Rikako Yagi

Rikako Yagi was born on July 7, 2001, in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Before moving to Tokyo in 2020 to attend university, she lived in her hometown of Shiga, where she balanced her studies with her acting and modeling career.^[1] She is skilled in rhythmic gymnastics after having practiced it for over six years during elementary school.^[2] Her special skill is calligraphy, for which she has an eighth-degree rank.^[3]

Yagi shared the news of her university graduation on Instagram on April 9, 2024.^[4][5] She also disclosed that she had finished her graduation thesis, the concept was entitled Modern Society as Seen by Spider-Man.^[6]

In 2015, Yagi was selected as the grand prize winner among 7,851 applicants at the "Next Asia Cross Model Audition", the first large-scale model audition held by Asia Cross. She also won a contract with fashion magazine ViVi and multinational electronics company Panasonic.

On April 14, 2016, it was announced that she would be the brand model for Pocari Sweat by Otsuka Pharmaceutical.^[7][8] In July, she made her acting debut in the Saturday television drama The Girl Who Leapt Through Time on Nippon Television.^[9] In the same month, she was selected as a finalist in the "Miss Seventeen" contest for the August issue of Seventeen to which she was chosen as "Miss Seventeen 2016" becoming an exclusive model for the said magazine.^[10]

On May 24, 2017, she starred in the seventh episode of the drama &Bishoujo Next Girl Meets Tokyo [ja], marking her first lead role in a television drama.^[11]

In March 2021, she "graduated" from being an exclusive model for Seventeen.^[12] On November 9 of the same year, she starred in her first terrestrial drama called Campus de Aiou!, which was broadcast to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the opening of the NHK Otsu Broadcasting Station. In the same month, she made her first film appearance in the movie Spaghetti Code Love.^[13]

On May 27, 2022, she released her first photo book, "pitter-patter," a special edition limited to 3,000 copies, which was shot over the course of three and a half years from the ages 17 to 20.^[14][15] Later, a photo exhibition including unpublished works was held on July first.^[16] On August 21, Yagi made her first appearance in the NHK taiga drama, The 13 Lords of the Shogun, as Kiku.^[17] On November 24 of the same year, she attracted much attention after portraying the heroine as a teen, played by Hikari Mitsushima, in the Netflix original drama First Love.^[18]

On February 8, 2023, she made her first appearance in NHK's asadora drama series, Maiagare!.^[19] On August 26 of the same year, she starred in the spin-off drama, The Summer Without Songs, based on the character she portrayed in Maiagare!.^[20]

In January 2024, she was appointed as the Japan brand ambassador for the French luxury fashion house Dior.^[21] She then appeared in Nippon Broadcasting System's 70th Anniversary celebration stage performance Kamogawa Horumo, Once More [ja] which was performed at the Sunshine theater on April 12.^[22] In October of the same year, she co-starred with Ryo Ryusei in the NTV Saturday drama Sibling Intrusion, her first lead role in a primetime drama series.^[23]