Aika Mitsui

**Aika Mitsui** is a Japanese pop singer. She was a member of Morning Musume, joining as a member of the eighth generation from the audition in Japan during December 2006. Mitsui's audition process was documented during the late 2006 episodes of Hello! Morning. She performed Hamasaki Ayumi's "Blue Bird" in round one of her audition and Morning Musume's "Furusato" and "Osaka Koi no Uta" in rounds two and three.

After suffering a leg fracture, she was unable to keep up with a new dance oriented Morning Musume, and graduated alongside Risa Niigaki. However, she stayed within Hello! Project, the first to do so since 2007.

## History

### Early Life

Aika Mitsui was born on January 12, 1993 in Shiga, Japan. Her father is Yasuo Mitsui, a Buddhist monk.

On December 10, she alone out of five (originally six) audition finalists were chosen to join Morning Musume. An article published on December 11, revealed that Mitsui wouldn't be present in the 57th edition of Kōhaku Uta Gassen, but would instead be featured in the group's 32nd single, "Egao YES Nude," which was released on February 14, 2007.

### 2007

Mitsui made her first public appearance in the last round of the 2007 Hello! Project winter concert tour, which took place between January 27 and January 28, at the Saitama Super Arena.

Her first appearance at a non-Hello! Project related event took place on February 8, on Utaban, as part of Morning Musume.

She also took part in Morning Musume Concert Tour 2007 Haru ~SEXY 8 Beat~ . One week after the results of Happy 8 Ki Audition were announced, Mitsui was featured in a small segment of Hello! Morning which included footage from a press conference given on the 11th. During the conference, Mitsui revealed her goal of captivating the public by means of her cheerful personality and smile, emulating fellow member Koharu Kusumi, whom she admired and strived to equal or surpass.

Following her concert debut, Mitsui was also featured in a small segment of the Oha Suta morning programme entitled I want to express my gratitude ("ありがとうを伝えたい", Arigatō o tsutaetai?), which purports to show the viewers a fictionalized account of the events following her first concert appearances, dealing with Mitsui's sadness over the fact that she had to part with her former classmates due to her becoming an idol.

In October, Mitsui was placed in the unit Athena & Robikerottsu along with fellow Morning Musume member Risa Niigaki, as well as Nakajima Saki and Okai Chisato of ℃-ute. On the November 25 episode of Haromoni@, Mitsui got the seiyū role of Gurossan in the anime Kirarin Revolution starring Kirari Tsukishima, voiced by Koharu Kusumi.

### 2008-2009

On April 6, Hello! Project announced that Mitsui would not be able to perform in the 2008 spring tour due to her very poor health. Later in the week, it was discovered that she had suffered from acute appendicitis, and would be out of action for two additional weeks. She recovered and continued with her scheduled activities.

On August 8th, Morning Musume collaborated with female theatre group Takarazuka to perform Cinderella the Musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Mitsui took on the role of a fairy, a town girl and a princess.

It was announced that Morning Musume would be attending the annual anime convention, the Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California as Guests of Honor in July. All members of the current lineup, including Mitsui Aika, attended the event. Morning Musume held autograph sessions and a concert. The number of fans that attended the concert reached over 7,000 people.

Mitsui opened a blog, only available to Official MM Fanclub members titled "Pastel Color Days."

### 2010-2012

In December, Mitsui announced that her first photobook, 'Mittsi,' would be released. She had mentioned in several interviews before that she had wanted a photobook and was very happy at the announcement.

On January 7th, Mitsui played the main character in the horror movie, Real Kakurenbo (Hide and Seek). It was a direct to DVD release.

On May 9th, Mitsui was diagnosed with a left ankle bone fracture. After the Morning Musume concert prior, Mitsui complained of pain in her left foot, after which she went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with the injury.

Mitsui was out of events almost the entire summer. She could not participate in the dance shots for Morning Musume's MV's "Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa wo Honki de Negatterun da yo!," "Pyocopyoco Ultra" or "Ren'ai Hunter" because of the injury.

In January, Mitsui wrote in her blog that she was supposedly cured and ready to dance and perform on stage again.

On January 12, on her birthday, Mitsui opened up an Ameblo blog. She was then the only Morning Musume member with two blogs.

On April 1, she announced that she became a regular on the radio show Young Town, along with Sayumi Michishige. Many fans believed this to be an April Fools joke.

At the end of April or the start of May, Mitsui had a doctors consultation where although her ankle had recovered from the fracture, she would not be able to continue as a member of Morning Musume due to intense movement of her ankle in dancing or concerts.

On May 4, Mitsui announced her graduation from Morning Musume, but not from Hello! Project. She graduated alongside Risa Niigaki at the end of Morning Musume's 2012 Spring Concert Tour (Morning Musume Concert Tour 2012 Haru ~Ultra Smart~ Niigaki Risa Mitsui Aika Graduation Special) on May 18, at the Nippon Budokan.

Aika Mitsui and Risa Niigaki concluded activites in Morning Musume by promoting Ren'ai Hunter.

### After Morning Musume

In August, Mitsui participated in the Hello! Project Tanjou 15th Anniversary Live Summer 2012 concerts as an MC.

In October, it was announced that Mitsui Aika would be a member of the new unit GREEN FIELDS, alongside Shimizu Saki and Miyazaki Yuka.

On November 7th, GREEN FIELDS released their first single, Boys be ambitious!. It was her first single after graduating from Morning Musume.

On March 2nd and 3rd, Mitsui participated in SATOYAMA e Yukou ~Forest For Rest~ along with other Hello! Project and UP-FRONT PROMOTION members.

In March, it was announced that Mitsui would "graduate" from Young Town. She was replaced by Haruna Iikubo beginning in April.

Beginning on April 6, Mitsui became a regular on the radio show "ALMA KAMINIITO Sound Map," replacing Ohno Munehiko.

In May, Mitsui starred in a new stageplay called Okujou Wonderland.

From October 12 to 20, Mitsui performed in a play called Nettai Danshi 2 in Zenrosai Hall / Space Zero.

Mitsui began living in New Zealand to study English as of April 2014.

Mitsui reported on her blog that she returned to Japan on April 24, 2015. Since her return she has been writing English-language news and event reports for UP-FRONT LINK, UP-FRONT's international company news service and added English lyrics to music videos..

In late February, Mitsui accompanied Morning Musume '16 on their trip to Houston, Texas where they were main guests at Anime Matsuri 2016 from February 26 to 28. She also appeared as a MC and translator for their concert held on the second day.

On July 5, Mitsui announced that she returned to New Zealand to continue studying English.

On December 30, she wrote an update on her blog that her English had greatly improved and she had discovered her "new self". She had decided to attend a vocational school in New Zealand which she had taken an IELTS test for in November. Mitsui scored 6 points more than the school's entrance requirement, and she would be starting school in 2017.

On November 3, it was announced that Mitsui, who has been in New Zealand for the past two years, has decided to graduate from Hello! Project and leave the entertainment industry in order to follow a new passion of cooking. She has been working in a kitchen and plans to apply for a temporary work visa after she graduates from vocational school later that month.

## Appearance

Aika wears a light purple cardigan over a purple shirt, with purple trousers and purple shoes. She is noted for her short red hair.

## Trivia

* Her official YouTube username is Morning Musume FTW Injuries FTL.