Yanagihara Hiromi

Yanagihara Hiromi (柳原尋美) was a Japanese pop singer, model and actress. She was an idol under Hello! Project as one of the original members of Country Musume in 1999. She died in a car accident the same year.
==Biography==
===Early Life & Career===
Before signing up for the audition for the Country Musume Audition (カントリー娘。オーディション), Yanagihara had a small role in the movie Morning Cop in 1998. She also starred in three doramas the same year: Taiyou Musume to Umi, Wine Musume Koi Monogatari and Kaze no Musumetachi. According to the producer of "Kaze no Musumetachi", Yanagihara had said she felt lucky being able to act in several dramas, but that it was a singer she wanted to be.
She signed up for the forementioned audition, which was held by Tsunku and in 1999. Yoshitake wanted to create a sister group to Morning Musume, but instead of being the next door girls, they would be country girls with rural values. The audition process was aired on a television program called Idol wo Sagase. Nine girls went through voice and dance lessons at Hanabatake Farm in Hokkaido, and three girls ended up being chosen, Yanagihara being one of them.
The group would be named Country Musume, and was made up by Yanagihara, Toda Rinne and Kobayashi Azusa. In the same time period, Country Musume was recording songs for their first single. A few days before the release of their debut single, Yanagihara was on her way from a restaurant owned by Yoshitake, to a sight-seeing farm, in order to attend a dance lesson. She lost control over the car she was driving, and didn’t survive the accident. She passed away on the 16th of July, 1999.
==Family==
*Yanagihara has at least one older sister; Miyumi (芽弓). Her mother's name is Ryoko (立子). 
===Death===
On July 16, 1999, Yanagihara was tragically killed in a car accident one week before the group's first release, "Futari no Hokkaido." Yanagihara was reportedly driving alone to Hanabatake Farm in  at 5:00 pm when her SUV, a second generation , began swerving and several times, throwing her from the vehicle which then flipped on top of her.
Yanagihara was rushed to a hospital in by ambulance, where she later died at 7:10 pm. The official cause of death was a combination of and .
==Profile==
==Singles Featured In==
===Country Musume===
*Futari no Hokkaido
==Works==
===Movies===
*[1998] Morning Cop ~Daite HOLD ON ME!~
===TV Programs===
*[1999.07.13] Idol wo Sagase
*[1999.07.27] Idol wo Sagase (in memory of)
===TV Dramas===
*[1998.04.06] Taiyou Musume to Umi
*[1998.07.09] Kaze no Musumetachi
*[1998.10.11] Wine Musume Koi Monogatari
==Trivia==
*She gifted a large king crab to Heike Michiyo and Nakazawa Yuko upon meeting them, hoping the three could share it because she loved crab.
*On Idol wo Sagase, she said "I want to become stronger so I can survive even though I get crushed. It's a metaphor, but I want to gain more skills and knowledge."
*She is the first and currently only member of Hello! Project to have died.
==References==
==External Links==
*Obituaries: Nikkan Sports, Forest Memorial
es:Yanagihara Hiromi
Category:Country Musume
Category:Members from Chiba
Category:Blood Type A
Category:October Births
Category:1999 Additions
Category:1979 Births
Category:Members born in Showa Period
Category:Members born before Hello! Project's formation
Category:1999 Departures
Category:Libra
Category:Deceased members
Category:Goat