<h3>She moved to a place on top of a mountain at an altitude of 1,600 meters above sea level.</h3>
<p> Saka Igarashi graduated from SKE48 in 2010 and is now active as a TV personality. In the current issue of Friday, she shows off her proud F-cups, but in fact, she has an unusual background: she was born in Saitama and grew up in the Philippines. Let us trace Ms. Igarashi&#8217;s &#8220;surprising past&#8221; from her essay, which has been widely praised since it was first published.</p>
<p> Mr. Igarashi was born in Saitama Prefecture on September 19, 2001. His life took a major turn when he was 12 years old.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In the winter of my 6th grade year, my parents made a shocking announcement.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> We were going to move to a place &#8220;on top of a mountain at an altitude of 1,600 meters. They told me that my family would be moving to the Philippines next year.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I could not catch up with my understanding, but my father had always said that it was his dream to quit his job and live abroad, and I had learned more English than I should have since I was a small child.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I told this to my friends the next day, but most of them thought it was a joke. Not long after that, the date was set for the plane ride, and my friends and I both realized that the fact had become a reality.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The day of the graduation ceremony was a beautiful sunny day that I still remember, and the cherry blossoms were just dancing.</span></p>
<figure id="attachment_393699" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-393699" style="width: 1796px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c2b30515"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/10/ef817887f336ae1762c5625402783b52-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-393699" class="wp-caption-text"> A digital photo book is now on sale (photo by Takeyuki Kozuka).</figcaption></figure>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> After graduation, Mr. Igarashi moved to a town called Baguio in the Philippines instead of attending a local junior high school. At an altitude of 1,600 meters, he lived in &#8220;the only place in the Philippines famous for being so cold that you need a jacket,&#8221; a tourist destination for Filipinos.</p>
<p> Although he struggled with English, he became familiar with the Philippines, and at the age of 13 he became hooked on anime and started cosplaying. Then, at 16, he decided to audition for MNL48, the Filipino version of AKB48. However, &#8230;&#8230;.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> As a &#8220;beautiful girl of the world&#8221; who spoke Japanese, I could no longer believe that the MNL48 audition was being held just for me.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> From the very first screening, I was suddenly on the ballot, but somehow my ranking quickly rose, and I was well within the range to make it through the screening.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Of course, I was so confident at the time that I had no doubts at all, but now I am filled with mystery as to who was voting for such a poor quality and embarrassing selfie.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> After the voting was over and I was wondering why I hadn&#8217;t received an email, I came home from school and saw a shocking video.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> It was an official video of the top 200 vote-getters cheerfully dancing to &#8220;Koisuru Fortune Cookie.</span></p>
<figure id="attachment_393799" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-393799" style="width: 1365px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="25f5eb62"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/10/464dcef8102ed2cf7872b35e8da8964a.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-393799" class="wp-caption-text"> Photo by Takeyuki Kozuka</figcaption></figure>
<div class="expapp-no-provided-scope expapp-no-provided-scope-start"></div>
<p><a href="https://amzn.to/3TUKRSC"></a><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7889b25d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/10/14129c4020d4bf40d1cffe02bb79040b.jpg" alt=""></a></p>
<p> Digital photo collection &#8221; <a href="https://amzn.to/47UiObB">Soka Igarashi has F-cup!　vol.2 just before the deadline! Hayaka Sensei</a> &#8221; is now on sale!</p>
<div class="expapp-no-provided-scope expapp-no-provided-scope-end"></div>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Formed an idol group in Manila!"></div>
<h3>While working part-time at a maid cafe.</h3>
<p> Unexpectedly, she was not selected. However, Ms. Igarashi was undeterred and set her sights on becoming an idol. She formed a seven-member group with other Filipino girls who had also failed the audition, commuted by bus to the capital city of Manila, seven hours away, and began her idol activities. In her essay, she vividly describes her memories of those days.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I got ready on Friday after school and took the night bus to Manila.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The bus was not what Japanese people imagine.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The buses that traveled between Baguio and Manila were sarcastically called &#8220;running refrigerators&#8221; by the locals.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The air conditioning was so effective that even the driver had to wear a thick jacket, the bus was cramped, the chairs were so uncomfortable that you would think they were assembled from cutting boards, and the straight backrests could not be folded down.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> And every once in a while there was a big hole in the chair.</span></p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> Igarashi thought that he would go on to a university in the Philippines and find a job, but in the summer of his 18th year, he again experienced a major turning point. During summer vacation, while back in Japan, she tried her first part-time job at a maid cafe in Akihabara. I bought a lot of CDs so that I could propagate SKE48.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He told me that he had bought a lot of CDs and was handing them out to proselytize, but then, as if suddenly remembering something, he opened his mouth and said to me, &#8220;Ah!</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Oh,&#8221; he said to me! SKE48 is having an audition for the 10th term right now, would you like to apply?</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I had not told him about my idol activities in the Philippines, so I was surprised that such a coincidence could happen, but I later thought that this might have been inevitable.</span></p>
<p> Ms. Igarashi, who is showing off her &#8220;melting F-cups&#8221; in Friday, which is now on sale, is trying to carve out a new path as a &#8220;gravure idol who writes essays.</p>
<div class="expapp-no-provided-scope expapp-no-provided-scope-start"></div>
<div data-friday-gold-link-url="https://friday.gold/gravure/article/276087" data-friday-gold-link-title="Saka Igarashi Melting F-cup (with video and other cuts)" data-friday-gold-link-excerpt=" Known as a maverick since her days at SKE48, 23-year-old Saka Igarashi's essays about her past have been very popular. She is also struggling to perform on stage for the first time! The deadline for her essay is fast approaching! In a guest house by the seaside" data-friday-gold-link-thumbnail-wide="https://media.friday.gold/image/upload/c_fill,dpr_2,f_auto,g_faces,h_144,q_auto:eco,w_256/v1/assets/2024/10/2739-03081806382333.jpg?__cld_token__=exp=4102444800~hmac=432c2027a3f5ef8bff0883b2c6f1cb65c50c593bd5347d29e03762e078f3fb3a" data-friday-gold-link-thumbnail-square="https://media.friday.gold/image/upload/c_fill,dpr_2,f_auto,g_faces,h_105,q_auto:eco,w_105/v1/assets/2024/10/2739-03081806382333.jpg?__cld_token__=exp=4102444800~hmac=f96657196bf3aa73ff1afb01aad180df8aede6d7c99251ec14cc33e9007e4881"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> You can read a special interview with Ms. Igarashi in the article, &#8220;I <a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/393667">didn&#8217;t sleep a wink before the deadline&#8230; &#8216;Behind the scenes of writing&#8217; as revealed by an &#8216;F-cup gradol&#8217; whose essays are the talk of the town!</a></span></p>
<div class="expapp-no-provided-scope expapp-no-provided-scope-end"></div>


 Takeyuki Kozuka

 After graduating from SKE48 in 2022, Saka Igarashi has been active as a TV personality. In a recent interview on Friday, she shows off her proud F-cup cups, but in fact, she has an unusual background: she was born in Saitama and grew up in the Philippines.

Forming a 7-member group in the Philippines…Nagoya’s “former idol” writes about her “amazing life

Access Ranking