Kawamoto Emiru

Kawamoto Emiru (川本笑瑠) is a Japanese idol and founding member of CUTIE STREET, where she represents the color orange. Known for her emotional honesty, strong stage presence, and long history in the idol world, she is currently the member with the most idol experience in the group, having spent nearly a decade performing before finally achieving mainstream success with CUTIE STREET.

Emiru first entered the idol industry as a child. Although she spent her early years surrounded by lessons like karate, piano, swimming, golf, abacus classes, and English tutoring, the one thing she truly wanted to do herself was dance. Growing up during the peak popularity of kid dancers and idol culture, she admired performers who combined fashion, dancing, and stage charisma. She was also heavily influenced by AKB48, which sparked her fascination with idols from a very young age.

As a child, however, she never thought becoming an idol was realistically possible. She has described idols as feeling almost “two-dimensional” to her at the time, like magical beings you could only become by chance. Everything changed when she learned auditions actually existed. While in sixth grade, during the same period she was preparing for middle school entrance exams, she applied for an idol audition connected to a magazine aimed at elementary and middle school students. After finishing her exams, she auditioned and passed, beginning her career in entertainment.

Her earliest activities were under the name Kanemoto Emiru (金本笑瑠) as a 2nd generation member of amorecarina tokyo and its sub-unit amorecarina CUTE. She joined the group on July 11, 2015, and graduated on April 29, 2016. Later, under the name Kamimura Emiru (上村笑瑠), she became a founding member of Tokyo CuteCute, remaining there until her graduation on April 30, 2019. In 2021, she re-emerged as a founding member of HO6LA under the single-name stage identity “Emiru (笑瑠),” staying with the group from its debut on September 12, 2021 until its disbandment exactly one year later.

Despite constantly continuing forward, Emiru has openly described those years as emotionally exhausting. She has said that no matter how hard she worked, it often felt like nothing was rewarded. Watching dreams fail to materialize, seeing opportunities pass by, and struggling to become the kind of idol she imagined left her emotionally drained to the point where she even quit once during her career. Rather than romanticizing perseverance, she speaks very honestly about the reality of the industry, saying that she believes there are actually more dreams that don’t come true than dreams that do.

Still, what kept her going was her genuine love for performing. Regardless of venue size or popularity, she has repeatedly said that standing on stage and singing live always made her happy. She was also supported by longtime fans who stayed with her through every group change since she was around 13 years old. Their loyalty made her feel she could keep trying a little longer each time she considered giving up.

On November 21, 2023, she was introduced as part of ASOBISYSTEM’s trainee project KAWAII LAB. MATES under the name Kawamoto Emiru (川本笑瑠). During this period, she participated in the survival-style training camp audition that would eventually form CUTIE STREET. She has described the experience as one of the hardest periods of her life, saying she cried constantly and completely lost confidence in herself. Surrounded by trainees she viewed as more talented, prettier, and more capable, she struggled heavily with self-doubt despite already having years of experience.

One of the biggest challenges for her during the audition was performing singing and dancing solo in front of evaluators. She felt especially insecure because she never considered herself naturally gifted vocally or physically exceptional as an idol. However, one turning point came after producer Misa Kimura encouraged her to focus not only on performance skill, but also on learning how to emotionally stabilize herself as an idol. Emiru decided that even if she made mistakes, she would not mentally collapse during the final stage. That determination deeply moved the staff, and afterward one vocal trainer reportedly cried while praising her perseverance and ability to emotionally move people through effort alone.

On July 30, 2024, she was officially announced as a founding member of CUTIE STREET. For Emiru, the group represented something she had chased for almost ten years: a place where she finally felt accepted, supported, and able to fully be herself. She has often described the group’s chemistry as unusually warm and natural, saying the members are genuinely kind people who instinctively notice and support one another emotionally.

Within CUTIE STREET, Emiru has naturally become one of the group’s main speakers and MC figures. Because of her long experience, both staff and members often trust her with important announcements and live talk segments. She has explained that when speaking publicly, she tries not to simply memorize scripted lines, but instead reinterprets them into her own words so they feel emotionally genuine to listeners.

Mentally, she feels CUTIE STREET changed her significantly. Before joining the group, she often struggled with negativity and self-doubt, but being surrounded by cheerful and supportive members gradually helped her become brighter herself. She has said the members are the first people she has truly been able to open her heart to naturally.

Following CUTIE STREET’s breakout success with “Kawaii Dake ja Dame Desu ka?” (“Isn’t Being Cute Enough?”), Emiru experienced achievements she once considered impossible, including television appearances on programs like Music Station and DayDay. She has described hearing she would appear on TV as one of the happiest moments of her life, saying she cried uncontrollably after telling her family.

Even after finally reaching success, however, Emiru still hesitates to say that “hard work guarantees dreams.” While she acknowledges that refusing to give up brought her to where she is today, she also strongly believes luck, timing, environment, and opportunity play enormous roles in success. That perspective has become one of the defining parts of how she speaks about the idol industry: grounded, realistic, but still hopeful.

As a performer, Emiru’s biggest current goal is improving her singing. She especially values emotional expression and storytelling through music, believing idols should be able to emotionally move audiences rather than simply perform choreography well. Inspired by groups like Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku, she hopes to become the kind of idol whose singing can make audiences cry during live performances.

Outside of performance, Emiru is also known among fans for being extremely emotionally expressive and sensitive. She cries easily when sad, frustrated, overwhelmed, or even happy, often joking that tears simply “come out automatically” whenever she talks deeply about herself or her experiences.

Looking ahead, she hopes to continue growing both individually and with CUTIE STREET. Having loved television and variety shows since childhood, she wants to expand into more entertainment activities outside of idol performances as well. More than anything, though, Emiru wants to continue proving to herself that the years she spent struggling in the industry were not meaningless, and to fully live out the idol career she once feared would never truly begin.