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| Tanaka Rena |
Looking for some old paperwork, I came across this incredible 1998 pictorial I saved from some long-forgotten magazine featuring eight popular and up-and-coming Idols in a wonderfully beautifully shot spread! Flipping through the eight glossy pages, it was like INSTANT NATSUKASHII seeing all the familiar faces! Really didn't think it had been all that long ago til you see these gals so YOUNG!
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| Tomosaka Rie |
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| Yada Akiko |
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| Kato Ai |
It’s sweet and pleasing to see that quite a few of these girls featured are still among us and have gone onto successful careers, mainstays like Tomosaka Rie, Kato Ai, and the recently gushed-about-here Yada Akiko are all still very much around, but wow, for some like Niiyama Chihara and Kamon Yoko (who were popular enough back then, and so pretty!) you just have to wonder, “Whatever happened to them?!”
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| Niiyama Chiharu |
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| Kamon Yoko |
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| Hinagata Akiko |
And though it was a kick to see such a YOUNG Rena Tanaka in there, no picture shocked me more than when I came across the newest idol in that article, a then bright and freshly scrubbed 16 year old KAZUE FUKIISHI! You know, seeing her in dramas like SCANDAL, and of course most recently in the Matsumoto Jun drama LUCKY SEVEN, I had NO IDEA that in my files I had idol pictures of her from back when she was first starting out!
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| Fukiishi Kazue |
Keep Up the Good Work, Ladies! We’ll keep tuning in!
