Chisaki Hama

Chisaki Hama (which translates roughly to "blooming pear") was born November 10, 1988 in Kyoto. She is a Japanese model, actress, and singer.

Her first (and, as of 2004, only) major acting role was as Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury) in the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. She was the third youngest regular cast member of the show, after Naoki Takeshi, who played Shingo Tsukino and Sailor Luna, who was played by Rina Koike.

In Act Zero and the Special Act, she was credited as "Rika". "Chisaki Hama" (meaning "thousands of flowers blossoming at the shore") is a stage name coined by the head of her agency. Her real name is Rika Izumi (it is unknown why she used "Rika" for the DVD-only PGSM episodes). The meanings of both of her last names are related to water ("Hama" meaning "shore"; "Izumi" meaning "spring"), the element of Sailor Mercury. It is also possible that she used the "Hama Chisaki" name to distinguish herself from another idol named Rika Izumi.

She, like the other actresses in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, released a CD "single", actually containing two songs, for her character Sailor Mercury: Mi Amor (Spanish: my love) and Yakusoku ( meaning promise). It is notable that Spanish is used in her CD: use of any language other than Japanese or scattered English phrases in J-Pop is rare, and Spanish would likely be considered obscure or exotic by most Japanese listeners. Its use as such was probably intended to emphasize her character's genius-level intelligence. The only other Sailor Moon Album to use a language other than Japanese and English was the Sailor Moon SuperS in Paris CD which had bits of French in the songs.

Before PGSM, Rika's only television work was on an Idol special on Sky PerfecTV Japan called "Being Junior, Go!" She has also modeled in magazines called Monthly De-View (Winter 2002-2003). Pichi Lemon (Summer 2003), For Lillie (April 2003), Up-To-Boy (November 2003), and melon (July 2003 et seq.). She was on the cover of three consecutive issues of Pure Pure or Pure², a magazine aimed at the under-fifteen crowd (Issues 17 to 19, her photos were along with many other like-aged idols). She had released a single in November 2003 for a song entitled "Koisuru Soldier". She was also in a magazine called BOMB! with Miyuu Sawai and Keiko Kitagawa in character as Sailor Mercury.

Since PGSM wrapped up, Rika has been in semi-retirement. This is a big mystery among her fans. The official reasons given by her agency were about health and school, with no indication that it would be permanent. No new photos of her have been posted since her PGSM days; her agency's "Hama Chisaki" home page is dormant. She has occasionally met her former castmates in reunions, according to their blogs; however, they are careful to post only pictures that don't include Rika and do not mention her by name. This is currently the only way her fans know about her recent activities.