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Ai Otsuka 大塚 愛
Background information
Birth name	大塚 愛 (Ōtsuka, Ai)
Also known as	Ai-chin, Ai-chan, AiO, Love
Born	September 9, 1982 (1982-09-09) (age 25)
Origin	Osaka Japan
Genre(s)	Japanese Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer, Songwriter, Composer, actress
Instrument(s)	Piano
Years active	2003-present
Label(s)	Avex Trax
Website	Official Site

Ai Otsuka (大塚 愛, Ōtsuka Ai^?, born September 9, 1982) is a female Japanese pop singer-songwriter and pianist from Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She is best-known for her 2003/2004 hit Sakuranbo, which stayed in the Top 200 Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for 101 weeks.^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 2 Music career 2.1 2003-2005: Punch, Jam, and Cook 2.1.1 Love Punch 2.1.2 Love Jam 2.1.3 Love Cook 2.2 2005-2007:Tokyo Friends plus Best and PiEce 2.2.1 Love PiEce 2.2.2 Ai am Best 2.3 2007-present:PiEce take two and Love-chan 2.3.1 Love-chan and Love PiEce (continued) 2.3.2 Love-chan (continued) and Post Love PiEce 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 4 DVD drama 5 Radio shows 6 Photobooks 7 References 8 External links

Ai Otsuka is signed to record label Avex Trax, one of the biggest record labels in Japan and one of the largest independent record labels in the world, which also manages other high-profile artists like Ayumi Hamasaki, Kumi Koda, Sweetbox, BoA, Namie Amuro, Ami Suzuki, Hitomi Shimatani, and Every Little Thing. She is qualified to teach kindergarten, and has said she will become a kindergarten teacher if her singing career collapses.^[2]

Ai (愛, Ai^?) means love, hence the use of the word "love" in much of her work. She also plays on the pun of Ai sounding like the English word "I".

Her first single, 2003's "Momo no hanabira", was only a minor hit, peaking at #24 on the Oricon singles top 100, but stayed on the charts for 21 weeks.^[3]

Her next single, "Sakuranbo", released December of 2003 would become the 12th best selling single of 2004. Gradually climbing the charts to top 5, the single stayed on the chart for 101 weeks (almost two years), and a special "encore press" version was commissioned, which peaked at #4.^[3]

In early March, 2004 Otsuka released her last single before her first album. "Amaenbo" was used in a television advertisement for Sato Healthcare's cold relief tablets Stona Rhini S (ストナリニS, sutona rini S^?). "Amaenbo" was unable to reach #1 on the Oricon Charts and ended up at #6 while at the same time "Sakuranbo" was #5. This was the first time in Japanese music history a female artist was able to have two singles in the top ten in the same week, until 2005 Kumi Koda was able to beat Ai with three singles within the same week.^[3]

By end of March 2004, her first album "Love Punch" was released, which debuted at #3 on the Oricon charts and sold 190,265 copies in its first week. She continued to release singles and gradually built a diverse and devoted following.

In November 2004, the follow-up to Love Punch, Love Jam, was released, which met even greater popular success. Along with three single released before her second studio album was released. First, "Happy Days" sold 163,433 units and reached #3 on Oricon weekly chart. ^[4][3]

"Kingyo Hanabi" was the second single to be released after her first album. "Kingyo Hanabi" also landed in No. 3 on Oricon weekly chart but was able to sell 148,121 units which sold about 20,000 copies less then her Happy Days single. ^[4][1][3]

Two months later, Otsuka released another single, "Daisuki da yo." like the previous two singles it was landed at No. 3 on Oricon weekly chart and sold 156,844 units. ^[5][4][3]

Otsuka released her second studio album a month later in November, 2004 "Love Jam" debuted at No. 1 and sold 224,381 units in its first week. 656,700 units were sold in total. "Love Jam" became her first album to top the chart at the same time it was her lowest sale studio album. "Love Jam" was released in two different versions including a CD and a CD+DVD version.^[6]

Following the release of "Love Jam" there was one recut singles released after the album because of her big success. That singles was "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen" released in February of 2005. It's a different version of the "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 735 Yen" track on "Love Jam". "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen" is arranged differently in terms of music and vocals. "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 730 Yen" has been described that is more "loving" or "tender" while "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen" is more "aggressive". This single sold 149,134 units and also debuted at No. 3 on the Oricon weekly chart and was the No. 68 single of 2005.^[7][4][3]

"Smily/Biidama" was her 1st single to be released after "Love Jam" both songs were used for commercials, Lion's Ban Powder Spray and Shokubutsu Monogatari Herb Blend Shampoo. "Smily/Biidama" sold 110,512 copies during its debut week and charted at first place. Smily/Biidama" had total sold 308,338 copies in 2005, placing it as the #26 single of that year. ^[8][9][9][3]

It was during this time, in June 2005, that Ai made her acting debut with the drama Tokyo Friends. Unlike most dramas, the series was directly released on DVD and never aired on TV. The drama used three songs as its theme song, BOO BEE BENZ's "to me" and "Kimi to Iu Hana," as well the coupling song to her sixth single, "Friends -Sabakan ver.-" All three tracks would eventually be included in the soundtrack for the drama's movie sequel.

Ai released her second single in 2005, "Neko ni Fusen" was released in middle of the year in July. "Neko ni Fusen" was her lowest single that year only reaching #3 on the chart and selling 111,324 copies reaching #92 on the 2005 yearly charts. ^[10][3]

Her single, "Planetarium", was released on September 20, 2005. It was the insert song for the live-action drama Hana Yori Dango. This was also her last single of the year. "Planetarium" sales of 315,669 was her second highest single below "Sakuranbo" before her third studio album was released. ^{[11][12][1][3]}

"Love Cook", her third studio album, came out on December 14, 2005. In its first week, it sold 335,000 copies in its first week. Her promotional videos were filmed as mini-dramas. ^[13][14][15] She also hosts a radio show on JOQR Recomen!! AM1134hHz called Otsuka Ai no ai-r jack.

Her Spring 2006 single, "Frienger" (a portmanteau of the words Friend and Ranger), was released on April 12, 2006. The PV music video was shot in Taiwan and is used as the commercial song for the Toshiba W41T 4 GB MP3 Mobile Phone.

Soon after the release of "Frienger," Otsuka reprised her role as an actress for Tokyo Friends: The Movie, which hit theatres in Japan on August 12, 2006. The movie is a direct sequel to the DVD drama released the previous year. Otsuka also sung the opening theme for Tokyo Friends, "Yumekui," which was released as a new single on August 2, 2006. It debuted at #5 on the weekly chart, selling 63,428 copies in the first week and a total of 145,281 copies.

Two months after "Yumekui," Otsuka released another single entitled "Renai Shashin" on October 25, 2006, which was used as the opening theme song for the movie "Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru". The title of the movie was actually taken from the lyrics of the song. "Renai Shashin" debuted at #2 and sold 129,855 copies, making it the 75th best-selling single of the year. At the end of 2006, Otsuka had released a total of three singles and charted on Oricon's 2006 yearly chart with "Frienger" at #60, "Yumekui" at #66, and "Renai Shashin" at #75.^[16]

Otsuka released her first 2007 single, "Chu-Lip," on February 21, 2007. ^[17] The single was used as the theme song for the TBS drama "Kirakira Kenshui," starring Manami Konishi and Wentz Eiji of WaT and managed to claim #3 on the ORICON charts.

Otsuka released her first best hits compilation album entitled "Ai am Best" on March 28, 2007, which features 13 pre-2006 songs and their respective promotional videos ^[18]. There are 11 songs from her singles, one song from Love Cook and one song from a NANA sound track: Love for Nana ~Only 1 Tribute~.^[2]

"Ai am Best" sold 64,396 copies on the first day and debuted at #1, making it Otsuka's best selling album; it sold over 350,000 copies in its first week. "Ai am Best" also features two bonus tracks--one for the DVD, "Best of Babashi", and one for the CD, "Babashiのテーマ". First Press "Ai am Best" includes an Ai stamp and Ai wallet calendar. Some also include an Ai pin (Yellow or White). ^[19]

Otsuka will also be going on a tour entitled "Ai am Best Tour" that features songs from "Ai am Best" and more. The tour starts on May 18 and ends on July 7 of 2007. There will be tour goods such as Ai CD cases, Ai stickers, and Ai clear files.

