Former gravure idol Chisato Morishita now a university teacher

Former race queen and gravure idol Chisato Morishita is committed to launching a career as a politician for the conservative Liberal Democratic Party.

As reported here before, she stood for election in Miyagi Prefecture in 2021. Though ultimately unsuccessful, she is still hoping to win a seat at the next election. By chance, we actually passed through the area earlier this year and saw lots of posters for her dotting the landscape.

Now aged 42, the unmarried Morishita was one of the biggest gradols in the late 2000s and a regular face on TV. Her last gravure shoot was in around 2019 with a sadly short-lived comeback as a jukujo.

While it might seem like a strange transition to go from glamor model to “respectable” politico, it is actually not that unusual for former pop idols and other celebrities to become lawmakers in Japan.

Prominent opposition politicians like Renho and Ayaka Shiomura had previous careers as gravure models. Former Speed member Eriko Imai has also had a career as a politician for the LDP, though it was rocked by controversy over an affair she had with a colleague.

This week brought news that Chisato Morishita, though still campaigning for a seat at the next election with regular speeches in her area, is also wearing another hat: university professor.

She has been appointed a visiting professor at Tohoku Fukushi University, a Sendai-based college specializing in welfare, healthcare, education, and management.

We’re not sure what she’s going to teach but her Instagram post hinted that it was related to sport. We are sure, though, that the guys in her classes will be distracted by her beauty.

According to her social media profile, Morishita lives with her mother and dog in Ishinomaki, and lists various other professions: financial planner, disaster prevention office, golf teacher, rehabilitation function recovery specialist, Pilates Gyrokinesis trainer, and head of the LDP Miyagi Prefecture House of Representatives Proportional Representation District First Branch.

With her new role at the university, that should all keep her pretty busy.