The Peanuts

The Peanuts were an enormously popular Japanese pop vocal duo, forever immortalized on screen as the Shobijin in the Godzilla franchise. Itô Emi (born Itô Hideyo) and Itô Yumi (born Itô Tsukiko) were identical twins from Nagoya.

The twins were scouted and signed with King Records in 1959 at the age of eighteen, and their first record sold over ten million copies. They enjoyed massive cultural resonance in Japan and toured internationally, even making an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. From 1961 through 1972, they hosted and performed on the popular Holiday Bubble variety show for Nippon TV.

They are best remembered worldwide as the Shobijin (lit. "Little Beauties"), the tiny twin fairies serving the titular monster in Mothra (1961), returning for Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). They originated the roles and remain the only pair of actual twins to have played the characters. In their musical performances, Yumi typically sang the melody while Emi sang the harmony. While notoriously difficult to tell apart, Emi had a mole that distinguished her from Yumi; in their early years, Yumi would sometimes wear a false mole to make them appear truly identical.

In 1975, the duo publicly announced their retirement, finishing the year with one final round of television appearances. They lived quietly until their deaths; Emi passed away in 2012, and Yumi in 2016.