October 5, 2005	/
December 6, 2006
February 20, 2008		In collaboration with Beat Crusaders Beat Crusaders were a Japanese rock band. During all promotional appearances, their faces are masked by drawings resembling themselves as printed by a dot-matrix printer.-History:...

DVDs

Release Date:	| Title:
April 6, 2005	Kyoto Girl
November 23, 2005	Ayano Clip /

External links

• Ayano Tsuji's official website (In Japanese)
• Ayano Tsuji's personal blog (24 August 2010 to present) (In Japanese)
• Ayano Tsuji's personal blog (1 May 2005 to 24 August 2010) (In Japanese)
• NPR music profile of Ayano Tsuji by producer Robert Rand