While in high school, she represented the Chūgoku region in the 3rd Miss Seventeen Contest in 1984. While she didn't win the contest, she was scouted by a representative from CBS Sony (two others scouted at the same contest were Misato Watanabe and Shizuka Kudō. Kokushō later appeared on a radio show with Misato Watanabe in 1986.)[2] She moved to Tokyo after becoming a beauty model for Shiseido and the CBS Sony representative suggested she enter the "High School Girl Special" contest on Fuji TV's All Night Fuji, where she made her television debut.[2]
After winning the in-show beauty contest, she made her debut on Yūyake Nyan Nyan("Sunset Meow Meow") (夕やけニャンニャン) as a founding member of Onyanko Club.[2] Because she was attending a high school in Hiroshima Prefecture at the time, she was described as being from Hiroshima. She was the captain of the track and field club during high school.[2]
On April 1, 1985, Kokushō made her professional debut as a founding member of Onyanko Club (member #8). Because she had already graduated from high school, she was senior to most of the other members of Onyanko Club and became the de facto leader of the group.[2] However, the "public image" leaders of the group were promoted as being Eri Nitta, Miharu Nakajima (中島美春, Nakajima Miharu), Satomi Fukunaga, and Kazuko utsumi (内海和子, Utsumi Kazuko) . Kokushō continued to stand out as a leader of the group, however, even with publicity surrounding the solo debut of fellow member Sonoko Kawai.
Kokushō then had to determine whether she wanted to continue as a member of Onyanko Club or begin a solo career and leave the group. She received some support from Nitta and Kawai, both of whom had started successful solo careers of their own. She made her solo debut on February 1, 1986 with the single "Valentine Kiss", which was backed by Onyanko Club. The single reached No. 2 on the Oricon charts,[3] No. 1 on the Music Lab and Music Research charts, and No. 4 on the music program The Best Ten (ザ・ベストテン)onTBS. The single also won the Japan Gold Disc Award for Best Single of the Year.[4] In a 2006 survey in Japan, Oricon Style found "Valentine Kiss" to be the most popular Valentine's Day song.[1] She was not, however, able to match the Oricon No. 1 position reached by Nitta and Kawai with their respective solo debut releases.
^ ab大公開！『バレンタインソング』といえばこの曲！ [The Great Exhibition! When speaking of a "Valentine song", this is the song!] (in Japanese). Oricon Style. February 3, 2006. Archived from the original on March 23, 2010. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
^ abcdefghKomukai, Shoji, ed. (April 1, 1986).『巻頭特集 国生さゆり』[Cover Story Sayuri Kokusho]. BOMB (BOMB) (in Japanese). No. April 1986. Tokyo, Japan: Gakken. pp. 24–31.
^1986年2月オリコンシングルランキング [February 1986 Oricon Single Ranking] (in Japanese). オリコンランキングデータベース (Oricon Ranking Database). 2007. Archived from the original on December 14, 2009. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
