Онянко Клуб: Японские Идолы 80-х

80s Japan Idol Group

Onyanko Club (おニャン子クラブ) was a large all girl Japanese pop idol group in the 1980s. Some members of the group participated in spin off groups, such as Nyangilas, Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi and Ushirogami Hikaretai. Many of the latter two groups' songs were used as theme songs of the popular 80s anime series High School! Kimengumi and Tsuide ni Tonchinkan. Several big name idols stemmed from the group; one of the best known being Shizuka Kudo. The group was produced by Hiroshi Ishida and Kazuji Kasai, both of whom were producers of Fuji TV's show Yūyake Nyan Nyan.

The group made its television debut on the first episode of Fuji TV's daily live television variety show Yūyake Nyan Nyan ("Sunset Meow Meow") on 1 April 1985. The show was aired from 5 p. m. to 6 p. m. Monday to Friday. In the beginning, the group consisted of nine high school girls and two high school graduates, namely Sayuri Kokusho (number 8) and Satomi Fukunaga (number 11). They were selected from participants in two special episodes of Fuji TV's weekly late night show All Night Fuji. The two episodes entitled All Night Fuji: High School Girl Special (オールナイトフジ女子高生スペシャル) were produced as pilots of the show Yūyake Nyan Nyan and aired on 23 February and 16 March 1985. Yūyake Nyan Nyan had a segment where five candidates participated in a five day long audition for becoming a new Onyanko Club member. Most of the Onyanko Club members except the first 11 members and other members who joined the group through the 1986 Miss Seventeen Contest were admitted to the group by winning the audition. Every day since April 15, 1985, Tsurutarō Kataoka, a host of the program, had been provoking Dump Matsumoto, a female professional wrestler who is well known as a heel, by abusing her over the phone. On April 19, while he was provoking her as usual, Matsumoto suddenly burst into the studio with a Shinai in her hand. Kataoka fled around the studio, then timidly repeated his apology to her. Seeing this, Onyanko Club members Sayuri Kokushō, Mika Nagoya, Satomi Fukunaga, and Sonoko Kawai broke into tears. This happening is considered one of the highlights of the program. In less than three weeks from the launch of the show, six members were caught in photos taken by a photographer of tabloid magazine Shūkan Bunshun while they were hanging out and smoking in a kissaten (Japanese style café) near Fuji TV's old headquarters in Shinjuku, Tokyo. They stopped appearing on the show from 18 April. Eventually, five of them were officially dismissed from the group without announcement as a result of underage smoking as of 25 April; one member was not smoking in the incident. The group's debut single "Sailor Fuku o Nugasanai de" was premiered on Yūyake Nyan Nyan on 3 June. Lead vocalists (hereinafter referred to as "front vocals") for the single were Eri Nitta (number 4), Miharu Nakajima (number 5), Satomi Fukunaga and Kazuko Utsumi (number 13). Released by Canyon Records on 5 July, the single debuted at number 34 on the Oricon's Japanese single chart (the national single chart) and peaked at number five in its sixth week of release in August. A day before the single's release date, a release and handshake event was scheduled at Sunshine City in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. The event was expected to have an attendance of about 500 people. However, over 4,000 people showed up at the site. As a result of reported injury and concerns over possible stampede, the event was canceled at the last minute before a scheduled start time. In the same month, the group's member Sonoko Kawai (number 12) made her appearance as a supporting character in the episodes 11 and 12 of Fuji TV's live action TV series Sukeban Deka. Subsequently, it was announced on Yūyake Nyan Nyan that Kawai's first solo single would be released in September. The single "Namida no Jasmine LOVE" and its B side "Koi no Chapter A to Z" were premiered on Yūyake Nyan Nyan on August 12 and August 19, respectively. The B side features four Onyanko Club members as backing vocals: Sayuri Kokusho, Mika Nagoya (number 9), Mamiko Takai (number 16) and Sanae Jōnouchi (number 17). In late August, producers of the show Yūyake Nyan Nyan teamed up with producers of the live action TV series Sukeban Deka and held a special audition on Yūyake Nyan Nyan to look for a new Onyanko Club member who would play a main character in a sequel to the TV series. The winner of the audition was Akie Yoshizawa, who was assigned number 25. A day before the release of Kawai's first single, a release event entitled "Nyan Touch Love Party" for the single was held at Yomiuri Land EAST in Inagi, Tokyo on August 31. Released by CBS/Sony Records on 1 September, Kawai's first single debuted at number five on the chart and topped the chart for the following two consecutive weeks. On 21 September, the group's first studio album Kick Off was released by Canyon Records. The album was directed by Hiroshi Watanabe (music producer) and contained 10 songs whose music was composed by several musicians, such as Jun Sato, Ken Takahashi, Etsuko Yamakawa, Kiyonori Matsuo and Tsugutoshi Goto, who all composed and arranged most of the group's and members' songs thereafter. All lyrics of the album were written by Yasushi Akimoto. The album reached number two on the Oricon's Japanese album chart and remained in the top 100 for 30 weeks. On 30 September, the group's first subgroup Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi made its television debut on Yūyake Nyan Nyan. Its members were Mamiko Takai and Yukiko Iwai (number 19). On 1 November, Yoshizawa's first solo single "Naze? no Arashi" was released by For Life Records under the name of "Yoshizawa Akie with Onyanko Club". Four Onyanko Club members Aki Kihara (number 6), Mika Nagoya, Harumi Tomikawa (number 14) and Ruriko Nagata (number 18) were selected as backing vocals for the single. Although their backing vocals actually were not recorded in the single, the members were pictured on the back cover of the 7 inch single and always performed with Yoshizawa on Yūyake Nyan Nyan and in the single release events as well as Onyanko Club's concerts. The song was used as the ending theme of Fuji TV's live action TV series Sukeban Deka II: Shōjo Tekkamen Densetsu for the episodes 1 to 15. Yoshizawa played one of the three main characters of the TV series aired from 7 November 1985, to 23 October 1986. The single peaked at number eight on the single chart.

