Hitomi Shimatani

Name: Hitomi Shimatani
Japanese name: 島谷瞳, 島谷ひとみ
Birthday: September 4, 1980 (1980-09-04) (age 28)
Origin Kure, Hiroshima, Japan
Genre(s) J-Pop, Dance
Years active 1999–Present
Label(s) Avex Trax

Hitomi Shimatani is a female J-pop singer signed to the Avex Trax label. Shimatani started her career as an Enka singer with the release of her debut single "Ōsaka no Onna" (大阪の女, Ōsakan Woman?) in 1999, but later decided to get into the dance/pop style for her music. Shimatani's music has also appeared in video games and also anime series.

After having finished school and feeling ready to her first step as a young singer, in 1999 Hitomi released her first single called "Ōsaka no onna" (大阪の女, Woman Of Osaka?), an enka song. Although the single received much critical acclaim and even won some awards, it sold rather poorly, causing either Shimatani, avex, or both to decide that "Ōsaka no onna" was to be both the beginning and the end of Shimatani's enka career. She started to record more songs and in 2000 she released her second single, "Kaihōku" (解放区, liberated district?), which was drastically different, stylistically, than her previous with its extremely pop leanings.

Hitomi Shimatani Pictures