Who Is Sayumi Michishige?

Introducing This Morning Musume Member

Sayumi Michishige is a former sixth generation member of the very popular and famous Japanese pop music group Morning Musume. She took over the responsibility of band leader after the graduation of Risa Niigaki on May 18, 2012.

In terms of status within Morning Musume & Japanese pop music in general, she is the member with the longest tenure in terms of days served as a member of Morning Musume having been with the group for over 11 years from 2003 through 2014. I would even say that although she has one of the best bikini bodies among Morning Musume girls, she is not the sexiest. But even so, she has had a great life in her 33 years and you will see why.

On January 1, 2014, she recorded her 4,000^th day as a member of Morning Musume and then became the first member in the group’s history to be a member for 11 years.

A Look at the Career of Sayumi Michishige

Her debut with the group was on the single “Shabondama.” She is considered to be the weakest member vocally but she refers to herself as the cutest Morning Musume member.  Michishige is considered as the one who succeeded Rika Ishikawa because of the role that they both have played within the group. In 2004, Michishige along with Ishikawa formed a group called EcoMoni which is an environmental awareness group. As part of the activities involved, they go to environmental and cultural festivals each summer. In 2005, they released a photo book together called “Angels.” She has appeared on many TV shows. She used to be a regular cast member of Hello! Morning with Yuko Nakazawa and Eri Kamei.

Speaking of being more than just pop music idols, 2005 was a frustrating year for Michishige. She was assigned to be a mentor for member Koharu Kusumi. Michishige herself admitted that she hated to do this because Kusumi had to be taught everything. It got so frustrating for Michishige that she was plucking out her eyebrows as a result! After this, the Morning Musume mentor-pupil system was discontinued.

We can say that 2009 was a rather interesting year for Michishige. In that summer, she gained a decent amount of recognition from the Japanese media due to having made appearances in high rated TV shows such as London Hearts, Downtown DX, and Odoru Sanma Goten. It would be on March 18, 2017 that Michishige would make her first public appearance since her departure from Morning Musume and she did this by making an appearance on Sanma’s radio show Young Town Doyoubi for which she was previously a regular member.

This photo here is from Sayumi’s photo book called Mille Feuille and she is really something! I would even say that she gives Natsumi Abe some competition!

Here is the list of Sayumi’s photo book releases. (I’m only including the ones that she has released individually).

• Michishige, Sayumi
• Doukei
• Love Hello! Michishige Sayumi Photo book
• Sousou
• Love Letter
• 20sai 7gatsu 13nichi
• La
• Sayuminglandoll
• Mille Feuille
• Blue Rose
• Dream
• Sayumi Michishige Photobook (December 2020)

This beautiful photo of Michishige is from her 2014 photo book called Blue Rose and it is one of the best photos of her career!

Interesting Facts about Sayumi Michishige

• Sayumi has an older brother and an older sister.
• Her official Morning Musume color is pink.
• She has not changed her hair color since joining Morning Musume.
• She became close friends with Eri Kamei during their days at training camp.
• When she was in elementary school, she won an award from aerobics and she also took piano lessons.
• Prior to her joining Morning Musume, she really admired Ai Takahashi and Rika Ishikawa.
• Sayumi’s father is a researcher for the chemical company Ube Industries.
• Sayumi said during a 2012 magazine interview that her favorite Morning Musume song is “Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai!”
• Her favorite word in English is Japan.
• Her motto is “Never refuse a gift.”
• Her favorite foods are something called Mentaiko Spaghetti and chocolate.

Michishige Sayumi’s Non-Musical Work

To elaborate further on her non-musical work, on February 3, 2020, Michishige was chosen as the cover model for Atsushi Omura’s novel called Shion wa, Boku ni Osekkai. What else can Michishige do? It seems like she has done pretty much everything that you can expect an entertainer to do in their line of work. She also had a birthday event to celebrate her 32^nd birthday on July 13, 2021. This event was called Michishige Sayumi Birthday Event 2021. She held two shows at the venue called Zepp Diver City. However, due to the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic there were restrictions that were placed on the fans. Japanese government policy required that there was to be no cheering, closeness, or crowding in the venue and everyone had to wear a mask to enter the facility. However, I think that we have only addressed a fraction of the non-musical work that Michishige has done during her career. For instance, in 2011, it was announced that she would be doing the voice for the character Harori in the MMO game called Dragon Nest. Also in that same year, she hosted a premium Christmas Dinner Show on December 23^rd at the Prince Hotel with Reina Tanaka. In January 2022, Michishige took part in modeling outfits based on Ayumi Miyama’s illustrations of the Pokemon Piplup. Her image was used in order to promote the art exhibit at the PUBLIC TOKYO meets PROJECT POCHAMA in popup store in Shibuya from January 29^th through February 6^th of that year.