After overcoming her tragic childhood, she released her debut single Asueno tobira (Door to Tomorrow) as the duo I Wish in 2003.

Because her father had been missing before she was born, she was taken to an orphanage and eventually adopted by the Kawashima family, owners of a construction company.

After this initial failure, she began to sing her own songs on the busy street corners in Shibuya, Tokyo with a microphone and a radio cassette player.

[1] Nobody paid attention to her songs at first, but the crowd gradually grew as she kept performing on streets and she met people who gave her support, culminating her major debut and the 2003 hit single "Asueno tobira" (Door to Tomorrow), which sold more than 900,000 copies.

[3] Kawashima has devoted her time and money to a project to build schools in developing countries.

[6] On August 21, she visited the students one more time to attend their belated graduation ceremony and sang the song together.