Biography

Marina Watanabe (渡辺満里奈, Watanabe Marina, born November 18, 1970) is a Japanese actress, singer, and TV-personality. She was born in Ota, Tokyo, Japan, and is currently married to Jun Nagura of the comedy trio Neptune. She is a former Japanese idol singer who is now known as a television commentator and author who speaks about fashion, travel, personal health, and contemporary issues. Marina Watanabe was born and raised in Kamata, Tokyo. It is said that her father named his daughter "Marina", an unusual name in Japan which comes from Latin, because he enjoyed yachting. On the other hand, it is also said that her mother decided on this name.When she was 14 years old, she entered the Miss Seventeen Contest co-sponsored by CBS Sony and Shueisha at the encouragement of her mother and older sister, but was not selected. However, CBS Sony invited her to take singing lessons for a while.

In March 1986, she was discovered by star agents, and subsequently passed her audition tests to become an idol in the same year. Soon after, she joined the all-girl idol group Onyanko Club. It was during her time within the group that she made her debut. Her debut song "Shin Koukyuu Shite" (to breathe deep) became a number one song on Oricon charts, and later got her in the record books for setting the record for the youngest singer to have a number 1 Oricon hit (a record that stood for 15 years until it was broken by a member of the Morning Musume group in 2001). She was 15-years and 11-months old at the time.After her idol club was disbanded, Watanabe continued to participate in various variety shows as a singer. Initially she used mainstream idol clothing in her performances. However, because she decided to purchase her own clothes and design her performance style while abandoning traditional idol styles, she became more popular. Later, she was found to have talent as a comedian, thus she decided to take on more diverse roles such as that of a variety show announcer with a comedic yet sophisticated touch. It was from this period on that others started to notice that she was trying to hide or down-play the fact that she once was a member of an idol group.Throughout the 1990s she continued to build broad networks within the subculture genre of Japan as both an announcer and celebrity, which eventually led to her rising popularity.Currently, she is famous in Japan for her essays and books concerning her hobbies of fashion, travel, and personal health. She is also known widely as a "Taiwan-know-all".