DCC Alumni Spotlight – Tomoko Mita Johnston

Tokyo native, Tomoko Mita Johnston, made her first trip to Dallas, Texas as a teenager alongside her dance team, to compete for a national title. She recalls coming in 6th place at the competition, and wanting to one day win a national title. Little did she know then, that she would one day perform as one of America’s Sweethearts! Tomoko moved to the USA to attend Oklahoma State University and then transferred to complete her studies at Steven F.Austin State University. She was a member of both university’s performance squads, even though some were very small at that point in time.

Tomoko shared that in her first audition to become a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, she was not aware of the written test portion of the process, and was unprepared for many of the questions on the test. Although the written test caught her off guard, she made up her mind to study and prepare for the next time. As she prepared to reaudition for DCC, Tomoko danced as a member of the Seattle Sea Gals.

Tomoko reauditioned and became a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader in 1998, and cheered for one season before taking a year to go back to Japan to be with her family. Tomoko decided to return to the USA to reaudition for another season with the DCC in 2000-2001 after seeing that the Dallas Cowboys would be playing in the Tokyo Dome that season. As a DCC, Tomoko got to travel to her home of Tokyo, Japan, and perform with the Cheerleaders. She was even featured in the center of a special version of the 2000 squad photo to commemorate this memorable event.

After her two seasons as a DCC, Tomoko moved back to Japan and commuted from Tokyo to Singapore for several years, until recently relocating to the UK in light of the changes brought about by this past year. She launched and directed a professional cheerleading team in Japan, the Albirex Cheerleaders, that perform at a multitude of professional sporting events. She also issued a book, “The Rules of Beauty by an NFL Cheerleader”, and was featured in the comic book, “Manga”, as a cheerleader. Tomoko has starred on TV shows similar to “Dancing with the Stars”, and drama episodes, working with famous actors and actresses since her time as a DCC. She is a legend as one of the first international Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and inspired many of the women who have followed in her footsteps.

DCC Rachel W