Minako Honda

本田美奈子

Minako Honda, born Minako Kudou (工藤美奈子) was a Japanese "idol" pop-star and musical singer. She became famous and popular as "Japan's Madonna" because of her sexy fashion and live performances in the mid to late 1980s. As with most teenaged "idol" singers, her J-Pop career was spectacular but short. In 1989, at the advanced age of 22, she made a last-ditch attempt to revive her flagging career and attain "street cred" by forming the edgy all-girl band "Minako with Wild Cats". This effort was unsuccessful, and it seemed that she would fade into…