Longevity

Watching a recent TV show called Tensai vs Taigun got me really thinking about the longevity of Momusu members careers (also other H!P idols but especially Momusu). Tensai vs Taigun that week featured 10 celebrities racing go-karts around a track while being chased by another driver. Amongst the ten were an ex-AKB member, an ex-SKE4 member plus Ishiguro Aya, Yasuda Kei & Yaguchi Mari. 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of Morning Musume. Aya was there at the start, Yaguchi and Yasuda joined very soon afterwards (in 1998). The fact that these ex-idols are still on tv 25 years later shows how being in Momusu can be a job for life.

Looking through the Momusu history, members quitting the industry entirely after leaving Momusu is quite rare. Fukuda Asuka quit within two years (although she came back for the 20th anniversary and was pictured with other first gen members early this year). Ichii Sayaka was more out than in after leaving Momusu but was still around for a while. The only members after Asuka to quit entirely after leaving Momusu were Kamei Eri in 2010, Suzuki Kanon in 2016 and Ogata Haruna in 2018 (although she is active since 2021 in a group now called Youplus). You could argue Fujimoto Miki maybe quit but she was in the Elder club until 2011. Out of 31 graduated members only 4 (or 5) quit the industry entirely. Of the rest almost all are still active or are taking (presumably) temporary breaks due to marriage/children. There are exceptions like Yoshizawa Hitomi who was forced to quit after a drink drive hit and run but otherwise the continued work of such a high number of ex-members shows just how good Momusu can be for your career.

Iida Kaori, Nakazawa Yuko, Abe Natsumi, Yasuda Kei, Ishikawa Rika, Tsuji Nozomi, and more have all been regularly on entertainment shows over the years. Yaguchi Mari has regularly presented such shows. Niigaki Risa did a lot of stage plays and some movies and now has her own radio show and her own clothes range plus an active Youtube channel where she creates her own content (I love some of her song covers). Takahashi Ai is busy with her fashion interests and next month has an album out with Tanaka Reina and Berryz’ Natsuyaki Miyabi. Konno had her tv sports news career but is busy with kids right now. Ogawa Makoto seems to be in some comedy troupe(?) and has a bagel obsession (she is making her own bagels and sending them to buyers. She proudly boasts she has eaten over 6000 bagels in the past 20 years. Who counts? She is funny even unintentionally). Sayumi is still super active with her Sayuminglandoll stage shows and releasing music. Koharu is modelling somehow whereas the 8th gen have possibly disappeared completely. The pandas at least carried on their own activities for a while. Aika quit to study English and then came back but had quit the industry by 2018. Well she had little going for her in my opinion and it was no surprise. She is one of the rare ones who continued but with no visible work other than speaking English on Facebook (where she seemed to be a very nice person).

Outside of Momusu it is a little more mixed. Certainly 4 of 5 C-ute members continued in the industry (Okai Chisato was forced out by scandal though). Nakajima Saki is now taking a break to study English. Her radio show finished after 10 years in December 2021 and her other promotional activities are now on hold but she should be back in a year or so. Berryz is a mixed bag but I won’t go into them. It’s nice that their most awesome member Tokunaga Chinami recently announced the birth of her first child however. After that Kobushi is probably a rare failure for H!P. A group that completely disbanded and most members seem to have disappeared except for Inoue Rei and Hamaura Ayano. Hamachan has a radio show now and is working within Warner Music with an aim of…something (I had thought she wants to get into tv but she is signed to a music company so I am not sure). Original 4-nin S/mileage is mostly a failure too except Kanon. I still think ‘activist’ Wada Ayaka is a ticking time bomb.

