Rikka Ihara

Saya Hayashi,^[2] a native of Ōsakasayama,^[3] born on 2 June 1999.^[1] She started learning ballet at the age of four and, through it, learned the joy of expressing herself with her body.^[4][5] She became interested in musicals after seeing a play performed by a friend of her friend's while as a elementary school second grader, and from 2008 to 2012 she took chorus and dance lessons at Kodomo Musical [ja].^[6][7] She joined Gekidan ARCS in 2013 and played Jojo's sister in their musical production Zubon Senchō: Fifi and the Seven Seas.^[4][6]

In April 2015, she enrolled in the Osaka Prefectural Tomioka High School [ja] general course and was a member of the school's dance club, which is coached by choreographer Akane [ja]; as captain, she won numerous competitions, and in August 2017, she was part of the center when the team performed at the Japan High School Dance Club Championship [ja] and came to national media attention.^[6][8][9] She initially considered going to a university in Tokyo and auditioning,^[6] before being scouted by talent agency Foster prior to her graduation.^[10]

On 1 October 2017, she began her entertainment career under the stage name Rikka Ihara.^[11][12][13] After auditioning in February 2018, she was appointed as the Century 21 Girl, the new image character of Century 21 Real Estate's Japan division, and she began appearing in their commercials in July.^[11][13] After graduating from high school in March 2018, she moved to Tokyo and began working as an actress.^[6][14][15] She made her runway debut on 31 March when she appeared on the 26th Tokyo Girls Collection.^[15][16] Her first radio show Century 21 presents Rikka Ihara and Bukatsu Dance, airing on TBS Radio, began broadcasting in April.^[17] In June, her first photo book was released.^[18]

In January 2019, she made her debut as a singer with her single "Wingbeats", produced by Shinichi Osawa as the commercial song for Century 21.^[19] Although she had always liked singing, it was her first time singing in front of people, so she attended voice training in preparation for her debut as a singer.^[20][21] She was also a guest vocalist for Masayuki Suzuki's single "Love Dramatic", the theme song for the anime Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.^[22] In April 2019, she began serving as the 16th MC of Daiichi Kosho's online music programme Dam Channel  [ja].^[23][24]

She made her drama debut as Fumi Aso in Cheer Dan  [ja], which started airing in July 2018.^[25] In September 2018, it was announced that she would star as Mei Ayazuki in the 2019 live-action film adaptation of Meiji Tokyo Renka; this was the first time she starred in a television series or film.^[26][27] She made her asadora debut in Natsuzora (2019), appearing as Momoyo Morita.^[28] She was scheduled to make her stage debut as Maria at the IHI Stage Around Tokyo [ja] production of West Side Story Season 3,^[29] but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.^[30] She also starred as the titular Iinchou in the 2020 drama adaptation of Donburi Iinchou  [ja], Honoka Ōba on the Disney+ series Sumo Do, Sumo Don't (2022), and Sakura Uchida in the 2023 film Nightmare Resort  [ja].^[31][32][33] In 2024, she will star as Yūka Kitayama in the drama adaptation of Kanzō o Ubawareta Tsuma  [ja].^[34]

Among her hobbies are raising lizards (the leopard gecko) and Nambu ironware [ja].^[35] Her favorite work is the novella The Little Prince.^[12]

Live-action television

Film

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist