Sayumi Michishige 道重さゆみ

Japanese Pop Singer

HELLO! Project

Phone, sleeping everywhere, Tetris

Cancer

Sayumi Michishige (道重 さゆみ, Michishige Sayumi, (named after Sayumi Horie) and born July 13, 1989 in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan) is a sixth generation member of the J-pop group Morning Musume.

She joined Morning Musume in 2003 along with Eri Kamei, Miki Fujimoto and Reina Tanaka, which all made their debuts with Morning Musume in the group's nineteenth single, Shabondama. Since 2005 she was assigned as mentor to 7th generation member Koharu Kusumi.

Michishige is also a member of the Hello! Project unit Ecomoni along with former Morning Musume member Rika Ishikawa.

When Michishige passed the audition to join Morning Musume, Tsunku, Morning Musume's producer, wrote in a comment about her that her singing is weak. After the audition Michishige has taken voice lessons to improve her singing, but even she admits that her own singing is still bad.

She portrays an extremely narcissistic image of herself in TV shows, often calling herself the cutest member in Morning Musume and saying that her cuteness overwhelms her bad singing voice.[2] In one of the of the skits known as Hello! Morning Theatre on their variety show, Hello! Morning, she is best known as playing a character known as "Ichiban Kawaii." (Cutest)

"Usa-chan Peace" (Bunny Peace) is a phrase which Michishige uses to identify herself. While saying "Usa-chan peace" she holds her index and middle fingers in V shapes next to her ears.

2004 saw her first appearance on an album, Best! Morning Musume 2, and in a movie—"Star Sand Island, My Island - Island Dreamin'" (星砂の島、私の島－～Island Dreamin'～, Hoshisuna no Shima, Watashi no Shima - Island Dreamin'?). During the summer Michishige appeared in her first solo photobook and formed a temporary group called Ecomoni together with 4th Generation Morning Musume member Rika Ishikawa. Originally, the goal of the group was to promote environmental awareness only for the duration of the "Cool Down the Hot Earth" (熱っちぃ地球を冷ますんだ, Atchii Chikyū wo Samasunda?) festival, but their popularity led to the members of the group being cast as voice actors for the fourth Hamtaro movie—along with Hello! Project soloist Aya Matsuura, with whom they also released the main theme for the film, entitled Tensai! Let's Go Ayayamu (天才！Let's Go あややム, Genius! Let's Go Ayayamu?)—and appear in subsequent festivals.

In 2005 she and Rika Ishikawa released a duo photobook called Angels (エンジェルズ?). Though it has been called an Ecomoni photobook because both members appear in it, officially Angels has nothing to do with the unit. Michishige also appeared as a regular news anchor in the Japanese variety show Hello! Morning for most of the second half of 2005. That same year she was assigned to be a mentor to 7th generation member Koharu Kusumi, with whom she formed a duo called Rainbow Pink in the beginning of 2006. Introducing themselves as "Shige-pink" and "Koha-pink", the group was featured on Morning Musume's 7th album, Rainbow 7 (レインボー7?), with the song Rainbow Pink (レインボーピンク?), and subsequently on the 7.5 Fuyu Fuyu Morning Musume Mini! (7.5冬冬モーニング娘。ミニ!?) and Sexy 8 Beat albums, with Wa~Merry Pin Xmas! (わ～MerryピンXmas!?) and Takara no Hako (宝の箱, Treasure Box?), respectively. Michishige is also a member of Hello! Project's kickball team, Metro Rabbits H.P..

In early December 2006 it was announced Michishige would be given a second solo photobook, entitled Longing (憧憬, Doukei?), released shortly thereafter on January 15, 2007. Shot in Okinawa, the book featured school uniform, swimsuit, simple one-piece and even wet yukata/bathrobe shots, in an attempt to convey a more mature image of the seventeen year old idol.[3]

Michishige has also starred in "Bow30°" (「おじぎ30度」?), an original internet drama created for the purpose of advertising the Family Restaurant chain Gusto (ガスト?), as Ruruka Chī (地井ルルカ?), a novice waitress training under the supervision of her seniors Karin Kinoshita (木下花梨?) (played by Morning Musume's Ai Takahashi) and Mika Mochizuki (望月深華?) (Reiko Tokita).

The first semester of 2007 remained rather uneventful for Michishige, though, starting the second week of June (on June 9, 2007), she began co-hosting the Young Town radio show as a result of Miki Fujimoto's Friday magazine scandal and subsequent resignation from Morning Musume. Shortly thereafter she released her first Love Hello photobook and DVD, both shot in the island of Guam.

Like in previous singles (a notable exception being Namida ga Tomaranai Hōkago) Michishige was given a relatively minor role both in Resonant Blue and Pepper Keibu (the group`s singles for 2008), with the exception of a solo line in the latter. Her radio show was extended from 30 to 60 minutes and she also released her fifth solo photobook.