UNITE!

Yuna Ito is the new rising star in Japan's music business. The 22-year-old half Japanese, half Korean Hawaiin has debuted under the synonym of "REIRA starring YUNA ITO" with her song "Endless Story", which landed on number 2 of ORICON SINGLE RANKING. As Reira Serizawa from the most famous manga NANA, created by Ai Yazawa, Ito's idenity was kept a secret until the very last...

Yuna Ito was born on September 20th, 1983, between a Japanese father and a Korean mother in Los Angeles, California. She grew up in the United States, Hawaii, and even spent her High School time there as she attended McKinley High School until 2001. When Yuna was little she used to sing to songs of both Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson and had always one dream: Becoming a star!

In early 2005 then Yuna auditioned for the role of charismatic vocalist Reira from TRAPNEST and eventually was chosen for the role. To make her debut even more exciting Yuna's label SONY BMG JAPAN did everything to keep any information about Yuna a secret.

When finally NANA the movie opened in Japan, people were going crazy about the wonderful, "high-pitched", voice of Yuna and the movie song "Endless Story" ended on its first day of selling on number 2 of Japan's bill-board charts. Yuna was everywhere! On magazine covers, posters and eventually had her first TV appearance on MUSIC STATION, singing with all her love "Endless Story". Even famous singer Mika Nakashima who was starring as NANA wrote a message toYuna, wishing her good luck for the performance and that she herself was sitting in front of the TV to follow her!

Only in 2006 then her 2nd single, entitled "Faith/Pureyes" should be put on the market. With "Faith" being ending theme to the drama "UNFAIR" and "Pureyes" being song for the BIOCLEN ZERO Commercial this single sold about 50.000 copies which was a dissapointment considering "Endless Story" had outsold Mika Nakashima's "Glamorous Sky" with over 500.000 copies.

Next should come Yuna's maybe biggest hit after NANA. "Precious" was announced as theme song for the 2006 blockbuster "LIMIT OF LOVE ~Umizaru~" and would become Yuna's 3rd single set to be released on May 3rd. With it are coming 2 b-sides, "I'm Free" and "Secrets", both co-written by Yuna herself. 2006 will be another exciting year for her.

Riding on the wave of success that "Precious" got Yuna on with over 150.000 copies sold, Sony announced a 2-Month Single Project. Not just is she singing "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" for the "COO" CM of Daihatsu, but also is singer of the Japanese ending theme of  TV show "LOST", "losin". 

Surname: Ito

Given Name: Yuna

Date of Birth: September 20^th, 1983

Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, USA

Origins: Half-Japanese, half-Korean

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Brown

Current Destination: Tokyo, Japan

Height: 168cm

Bloodtype: A

• Yuna was born in Los Angeles
• Attended McKinley High School until 2001
• Her test scores where always great, that's why her mother never was too fond of her daughter becoming a singer
• her parents had several restaurants, the current is in Honolulu, Hawaii- "Ai No No"
• misses her friends and family a lot while in Japan
• has more than one relative that attends McKinley High
• Friend with Hawaiin JPop singer Melody
• Angela Aki and she attended the same Japanese language school
• Her favourite music style is R&B, even though she persues a JPOP career in Japan
• English is her native language, Japanese her 2nd language
• can write fluently in Kana (Japanese writings)
• Education: Sacred Hearts Academy, McKinley High School, Iolani High School, Makiki Japanese Language School
  

Ito is the sixth most common Japanese surname. It can either mean "thread" as in the meaning of a life thread or a red thread between lovers, or "intention". Sometimes "Ito" can be referred to as "love" as well.

Yuna is also a common Japanese given name. "Yuna" possibly comes from the Japanese word "yunikana", which means "individual" or "original". In Okinawan "Yuna" is translated as "night".