<figure id="attachment_231333" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 8256px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-231333"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="9686d939"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/02/TZ2_5809.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-231333" class="wp-caption-text">Ryuka Mochizuki won the Rookie of the Year Award at the 63rd Record Awards held at the end of last year. She is a very promising newcomer to the world of enka and song.</figcaption></figure>
From her first impression, I can&#8217;t imagine her as an enka or song singer.
I&#8217;m talking about the singer Ryukana Mochizuki, who released her third single, &#8220;Pink Diamond,&#8221; on February 23.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
That&#8217;s just as well. To begin with, she is a full-fledged idol who works with a group called &#8220;Ethnic Happy Group. However, she is a promising newcomer in the enka world, having won the Newcomer Award at the 63rd Record Awards held at the end of last year.
When I asked Ms. Mochizuki about her impressions of standing on the big stage of the &#8220;Record Grand Prix,&#8221; she replied
 When I asked Mochizuki how it felt to be on the big stage of &#8220;Recodai,&#8221; she replied, &#8220;I was so nervous that I thought, &#8216;Oh, I should quit,&#8217; when the intro started and I was about to start singing the chorus. I was under immense pressure to go out on stage and sing in front of so many big names.
 I felt like, &#8220;This is bad for my heart. I think I&#8217;m going to die. Maybe I should quit singing and go home. But I thought, &#8220;If I quit here, the 7.7 billion people in the world will send rocks at me,&#8221; so I sang through the song (laughs).
Ms. Mochizuki was almost crushed by the pressure since her debut. When she returned to her dressing room after singing successfully, she found something wrong with her body.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 I was soaked in sweat all over. My undershirt was soaked to the point of being wrung out, but I was really able to hide it well under the cover of the kimono. I was glad I wasn&#8217;t wearing a swimsuit (laughs).
It is not uncommon nowadays for idols to make the transition to enka singers.
However, she is a hard-core singer because her favorite song in junior high school was &#8220;Yanagigase Blues&#8221; by Kenichi Mikawa. She used to go to karaoke boxes after school.
 &#8220;The grading machine is my singing teacher.
This is a &#8220;modern&#8221; way of thinking.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="His dream is to &quot;conquer the world with enka&quot;."></div>
<figure id="attachment_231335" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 5504px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-231335"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="44198c0b"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/02/TZ2_6266-rotated.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-231335" class="wp-caption-text">Mochizuki answers questions with a smile. He said he was so nervous that he was drenched in sweat at Reco Dai.</figcaption></figure>
 To begin with, before we changed our name to the &#8220;Ethnic Happy Group,&#8221; we were called the &#8220;Enka Josei Lupinus Group. I was scouted by the current president of the company, and when he told me that he wanted to take enka to the world, I immediately wanted to give it a try.
 I sang techno-arranged versions of songs such as &#8220;Kita Sakaba&#8221; and &#8220;Naniwabushi da yo Seikatsu wa&#8221; so that young people would be interested in them.
Mochizuki debuted as an idol in October &#8217;18. She made her debut as an idol in October 2006, but it was in July 2008 that she finally decided to make her long-awaited solo debut as an enka singer. In July 2008, she finally decided to make her long-awaited debut as an enka singer with &#8220;Shikkoi Momojo (Longing for Lost Love),&#8221; which ranked first in the enka and song category of various charts.
Her second single, &#8220;Masked Shadow, Mineribashi,&#8221; also reached No. 1, and she won the Rekodai Newcomer Award for her achievements. The support of the members of the &#8220;Ethnic Happy Group&#8221; was also a big reason for her success.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 She said, &#8220;It was hard for me to do campaigns because of the Corona disaster, but the members helped me spread the word about my debut song through distribution and other means. Thanks to them, we were able to reach No. 1 on the Oricon.
 On the day of Recodai, the members held a &#8220;Recodai viewing party&#8221; at the office with fans, and I was told later that Risa Koizumi and the other members were crying, saying, &#8220;Ryukan is doing her best, so we have to do our best too. &#8230; When I heard that, I cried too.
Mochizuki said she wanted to &#8220;repay&#8221; the members by selling well. The third single, &#8220;Pink &#8211;&#8221; had a different feel to it.
 This time, I asked Masayo Urano, a master of Showa era songs, to write the lyrics and Keisuke Hama to write the music, resulting in a song with a rock flavor. I have sung the previous two songs in kimono, but this time I will sing in a dress.
This song is about a woman who has experienced all kinds of love and has fallen in love again.
 The song is about a woman who has been in love for a long time and has fallen in love again. I imagine her as a &#8220;mature&#8221; woman who tries to win him over while holding back her feelings of love. There are no direct &#8216;bruising words&#8217; in the lyrics, but the woman in the world you imagine when listening to this song oozes bruising.
This time, Ms. Mochizuki is trying to play the role of a woman who is &#8220;deceptively mature. When I asked her about her future dreams, she said.
 I want to conquer the world with enka.
She answered immediately with a smile.
 When I asked her about her dream, she answered immediately with a smile, &#8220;To conquer the world with enka. The song has 650,000 views on YouTube, and most of them are in India.
 When I go abroad, I&#8217;m sometimes mistaken for an Indian. So, I want to make a breakthrough in India first, and then use that momentum to conquer Asia. Then, I want to aim for the world. As a first step, I was able to receive the Rekodai Newcomer Award. So, I&#8217;d like to aim for the Kohaku Uta Gassen next.
Ms. Mochizuki has performed 36 shows in 8 countries during her time in the Lupinus group, and she feels that she has a good grip on the world. She gave us a glimpse of her potential to &#8220;really conquer the world with enka.
<figure id="attachment_231336" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 5504px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-231336"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="de92b4d7"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/02/TZ2_5821-rotated.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-231336" class="wp-caption-text">Ms. Mochizuki is also an idol as a member of the &#8220;Ethnic Happy Group.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_231337" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 8256px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-231337"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="b6e53ed1"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/02/TZ2_5797.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-231337" class="wp-caption-text">Mochizuki&#8217;s interest in enka (enka is a Japanese traditional song) and song was sparked by her mother. In junior high school, her favorite song was &#8220;Yanagigase Blues&#8221;.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_231338" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 5504px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-231338"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="965cf61f"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/02/TZ2_6409-rotated.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-231338" class="wp-caption-text">Many of her YouTube videos are viewed by fans from overseas, including India.</figcaption></figure>

Born in Saitama Prefecture in 1975. Worked as a reporter and editor for an evening newspaper and a weekly women's magazine before assuming his current position. He also appears on TV and radio.

 Norifumi Arakita (FRIDAY Digital Entertainment Desk)

 Takero Yatsuka

 Ryukan Mochizuki won the Rookie of the Year Award at the 63rd Record Awards held at the end of last year. Her debut songs "Shitsurikoi Mousou" and "Kaikage, Mineribashi" became No.1 hits on Oricon.

Reco Great New Artist Awardee Ryuka Mochizuki Shown Seriousness to Enka

Access Ranking