When Ryoko was only 14 years old, she was already a part of Japanese television. She acted in several commercials, amongst them various cosmetic products, food, but also DoCoMo which is one of the biggest mobile phone operators in Japan. Around the same time she also made her debut on television in the drama "Heart ni S". After a handful of commercials and more roles in dramas, she appeared for the first time in a movie in 1997, called "20-seiki nosutarujia".
In the same year she also debuted as singer. For a DoCoMo commercial she had sang the theme song, which was so successful it was decided to be released on a single: Maji de Koi Suru 5byou Mae. The single ranked second on the Oricon charts and remained in the charts for 15 weeks. The success of the single seemed to show that Ryoko had a talent for singing as well, having practiced for years at karaoke bars, and so her music career started.
Her second single, Daisuki, which was released only two months later, was even more successful then her first and immediately ranked first on the charts. She continued to work hard on both of her careers; she released another single and even her first album Arigato! while she also acted in various dramas. At the same time she was also still going to school and decided further her education in college.
In 1998, she released some more singles and a mini-album. By November, she completed the entrance exam for Waseda University in Tokyo. After she released her sixth single in early 1999 and gave her first live concert, she started studying at the university in March. However, she was later accused of having abused her fame to get into the university, and was dismissed. Not discouraged, Ryoko continued working on her two careers and released a singles compilation at the end of the year.
In November 2000 she released her last single so far, Kajitsu which wasn't as popular as her former releases had been. Since then, she has only released some best-of albums and only focussed on her acting career from then on.
Her career as an actress became indeed more successful and she was asked to play a role in the movie "Wasabi", which was a French action comedy written by Luc Besson with Jean Reno as the main character. More movies and TV performances followed, but then in December 2003, Ryoko announced her intentions to take a break because she wanted to marry her fiancé, fashion designer Takahiro Okazawa. She was also four months pregnant and wanted to carry out her pregnancy in peace.
On April 10th, 2004 she gave birth to a baby boy and it was relatively quiet around her for the rest of the year. However, in 2005 she was featured in a drama and her acting career slowly began to take off once again. In 2006, she resumed her previous pace, acting in various dramas and commercials and is still doing so.
Currently, it doesn't seem like she has plans to work on her music career, but maybe she will surprise her fans and focus that aspect of her career once again!
