Yui Haga -- Hoshizora no Passport（星空のパスポート）

Back in the 1980s, a lot of folks including me were just simultaneously charmed and mystified by this truly weird creation called Max Headroom that for a while became a video sensation as this smarmy virtual presence. He popped up in Coke commercials, had his own show on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and even appeared in an Art of Noise music video. We were all going gaga over the possibility that a truly virtual celebrity had been born. He even sang standard-type show tunes.

However, as it turned out, the curtains were raised on the great Wizard of Oz, so to speak. It really wasn't the world's first A.I...more of a regular M.F...as in actor Matt Frewer under a ton of prosthetics with the character created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton. That middle person is a film and TV director who came up with one of my favourite music videos, "Questionnaire" for her brother, Chaz Jankel, the fellow who co-created one of my favourite songs (period) "Ai no Corrida".

Whether or not good ol' Max was the seed behind all idols virtual, they did start popping up over the decades, leading to the cadre of Vocaloids including Miku Hatsune, Rin Kagamine, etc.

The Vocaloids have become so ubiquitous that I had completely forgotten about Kyoko Date（伊達杏子）over twenty years ago. I did recall reading a newspaper article about her, and maybe I even came across something about her in an issue of "TIME".

But then commenter Fireminer contacted me a couple of days ago asking me about this virtual idol under the name of Yui Haga（芳賀ゆい）. My first reaction was "Who?". Never heard of her. But I did a bit of digging and apparently she existed...in a way.

Yui Haga wasn't a virtual idol in that she wasn't created out of a million bits of data. She was simply a kakuu no aidoru（架空のアイドル）, or a fabricated idol. The whole idea behind her came from comedian and TV/radio personality Hikaru Ijuuin（伊集院光）which surprised me since this was a boisterous fellow who I'd seen for years and years on the telly in all sorts of situations whether it be as a host on a variety show, guest panelist on a quiz series or even portraying a stalker on one episode of Fuji-TV's "Odoru Dai Sosasen"（踊る大捜査線）cop program.

On an episode of his radio program "Ijuuin Hikaru no All-Night Nippon"（伊集院光のオールナイトニッポン）in 1989, the plan sprouted about creating this kakuu aidoru. Not sure how it all came about; I envisioned Ijuuin suddenly getting a light bulb over his head and throwing out his idea like Andy Hardy feeling like putting on a show in his family's barn.

And once that idea took root, Yui Haga did take on a life of her own over the next year. She gained a full profile including parents and siblings, birth date (April 15, 1974), birth place (the city of Kobe), body measurements and even a "real" name of Makiko Higuchi（樋口麻紀子）. Incidentally, Yui Haga was derived from the expression hagayui （歯痒い）which actually means "impatient" or "tantalized".

Yui-chan even released her one and only single "Hoshizora no Passport" (Starlight Passport), released in July 1990 and created by Unicorn member Tamio Okuda（奥田民生）and the unit Seifuku（生福）consisting of Noritaka Ubukata（生方則孝）and Yasuhiko Fukuda（福田裕彦）who developed software for the Yamaha digital synthesizer DX7. Nice and twinkly as an aidoru song would be, Yui-chan's voice had that high-toned and squeaky quality. "Hoshizora no Passport" managed to get as high as No. 51 on Oricon.

Wait, hold the Pepperidge Farm here! If Haga didn't really exist, then who possessed that voice? Interesting story, you bring up. From what I found on J-Wiki, there was a cast behind her that outpaces even the one for "Avengers: Endgame". For example, when Haga had to act as a radio personality, a professional seiyuu was hired but for her singing duties, a chorus of women in their twenties was utilized (which brings up the question...were their voices melded into one or was one just selected?). She even appeared "physically" at events and TV shows though with her eyes blacked out or her face obscured. In that situation, a total of 57 women were used to portray her including a porn actress according to a Mainichi Shimbun article in December 1990. She even had her own photo book titled ironically "U-SO-TSU-KI"（う・そ・つ・き...L-I-A-R）.

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This whole thing rather reminds me of the character Captain Universe and its powers, if I may be allowed to make another Marvel reference. After all, this is the character that has been billed as the superhero who can be YOU! (And thanks for offering, Cap, but I've already had some pie.)

By the end of 1990, though, Ijuuin decided that enough was enough and pulled the plug on the whole project before things got out of hand. Apparently, a lot of fans thought that Haga was truly real, and maybe she indeed was after a fashion since I think an aidoru's success has much to do with how his/her fans perceive the target of their affection.