Famous People in Japan


Morning Musume

Name Date of Birth Place of Birth
Abe Natsumi 1981.8.10 Hokkaido
Iida Kaori 1981.8.8 Hokkaido
Nakazawa Yuuko 1973.6.19 Kyoto
Ishiguro Aya 1978.5.12 Hokkaido
Fukuda Asuka 1984.12.17 Toukyou
Ichii Sayaka 1983.12.31 Chiba
Yaguchi Mari 1983.1.20 Kanagawa
Yasuda Kei 1980.12.6 Chiba

The five original members of Morning Musume are Aya Isiguro, Natsumi Abe, Asuka Fukuda, Kaori Iida, and Yuuko Nakazawa. Morning Musume was formed by Tsunku (SharanQ's vocalist) at TV Tokyo Company's program "Asayan". First, this group couldn't debut if they couldn't sell 50,000 CDs in five days. They tried to sell CDs around CD shops and radio stations. And they appealed at street lights and sent direct mail to their friends. As a result of their actions, they sold out their CDs in four days. Sales per day is global record for one shop.

They practiced vocal lessons and dancing at a temple before their debut. Sleeping time was only about three hours per night. Owing to their effort, their debut single CD "Morning Coffee" got sixth in ranking, when they appeared on stage the first time. Before their second single CD was released, these group members were joined by three gals, Sayaka Ichii, Mari Yaguchi, Kei Yasuda. Morning Musume were then eight gals. Their second single CD got fourth in ranking. And finally, their third single CD got top ranking.

By the way, do you know that Morning Musume will go to Ritsumeikan University? They are scheduled to perform "Kouhaku Utagassen".

References: >http://www.15.alphatec.or.jp/~paradise/gm/main.html

This article compliments of Michael Shawback's Internet class at Ryukoku University, Kyoto

Reported by: Takeshi Tomonaga

Data verified by: Yusuke Toko

Date of Report:October 1998

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