Momoko Ishida

Momoko Ishida (born 1950 (Showa 25) – August 2023) was a Japanese musician and singer. She was from Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture. Her father was NHK announcer Take Ishida, and her younger brother is actor and talent Junichi Ishida.

Around the age of six, because her father was appointed as a special correspondent for NHK, she traveled to the United States with her family. During this period, she studied piano under Anthony Damigo. Later, she returned to Japan and entered Toho Girls' High School's music department. She studied piano with Masayasu Oshima and Nobuyoshi Kato, and composition under Naotaka Makita. She graduated from the Department of Composition Theory at Toho Gakuen University Faculty of Music.

In addition to her musical activities, she expanded her career to include television appearances, radio hosting, and lectures. Due to personal circumstances, from 2022 she also worked part-time packing goods, but she had stopped due to health reasons.

In August 2023, she was found deceased at her home apartment in Nerima, Tokyo. The cause of death was heatstroke; she was 72 years old. A few days before her death, a friend contacted her about her unusual condition, and Junichi visited her home with police presence and confirmed her body. At the time of discovery, the lighting inside her room was off, and although an air conditioner had broken in July, Junichi brought another unit, which was not used. Several days had passed since her death, and based on the room’s condition, she appeared to have been isolated.

Regarding her family relations, her grandfather was Take Ishida, a journalist for Chuogai Shogyo Shinpo (now Nihon Keizai Shimbun). Her cousin is Koji Watanabe, president of Yamaguchi Asahi Broadcasting and a former TV Asahi journalist. The actor Issei Ishida, who is Junichi Ishida’s son, is her nephew. Fashion model Sumire is Junichi’s daughter and thus her niece.

Her main appearances include a segment on the television program "Adult Railway Aesthetics #9," where she traveled with a former vice mayor on the Echigo Tokimeki Railway. Related to her, there is a noteworthy site called "Ashigata Michi" in Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, which displays footprints of notable individuals including her own footprint.

As an external link, there was an official website for Momoko Ishida, but this is preserved through the Wayback Machine as of May 17, 2014.