Yukari Miyake, 26, the only vocalist in the 230,000-strong Self-Defense Forces, has seen her debut CD rise to the top of the classical music charts.

"When I was a child, I loved musicals," Miyake, who holds the rank of petty officer third class in the Maritime Self-Defense Force Band, Tokyo, said in a recent interview.

A native of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Miyake studied singing at Nihon University College of Art with the dream of performing on the stage one day.