Chisaki Hama

Chisaki Hama (浜千咲 "Hama Chisaki", born Rika Izumi (泉梨華 "Izumi Rika") either October 11 or November 10 1988 in Kyoto, some websites give conflicting information) is a Japanese model, actress, and singer.

Her first (and, as of 2004, only) major acting role was as Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury) in the live action "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon". She was the third youngest regular cast member of the show, after Naoki Takeshi, who played Shingo Tsukino and Sailor Luna, who was played by Rina Koike.

In Act Zero and the Special Act, she was credited as "Rika" (梨華; note different kanji than her stage name). "Chisaki Hama" (meaning "thousands of flowers blossoming at the shore") is a stage name coined by the head of her former agency, as a well-wishing for her career to "blossom" in multiple fields of the entertainment industry. Her real name is Rika Izumi (泉梨華), which has the same pronunciation as her current stage name (泉里香) and her prior one (泉里果); it was never explained why she used "Rika" for the DVD/VHS-only PGSM episodes. [ [http://www.wikimoon.org/index.php?title=Chisaki_Hama Chisaki Hama - WikiMoon ] ] It is also possible that she used the "Hama Chisaki" name to distinguish herself from another idol named Rika Izumi.

She, like the other actresses in "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon", released a CD "single", actually containing two songs, for her character Sailor Mercury: "Mi Amor" (Spanish: "my love") and "Yakusoku" (約束, meaning "promise"). It is notable that Spanish is used in her CD: use of any language other than Japanese or scattered English phrases in J-Pop is rare, and Spanish would likely be considered obscure or exotic by most Japanese listeners. Its use as such was probably intended to emphasize her character's genius-level intelligence. The only other Sailor Moon Album to use a language other than Japanese and English was the Sailor Moon Supers in Paris CD which had bits of French in the songs.

Before PGSM, Rika's only television work was on an Idol special on Sky PerfecTV Japan called "Being Junior, Go!" She has also modeled in magazines called "Monthly De-View" (Winter 2002-2003). "Pichi Lemon" (Summer 2003), "For Lillie" (April 2003), "Up-To-Boy" (November 2003), and "melon" (July 2003 to June 2005, when it stopped publication). She was on the cover of three consecutive issues of "Pure Pure" or "Pure²", a magazine aimed at the under-fifteen crowd (Issues 17 to 19, her photos were along with those of many other like-aged idols). She had released a single in November 2003 for a song entitled "Koisuru Soldier" ("Kanojo wa Ijiwaru" ["Nasty Girl"] was the other song on that CD; it was released on her agency's label and distributed by Windsong). She was also in a magazine called "BOMB!" with Miyuu Sawai and Keiko Kitagawa in character as Sailor Mercury.

Since PGSM wrapped up, Rika has been in semi-retirement. The official reasons given by her former agency were about health and school, with no indication that it would be permanent. For two years, no new photos of Rika were taken. Her former agency's "Hama Chisaki" home page is dormant, and as of February 22, 2007, disappeared altogether. She is no longer represented by Snow Rabbits Promotions, as she has quit working for them. She has occasionally met her former castmates in reunions, according to their blogs; however, they were careful to post only pictures that don't include Rika and do not mention her by name. Many say she was trying to disappear from the entertainment world.

In October 2007, someone claiming to be Rika posted a video for the song "Koisuru Soldier" (恋するソルジャー; Rika's first single released under the name Chisaki Hama) and several low-quality cellphone videos on YouTube, and also created a website which was allegedly her new official site for American fans. Though the one responsible for this has not been named as of this time, both have been proven fake, and the website went down by December 2007.

In June 2008, Rika returned to the modeling world, according to the Pinky Profile listed below. According to that site, she was in the top twelve in a competition for the title of "Pinky Princess" (total number of entrants: 5,427). Although she did not win, her fans could see this, possibly, as a fresh start after her years of inactivity.

She is currently signed with Sun Music Brain agency as of June 1, 2008. New photos of her have appeared in the August 2008 issue of "Ray" magazine. The ban her former cast mates had of posting photos of her was lifted; she was photographed with Sawai, Kitagawa, Mew Azama, and Ayaka Komatsu at a party celebrating Komatsu's twenty-second birthday, and Komatsu posted the photo on her blog on August 7, 2008.

She has been mentioned as being in the casts of three movies: "The Go Master" (2005), "Clearness" (2008), and "Go Seigen" ("Five Restrictions") (2008).

External links

[http://www.sunmusic-brain.jp/profile.php?id=180 Rika's Sun Music Brain Profile]

[http://www.s-woman.net/pinky/sp/princess08_2/03.html Rika's Pinky Profile @ s-women.net]

References

[http://www.izumirika.com A Fruitful Spring: Izumi Rika Fansite] (information)