Profile

Before I Found My Voice

I was born in Kure, Hiroshima — the city where the battleship Yamato was built and where the history of the former Imperial Navy still lives on.

Our home was filled with records collected by my music-loving father, and among the popular songs and classical pieces I encountered Prokofiev's “Peter and the Wolf.” It is the story of a brave boy, Peter, who rescues a clumsy duck from a wolf. As I listened to the narration woven through the sounds of each instrument, Peter and the animals came vividly to life before my eyes. That moment — when narration and music together paint a picture in your mind — moved me deeply. I remember begging my father to play the record again and again.

The radio my mother listened to every morning as a clock while making breakfast. The crisp, dignified voice of the stadium announcer echoing through Hiroshima Municipal Stadium on family outings. The warmth of the stories our teacher read aloud in fifth-grade moral education class, which made me dream, “Someday I want to be someone who delivers stories that move people's hearts.” Watching a popular radio show broadcast live from Hiroshima's largest electronics store with my family. Being moved by a bus guide's tales of the samurai of the late Edo period on a school trip to Hagi, Yamaguchi. These memories connected into a single line, and my journey toward making my voice my profession began.

From “Telling” to “Reaching” — Skills Honed in the Field

My voice career began as a tour guide for a local bus company. I guided guests through Hiroshima's prayers for peace, the World Heritage site of Miyajima, and routes into neighboring prefectures. Memorizing enormous scripts and narrating in time with the passing scenery was demanding, but seeing guests listen with shining eyes — and sometimes quietly wipe away tears — taught me how deeply voice and words can touch people's hearts. That experience became my foundation.

After moving to Nagano, I joined the launch of a new community FM station and dove into live broadcasting as a regular personality on FM Sakudaira. Around the same time, I began hosting weddings at Hoshino Resorts and other venues in Karuizawa, and later took on a program at FM Karuizawa. Producing programs tailored to each community at two stations developed my quick judgment and my ability to create refined, warm atmospheres.

In 2005, drawn by the blue sea, I moved my base to Okinawa. There I built experience in very different fields: teaching children at a cram school on an outlying island, working in a special-response unit of a call center where every word choice matters, and hosting a program on FM Chatan.

In 2008 I joined an agency specializing in narrators and fully relaunched my voice career. I have since worked on TV and radio commercials, corporate promotional videos, and MC for formal ceremonies and events. Through radio programs including FM Okinawa's “Sleep Supplement” and “Sh@re Time,” I also delivered words that accompanied listeners in their daily lives.

If my voice can be of help to you, I would be delighted to hear from you.

• Volunteer at rescue-dog adoption events
• Completed the 2024 training course for storytellers of the Battle of Okinawa
• Member of BNI AMAMIKU Chapter