Here is a biography about my one-time favorite second-generation member Kei Yasuda! So how did Yasuda get into Morning Musume?

Image source: http://www.hello-online.org/img/Yasuda%20Kei-1830.jpg

Here is Kei Yasuda smiling & showing her support for the Rakuten Eagles!



Japanese Singer Idol Kei Yasuda Enters Morning Musume in 1998 and graduates in 2003

It was back in 1998 that Yasuda was chosen along with Mari Yaguchi and Sayaka Ichii as part of the group’s second generation to join the group. After the graduation of Asuka Fukuda in 1999, Yasuda was given almost all of her solo lines. She sang a duet song called Otome no Shiringaku with Ichii. The song was so popular that TSUNKU (producer of Morning Musume) decided to put these two girls with Maki Goto in a group called Petitmoni. That group released a very successful single called Chokotto Love. Since its release on November 23, 1999, the single has sold over a million copies!

It would be after the graduation of Sayaka Ichii, Yasuda took the role of leader of Petitmoni. Nakazawa Yuko would graduate in 2001 and Yasuda then became a sub-leader of the group with Kaori Iida.

At her graduation concert in 2003, Yasuda sang a remixed rock version of the song Never Forget. This was one of the songs on the single called Memory Seishun no Hikari.

One aspect about Yasuda Kei that may be overlooked is the fact that she got English lessons from Ayaka when she was still in Morning Musume. In this clip from 2002 Kei-chan as she is referred to does a great job!

SEE ALSO: Kaori Iida

It was in 2004 that Yasuda revealed that she was learning psychology, how to play golf, and how to play the flute. In addition, she was working on a career in the theater. She would take part in several stage plays between 2007 and 2009 before graduating from Hello! Project. One of these stage plays was the one called Chigaimasu Sisters and her co-star was Ayaka or Ayaka Kimura, the same person that would give English lessons to these Morning Musume members. Sometimes it feels like a small world when you experience things like this. In 2011, Yasuda became the member of a group called Dream Morning Musume and with Yuko Nakazawa and Mari Yaguchi, she held casual dinner shows. These shows were in Osaka and Tokyo. Kei Yasuda is married to Yoichi Kozaki who is a Japanese chef and he specializes in Italian cuisine. He is also the owner of both of the Cucina Gianni restaurants in Tokyo & Minato. He and Yasuda got married on May 29, 2013.

Interesting Facts About Kei Yasuda

She can play several musical instruments including saxophone and the piano.

She dropped out of high school to pursue a career in entertainment

She worked at a McDonald’s restaurant in Chiba Prefecture where she was born until 1998.

She is the third oldest girl to join Morning Musume after its formation and the oldest to join the group under normal circumstances.

Yasuda was famously known as the “grandma” of Morning Musume and she became a target of jokes by TV hosts and other members.

Is the best friend of Mari Yaguchi.

Yasuda is the third former member of Morning Musume to graduate from the group but not Hello! Project. The two others are Yuko Nakazawa and Maki Goto.

She makes an appearance in the TV drama called Suugaku♥Joshi Gakuen with Kaori Iida as part of the Devil Sisters.

She is the only Morning Musume sub-leader that has never led the group.

Yasuda is the last 2 nd generation member to get married.

generation member to get married. Yasuda’s son born January 7, 2018 shares a birthday with current member Ayumi Ishida who was born 21 years earlier.

Kei Yasuda is the first Morning Musume member to be born in the decade of the 1980’s. The second one is Natsumi Abe who is just so gorgeous and talented!

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