hanahana (花花)

Overview

hanahana (花花, Hanahana) is a Japanese female duo formed in 1995. The members are Izumi Kojima (born April 6, 1976) and Makiko Ono (born November 23, 1976). They made their major debut in 2000 with "Ah~ Yokatta (setagaya-mix)", appeared on the 51st NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, and won New Artist of the Year at the 15th Japan Gold Disc Awards. They are signed to Universal Music (label: Lighthouse Music) and, since March 2026, to Sun Music Production, with a business partnership with Office Hanataba LLC. Their official fan club is called "Hanahana Gozen".

The name has no particular meaning: with two women in the duo, the idea was "a flower in each hand", and when a flower illustration was drawn between two flowers, it was typed as "*", which became the official spelling.

Career

Kojima (vocal major) and Ono (jazz piano major) met as classmates at Koyo Music Academy in Takasago, Hyogo (now Kobe Koyo Music & Dance College) and formed the duo in 1995.

Indie era and major debut

They debuted independently on November 27, 1998 with the single "Kotatsu to Kegani no Maki" on A'zip Music. In 1999 they released "Adviser", "Ame no Shizuku" and "Akai Jitensha"; the fifth single "Ah~ Yokatta" (June 4) gave them their first Oricon chart entry. The first indie album 11songs followed on June 25, and the single "Zutto Issho ni" on November 26.

On July 26, 2000 they made their major debut on Warner Music Japan, releasing the single "Ah~ Yokatta (setagaya-mix)" and the album 11songs (+4) simultaneously; the single reached the Oricon top 10 for the first time. On October 25 they released the single "Sayonara Daisuki na Hito" together with the album 2 souls; the single made the top 10 again and the album reached the top 3 for the first time. On December 31 they made their first Kōhaku appearance. "Sayonara Daisuki na Hito" was used as the theme of the TBS drama Otōsan.

Peak years and hiatus

In 2001 they won New Artist of the Year at the 15th Japan Gold Disc Awards and were also ranked first in a ranking of musicians expected to break out that year. They released "Hanamuke no Hanataba" (Feb 21), "Yappari!" (May 23), "Ai o Sukoshi Katarou" (Aug 8) and the album spice (Sep 27). In 2002 came "Namida no Chikara" (Jan 1), "LONELY GIRL" (Jul 24), the EP "Warabegami" under the name ULTRA FLOWER ORCHESTRA (Sep 11) and the album Ringo to Clover (Sep 26). They released the mini-album Komoriuta on February 13, 2003 and the best album FOOT PRINT: HanaHana WORKS 2000-2003* on August 20, then went on hiatus. The parent company of their agency A'zip Music made plush toys for crane games; its factory in China fell into difficulty because of SARS, the music business was discontinued, and A'zip Music went bankrupt in 2003.

Return

The members worked as soloists, and in 2009 the duo resumed activity with Brandon Music and the indie label Ten Point Label. Releases followed: Haraiso (Dec 23, 2009), the best album Golden Best Single Collection (May 11, 2011), SOGNI DE SOGNI (Dec 23, 2013), the mini-album Underwear (Aug 7, 2015) and Foreplay (May 16, 2017). Their first digital-only single "Gakubuchi" came out on February 8, 2019.

In 2020, their 20th anniversary as a major act, they entered a business partnership with Sun Music Publishing, founded their own office Office Hanataba LLC, moved to Universal Music and returned to a major label with the best album 2×20. The mini-album 52R45 followed on June 2, 2021, 5B2H in October 2022, their first cover album Good Song Laboratory on August 7, 2024, and the album BOARDING GATE.25 on June 25, 2025. On March 1, 2026 they moved to Sun Music Production, continuing the partnership with Office Hanataba LLC.

Musical style

Their genres are kayōkyoku and J-pop. During the indie era Papa Daisuke produced alone; after the major debut Tomoaki Shinagawa produced with Masanobu Ono assisting as co-producer. Since the return, the duo has worked with a self-produced setup.