<figure id="attachment_378253" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378253" style="width: 800px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="3e1afe05"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/e446774a44d67f834b7deb1912848e6a-2.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378253" class="wp-caption-text">Minako Nagai (right), Sato Kondo (middle), and Eriko Nakamura (left), who led the &#8220;90s female TV announcer boom.</figcaption></figure>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Everything was so different from the old days, I was like Urashima Taro (laughs).</span></p>
<p> In an interview with &#8220;Shukan Josei PRIME&#8221; (June 8, 2010), former NTV announcer Minako Nagai described her feelings upon her return to work after 20 years the year before last.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> Nagai was the first anchor of &#8220;Zipangu Asa 6&#8221; with her colleague Aya Sekiya from the spring of 1992, and the ratings were in the 10% range. The show was popular and was known as the &#8220;salaryman&#8217;s morning dollar. The following year, she formed a unit called &#8220;DORA&#8221; with fellow station members Mami Yonemori and Masako Yabumoto, and released a single CD.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> At Fuji Television, three of their peers, Akiko Yagi, Satsuki Ariga, and Keiko Kono, were popular idols. They led the &#8220;female TV announcer&#8221; boom of the 1990s.</span></p>
<p> (TV magazine writer) &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; also paid attention to these girls. The magazine also focuses on these women, including an interview with Nagai, who was popular as a &#8220;morning doll,&#8221; Akiko Yagi&#8217;s love affair with Mitsuyoshi Uchimura of &#8220;Ucchan Nanchan,&#8221; and Eriko Nakamura&#8217;s bewitching yukata (summer kimono) &#8230;&#8230;. We would like to look back on the vivid images of these women who led the TV era along with the spectacular times.</p>
<h3> The &#8220;Morning Dolls&#8221; who wake up at 3:00 a.m. struggle to get up early</h3>
<p> Nippon TV&#8217;s information program &#8220;Zipangu Asa 6&#8221; began in March 1992. Although the program started at 5:59 a.m., viewer ratings were in the 10% range. In particular, Minako Nagai, the announcer in charge of Thursday through Friday, was extremely popular at the time. Her small body (158 cm in height) and her bouncy smile attracted the attention of office workers on their way to work. Nagai, however, used to wake up at 3:00 a.m. on days when she was in charge of a TV program. Her daytime and nighttime lives were reversed,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I used to play tennis and ski very hard when I was a student, so I am confident in my physical strength, but I have low blood pressure, so it&#8217;s hard for me to get up in the morning. I have two alarm clocks and a timer on the TV.</span></p>
<p> I have two alarm clocks and a timer on the TV,&#8221; she said in an interview at the time, describing her hardships.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> Nagai continued to work on the program until 1996, the same year she went freelance. At the age of 36, she married a man she met at the graduate school of media studies, and they had two children. She is now a part-time lecturer at Seijo University, teaches at Nippon TV Academy, and writes essays.</span></p>
<p> I hope that she will bring back some energy to the fathers of the bubble generation.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Idol Announcers who created the &quot;Announcer Boom &quot;1"></div>
<figure id="attachment_378256" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378256" style="width: 2829px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ebc2d634"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/25ffc043b2223faaa682d680f5642858.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378256" class="wp-caption-text">Minako Nagai from &#8220;Zipangu Asa 6&#8221; (Nippon TV) (June 13, 1992)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_378257" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378257" style="width: 2628px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ba8b42e6"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/dfcf774e8755de3d08a8f5522b80b469.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378257" class="wp-caption-text"> Mami Yonemori, a popular TV announcer on &#8220;Look Look Hello&#8221; (NTV) (August 4, 1995)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_378258" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378258" style="width: 1580px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="70f5dcc5"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/20790d9ffc68f207e1204f1b524c85f1.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378258" class="wp-caption-text"> Ucchan Nanchan&#8217;s Mitsuyoshi Uchimura and Akiko Yagi&#8217;s love affair (October 4, 1991 issue)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_378259" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378259" style="width: 2510px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a2c5a658"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/26c955b3a13556e6fae370a2404d74c6.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378259" class="wp-caption-text"> Satsuki Ariga of Fuji Television Network, who was a sought-after guest on variety shows. On the right is Katsura Sanshi (now Katsura Bunshi) (April 30, 1993 issue).</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_378261" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378261" style="width: 1437px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="cb2d6e3e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/0e7e70fad0e794fe91c1454dd65da06d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378261" class="wp-caption-text"> Fuji Television&#8217;s Keiko Kono, who announced her marriage to Takanohana (March 10, 1995 issue)</figcaption></figure>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Idol female announcers who created the &quot;female announcer boom&quot; 2"></div>
