Asuka Hinoi, singer and fashion model, better known as leader of the eurobeat dance group HINOI TEAM (HINOIチーム) was born in Osaka, Japan, on January 8, 1991, and had singing and dancing lessons in Caless Vocal & Dance School, also known as KYARESU . She started her musical career in 2002, as part of the j-pop trio “Love & Peace”, with fellow members Miho Hiroshige and Hikaru Koyama (who later was part of HINOI Team). The group, under Pony Canyon Label, released only one single, “Drifter” , that was used as theme for the movie 'Dodge Go! Go!, but had minor success.

After this first attempt, she tried as a model, working in magazines as Nicola and LOVE BERRY, a fashion magazine for pre-teens ( also abbreviated as RABUBE or just LB) as a RABUBERINA, the way they called their models. While working in LB, Asuka, Hikaru and Yuho Fujiwara tried to create another group, but failed. By this time she also modeled for brands like Angel Blue, Mezzo Piano and Pom ponette.

In 2003, taking advantage of her talent and the two tries in the world of music she made before, she started a solo career with avex-trax records. Her solo debut, “Wanna be your girlfriend?” was used as main theme of NTV drama “あした天気になあれ”（What’s the weather tomorrow), a story about the life of a weather caster. It gained the notoriety she needed to release a second single in April, 2004, “たったひとりの君“ Tatta Hitori no Kimi (Your only one) , written by Hiromasa Ijichi, known for his work with the j-pop band SPEED. She made a few tv appearances and appeared in “idol” magazines, as Kindai, JUNON and POTATO, but didn’t released a third single.

While still being active in modeling, she focused in her work with the magazine and the clothing brands she had contract with. By this time she modeled for popular brands like Angel Blue, Mezzo Piano and Pom ponette, all of them of Narumiya company. Asuka also tried as an actress. This year she ended her acting in the TBS drama trilogy “Pure Love I, II and III” (2002-2003).

Her new chance to perform waited almost one more year. On December 2004, she was named as the leader of a new group, HINOI Team, named after her, of course. The group also included Hikaru, who showed vocal & dance skills. After the auditions, other two girls were selected to join the group, Keika Matsuoka and Rina Takenaka. Since LOVE BERRY had a lot of rabuberinas, Asuka and Hikaru weren’t featured as much as when they started with HINOI Team. By the time, Keika Matsuoka was modeling for Love Berry too, as a younger rabuberina.

On May 18, 2005, the first single of the group came to public, “IKE- IKE” , a happy song accompanied with a para-para style choreography. That success was followed by other singles like KING KONG, NIGHT OF FIRE and PLAY WITH THE NUMBERS, featuring comedian Koriki. This year Asuka appeared in FUJI TV drama “おによめにっき”(The dark in your diary) as Aya Kurada.

On march, 2006, the girls released their fourth single, STICKY, TRICKY AND BANG, and finally, their first album titled SUPER EURO PARTY. In the second part of the year, more precisely, on august, the girls released their fifth single, NOW AND FOREVER. The last single known of HINOI TEAM is DANCIN & DREAMIN, released in February, 2007. On the same month, she released her first and long-awaited idol photo album, called just ASUKA, with Wani Books, showing her as a natural “girl next door” beauty featuring uniform, swimsuit and bikini poses. The book included a behind-the-scenes special DVD.

Since then, HINOI TEAM was put on “hiatus”. Back as a soloist, Asuka released on may 2007 her third single with avex-trax “ 明日への光” Asu e no hikari (Light toward Tomorrow) , that was used as ending theme of the anime “瀬戸の花嫁” Seto no hanayome (Seto’s bride). She held a few handshake events for the release of the single in Shinjuku, Akihabara and Shibuya’s Tower Records. ,Later, on December, she started working as a model for the now defunct magazine Cawaii! , a very popular Japanese magazine aimed to girls between 15-21 years old. She was also featured in the Thai, Japanese and Taiwan versions of the magazine (since a big percentage of them are the same as Japanese version).

She made the decision to appear as a model in Shibuya Girls Collection Autumn/Winter ’07, a large-scale event and sister of Tokyo Girl’s Collection. The Girls Collection (SGC) is focused on trendy Shibuya “culture”, and showcases the latest coordinates for all seasons of the most popular brands for late teens and early 20’s.

As a model for Cawaii! , she was also involved in a lot of fashion events as MC and also showing her singing skills, like in 2008 “Spring festival” event, where she performed her last single, “睡蓮”, Suilen/ suiren (Water lilies), released in march as part of the cd "FLOWER FESTIVAL～VISION FACTORY presents".

The same month she landed a role in “ Cupid Club 3”, a 5-minute movie with VISION CAST, a special service of her agency, VISION FACTORY, for cellphone users. As a highlight, she was called “Queen of beauty mania” on Cawaii! December 2008 issue, since she has many beauty products as favorites.

Talking about 2009, she went back on stage during Shibuya Girls Collection, wearing brands like DIZZY and ROSE FAN FAN. She stayed in Cawaii until it was surprisingly suspended on may 2009 issue , after 14 years of publication.

Besides her modeling and music career, since 2007, she hosts a radio show on KissFM Kobe every Friday called “Teen’s voice”. It’s also broad casted via Internet as TV- on-demand on amerikamura.tv and Youtube. What the future will hold for her from this point onwards is unsure but our highest hopes is of course that we'll be seeing her singing again. Only the future will tell.

To comment on this article please click here.

Written by: Bel
Edited by: Azumi Chan