Mari Yaguchi 矢口真里 (placeholder)

Japanese pop singer

Mari Yaguchi (矢口真里, Mari Yaguchi?), born January 20, 1983, is a member of the Hello! Project and former member of Morning Musume. She was a member of Tanpopo, one of the first sub groups, and also founded Minimoni, was leader of Sakura Gumi when Natsumi Abe graduated and ZYX, and was in ROMANS.

Mari Yaguchi became a member of Morning Musume during the second generation auditions, but resigned suddenly in April 2005, basically citing her desire to move on “as an adult” with her career. Yaguchi’s role on the Morning Musume singles was not upfront and “in-your-face”, but her contribution to the image and progress of the Hello! Project has been significant. Some claim that she had to quit the group because it was discovered that she was in a relationship with a young actor, Shun Oguri, though she was 22 at the time. Yaguchi’s TV show Yaguchi Hitori (やぐちひとり, Yaguchi Hitori?) continues as before, and her first post-Morning Musume solo release is in the works.

Early on in the group Yaguchi was often perceived as being “the short one” as she did not stand out a lot, but by the time 4th generation joined she had dyed her hair blonde, and had become one of the most active members of the group. Her most famous phrase is “Sexy Beam!” one of her solo lines from Morning Musume’s “Koi no Dance Site” single. This line has made its way around fans and fellow musicians alike.

Her first post-Morning Musume recording, “Nigiyaka na Fuyu”, done as a collaboration with Berryz Koubou, appears as the coupling track on Berryz Koubou’s November 2005 single “Gag 100 Kaibun Aishitekudasai”.

Yaguchi currently stars in a Japanese day time drama series called Gyarusa (ギャルサ, gal circle?), along with her show Yaguchi Hitori, and MC’ing Hello! Project concerts. It was recenty revealed that Yaguchi and Oguri have broken up because they had not seen each other since April. Some speculate that the reason they broke up is because Oguri found a new girlfriend, who is a model.

/>Trivia
Blood type: A 
Height: 145 cm/4'9" 
Weight: 39 kg/86 lbs 
Feet size: 22.5 cm 
Favourite colour: red 
Disliked colour: purple 
Favourite Morning Musume song: "Memory Seishun no Hikari" 
Favourite food: yakiniku, bibimbap 
Favourite sport: table tennis, badminton 
Hobbies: playing video games, cooking (just a little), collecting platform shoes 
Speciality: making her mouth into the shape of a heart 
Impersonation: Ayumi Hamasaki, Chihiro Onitsuka, Michael Jackson[1]