Without fail, the program on TV Japan that precedes NHK's "News Watch at 9" in the morning is some form of NHK English-lesson show. I usually wake up and head to the living room right in the middle of those 10 eikaiwa minutes, and the current incarnation is focused on the hospitality sector, with the required tarento being former aidoru Hiroko Mita（三田寛子）.
I swear to you that she's only several months younger than me but she must have a Dorian Gray mirror stored somewhere in her house since she doesn't look all much older than when she had her aidoru days in the 1980s. On one of the episodes, when one of the co-hosts asked her about her singing career, she looked as if she had been caught off-guard and pleaded in an embarrassed way not to go further with that line of inquiry.
Well, I wouldn't be all that harsh. I talked a few articles ago about that huge pyramid of 80s female idols with the three tiers. I would say that the Kyoto-born Mita occupied that second layer. She never became the superstar at the apex but she wasn't part of that huge base which got their five minutes of fame. Mita did hang around to release 14 singles and 4 original albums up to 1987, while becoming an actress and TV personality with a bubbly personality.
There isn't a lot of Mita's original recorded material on YouTube although she is amply represented through her performed songs on TV. However, I was able to find this video of her as a high school student doing the happy commute home while the happy notes of "Lemon Sensation" play along. This was never a single but one of the tracks on her debut album "16-Karat no Hitomi"（16カラットの瞳...16-Carat Eyes）which came out in May 1982.
What can I say? It's simply your typically bouncy and happy aidoru tune of the decade with Mita's happy-go-lucky sing-song-y vocals. "Lemon Sensation" was written by Naoko Nishio（西尾尚子）and composed by singer-songwriter Kengo Kurosumi（黒柱憲五）who I've usually heard perform City Pop/J-AOR material.
Mita was apparently quite the popular figure on TV commercials, as well.
Hello, J-Canuck.
ReplyDeleteI am amazed by how young she looks nowadays!
A few years ago, I saw her cover of Kozo Murashita's Hatsukoi, but never looked for other songs by her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHNU0DN4ZPE
Hi, Luis.
DeleteYes, she really hasn't changed much at all. Will have to check more of her discography out.
I remember buying her debut single "駆けてきた処女/Kaketekita Otome" when it came out. Her record company was promoting her as the next Momoe Yamaguchi, and they got Momoe's go-to lyricist, 阿木耀子/Yoko Aki to write the lyric. The use of the word 処女（virgin）in the title was a bit shocking for a song by an Idol (although it was to be read 乙女/Otome). 井上陽水/Yosui Inoue wrote the music and quite understandably, it created much buzz. Do check it out if you haven't already.
ReplyDeleteHello, Kaz.
DeleteThanks for the tip. I wasn't aware of the Momoe angle for Hiroko so I will have to check out the debut. Kinda interesting since Hiroko definitely gradually didn't end up as a second Momoe.