as an aside, the kanji for "ki" with hideto maki was separated by hiroshi itsuki from the same office at the request of yoko yamaguchi. as a younger brother from the same office, he also participates in itsuki's fan club event, and photos from that time are posted on hideto maki's website. in 1976, he won the tokyo shimbun best hit award for "drowning in love." in that same year, he won the popular award, silver award, and other awards at the iizuka music festival for her third single "somewhere in tokyo". the guest at that time was veteran female actress singer hibari misora, and hideto said that he became more and more of hibari's fan when she said, "i know you." at the time, master jazz pianist yuzuru sera said, "hideto is more suited to jazz than enka. i will teach you how to become a jazz singer." every time he met him, masato fujita, a master enka composer, would tell him "because one day, i'll write a music note with hideto maki."