Yamaguchi Momoe debuted at 13, dominated Asia by 15, and retired at 21 to marry Miura Tomokazu. For 45 years she's lived quietly, creating quilts exhibited in top Japanese art shows. Married 45 years with zero scandals. Now a grandmother with gray hair and wrinkles, few would recognize the former superstar.
Momoe Yamaguchi debuted as an idol at the age of 13 and had already achieved immense fame throughout Asia by the time she was 15. At the height of her career, her annual personal income tax payments reached 400 million yen, and the films and TV shows she starred in alongside Tomokazu Miura took Japan by storm; posters of the two of them adorned the walls of many homes.
In 1980, she was twenty-one years old. At a concert at the Tokyo Budokan, after finishing her final song, she gently set the microphone down on the stage, bowed in gratitude, and turned to leave. She left behind these words: “Please forgive my selfishness; I will surely be happy.”
After that, she completely withdrew from the public eye and did not appear on television or in newspapers for many years. A production company offered her an eight-figure fee to make a comeback, but she did not respond. At the time, many members of the Japanese public could not understand this; they felt it was an irrational decision for her to give up a career that others could only dream of and return to an ordinary family life.
When she married Tomokazu Miura, he made three promises: to quit smoking, to remain faithful forever, and to take on his family responsibilities.Momoe Yamaguchi hated the smell of smoke, and Miura was a heavy smoker. When he proposed, he promised to quit smoking, and by the time Momoe Yamaguchi announced her retirement from show business, he had successfully quit. As for fidelity and taking on family responsibilities, only time would tell.
The paparazzi didn’t believe it. The reason was simple: Momoe Yamaguchi was far more popular than Tomokazu Miura, and Miura’s fame was largely due to her influence. Without her, could he carry the box office on his own? Even if he could, it’s a well-worn cliché that money can corrupt a man.
As it turned out, things weren’t that bad.After losing his co-star Momoe Yamaguchi, Tomokazu Miura did indeed get fewer roles, and his income dropped—he simply couldn’t support his family. But Momoe Yamaguchi never looked down on him. Back when she was a star, she used to buy luxury items costing millions of yen without a second thought, but after marrying him, she couldn’t even bring herself to buy a plain handbag that cost 70,000 yen.When Tomokazu Miura found out, he was so moved he cried. He told her he would quit acting and find a stable job to support the family. Momoe Yamaguchi held his hand and said, “This is your dream; you should fulfill it. I believe you can do it.”
Later, Tomokazu Miura experienced a resurgence in popularity in his middle age and became the “ultimate heartthrob among older men.” Paparazzi frantically followed him, hoping to snap photos of him in romantic situations. He turned them all down.
After her marriage, Momoe Yamaguchi changed her surname to Momoe Miura. She leads a reclusive life and has virtually declined all social engagements.In her daily life, she often went to the supermarket without makeup, took care of household chores in the kitchen, and mended her children’s school uniforms. In her spare time, she devoted herself to creating patchwork pieces. Starting in 1988, she studied under the renowned Japanese patchwork master Reiko Washizawa and later became an instructor at her studio; her works were selected for Japan’s premier art exhibitions.
She has been married to Tomokazu Miura for 45 years; there have never been any rumors of infidelity, and they rarely make a point of displaying affection in public. Now a grandmother, she spends her days playing with her grandchildren in the small courtyard at home and occasionally working in the vegetable garden in the countryside.With her gray hair and wrinkled face, it’s hard for the average person to connect her to the once-famous star she used to be.
Throughout her life, once she set her course, she followed it steadfastly, without a moment’s hesitation. To live with clarity, perhaps, means having the courage to step back decisively at the height of one’s career and when life is at its most bustling—only then can one preserve a stable, down-to-earth, ordinary life in the years to come.