Premiered on Yūyake Nyan Nyan on 16 December 1985, and released by Canyon Records on 1 January 1986, Onyanko Club member number 4 Eri Nitta's first solo single "Fuyu no Operagrasu" debuted at number one on the single chart and remained number one for the four consecutive weeks. The number of its sales exceeded that of any of Onyanko Club related singles released earlier. On 21 January, Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi's second single "Banana no Namida" was released by Canyon Records. It debuted at number one on the single chart and was used as the ending theme of Fuji TV's anime High School! Kimengumi. In the same month, Onyanko Club member number 8 Sayuri Kokusho started performing her first solo single "Valentine Kiss" on Yūyake Nyan Nyan. Two Onyanko Club members Mako Shiraishi (number 22) and Minayo Watanabe were selected as backing vocals for the single. Released by CBS/Sony Records under the name of "Kokusho Sayuri with Onyanko Club" on 1 February, the single debuted at number two on the single chart. Onyanko Club's third single "Jā ne" was released by Canyon Records on 21 February. It was named after Japanese word "jā ne (じゃあね)", which is a casual way of saying "goodbye", and was a farewell song to Nakajima, who was leaving the group in April. Moreover, it was originally planned to be released under the name of "Nakajima Miharu with Onyanko Club" as her first and last solo single. However, Nakajima suggested releasing it as the group's third single. It debuted at number one on the single chart. On 1 March, Yoshizawa's second single "Kisetsu Hazure no Koi" was released by For Life Records. It topped the single chart for two consecutive weeks. The B side of the single is "Kaiin Bangou no Uta", which literally means "The Song of Membership Numbers". It was performed by and recorded with all 22 remaining members of Onyanko Club at that time. The song is credited to Onyanko Club and consists of four choruses and 22 verses, each verse sung by each member individually about herself for approximately 14 seconds. The music of the song was composed by Akira Mitake, who composed many of the group's and members' songs. The lyrics of the song was written by Akimoto. On 10 March, the group's second studio album Yume Catalogue was released by Canyon Records. It topped the Oricon's Japanese album chart. The second album features songs sung by various combinations of members, some of whom had solo vocal parts for the first time in the group's recordings, such as "Suki ni Nattemo Kurenai" sung by Aki Kihara, Mika Nagoya and Rika Tatsumi (number 15) and "Ren'ai Omimai Moushiagemasu" sung by Harumi Tomikawa, Sanae Jounouchi and Ruriko Nagata. On the same day as the final date of the concert tour, Nyangilas' first single "Watashi wa Rika chan" was released by Warner Pioneer. The subgroup's members were Aki Kihara, Mika Nagoya, Rika Tatsumi and Mako Shiraishi. Prior to the subgroup formation, there was a segment on Yūyake Nyan Nyan aired in November 1985 where the show's hosts and panelists had a debate over whether Kihara, Nagoya and Tatsumi should form a subgroup and have their own songs for release. Although the three members were up for the idea, at that time it was generally perceived that they were not good singers or exceptionally popular members compared to other members, such as Sonoko Kawai and Eri Nitta. At the same time they were perceived as more humorous and cheerful than other members. Among the panelists, Yasushi Akimoto, who later wrote lyrics of all of Nyangilas' songs including its album songs, supported the idea, and eventually producers of Yūyake Nyan Nyan decided to make it happen with Shiraishi added, who they thought would make the subgroup more appealing to wider audiences. The first single was released on April Fools' Day, which was intended as a joke, and went straight to number one on the single chart, keeping popular Japanese boy band Shonentai's much anticipated second single off from the number one spot. Tatsumi later said that as both singles were released by the same record label, the boy band's A&R executive got mad at her and her bandmates, saying that the boy band was supposed to get the number one spot. Satomi Fukunaga's first solo single "Kaze no Invitation" was released by Canyon Records on 21 May. Prior to her performance of the song for promotion on Yūyake Nyan Nyan since the mid May, it had already been premiered two months earlier during the group's first nationwide tour in March. On 25 May, a release event entitled "Satomi Invitation" for the single