Akari Uchida

Akari Uchida is a Japanese actress and singer Her birth name is Kuniko Ōgata 大形 久仁子 She was born in Osaka Prefecture She was previously known by the stage name Akari Uchida 内田 明里 which is pronounced the same Under her birth name Kuniko Ōgata she gained recognition as a jazz cafe singer in her hometown At the age of 16 she was scouted and made her acting debut in the TBS TV drama 土曜日の虎 Saturdays Tiger in 1966 using the name Fujiku Ōgata In 1967 she made her record debut under Toshiba Records with the song 限りある日を愛に生きて Living for Limited Days in Love In 1968 she had a hit duet titled 私って駄目な女ね Im Such a Useless Woman with Hiroshi Wada and Mahina Stars which sold 500000 copies However she struggled to achieve solo success In 1973 after seven years in the industry she moved to CBS Sony and changed her stage name to Akari Uchida This stage name was given to her by composer Ichirō Sase who considered both spiritual inspiration and physiognomy The name Uchida was chosen due to its visual resemblance to her round face and Akari meaning light was chosen to signify that light always shines on her round face Her hit song 浮世絵の街 Ukiyoe Town with elaborate designs by Kansai Yamamoto and a jacket illustration by Kazuo Uemura became a huge hit selling 700000 copies The kimonostyle blouse costume designed by Yamamoto cost 12 million yen and its said that she performed without panties on television Her successful song 好色一代女 A Licentious Womans Lifetime in 1989 brought attention with its eccentric costumes and alluring charm The same year the song won the Lyricist Award at the Japan Record Awards In addition to her singing career Akari Uchida expanded her acting career in films and television dramas Source Wikipedia Japan 内田あかり