Side note: I don’t like westerners trying to be idols in Japan as it virtually never works out and they can return home bitter. Then they will happily talk about their negative experiences in Japan and if their ego is super large they will also claim to know what it is like to be an idol there (even if their idol experience is limited to being in some underground group. A singer who makes a living singing in bars is a professional singer but that doesn’t mean they know what it’s like to be signed to the same record label as Adele. Why these ex-idol wannabes feel they need to claim to be authorities on very established agencies I don’t know. Actually I do. It’s pure ego). The media always needs stories and putting down other cultures is great as you can get your readership/viewers to feel superior by doing it. Yay for blinkered viewpoints! Even someone just having their own blog/Youtube criticising the idol industry gives random people a chance to feel superior (I’ve very recently seen someone comment on such a post talking of Japan and mentioning tentacled anime porn. It’s so stupid and tiring). I honestly think Wada Ayaka is such a Franceaboo that one day she will Moving onto Dawa, she has all the experience of the idol industry in a top agency but I worry one day she will say something that will cause some kind of furore. Maybe I’m wrong but I feel she doesn’t like her past or idols in general and as she has been one it would only take one negative comment from her and what she says would be absolute truth. The fact it’s just one person giving an opinion is always lost when it gives others the chance to judge and feel superior. The possibility others with experience may disagree is ignored.

Anyway I’m digressing. I think the reason all this is in my mind is that on social media I mainly follow ex-H!P fans and they are so often overwhelmingly negative about H!P. Yet a lot like less known groups now and I honestly think comparisons are unfair or not well thought through. I like the group SAY-LA but my favourite member left a year or two ago and went into gravure modelling. I still follow her and if she is happy doing the work then it is not for me to judge but seeing her doing sexual poses, while wearing a bikini top ten sizes to small so it makes her breasts look bigger, just makes me feel a bit sad. I can’t imagine ex-H!P idols doing that. Well unless they had quit entirely for years then suddenly needed the cash (I heard a rumour Fukuda Asuka has recently done a nude photobook but I’m not sure. Still she is nearly 40 and if she can get paid for it, well more power to her). The news that Eripon’s cool pink hair that she had late last year was an instruction from management raised a few eyebrows. Oh those poor girls being forced to do this or that. Well H!P is a big company and you will likely find out these things from time to time. They do have to think about image both for a group but also for individuals. It’s all marketing. The smaller companies aren’t necessarily any better in their treatment of members but you are less likely to hear stuff (actually it was Eripon herself who mentioned her hair in this instance). Eripon has a good tv gig with her golf show and if she wants it will hopefully have a long career still in entertainment. A lot of these underground companies will have members who can barely get by after graduation. H!P has the ace card that even other big idol agencies don’t have. It has Up-Front.

Japan is a different culture and we can’t necessarily say ours is better and we should be careful when criticising as we often just think our way is the best and they should be more like us in this or that. That’s not to say things are perfect in Japan – I wouldn’t want to work there. I’m sure there are negatives aplenty if you are an idol in any agency. There are positives too though so be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Criticism can be valid but it should also come with an awareness of positives. I feel there is so much negativity online in general these days and people are super opinionated and always come from a viewpoint of being 100% right. This is true politically and in so many other ways too. I’d say I’m more towards the middle of things. You have your own perspective but others can broaden that for you and you should be aware of that. I’m sure there are things that can be improved in H!P or in the idol industry in general but there are also ways things could change but be negative overall. I’m just happy that 25 years later H!P is still here and so many ex-idols have had good, long careers. There are a lot of idols in even successful groups with other companies who will never get that. Maybe this post is a love letter to 25 years of great personalities. It doesn’t mean things can’t sometimes be improved or lessons learned it’s just, remember whatever Japanese music or singers you are into now, you probably got into them after getting into H!P artists first. And those H!P artists will probably still be working in 20 years time when you might not even remember the names of the groups or singers you currently like. Well everyone has their own origin story but I feel H!P has been an entry point for many. H!P seems to have a good reputation within the idol industry. I remember someone from a rival group (maybe AKB) saying how they like H!P’s management. Being well known makes H!P a target but they mostly seem to treat people well enough. It is still an alien environment to those of us outside Japan and there may be things that would be weird if done here but they exist within Japanese culture and seem to be doing a better job than very many. We should keep that in mind.

Right now H!P’s performance levels are higher than ever. The skills across all the groups are just another level. I hope there is another 25 years to come and a near 75 year old Nakazawa Yuko will be appearing on tv talking of the 50th anniversary.