Momo began dancing from a young age, attending Stepout Dance Studio in Osaka in her native Japan at the age of three. She even appeared in the music video of K-pop diva Lexy in 2008, at the age of 11, years before her debut.

Her big break came when JYP Entertainment scouts came across a YouTube video of her dancing alongside her older sister. Impressed by the video, the agency invited the two to attend an audition. Although her sister unfortunately didn’t make it through, Momo succeeded and moved to South Korea in 2012. She went on to join JYP and Mnet’s girl group competitive reality show, Sixteen, in 2015, through which seven out of nine Twice members were selected. Momo herself was eliminated, but she was added back to the group at the end of the competition by JYP founder Park Jin-young himself because of her exceptional dance and performance skills.

Said skills even earned her praise from fellow K-pop idols and choreographers. On Korean radio show Idol Radio in 2018, Lia Kim, the choreographer for Girls’ Generation, former 2NE1 member Minzy, Lee Hyori and Son Dam-bi, named Momo as the best dancer in K-pop, commenting that she “is like a dancer sent down from the gods”.

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Her Korean learning videos are adorable – and relatable

After these members moved to South Korea to become trainees under JYP Entertainment, they had to brush up on their Korean language skills, of course – not only for day-to-day life, but to better communicate with their fans. And videos of Momo learning Korean always end up going viral since she’s just too cute.

In 2016, Momo appeared on the TV programme Elementary School Teacher, aka Real Class – Elementary Kid Teachers, where Korean junior school students teach non-Korean K-pop idols. She took a Korean language exam on the show, too, which determined that her Korean skills are similar to that of a six-year-old native speaker.

She has amazing chemistry with her group

From various talk show appearances as well as their live broadcasts via online K-pop fan community platform V Live, it’s obvious that the Twice members have great chemistry. But fans particularly love Momo’s relationships with Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung.

Fans gave Momo and Nayeon the nicknames “Peach Sisters”, commenting on V Live that they share similar appearances and personalities. Momo and Jeongyeon also gained attention for their status as roommates.

Momo and Chaeyoung get along so well that they even created their own channel on YouTube and V Live, MoChaeng TV, the name of which combines the first syllables of their names. Other Twice members have commented how blessed they are to appear on the channel.

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She’s not afraid to show how she feels

Competing in a reality TV show can definitely be stressful and emotional, and Momo was occasionally seen crying on the show. Her tears ended up tugging on fans’ heartstrings.

Momo also cried during the Twice Dome Tour 2019 #Dreamday when delivering her thanks and love to her fans. She said that she wouldn’t have been able to tour without her fans, and added that she wanted to try harder to become a reason why her fans smile. After this little speech, fans commented that her sincerity made her even more lovely.

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