Sexy Japan Girls

Japanese producer Tsunku started the group in 1997 through an audition for a female rock vocalist for his band Sharan Q. The audition was held on the Japanese TV show Asayan. The winner was Heike Michiyo, later to become a soloist under what would eventually become known as Hello! Project. However, Tsunku decided to form a girl group consisting of five of the runners-up: Yuko Nakazawa, Natsumi Abe, Kaori Iida, Asuka Fukuda, and Aya Ishiguro. They were issued a challenge to sell 50,000 copies of their demo single, “Ai no Tane,” with just five days of promotion events. They managed the feat in four promotion days (spread out over November, 1997), in a very grassroots manner, and Tsunku began his mission to create the most famous all-girl group in Japan.

Eager to add new life to the group, Tsunku held auditions for the Third Generation of Morning Musume. Expectations for the Third Generation audition were to admit two girls to the group, but ultimately only one girl was added. That girl was Maki Goto, who was thirteen when selected, making her the youngest member of Morning Musume at the time. The group’s seventh single, “Love Machine,”[12] sold 1,646,630 copies, making it a major hit; it is still their highest-selling single to date. The song touted an image of Japan as the future “envy of the world” and cheered the masses during a period of economic recession. It was Maki Goto’s first single and Aya Ishiguro’s last. Its wild success dramatically increased the idol popularity of the group.

Soon Goto was paired with Kei Yasuda and Sayaka Ichii to form the subgroup Petitmoni (also known as Pucchi Moni). Petitmoni’s first single, “Chokotto Love,” rivaled the success of “Love Machine,” selling over 1,123,610 copies.