Ai Kawashima (川嶋 あい , Ai Kawashima, born February 21, 1986) is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter and pianist. Overcoming her tragic childhood, she released her debut single Asueno tobira (Door to Tomorrow) as the duo I Wish in 2003. She is well known for her numerous street performances. She is also known for her devotion to help children under circumstances similar to hers in Japan and all over the world.
Kawashima was born and raised in Fukuoka, Japan. After her birth, her mother's health deteriorated and she died when Kawashima was only 3 years old. Because her father had been missing before she was born, she was taken to an orphanage and eventually adopted by the Kawashima family, owners of a construction company. Her foster father died when she was 10. After graduating from middle school, she moved to Tokyo. Her foster mother died when she was 16. She started playing the piano at the age of 3 and eventually began to think about a career as a singer.
Kawashima started her career as an enka singer. At around the age of 10, she performed on stage at the Carnegie Hall in New York. In 1999, she released her debut single, Juu-roku Koi Gokoro / Anata ni Kataomoi. However, the enka project was crippled by poor sales and was abandoned entirely within a few months.
After this initial failure, she began to sing her own songs on the busy street corners in Shibuya, Tokyo with a microphone and a radio cassette player. To become famous, she set herself the goal of performing 1,000 times on the street. Nobody paid attention to her songs at first, but the crowd gradually grew as she kept performing on streets and she met people who gave her support, culminating her major debut and the 2003 hit single "Asueno tobira" (Door to Tomorrow), which sold more than 900,000 copies. She sang the song as the vocalist of the duo I Wish. She has been performing solo since the duo broke up in 2005. Her second solo single, "12-ko no Kisetsu" (12 Seasons) ranked 10th on the Billboard Hits of the world, Japan. Even after her major debut, she kept performing on streets and, in 2005, she accomplished 1,000 street performances, which, according to Kawashima, became the foundation of her music In 2009, she performed at Japan Day at Central Park, New York.
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日本、〒460-0007 愛知県名古屋市中区新栄２丁目１−９ 雲竜フレックスビル西館 Map
日本、〒981-0904 宮城県仙台市青葉区旭ケ丘３丁目２７−５ Map
日本、〒100-0006 東京都千代田区有楽町2-5-1 有楽町マリオン11F Map
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