Further information: Love-chan

On April 11, 2007 Otsuka released a new single, "Love no Theme," as the self-created bunny rabbit character "Love-chan". "Love no Theme" was shown on her Jam Punch Tour 2005. It was called "I canChu♥" before it was changed to "Love no Theme". "Love no Theme" was written about a character bunny name Love-chan In the single it also included an extra trick preview of the new single to be released sometime soon entitled "White Choco" also a previous unreleased song on her "Momo no hanabira" promotional disc originally entitled "White Chocolate" (Whiteチョコ; White Choko).

Otsuka released her first single after "Ai am Best" named "Peach / Heart" on July 25, 2007. The first A-side "Peach" is an up-beat summer song and will be used as the end song of the summer drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (starring Maki Horikita and Shun Oguri), while the second Heart is a mid-tempo track. The single also includes the rearranged version of "Renai Shashin", titled Renai Shashin -Haru- (恋愛写真 -春-; Love Photograph -Spring-, Renai Shashin -Haru-^?).

A triple-release is announced for September 26, 2007. The first of these releases is Otsuka's fourth original album, titled "Love Piece". The album will include all her singles thus far, from "Frienger" all the way to "Peach/Heart", resulting in only five new songs in an 11-track album. The album will be released in CD+DVD and CD-only formats, with the DVD including newly filmed PV of "Heart" and a new song entitled "Kumuriuta" (クムリウタ, "Kumuriuta"^?) on the album. ^[20] The first-edition DVD also includes the PV of "U-Boat," a song from the last album, while the first-edition of the CD-only version comes with a 40-page color photobook. ^[21]

The second release on that day will the a DVD of her Ai am Best Tour 2007: at Tokyo International Forum Hall A on 9th of July 2007, which will be released in a single-disc edition, as well as a special two-disc edition, which includes offshots of the tour and a 40-page photobook. ^{[22] [23]} The third release announced for the day is a re-release of the best album "Ai am Best" in CD-only format, limited press. ^[24]

Two months after the triple-release of Love PiEce , CD version of Ai am Best and Ai am Best Tour 2007, Ai Released her next single "Pocket" (ポケット; Poketto, "Pocket"^?) on November 7, 2007 including two B-sides: "Ticket" and "Love CiRcle."

Also Love-chan finally announced the long waited single "White Choco" will be released about two weeks after the released of "Pocket" on November 21, 2007

Further information: Ai Otsuka discography

Year	Title	Type	Chart positions
2004	Love Punch	Studio	3
2004	Love Jam	Studio	1
2005	Love Cook	Studio	1
2007	Ai am Best (愛 am Best, Ai am Best ? I am Best)	Compilation	1
2007	Love PiEce	Studio	1

• Tokyo Friends [1] ((June 8, 2005)

• Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Otsuka Ai ai-r Jack

• Kimi iro Omoi [2] (キミイロオモイ) (February 25, 2005)
• Love World (September 25, 2007)

• Ai Otsuka official website
• (Ai Otsuka) Love official website
• Ai Otsuka French Fansite
• ThePPN:Otsuka Ai

v • d • e Ai Otsuka
Singles
"Momo no Hanabira"  • "Sakuranbo"  • "Amaenbo"  • "Happy Days"  • "Kingyo Hanabi"  • "Daisuki da yo."  • "Kuroge Wagyu Joshio Tan Yaki 680 Yen"  • "Sakuranbo -encore press-"  • "Smily / Biidama" "Neko ni Fūsen"  • "Planetarium"  • Frienger  • "Yumekui"  • "Renai Shashin"  • "Chu-Lip"  • "Peach / Heart"  • "Pocket" "Love no Theme"  • "White Choco"
Various
Full discography  • Albums  • Singles

v • d • e Ai Otsuka
Albums
Love Punch | Love Jam | Love Cook | Love PiEce Compilation Album: Ai am Best
Various
Full discography | Albums | Singles