Tomomi Itano of AKB48 is debuting as a solo singer and a new “Muse” of Samantha Thavasa
Tomomi Itano(/板野友美) http://tomomiitano.jp/, one of the 20 original members( only six of whom still remain as current members) of AKB48, the most popular young female idol group in Japan at the moment, debuted as a solo singer releasing her first single music CD ＋DVD ”Dear J” on this Jan.26th. like I referred to here before.
“Dear J” has four types of Type-A, Type-B,Type-C, and the Theater Type each of which include different B-side respectively (A is with”TUNNEL”, B with”Stay by my side”, c with”Thank you”, and Theater with “Tsundere !”), the first editions of each types include a special display, raw-photos of Itano, and lottery tickets of related events.
As an incumbent member of AKB, she is the second solo singer following the first solo singer, Meshibe Ohhori(/大堀めしべ or MegumiOhhori / 大堀恵) who is currently a member of SDN48, with “Amai Kokansetsu”(/甘い股関節, sweet hip joints). 
Itano also became a new “Muse” of “Samantha Thavasa”, a popular brand-name bags and jewelry of Samantha Thavasa Japan Limited http://www.samantha.co.jp/ . A “Muse” is an “image leader” of the brand and worldwide famous celebrities, such as Beyonce, Paris Hilton, Penelope& Monica Cruz, and so forth. Itano is the first Japanese female musician to be a Muse.
Itano has been working as the “fashion leader of AKB” and Samantha Thavasa Japan Limited appointed her a new Muse last December making much of her such public image. So, Itano hosted a press conference announcing the collaborated project of promoting her singing performance of her above mentioned first song and the brand of that company at Samantha Thavasa DELUXE Omotesando GATES on the 25th.
Such projects of a tie-up of AKB’s music and fashion culture or products are expected to draw attentions of the public which may lead to a huge revenues and popularity. Actually, Itano is the only member that is allowed to dye her hair brown as a symbolic character of a “contemporary high school girl” by Yasushi Akimoto, the general producer of AKB. She was also rated 7th at the “General Election of AKB48 2009 ” (a popularity poll of AKB members by fans) and 4th last year 2010, because of which she is said to be one of the “Golden Seven Members”(namely, Yuko oshima/ 大島優子, Atsuko Maeda/前田敦子, Mariko Shinoda/篠田麻里子, Minami Takahashi/高橋みなみ, Mayu Watanabe/渡辺麻友, Haruna Kojima/小嶋陽菜, and Tomomi Itano) who are constantly the top seven popular members.
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