Tokyo, 12 December, /AJMEDIA/
On Dec 8, presiding judge Tomoyuki Tobisawa handed down his verdict in a lawsuit heard in the Tokyo District Court. After considering the arguments made by both sides in the lawsuit, and carefully weighing them against codified law, Tobisawa came to the conclusion that yes, Rina Aiuchi is allowed to call herself Rina Aiuchi.
Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be the sort of thing you’d need official judiciary permission for. And no, this wasn’t a kanji kerfuffle, like the one that caused the Pokemon Center to issue an apology for calling Nicole Fujita Nicole Fujita. Instead, the lawsuit was necessary to untangle a legal dispute between Aiuchi and talent agency Giza Artist.
Though she never rose to quite the same heights as some of her more famous early 2000s J-pop contemporaries, Aiuchi carved out a respectable career as a high-energy vocalist, with her 2000 breakout single “Koi wa Thrill, Shock, Suspense” serving as an opening theme song for the “Detective Conan” anime TV series.
However, Aiuchi was born Rikako Kakiuchi. Rina Aiuchi is the stage name she took when she signed her debut contract in 1999 with Giza Artist, and that contract included a clause that the agency would retain exclusive rights to the Rina Aiuchi name in perpetuity, even after the end of their talent management contract for her.
Aiuchi and Giza’s working relationship ended in 2010, meaning that when she decided to return to singing in 2015, she had to do so under yet another stage name, Rika Kakiuchi, which she later changed once more to just R.
