Momoka Ariyasu

Biography

Born in Kyoto Prefecture and raised in Saitama Prefecture, Ariyasu started modeling for baby magazines at age one. She was with talent agency Carotte C&T, appearing on TV and in many commercials. From 2004, she regularly appeared on Fuji TV's morning children's show Ponkikkids as part of Sister Rabbits. She also joined EXPG, Exile's dance and vocal school, performing as a child dancer for Exile and taking acting lessons.

On November 1, 2008, she moved to Stardust Promotion, and on February 2, 2009, she joined the all-girl idol group Power Age, which had been running since 2005 with elementary to high-school-aged members but was near its end. The group disbanded three months later in May. On July 26, 2009, she became the sixth member of Momoiro Clover, just before its first indies single release. On November 9, 2012, a video comment from her was projected at Hige Danshaku's live comedy show at Molière Theater in Shinjuku, Tokyo, where Louis Yamada LIII declared he was a huge fan and had named his newborn daughter after her.

On January 1, 2013, it was announced she would refrain from singing and talking until the end of January to treat her throat and rest her vocal cords. On February 7, the rest period was extended through February, so she communicated by writing while other members performed her solo parts. She attended Nihon University's Faculty of Arts, graduating from the Department of Photography in March 2017, earning the art department's special prize (first in the university's nearly 100-year history) and the photography department's encouragement prize (only 4 out of 96 graduates).

She was the only university graduate among Momoiro Clover Z members. On January 15, 2018, she announced on her blog she would graduate to live without schedules or plans, with her last performance on January 21, 2018.

Image

Ariyasu introduces herself with the tagline "Silly little giant." At 148 cm, she is the shortest Momoiro Clover member, and her image color was green. She describes herself as "baka," saying she can't grasp basic things or remember anything at school, but her fellow members say she studies all the time, even backstage. She explains that because she is stupid, she has to study hard. Her favorite subjects are English, mathematics, and Japanese.