Aki Yashiro

Aki Yashiro is a Japanese vocalist who began her career singing jazz in hostess clubs until deciding to concentrate on singing in the 'enka' style. Enka is a popular form of modern Japanese music which stylistically resembles certain traditional styles and appeals to audiences with more conventional musical tastes. At first, her career got off to a slow start and her 1971 debut single 'Ai wa Shindemo' failed to make any impression on the charts. After a series of appearances on the YTV show 'Zen Nihon Kayo Senshuken', Yashiro's career received a significant boost and her 1973 album 'Namida Koi' sold over a million copies. The hits kept coming for the young singer and she enjoyed a run of seven Oricon top ten singles, the first female enka singer to have had such a consistent run of success. A badge of honour for any enka singer is to be asked to appear on the hugely popular TV show, `Kohaku Uta Gassen', which is broadcast every New Year's Eve. Yashiro has appeared on the show no less than 23 times, a measure of the singer's enduring popularity with traditional Japanese music lovers. © ©Copyright Music Story 2020