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The story
A thread on a Hello! Project fan forum lit up over a debate about members’ heights. It started when Ichika Arisawa revealed on her own blog that her company health checkup put her at “155.1cm.” That led to an updated height list for Juice=Juice members, but it quickly drew suspicion that the officially published numbers were inflated — the so-called “saba yomi” (literally “reading mackerel,” Japanese slang for fudging a number). The thread also cited a news article noting that Japan’s average height hasn’t grown in recent years and has been overtaken by China and South Korea, stretching the height debate into international comparisons.
What people said
170cm Nia Hayashi
169cm Akoto Yumiketa / Kokoro Maeda
2026-08-24 21:30:12
https://ameblo.jp/juicejuice-official/entry-12976692771.html
https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20260824/20/juicejuice-official/e9/3c/j/o1080081015815462097.jpg
I had my company health checkup the other day
and my height was… 155.1!!!!
I grew!!!
Yesss!!
Form a tall-girls unit with these
166 is too short
This tall lineup ("dekabo") would be popular
even girls under 160cm probably feel self-conscious about it
No need to feel self-conscious
the average is 158
Fruits Zipper is nothing but shorties
"Kids today are all tall" is pure fantasy
Meanwhile China and South Korea's average heights are climbing fast
Why has Japan fallen behind China and South Korea in height? It's not just about nutrition
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOSG073HZ0X00C26A8000000/
she's probably not even 160 in real life
Same as Ebata, 159
but in Korea it'd be an average, maybe even slightly short, group
Don't tell Korean fans "Juice is tall and has great proportions!"
They just won't get it
People who got crushed by Rescene wouldn't understand that (lol)
Kitahara, Nakayama, Kobayashi, Shimoitani, Inoue Re, Otsubo, Kudo, Fukuda, Soma, Nishizaki, Tamenaga
Members who look shorter than they really are
Danbara, Okamura Mi, Yokaze, Kasai, Tanimoto, Matsumoto, Seino, Hirai, Hirayama
Tamenaga just has a tall-looking face — she's never actually looked tall
Hayashi 170
Endo 169
Danbara 165
Ishiyama 164
Inoue 163
Matsunaga 162
Kudo 161
Kawashima 160
Ebata 159
Irie 157
Arisawa 155
No way Endo is 169
go look at various idols who really are 169cm
Endo is clearly shorter than that
Feels like they fudge it 2cm at a time so they can get on TV
hasn't budged in decades
Meanwhile China and Korea's average heights are rising at the fastest pace in the world
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GVtmEQmakAAgDq.jpg:orig#.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GQpIvktakAA3DpX.jpg:orig#.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GvovXsWWkAATYAG.jpg:orig#.jpg
if they were really that tall they wouldn't need those super-thick-soled high-heel boot outfits every single time
Hayashi is genuinely tall, which is why her heels are low
the other members' published heights are a bit suspicious
Every single number out of Juice is fudged
it's 158
which would drag Juice's average down a bit too
is that other group just full of short girls?
Groups like the Tokisen (Tokimeki Sendenbu) senbatsu really are stacked with short members
that'd make them on the shorter side for a K-pop group
Don't tell overseas fans Juice has great proportions
Don't tell Korean fans "Juice has great proportions"
https://youtube.com/shorts/Z50qY2gzAeg?si=7ROloyT0UXF-GAs4
They were like "Whaaat, 163?!" lol
Hello! Project lol
They deliberately wear those super-thick-soled high-heel boots every single time, so they probably don't want their real heights out there
It'd shatter the fans' dreams
That's because Hello! Project trains their core strength
they don't even get noticed visually to begin with
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Idols’ officially published heights, including at Hello! Project, come from agency profiles and can differ from measured figures like health checkup results. The “saba yomi” (number-fudging) suspicions that circulated in this thread are just unofficial fan guesses based on things like thick-soled boots in stage outfits or comparisons with members of other groups — they’re not backed by verified evidence, which is worth keeping in mind. The claim that Japan’s average height has been overtaken by China and South Korea is based on an August 2026 Nikkei article, which points to nutrition and lifestyle changes as factors. Meanwhile, posts comparing Juice=Juice’s average height (around 162cm) to K-pop groups rely on users’ own calculations and comparison points, not official data. Since the numbers in this thread come from a mix of “official announcements,” “fan observation,” and “news articles,” it’s worth tracking which claim rests on which kind of source.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Latest Hello! Project Member Height Chart.”
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