English translation

Nakamori Akina , born: July 13, 1965, was one of the two biggest idols in 1980s, rivaling Matsuda Seiko (biggest 1980s idol) and both had far surpassed the stats of any 1980s idols and the previous generation of 1970s idols.

From the age of 4 to 14, she attended a modern ballet school without skipping her class even once, her dance teacher thought she would become a dancer in the future. But inspired by her mom who was aspired to become singer when she was young, who also taught her singing, the young Akina started to show interest in singing. 

She first applied to "Star Tanjo!" (an infamous singing audition program that have produced a lot of big singers in the 1970s and 1980s including Yamaguchi Momoe, Pink Lady, Iwasaki Hiromi, Sakurada Junko, etc) in 1979 when she was at her second year of junior high school. At that time, "Star Tanjo!" had one judge that didn't mince her words, and she was even particularly harsh to Akina. In her first try, she sang Iwasaki Hiromi song and was told by the judge that she was "too mature for her age and lacked youthfulness" and got rejected. The next year (1980), she applied again, this time she sang Matsuda Seiko song, only to be told by the same judge "You sing well, but your face looks too childish. It'd be better for you to sing children songs" (*although Star Tanjou! didn't allow their contestants to sing children songs), and Akina got rejected again. 

She applied for the third time in 1981. Some of the program staffs were reluctant to let her participate but the chief producer saw something special in her and strongly recommended that she participate. In her third attempt, she passed with 392 points, the highest score in the show's history, and in the final round, representatives from 11 record companies and talent agencies raised their placards and offered her to sign with them. Akina decided to sign with Ken-On as her agency and Warner Pioneer as her label. 

Nakamori Akina in "Star Tanjou!", circa 1981

Nakamori Akina made her singing debut on May 1, 1982. Initially, she was considered to debut under the stage name "Mori Asuna" , but she rejected the idea, preferring to debut under her real name Nakamori Akina. Idols debuted in 1982 were collectively called "The Flower Group of 1982" since their year group produced many big idols (*which could only rivaled later by the "class'85" idols) compared to idols of other year groups, but Akina was on another level, her stats and popularity rapidly rose, leaving her peers behind, and quickly put her to the very top to rival the biggest idol at that time Matsuda Seiko. Crazy stats, records after records and countless individual awards followed as she established herself as one of the two "Idol queens" of 1980s. 

About this song 

This song is one of her iconic songs. Released on July 25, 1984, this song reached #1 on Oricon chart and sold 611,490 copiles. At the end of the year, this song was ranked #6 on Oricon yearly chart (6th highest selling song of 1984). It also won 6 different awards. Akina also performed this song in Kohaku Uta Gassen 1984 where she faced her then boyfriend Matchy (Kondo Masahiko, top 2 male idols of 1980s) in Kohaku song battle. This song also won her at least 6 awards with the biggest one was probably "Japan Record Awards". 

Trivia: The songwriter has clarified that the correct pronounciation of the title is "Jikkai", not "Jukkai". 

Her live performances: 

on  Kohaku Uta Gassen 1984

^ 3:49

^ on "Yoru no Hit Studio"

^ also on  "Yoru no Hit Studio"

^ she was too epic that "Yoru no Hit Studio" turned into a cage with hell burning in the background  (°ー°〃)

^ on "Yoru no Hit Studio" again

^ on "The Best Ten" that have their own ranking system different from Oricon chart, this song was ranked #1 there for five weeks in a row. 

^ on "The Best Ten" again

^ also on "The Best Ten"

^ still in "The Best Ten"

^ she made "The Best Ten" her home

^ on "The Top Ten" that had their own ranking system different from Oricon chart, the highest rank this song reached was also #1

^ on "Let's Go Young"

^ on "Let's Go Young" again

^ still on "Let's Go Young"

on other music programs:

^ winning award. There were fellow idols (4:27): Hori Chiemi, Hayami Yuu, Kawai Naoko, Ishikawa Hidemi.

