Sakura Miyawaki facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sakura Miyawaki
宮脇 咲良
Sakura in June 2023
Born	(1998-03-19) March 19, 1998 (age 27) Kagoshima City, Kagoshima, Japan
Other names	Sakura
Education	Maria Musical Academy
Occupation	Singer actress
Years active	2011–present
Agent	A.M. [ja]
Musical career
Genres	J-pop K-pop
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	AKS Off The Record EMI Source Geffen
Korean name
Hangul	미야와키 사쿠라
Revised Romanization	Miyawaki Sakura
McCune–Reischauer	Miyawak'i Sak'ura
Signature

Sakura Miyawaki (Japanese: 宮脇 咲良) was born on March 19, 1998. She is a Japanese singer and actress who works in South Korea. Many people know her simply as Sakura. She is currently a member of the South Korean girl group Le Sserafim. Before this, she was part of the South Korean-Japanese group Iz*One. She also belonged to the Japanese groups AKB48 and its sister group HKT48.

Sakura started her music journey with HKT48 in 2011. From 2014 to 2018, she was also a member of AKB48 at the same time. During these years, she was often the main singer for popular songs like "Kimi wa Melody" and "No Way Man". In 2018, she took a break from HKT48 after coming in second on the TV show Produce 48. She then joined Iz*One until 2021. A few months later, she left HKT48 to focus on her career in South Korea. She joined Le Sserafim, which started in May 2022.

Her Journey in Music

Early Life and Starting as a Child Actor

Sakura Miyawaki was born and grew up in Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Her mother encouraged her to attend a local music school from a young age. When she was 10, Sakura performed as Young Nala in the musical The Lion King by the Shiki Theatre Company.

In 2010, she went to "The Broadway Experience" in New York. There, she took dance, singing, and acting classes from real Broadway musical stars for a week. She later finished her studies at the Maria Musical Academy in her hometown.

2011–2017: Beginning Her Idol Career

Sakura joined HKT48 as a new trainee in July 2011. Her first official appearance as an HKT48 member was on October 23. She performed at an event for the song "Flying Get". She made her stage debut on November 26.

On March 4, 2012, Sakura became a full member of HKT48 Team H. Fifteen other trainees also joined her.

In 2012, Sakura was the first HKT48 member to be ranked in the AKB48 general election. She received 6,635 votes, placing her at number 47. Later that year, she sang on the main part of AKB48's 28th song, "Uza". She also appeared on the main part of the 31st song, "Sayonara Crawl", released in May 2013. In the 2013 AKB48 general election, she placed 26th with 25,760 votes.

Sakura's first time singing on the main part of an HKT48 song was for their first single, "Suki! Suki! Skip!" (Like! Like! Skip!). She also sang on "Melon Juice".

On January 11, 2014, it was announced that Sakura would move to the new Team KIV in HKT48. At an AKB48 event, she became the vice-captain of Team KIV. She also got a special position in AKB48 Team A at the same time.

Sakura took part in the 2014 AKB48 general election and came in 11th with 45,538 votes. This placed her on the main part of "Kokoro no Placard". She also shared the lead position with Mayu Watanabe for AKB48's 38th single, "Kiboteki Refrain". This made her the first HKT48 member from the local area to lead an AKB48 song.

In 2015, Sakura had a main role in AKB48's drama Majisuka Gakuen 4 with Haruka Shimazaki. The show started on January 19. She placed 7th in the general election that year with 81,422 votes.

In July 2015, she released her first photo book, called Sakura. It was number 1 on the weekly Oricon photo book chart.

She had her first solo lead position on AKB's 43rd single, "Kimi wa Melody", released on March 9, 2016.

2018–2021: Produce 48, Iz*One, and Leaving HKT48

Sakura in 2018, as a contestant on Mnet's reality-survival program, Produce 48

In 2018, Sakura joined the TV show Produce 48, where she finished in second place. She then became a member of the Korean-Japanese idol group Iz*One, which started in October of that year. She and the other two Japanese members of Iz*One took a break from their Japanese groups. Their contracts with Iz*One ended in April 2021. Sakura also started her own video gaming channel on YouTube. By August 6, 2021, she had over 692,000 subscribers.

After Iz*One broke up in April 2021, news came out that Sakura was leaving HKT48. On May 15, 2021, Sakura confirmed she was leaving. Her farewell concert was on June 19. A short music video for her graduation song, "Omoide ni Suru ni wa Mada Hayasugiru" (思い出にするにはまだ早すぎる, lit. "It's Too Early to Turn it Into a Memory Yet"), was put on YouTube on June 14. Her last performance with HKT48 was on June 27. In May 2021, Sakura became the face of the hair care brand Kérastase and the Chinese makeup brand Flower Knows. On November 1, 2021, her contract with Vernalossom ended.

2022–Present: Joining Le Sserafim

On March 14, 2022, Sakura, along with former Iz*One member Kim Chaewon and former Produce 48 contestant Huh Yunjin, signed contracts with Source Music. It was confirmed they would join Le Sserafim in May. On March 21, 2022, Sakura also joined a Japanese talent agency called A.M. Entertainment for her activities in Japan. On May 2, 2022, Le Sserafim officially started with their first album, Fearless.

AKB48 Election Results

Here are Sakura's results in AKB48's yearly general elections:

Other Activities

Brand Deals

On November 14, 2015, Sakura was chosen to be the model for the "Kagoshima Roman Theater" campaign. This campaign helped promote a new event and bring tourists to the area. It showed off different fun places in Kagoshima. In September 2016, Sakura worked with Erika Kenko Dojo to promote a drink called "Yukousen". She did this with four other HKT48 members. The next month, she also helped promote a "World Cultural Heritage" location.

Since 2019, Sakura has been the main model for the Japanese contact lens brand Molak. In 2021, she became the Asian brand ambassador for the makeup brand Flower Knows. She also became the face for Kérastase Japan, representing their "Blond Absolu" hair care line. In 2022, she was chosen as the main model for the Japanese clothing brand Lily Brown. She worked with them on their seasonal clothing collections. In 2023, a South Korean skincare brand called Primera made her their global ambassador.

Her Own Business

Sakura started her own makeup brand called Cran by Molak in 2021. This was a partnership with the brand Molak, which she had modeled for. The brand stopped selling products on November 30, 2022.

Music She Has Written

Sakura has helped write lyrics and music for several songs. Here are some of them:

Title	Year	Artist	Album	Lyrics	Music
"Love Bubble"	2019	Iz*One	Vampire
"With*One"	2020		Oneiric Diary
"Secret Story of the Swan" (Japanese version)
"Yummy Summer"			Twelve
"Fiesta" (Japanese version)
"Zuttomo Project"	2021	=Love	Weekend Citron
"Good Parts (when the quality is bad but I am)"	2022	Le Sserafim	Antifragile
"피어나 (Between you, me and the lamppost)"	2023		Unforgiven
"Swan Song"	2024		Easy
"Crazy"			Crazy

Movies and TV Shows

Movies

TV Series

Online Series

Online Shows

TV Shows

Radio Show

See also

In Spanish: Sakura Miyawaki para niños