Furusawa Risa

Furusawa Risa (古澤里紗) is a Japanese idol and member of CUTIE STREET, where she represents the color yellow. She is also active as a fashion creator and influencer, and was previously known in the online space as “Fuurii (ふーりー)” during her modeling and social media activities.

Risa has been drawn to “cute” things for as long as she can remember. As a child, she loved pink clothes, frills, ribbons, and dress-like outfits, and often tried on her mother’s heels and makeup. She was also influenced early on by AKB48, especially Tomomi Itano (板野友美), who made her realize how powerful idols can be. Over time, her aesthetic developed into what she now calls “French girly” style, something inspired by Parisian fashion, architecture, museums, and floral imagery like roses.

Before joining CUTIE STREET, she spent around five years in Tokyo working as a model and influencer under an agency, building a solid social media presence. Even during that time, she never fully let go of her dream of becoming an idol. Seeing friends perform on stage kept bringing her back to that feeling of “I want to be there too.” Eventually, when she came across the CUTIE STREET audition, she decided to go for it, despite having once accepted that the idol path might be out of reach for her.

She has openly said that the audition camp was intense and honestly exhausting, especially because she felt she had to stand out as someone already known in the industry. While she was confident in dance thanks to her high school training, singing was a completely new challenge for her, starting from basics like how to hold a mic and how to stay on pitch while dancing.

Within the group, Risa is often seen as the “older sister” type, though she personally doesn’t think of herself that way. She’s observant and often notices small details in others, but she says it’s more because the members around her are also very aware and thoughtful. The group itself is something she describes as extremely comfortable—no tension, no harsh personalities, just members who genuinely support each other in different ways.

She often goes to Sano Aika (佐野愛花) for advice, and sees members like Itakura Kana (板倉可奈) and Manabe Nagisa (真鍋凪咲) as especially calm and mature. Even the younger members, like Sakuraba Haruka (桜庭遥花), are described as surprisingly grounded. On the performance side, she also learns a lot from members with strong idol experience, especially Kawamoto Eru (川本笑瑠), who has over 10 years in the industry.

After debut, Risa describes life as a constant rush, where she was just focused on getting through each day. One moment that really stayed with her was a fan phone-call event, where a fan told her that supporting her was the happiest time of their life. That kind of message made her realize how deeply idols can affect someone’s emotions and everyday life.

As a performer, she feels she has grown a lot, especially in singing. She went from struggling to even enter her lines during early performances like TIF, to now being able to think about expression, tone, and facial performance more intentionally. She also feels she can now “control” her performance rather than just surviving it.

Her current focus is improving stamina and live performance quality, because she wants audiences to leave shows feeling emotionally full, excited, happy, and unable to stop thinking about the performance afterward. She hopes CUTIE STREET becomes that kind of group for people.

Outside of idols, she also runs her own fashion brand Me roir, created with a close friend who works as a designer. The brand is based on the idea of “mirrors” and matching outfits—reflecting the concept of “you and me, reflected in each other.”

Looking ahead, she hopes CUTIE STREET will release a photobook, and she especially wants it to be shot in Paris, a place that matches her aesthetic and inspiration. More than anything, she wants to preserve this current moment in her idol life properly, as CUTIE STREET’s Furusawa Risa.