Minako Tanaka’s Bubble Era Journey
Interview with Minako Tanaka on the 40th Anniversary of Her Debut] In the '80s and '90s, she was the symbol of bodycon and bad girls in the entertainment world.
Gorgeous legs and miniskirts are still going strong!
Minako Tanaka (56), who will celebrate the 40th anniversary of her performing career in 2024, was still as beautiful and pheromone-rich as she was when she was the “No. 1 person the students of Todai would like to have as a girlfriend” at university festivals around Japan, wearing a super mini bodycon.
“I remember taking photos in front of the red gate of the University of Tokyo. They used to call me the “Queen of Campus Festivals” and I truly traveled all across the country. I can’t even count how many schools I visited.”
“I had a lot of fun,” she recalls, “but my entertainment career started when I was in elementary school.” She entered a children’s singing contest on TV to imitate Pink Lady and auditioned for a theater troupe.
In 1984, when she was in high school, she was chosen as the runner-up for Miss Magazine (the grand prix went to Yuki Saito), which led to her modeling career, and at the age of 21 she made her debut as a singer with “Tears in the Sun.” Most of my peers, such as Wakako Shimazaki (50), were in their teens, and I was unique in that I was in my 20s.
At the time, a producer at a TV station said something to her that motivated her through the turbulent world of show business.
