Noriko Sakai -- Otoko no Ko ni Naritai（男のコになりたい）

Perhaps not the most pleasant point to begin from, but on hearing about the recent arrest of actress Erika Sawajiri（沢尻エリカ）for drug possession and usage on NHK News, I started wondering how former aidoru and actress Noriko Sakai（酒井法子）was doing. It's hard to believe that it's been a decade since Sakai herself and her now ex-husband had been arrested for drug possession. When I left Japan a couple of years later, she still seemed to have been persona non grata in the media so I lost contact although as long as she desired a return to show business, I couldn't imagine that she would be in exile for an entire decade.

And apparently, according to her J-Wiki article, she was taking those baby steps right from the early 2010s in regaining her career through some TV appearances, stage acting and career anniversary celebrations including an overseas dinner show in Taiwan earlier this year.

My earliest memories of her involved Nori-P's（のりピー）appearances on the 1980s music ranking shows such as "The Best 10" as this pixie-ish aidoru with the twinkling eyes and beaming smile, although I never became a big fan of hers. Her debut single was released in February 1987, "Otoko no Ko ni Naritai" (I Want to Become a Boy).

Written by veteran lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by songwriter and producer Frankie T., who would later start up a music group called SEIRIOS, "Otoko no Ko ni Naritai" deals with a young girl who seems to be having trouble getting close to the local heartthrob since he likes hanging out with his buddies. But, as she theorizes, if she were to become a guy, she could finally make that approach and then convince him that she's the one for him once she makes the change back.

Nori-P was already pretty dynamic in her performances if the above video is any representative example. The song is also fairly catchy with that synthesizer beat and that bit of onomatopoeia near the end. "Otoko no Ko ni Naritai" broke the Top 10 by coming in at No. 8. The album version also started off her debut release "Fantasia"（ファンタジア）which was released in July 1987.