Born in Shizuoka, Miho worked at a department store and did some topless glamour modeling before debuting in the Mamoru Watanabe directed Nikkatsu Roman Porno film Uniform Virgin Pain (Seifuku shojo no itami) in September 1981. A few months later, she appeared in another Roman Porno film, Koichiro Uno's Wet and Riding, part of a long series of films from Nikkatsu based on the erotic novels of Kōichirō Uno. In July 1982, Miho starred in the first of Nikkatsu's Pink Curtain series of films. The three episodes in the series follow a brother and sister, trying to put their lives back together after the death of their parents, who fall into an incestuous relationship. According to pink film critics Thomas and Yuko Weisser, the controversial nature of the films made Miho an "overnight sensation" and paved the way to a career in mainstream film. Miho won best newcomer awards at the Japan Academy Prize and at the Blue Ribbon Awards for the Pink Curtain series.