<figure id="attachment_378263" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378263" style="width: 2935px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ad545e26"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/e9d2f530155264fc1eb60be2b7b9438e.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378263" class="wp-caption-text">Izumi Ohgami, a very popular variety show announcer at Nippon Television Network Corporation (September 10, 1999 issue)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_378316" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378316" style="width: 2024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7ac7cc33"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/ac2cdeb078ae661e69fd12c43f1bdb57.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378316" class="wp-caption-text"> Kikue Nishiyama, a popular announcer who hosted &#8220;Professional Baseball News&#8221; (Fuji Television Network) (February 7, 1997)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_378265" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378265" style="width: 1744px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ac79c932"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/bf44f5956b586063fb86dc2189efc775.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378265" class="wp-caption-text"> Anna Kikue Nishiyama, popular host of &#8220;Pro Baseball News&#8221; (Fuji Television Network) (Friday Special Summer &#8217;97 issue)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_378269" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378269" style="width: 1318px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c21ecbdd"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/66d8baaa4edfc48a0c3802123954c870.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378269" class="wp-caption-text"> A rare gravure shot of TV Asahi&#8217;s Yoko Oshita (1997 Friday Special Summer Issue)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_378271" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378271" style="width: 2332px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="26fd876e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/98c674eaffec574e719dbdf576c496ba.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378271" class="wp-caption-text"> Satoko Ito, a popular freelance announcer who hosted &#8220;Super Morning&#8221; (TV Asahi) (1996 Friday Special Summer Issue)</figcaption></figure>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Idol female announcers who created the &quot;female announcer boom&quot; 3"></div>
<figure id="attachment_378273" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378273" style="width: 1174px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="01cd9f8d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/fdb518c99db577d8cf73e1d298e469a4-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378273" class="wp-caption-text">TBS&#8217;s most popular TV announcer, Toko Amamiya (&#8217;97 Friday Special, Mid-Summer issue)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_378277" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378277" style="width: 2004px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="e76e57f3"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/69098de5e3a4ab69de0d9af92344f130-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378277" class="wp-caption-text"> Eriko Nakamura, Fuji Television&#8217;s absolute ace announcer (1996 Friday Special, midsummer issue)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_378281" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378281" style="width: 2977px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="259e6f79"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/c2e28802651cd30876deb771f85b53cc.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378281" class="wp-caption-text"> Eriko Nakamura (left) and Satoshi Kondo (right) were talked about as major newcomers in their unofficial days (October 19, 1990 issue)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_378278" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-378278" style="width: 912px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7f8618a6"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/06/f2e2cdbbe7de18d3adbb97e02b825752.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-378278" class="wp-caption-text"> Eriko Nakamura (right) and Sat Kondo (left) 32 years after the photo above (中村江里子のインスタグラム@eriko.nakamura-officialより)</figcaption></figure>


 Koichi Kikuchi (1st right, 2nd, 13th, 14th), Masaharu Uemoto (1st left), Takeshi Kinugawa (3rd, 5th, 8th, 9th), Masaki Miyasaka, Naoki Kamidate, Takeo Shigure, Takehiko Kobiyama,

 Former NTV announcer Minako Nagai recently spoke about her return to NTV. Nagai was a leading figure in the "female announcer boom" of the 1990s. FRIDAY photographed many female announcers at the time. Let's look back on those days with these images.

Minako Nagai, Akiko Yagi, Eriko Nakamura… Images of “Idol Announcers” who led the ’90s boom

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