Hitomi Honda

The Risk of Starting from Scratch

Hitomi Honda landed in Seoul in the summer of 2024 to restart her career for the third time. The Asian entertainment industry rarely forgives a break, but she decided to end her contract with the Japanese agency DH after a decade of service. She left without much fuss.

In 2014, she joined Team 8 of AKB48 as a teenager who barely stood out among dozens of teammates. She wasn't the producers' favorite or the most visible face in the domestic promotions. But Japan's idol system rewards endurance over immediate impact.

And his luck changed in 2018.

That year she traveled to South Korea to take part in the survival show Produce 48. There, her dance technique, polished in school gyms in Tochigi, caught the attention of an audience looking for technical precision. She placed ninth in the final and joined the global group IZ*ONE for two and a half years.

Because success in K-pop isn't based on talent alone but on the ability to transform physically and mentally. During that period, her image changed dramatically: she left behind her childlike aesthetic and adopted a Korean training discipline that bordered on the military.

The Screen and Leadership in Tokyo

After the group disbanded in 2021, she returned to her home country. Many expected a retirement or a slow transition to variety shows with little real weight. Instead, she took charge of AKB48 and led the release of the single Moto Kare Desu in 2022.

But film and television came calling with roles that demanded a dry naturalness. In 2022, she played Saho in the series Hokuo Kojirase Nikki. The role was simple (a young woman obsessed with Finnish culture), but it showed that her face worked in close-ups without any need for artifice.

It was time to leap into the unknown.

In 2023, she took part in the school drama Saiko no Kyoshi. She played a student caught up in deep moral conflicts that moved far away from her friendly public image. Japanese audiences registered spikes of interest during her most emotionally intense scenes in the final stretch of the series.

So at the end of that same year, she decided Japan was too small for her international ambitions.

The Contract of 2024

In early 2024, she announced her final departure from the lineup that launched her career. She wasn't looking for a break. Months later, her signing with the agency iNKODE to join the group SAY MY NAME was confirmed. It's a risky move for a woman already past 22 years old in a market that idolizes early adolescence.

The production of her new material is handled by Kim Jae-joong. The contract calls for international reach that goes beyond the traditional markets of Tokyo or Seoul. The budget allocated to the project exceeds the usual figures for independent agency groups this decade.

In September 2024, the first promotional images of her return to Korean stages were released.

The official debut was set for October, with a global distribution deal already signed.