Miwa Yanagihara is the birth name of the Japanese voice actress better known by her stage name, Mai Hoshikawa. She was born on December 4, 1972, in Hokkaido, Japan. Her career in the entertainment industry began not as a performer, but as a broadcast writer. Her transition to voice acting occurred through the Tokyo Television program Voice Love Club, which led to her debut as a member of the voice actor unit Pi Pars formed from the show. Early in her career, she also used the stage names Yanagihara Miwa and Matsumoto Miwa. She was formerly affiliated with Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society and is currently represented by Atomic Monkey.

Yanagihara has built a substantial body of work in anime, original video animations, and video games, particularly active from the mid-1990s through the 2000s. She is notably the third-generation voice actress to portray the iconic Licca-chan in the long-running Licca doll franchise and its associated anime series. Among her prominent anime roles is Kozue Tsuzuki in the OVA series Dōkyūsei 2 and its sequel, Dōkyūsei 2 Special: Sotsugyōsei. She also voiced Miko Kamiyama in multiple adaptations of the Elf ban Kakyūsei franchise, including the OVA and the television anime series. Her other television anime credits include the role of Eriko in The Legend of Black Heaven and the character Radon in the educational series Susume! Godzilland.

In addition to her on-screen roles, Yanagihara has extensive credits in video games. She portrayed Miko Kamiyama in the original下级生 game, Panic Chan in PANIC CHAN, and中山理惠 in the同居情事 series featuring the character Izumi Ryouko. She also voiced星原百合 in the L的季节 games and Mary in the game Gloria ~Kindan no Kankei~. Beyond acting, her work includes narrating for television programs and participating in radio dramas, such as the 1997 CD album Radio Drama McCaw Miwa no Domi Domi Hunter.