Google Trends has released its search data on Japan for 2017 and topping several lists was the name Mao Kobayashi (小林麻央).

She was a newscaster whose battle with cancer gripped the nation, and her blog became one of Japan’s most-read. She led the 急上昇 (kyūjōshō, greatest rise） list (in Japanese-language searches) as well as the overall 話題の人 (wadai no hito, topical people) and topical people (women only) lists.

(Full article in the Japan Times)