which launched on April 1, 1985. However, about two weeks after the program started, a major scandal occurred. She and five other members, , , , , and , were photographed smoking in a coffee shop by a man from the weekly magazine Shūkan Bunshun. Although the published photograph only showed Mika Okuda smoking, the other members also admitted to smoking. On the contray, Kihara stubbornly denied it. As a result, the five members who admitted smoking were dismissed from Onyanko Club, but Kihara was only suspended for two weeks. Since these five were considered core members of the group, the scandal changed the form and fate of Onyanko Club. On the other hand, no official explanation was ever given by the program's officials as to why she was the only one who was able to escape dismissal. They mentioned the scandal several times, but never about Kihara. The truth is still a mystery as to whether or not her repudiation had any effect on her avoiding dismissal. She was one of the least popular members of Onyanko Club. Kihara herself admitted that she would never have been selected as a member of Onyanko Club if she had participated in the open audition called "The Scout: Where's Idols" held on Yūyake Nyan Nyan. On the other hand, her unique personality was appreciated by those around her, as her way of looking at things and thinking was different from the other members. She was regarded as one of the three most unorthodox characters in Onyanko Club, along with Rika Tatsumi and Susan Kumiko Yamamoto(山本スーザン久美子, Yamamoto Susan Kumiko). She was 173 cm tall, which was a very non-standard height for an idol at the time. Therefore, before she became a member of Onyanko Club, she was a model for the fashion magazine Olive, along with singer Minako Honda. In April 1987, she graduated from Onyanko Club along with Sayuri Kokushō, Mamiko Takai, Rika Tatsumi, and Kazuko Utsumi(内海和子, Utsumi Kazuko). She then became a writer and wrote articles for the idol magazine DUNK, as well as for the subculture magazine Takarajima and the music information magazine Oricon. Moreover, for a time she lived in London with Mika Nagoya. She then backpacked throughout Asia. She also became a cook in a Japanese restaurant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. There she married Dutch artist Geert Mul, became a housewife, and had two children. Mika Nagoya Mika