The Peanuts

The Peanuts

Original Name ザ・ピーナッツ
Members Emi Ito
Yumi Ito
Active Period 1959 - 1975

Enormously popular pop duo who were immortalized on screen as the Mothra twins. Emi (born Hideyo) and Yumi (born Tsukiko) Ito were identical twins from Nagoya who signed with King Records in 1959, at age 18. Their first record with King sold over 10 million copies. They toured internationally and even appeared in The Ed Sullivan Show. From 1961 through 1972 they hosted and performed on the popular Holiday Bubble variety show for NTV.

In 1975 they publicly announced their retirement, and finished the year with one last round of appearances on NTV programs. They lived quietly until their deaths; Emi died in 2012, Yumi in 2016.

They are best remembered as the Shobijin, the tiny twin fairies serving the titular monster in Mothra (1961), and again in Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). They originated the roles and remain the only pair of twins to have played the roles.

Yumi typically sang melody while Emi sang harmony. While they are notoriously difficult to tell apart, Emi did have a mole that distinguished her from Yumi; in their early years, Yumi would wear a false mole to make them appear truly identical.

Original Name ザ・ピーナッツ
Members Emi Ito
Yumi Ito
Active Period 1959 - 1975

Enormously popular pop duo who were immortalized on screen as the Mothra twins. Emi (born Hideyo) and Yumi (born Tsukiko) Ito were identical twins from Nagoya who signed with King Records in 1959, at age 18. Their first record with King sold over 10 million copies. They toured internationally and even appeared in The Ed Sullivan Show. From 1961 through 1972 they hosted and performed on the popular Holiday Bubble variety show for NTV.

In 1975 they publicly announced their retirement, and finished the year with one last round of appearances on NTV programs. They lived quietly until their deaths; Emi died in 2012, Yumi in 2016.

They are best remembered as the Shobijin, the tiny twin fairies serving the titular monster in Mothra (1961), and again in Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). They originated the roles and remain the only pair of twins to have played the roles.

Yumi typically sang melody while Emi sang harmony. While they are notoriously difficult to tell apart, Emi did have a mole that distinguished her from Yumi; in their early years, Yumi would wear a false mole to make them appear truly identical.