Chie Yokoyama -- Happy Birthday

As much as I was a dedicated must-see-Thursday TV watcher when it came to Fuji-TV's comedy-variety show with the nutso duo of The Tunnels, the network also had my eyes and ears on Wednesday nights as well due to Kuniko Yamada's（山田邦子） "Yamadakatsutenai Terebi"（やまだかつてないテレビ） program at 9 p.m. The show also had an even bigger troupe of tarento helping the comedienne out such as singer-impressionist Hiroko Moriguchi, comedian Tsutomu Sekine and eye candy Saki Takaoka.

Then as I mentioned in the article for the duo Yamadakatsutenai Wink（やまだかつてないWink）, Yamada was looking for a partner with at least a passing resemblance to aidoru unit Wink half Sachiko Suzuki（鈴木早智子）to create their own ersatz Wink for the show. Through a contest, 16-year-old Chie Yokoyama（横山知枝）of Hiroshima Prefecture won the top prize and the opportunity to get into show business. I don't remember much about the contest itself, but I do remember seeing this new and very petite addition to the Yamadakatsutenai family standing side-by-side with Yamada as they did their own Wink-like songs such as "T-Intersection" in 1990.

And the year after, Yokoyama even got her chance to go solo as I saw the ending credits roll by to her debut, "Happy Birthday" with her smiling within a gently waving golden field. It was a pretty nice song to start with...a relaxing and pleasant aidoru tune written and composed by Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）; darn fine credentials backing Yokoyama up. The song was released in June 1991.

Once the show ended its run in 1992, Yokoyama entered Asia University to study in the Faculty of Business Administration. In the years since, she was popping up to sing at various events including a 1-day-only reunion of Yamadakatsutenai Wink in 2005. However, she finally called it quits in 2011 after an event in Shimo-Kitazawa, Tokyo, and is taking care of her family of husband and two kids.