Modeling and early singing career Kimura started working as a model in 2002 for the Japanese magazine
Seventeen. She went on to host the morning television show
Saku Saku from April 14, 2003, to March 31, 2006. Kimura released her only
indie single titled "
Level 42", but it was later released as her major label debut single on June 23, 2004, after she signed with
Columbia Music Entertainment. The song was used over the end credits of
Saku Saku. On October 27, Kimura released her second single, "Happiness!!!", which was followed by her debut album,
Kaela, on December 8, 2004. Following the release of her third single, "
Rirura Riruha", on March 30, 2005, On June 28, a new single, "
Magic Music", was released, followed by the release of "
Tree Climbers" three months later. Her eighth single, "Snowdome", was released in conjunction with her third studio album,
Scratch, on February 7, 2007. The song "Snowdome" was composed by Japanese pop punk band
Beat Crusaders. The album
Scratch topped the
Oricon Albums Chart for two weeks and sold over 300,000 copies.
2007–present: "Samantha" and "Moomin" Kimura's ninth single, "Samantha", was released on July 18, 2007. The song was inspired by
Samantha Stephens, the protagonist from the
ABC TV series,
Bewitched; and the music video features
Hanna-Barbera designs. Later that September, a second
DVD from her 'Scratch Tour' was released, followed by her tenth single, "Yellow", one month later. In early 2008, she released her eleventh single, "Jasper", a
dance music that was from her previous works. On April 2, her fourth album,
+1, was released and debuted on the Oricon weekly albums chart at number three. After the album's release, Kimura hosted her +1 Tour and released her first
music video compilation
Best Video 1. Her song, "Jasper" is the theme song for the Japanese version of
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. On September 10, 2008, Kimura released her first
double A-side single . The first A-side was used in Lucido-L commercials, while the second was featured in the Japanese film . she released her first ballad, titled on January 28, 2009 – reaching number five on
Oricon – and her fourteenth single, "Banzai"7, on May 8. These were followed by her fifth studio album,
Hocus Pocus, on June 24, celebrating her fifth anniversary as a singer. In 2012, Kimura released "Wonder Volt", the theme song for the Japanese version of
Frankenweenie. She wrote the theme song for the Japanese version of
Moomins on the Riviera called "Eye". == Personal life ==