Hanako Oku in Saitama

Hanako Oku is a Japanese singer-songwriter and pianist from Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, born in 1978. She writes piano-led J-pop ballads and is especially known for “Garnet” and “Kawaranai Mono,” the ending theme and insert song for Mamoru Hosoda’s animated film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Before her 2005 major-label debut, she built an audience through street performances around Kashiwa Station, accompanying herself on keyboard and selling self-produced CDs. She brought that voice-and-keyboard format to Nippon Budokan for Oku Hanako Matsuri 2008.