Naomi Morinaga Is Not Dead

Since the Internet has apparently elected me an "authority" on Naomi Morinaga, I want to clear up something that has been showing up in my dropdown menu for her on Google. Namely, "naomi morinaga death" and "naomi morinaga cause of death" keep showing up among the top matches for the lady. As you can imagine, I find that somewhat upsetting.

Let me assure all the Naomi Morinaga fans out there that, as far as anyone knows, Naomi Morinaga is alive and well. Here is her Japanese Wikipedia page. Notice there is no date of death. If anyone would know, it would be the people who administer the Japanese Wikipedia. The American one is usually updated within minutes of the reports of a celebrity's death.

Here is the pertinent portion of Naomi's entry:

1998年に引退後に結婚、現在は1児の母。

I won't pretend to be able to translate that precisely, but here is the gist of it:

She retired from public life in 1998 after her marriage. She is currently the mother of 1 child.

I know Naomi's fans miss her, but she decided to leave the spotlight after she got married. Considering the trajectory of her career, I can understand her decision. It doesn't look like she was involved in the recent Space Sheriffs video game, and I suspect she won't be appearing in the new GAVAN movie either. Though I have to say, Annie making a cameo in that film would be a nice touch.

I think what happened was that the very real death of Naomi's SHAIDER co-star Hiroshi Tsuburaya in 2001 coupled with her retirement has led to confusion among her fanbase. Well, as of this moment, Naomi Morinaga is alive and well. I sincerely hope that she has found happiness and contentment in retirement.

Man, I need to add a "Naomi Morinaga" tag to this blog. Meanwhile, enjoy the revived Pictures of Naomi Morinaga! You'll be glad you did!