Karin Yamamoto is participating in the special serial project "Project E" on Abema's program "Naokiman's Urban Legend Variety Show SEASON 2." The project aims to awaken psychic powers during a one-week training camp, and Yamamoto says, "Impossible things happened every day." This summer, she also appeared in TV Tokyo's drama series "Mass Production Luka: The Blue Counterattack of the Plastic Model Club Members," and we took a closer look at the "real face" of Yamamoto, who is attracting attention as an actor.
◇ Repeatedly passing and failing over 100 times "Stubborn as it sounds"
Yamamoto is 22 years old and was born on March 24, 2003 in Kumamoto Prefecture. Last year, she won the Director Ryuichi Hiroki Award at the "bijoux AUDITION 2024" audition hosted by the talent agency "bijoux," and entered the entertainment industry.
Yamamoto's interest in the entertainment industry began with the 2011 drama series "Marumo no Okite" (Fuji TV). At the time, it was a popular series starring child actors Mana Ashida and Fuku Suzuki, and she thought, "They're both younger than me, but they look so dazzling on TV."
"I wanted to enter that kind of glittering world, and I began to aspire to the entertainment industry. Also, when I was in sixth grade, I really wanted to be a model for Pichi Lemon. I wasn't the type to have much confidence in myself, so I guess I had aspirations in my heart."
She continued to aspire to a career in showbiz, and after graduating from high school she went on to a beauty school, while also auditioning for entertainment-related jobs. However, she was unsuccessful, and recalls, "I auditioned for hundreds of companies, only to be rejected over and over again."
"I graduated from a beauty school and even got a qualification, but I didn't feel like I wanted to continue down that path... So I just kept going to auditions. At the time, rather than feeling frustrated about not getting in, I was half-stubborn and thought, 'I've applied to hundreds of companies, so I'll keep going until I get in.'"
The result of his stubbornness in continuing to audition was that he won the Director Ryuichi Hiroki Award at the Bijoux Audition 2024. Yamamoto himself admits that he has a stubborn side.
"I generally have a cheerful personality, and people around me often say that I'm pure and honest, but I also have a tendency to not be swayed by others and to not compromise on my own beliefs. My family also points this out, so maybe I can be stubborn."
Yamamoto is petite at 150cm tall and has a cute, small animal-like appearance, but she laughed and said, "It seems that people often notice the gap."
◇Surge in social media followers "First of all, I want people to know my name"
After entering the entertainment industry, she appeared in the TV dramas "Class 3C is Having an Affair" (Nippon TV, 2024), "Love Revolution" (ABC TV, 2025), and "The Missing Persons Search Team: The Vanished Truth" (TV Tokyo, same network). As mentioned above, she also attracted attention for her role as Nitta Koharu in episode 6 of "Mass-Produced Luka," and her Instagram followers increased by about 1,000 as a result of the show.
"There were people who said, 'I want to play a mass-produced version of Koharu in X,' so I was really happy to hear that they liked the role of Koharu that much."
As an actor, he aims to appear in main roles in the future, but he is also interested in variety shows and, as a big cat lover, in "work that involves animals."
"First of all, I want people to know the name 'Yamamoto Karin'."
In the special serial project "Project E" of "Naokiman's Urban Legends Variety Show SEASON 2," he auditioned and successfully tried his hand at spoon bending. Furthermore, during a week-long training camp held near Lake Kawaguchi, he said, "I did a lot of different things," and the details of that were gradually revealed on the program.
"Unbelievable things happened every day, so I thought maybe there really are supernatural powers or some such thing. That's why I think Nessie exists (laughs)."