Cute version!!

in late 1980s

in 1991

in early 2000s

^ (1:24) 

In her career, she has released a total of 51 singles and 25 original albums (and a lot of "Best" albums, special albums, etc). Her total song sales (all singles + all albums) are about 25,605,894 copies. 22 of her singles and 19 of her albums have reached #1 on Oricon chart. On "The Best Ten", a popular ranking based music program that had their own ranking system different from Oricon chart, Akina songs has been ranked #1 for a total of 69 times (the highest in that show). Nakamori Akina has performed in "Kohaku Uta Gassen" (*an annual song battle only for the elite singers of the year) for a total of 7 times (1983-1988, 2002 and one time as special guest in 2014). She also has decent acting career, which she has starred in a total of 22 dramas (1984-2006) and 1 movie (1985). 

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How big exactly was Nakamori Akina? 

- Total song sales (all singles + all albums) : 25,605,894 copies. (*for comparison, some of the biggest 1980s super idols deserved to compete for the position of  "the 1980s third biggest" have total sales in the range of 12+ to 15+ million copies. Normal big idols in 1980s have total sales in the range of 1-5 million copies). 

- The chart positions of each of her single released from 1982 -1989 alone:

#30( <-- debut song), #5, #1, #1, #2, #1, #2, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #1, #3, #1

She got 2 more #1 in 1990, so in total, Nakamori Akina has 22 Oricon #1 ranked singles (*as comparison, the 3rd biggest female idol in 1980s has   11 Oricon #1 ranked songs) . 

- Her songs have been ranked #1 on "The Best Ten" music program for a total of 69 times, the highest in the show's history

^ each of those confetti balls represented each time Akina's song was ranked #1 on "The Best Ten" music program, and that was only in 1986. She would win even more #1 ranks until the show ended in 1989. For normal big idol, to won #1 even once on "The Best Ten" was very hard. 

- Nakamori Akina was the highest selling artist of the year of 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1987 according to Oricon. 

- She has performed on Kohaku Uta Gassen for a total of 7 times (1983-1988, 2002), and later appeared one more time as special guest in 2014.

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Nakamori Akina in her movie and dramas:

"Ai Tabidachi" (1985)

^ co-starring with Kondo Masahiko (Matchy). They started dating during the filming, partly because they were encouraged to date by the movie directors and their agencies "to make their acting more natural" (*or more like to help promote the movie since we're talking about a couple made of top 2 biggest female idol and top 2 biggest male idol at that time) and their relationship lasted until 1989. The movie was a success but Akina lost her confidence after her acting was criticized and rejected 30 movie offers after that and this movie became her only movie in her career. Even when she starred in dramas again few years later, that too was through long persuasion. That's the reason why someone so famous like Akina only has a few dramas and 1 movie. 

"Best Friend 'Ningen Kosaten' Yori" (1987)

"Nakamori Akina no Spagetthi Koi Monogatari" (1988)

"Sugao no Mama de" (1992)

^ co-starring with Yasuda Narumi. The average rating was 26,4% and the highest rating reached 31.9%. 

Nakamori Akina in commercials

on various TV shows:

^ this is a skit, not a real drama. 

Miscellaneous videos:

...and decades have passed...

In 2010, she announced that she would be taking an indefinite break from show business due to health issue. She resumed her activities from 2014-2017 before she had another hiatus.

Nakamori Akina in 2015

After years of hiatus, in August 2022, Akina made her official Twitter account and announced that she would come back soon. Then she would launch her official Youtube channel in December 2023 and finally showed herself in the video, which marked the "queen" long-awaited comeback. 

And..... the "queen" was back!! Nakamori Akina  first public appearance after a long time, (filmed in November, 2023)!

This was Nakamori Akina in 2024

This is Nakamori Akina, June 2025

And this is Nakamori Akina in September 2025, finally appeared in Meiji chocolate commercial again after decades~!