Risa Niigaki 新垣里沙 (placeholder)

新垣里沙. Part of the Japanese pop music phenomenon, Morning Musume. She entered the group with Ai Takahashi, Makoto Ogawa, and Asami Konno.

Niigaki Risa (新垣里沙, born October 20, 1988) is a fifth generation member of Morning Musume. She joined the group in August 2001 along with fellow fifth generation members Takahashi Ai, Konno Asami, and Ogawa Makoto.

Prior to joining Morning Musume, Niigaki was a finalist out of 1,000 entrants in the “Kiss Girl Audition” to become the new Tomy image girl, held by TV Tokyo’s “Ohasuta” program. She appeared in a commercial with the other finalist, Hasegawa Ai, for Tomy Karaoke Machine Kiss-site, but ultimately lost out the Grand Prix prize to Hasegawa (ironically, Niigaki later starred in a commercial for the same company as a part of Morning Musume). Additionally, she did some work as a magazine model since spring 2000.