was held at Yomiuri Land EAST with a total of about 6,500 attendees, 1,500 of whom were lining up overnight for entry. The single debuted at number one on the single chart. In partnership with the show Yūyake Nyan Nyan, teen magazine Seventeen ran its annual idol/model audition entitled “1986 Miss Seventeen with Onyanko” in August. The winner of the audition was Noriko Kaise, who was assigned number 41. Makiko Saito, Toshie Moriya and Naoko Takada, who all were runners up of the audition, also became Onyanko Club members and were assigned numbers 42, 43 and 44, respectively. They made their television debut on the show on 29 September. As part of her first solo concert tour entitled "E AREA", Nitta had a concert at Nippon Budokan on 18 December. A concert at Nakano Sun Plaza in Nakao, Tokyo on 3 November for the concert tour was recorded and released as a video by Pony Inc. in January 1987. Kokusho also had a concert at Ryougoku Kokugikan in Sumida, Tokyo on 24 December as the final show of her first solo concert tour entitled "Dash Kokusho!" It was recorded and released as a video by CBS/Sony Home Video in April 1987. On Yūyake Nyan Nyan aired on 25 December, a "graduation ceremony" for Mami Yumioka (number 34), Takako Okamoto (number 35) and Maki Takabatake (number 39) was held. All the three members decided to retire from the music and entertainment industry. Few months before, they already were set to leave the group as they were not pictured on the cover of the group's single "Koi wa Kuesuchon" released in early November. Okamoto later said in an interview that she initially was interested in the music and entertainment industry but felt she didn't have confidence in pursuing a solo career as an entertainer in the future and wanted to live an ordinary life as a high school student like most people do. As a new school year started in April, Onyanko Club B Gumi members Mitsuko Yoshimi, Miyuki Sugiura and Kumiko Miyano, who all became high school students, were advanced to Onyanko Club on 6 April. Yoshimi, Sugiura and Miyano were assigned numbers 49, 50 and 51, respectively. Prior to the advancement, they participated in Onyanko Club's third nationwide concert tour in March and April and made their concert debut. Sayuri Kokusho, Minayo Watanabe, Marina Watanabe and Akiko Ikuina went on to have successful careers as an actress, singer and/or TV personality throughout the remainder of the decade and 1990s, appearing on variety TV shows and films. Sanae Jounouchi continued having music releases constantly and a successful career as an enka singer. All of them are active in the entertainment industry as of 2023. Ikuina later became a member of the House of Councillors, having been elected from the Tokyo at large district on July 10, 2022. Shizuka Kudo went on to have chart topping hits in the 80s and 90s. Rika Tatsumi graduated from Tokai University and launched a career as a sales representative at Pony Canyon promoting artists' releases including Kudo's in the Tokyo and Nagoya areas. Eri Nitta found a career as a writer and columnist after retiring into private life in 1990. She later re entered the show business as a TV personality in 1993. Miharu Nakajima continued working as a dental hygienist before getting married in 1997. Aki Kihara and Mika Nagoya moved to the Netherlands and Hong Kong, respectively, to study and work. They eventually got married and settled in the country and region, respectively. Harumi Tomikawa became a water sports instructor at JAL Private Resort Okuma in Okinawa after having worked as a commercial model and TV personality for several years. Kumiko Susan Yamamoto graduated from Bunkyo Gakuin College and has worked for group companies of the Central Japan Railway Company thereafter. Makiko Saito married the chief executive officer of the Sujahta Meiraku Group in 1998.

Throughout the span of Onyanko, it had 1 solo concert and 4 tours.

Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi (うしろゆびさされ組) was the first subgroup with Mamiko Takai (#16) and Yukiko Iwai aka "Yuuyu" (#19) and released six singles and three albums from 1985 to 1987.

Nyangilas (ニャンギラス) was the second of three offshoot groups within Onyanko Club. They had the shortest run with only two singles and one album. Members consisted of Aki Kihara (#6), Mika Nagoya (#9), Rika Tatsumi (#15) and Mako Shiraishi (#22).

Ushirogami Hikaretai (うしろ髪ひかれ隊) consisted of Shizuka Kudo (#38), Akiko Ikuina (#40) and Makiko Saito (#42) and released five singles, two studio albums and one live album in 1987 and 1988.