was a founding member of Hello! Project

Hello! Project

is the umbrella name for all female idol Japanese pop recording artists collective that are under contract with the Up-Front Group. The "mothership" group of Hello! Project is the super-group Morning Musume. Hello! Project's current leader is Risa Niigaki, the leader of Morning Musume...

 group Country Musume

Country musume

is an all-female Japanese pop group within Hello! Project.- History :Country Musume was formed in 1999 and was billed as "Country Girls from Hokkaidō". The initial group consisted of members and Hokkaidō natives Rinne Toda, Azusa Kobayashi, and Hiromi Yanagihara....

. She joined Country Musume in 1999 along with Rinne Toda and Azusa Kobayashi. On July 16, 1999, Yanagihara was killed in a car accident one week before the group's first release, Futari no Hokkaidou on July 23, 1999. She is the only Hello! Project member past or present to die.

Movies

• 1998 –

Dramas

• 1998-04-06 –
• 1998-07-09 –
• 1998-10-11 –

External links

Necrology from Nikkan Sports

Nikkan Sports

is the first-launched Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1946.It has a circulation of 1,965,000, and is an affiliate newspaper of Asahi Shimbun.-Companies and regions:...