Asian Advertising and Marketing/Published circa 1995
TV idols in Japan are usually charming and 17. Twin sisters, Kin Narita and Gin Kanie, are TV idols and charming, but hardly 17. In fact they will be 103 on August 1, making them possibly the world's first twins to make it big at their age. Japan’s idolmakers, at least in this instance, can't be blamed for following a heartless hit formula.
Standing at a dainty height of about four feet and exuding an aura of immaculate politeness, Kinsan and Ginsan, as they are known (Kin means gold and Gin means silver), were discovered when they turned 100. They were invited by Nagoya city's mayor to be guests of honor at the official ceremony of Keironohi (a national holiday held every September to respect the aged), which was televised nationwide.
The rest is history, as major companies enlisted their rare telegenic talents. The first was mail-order company Tsuhanseikatsu, for which the twins appeared in print and TV ads. As many Japanese were initially disinclined to shop by mail, the grandmotherly figures helped to cultivate a sense of familiarity and assurance for an alternative lifestyle.
Next, cleaning-products company, Duskin, featured them cheerfully reminding each other they had turned 100. Incidentally, the company's toll-free number was announced as 100-100. For that appearance, they received five million yen (US$59,000), which they donated to the city and prefecture. The crowd cried out for more.
Now, in addition to their endorsement activities, they make cameo appearances at welfare and public events, shaking hands, signing autographs, and fielding questions from the paparazzi. They take all of this in their stride.
“When they do commercials, they do it on their own terms, more or less,” says Ginsan's daughter, Mineo Kanie, recalling how many of their impromptu remarks while filming made it into the final cut.
PERHAPS their crowning moment happened in May in Taiwan, where they helped Taichung Broadcasting Company (100.7 FM) launch a station whose market position revolves around the themes of "health and happiness", according to its program director, Yea Shin. As a publicity stunt, 1,028 sets of twins, triplets, and quadruplets welcomed the sisters at a gala gathering. Ginsan smiles airily, lost in reflection, as she recalls her cross-cultural encounter with twin Taiwanese gentlemen who spoke Japanese to her and Kinsan. "They were about 90," she says gently.
THE duo has also made promoters very happy. Whether it has been a drum festival at Ise Shrine, an in-house health conference for pharmaceutical company Genmai Koso, or sumo bouts held in Nagoya, the twins have been effective crowd attractors. So effective that a sumo official once reprimanded them mildly for detracting attention away from the players engaged in their bouts.
Raised in a farm on a mountaintop in Nagoya, fame could not have been more elusive for these ladies, who were recently acquainted with sumo superstar Akebono, and the emperor himself. "He was somebody up in the clouds to us," pipes Kinsan.
Before they got married, Kinsan at 19 and Ginsan at 22, working in the fields was the only life they knew. As times changed and farmlands turned industrial, the twins changed as well. Kinsan, being good with her hands, dabbled in knitting, while Ginsan spent her days immersed in flower arrangement and gardening.
Kinsan had 11 children, six of whom are still around – the eldest is 81 and the youngest is 64. Ginsan bore five girls – four of them alive today, aged between 71 and 81.
"Although there isn't any particular secret to long life that l know of, I believe it is the person's will power," says Ginsan.
Their plans still include appearing in the public limelight – the next event will be a fireworks celebration in Sado Shima for their birthday. For Japan, whose future worries include providing for an increasingly aging population, that's good news, as the sisters are sure to keep dispelling a few myths about old age. Among them, the myth that misery is inevitable.
