Erika Umeda (梅田 えりか, Umeda Erika, born on May 24, 1991 in Minami-ku, Yokohama, Japan) is a Japanese singer and was a former member of the J-pop group Cute, under Hello! Project, fashion model signed to ILLUME. She was also a member of Japanese pop girl group ZYX along with Momoko Tsugunaga, Mari Yaguchi, Maimi Yajima, Megumi Murakami, and Saki Shimizu.

Biography

Career

Born on May 24, 1991 in Minami-ku, Yokohama. Before joining Hello! Project Kids, Umeda was a student at Up-Front Music School.

Musical career

In 2002, Umeda successfully passed the Hello! Project Kids Audition along with fourteen other girls. Eight were chosen for Japanese pop idol group Berryz Kobo with the intention of rotating the girls around. The idea was eventually dropped, and Cute was formed. As the oldest member of the group, Umeda was to be leader, but she declined the position and it was offered to the second oldest member of the group, Yajima Maimi.In 2004 Umeda joined Little Gatas.

On August 1, 2009, Hello! Project's website announced that Umeda was scheduled to graduate from Cute on October 25, 2009, the last day of their concert tour, with aspirations to become a fashion model.

Umeda (梅田) is a major commercial and business district in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan, and the city's main northern railway terminus (Ōsaka Station, Umeda Station).

The area is notable for its comparatively high concentration of tall buildings, of which those in Nishi-Umeda, Dojima and Nakanoshima form a prominent skyscraper district. Four of the city's largest department stores (Hanshin, Hankyu, Daimaru, and Isetan) are located here, as well as popular shopping and tourist areas such as HEP Five, Osaka Grand Front, and Umeda Sky Building.

The district's name means "plum field". It was originally written as "buried field" (埋田), because the area had been agricultural and was filled in to accommodate the new train station in the 1870s. There are several theories as to why the kanji changed, although most people seem to believe that the old characters merely carried a negative connotation.

Railway stations

JR West

Umeda may refer to

Surnames