Actors - Yoshiko Otaka

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	Actors - Yoshiko Otaka

Yoshiko Otaka (Japanese: 大鷹淑子) was born Yamaguchi Yoshiko 山口淑子 on February 12, 1920, to Japanese parents, (father, Yamaguchi Fumio 山口文雄) who were then settlers in Fushun, northeast China (then called Manchuria).

Yamaguchi Fumio was an employee at a Japanese railway company in Manchuria. Since an early age, Yoshiko was exposed to Mandarin Chinese. Yamaguchi Fumio had some influential Chinese acquaintances, among whom were Li JiChun 李際春 and Pan YüGui 潘毓桂. By Chinese custom for those who became sworn brothers, they as well became Yoshiko's "godfathers" and bestowed upon her two Chinese names, Li XiangLan 李香蘭 and Pan ShuHua 潘淑華 (N.B. Shu in ShuHua and Yoshi in Yoshiko are written with the same Chinese character). Yoshiko later used the former name as a stage name and assumed the latter name while she was staying with the Pan family in Peking.

Yoshiko received her initial classical vocal education from an Italian dramatic soprano (married into Belorussian nobility). She later received schooling in Peking, polishing her Mandarin, accommodated by the Pan family.

Yoshiko made her debut as an actress and singer in the 1938 film Honeymoon Express 蜜月快車, by Manchuria Film Productions. She was billed as Li Xianglan (Chinese: 李香蘭, pinyin: Lǐ Xīanglán), pronounced Ri Koran in Japanese. The the adoption of a Chinese stage name was prompted by the Film company's economic and political motives - a Manchurian girl who had command over both the Japanese and Chinese languages was sought after. From then on she rose to be the star of Japan-Manchuria Goodwill Embassadress 日満親善大使. Though in her subsequent films she was almost exclusively billed as Li XiangLan, she indeed appeared in few as "Yamaguchi Yoshiko". Many of her films bore some degree of promotion of the Japanese national policy (in particular pertaining to the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere ideology) and can be termed National Policy Films 国策映画.

The 1940 film Chinese Nights 支那の夜 also known as Shanghai Nights 上海の夜, by Manchuria Film Productions, is especially controversial. In this film, billed as Li XiangLan, Yoshiko portrayed a young woman of extreme anti-Japanese sentiment who came to fall in love with a Japanese man. In the film the young Chinese woman had been beaten by the Japanese man but instead of hatred, she reacted with gratitude. The film moved great aversion among the Chinese audience as they regarded the Chinese female character was sketched out to be of debasement and inferiority; whereas the comtemporary Japanese audience viewed such beating of the woman by her loved man with a certain Romantic notion. Later, when confronted by angry Chinese reporters, Yoshiko apologized and cited the pretext of her inexperienced youth at the time of the film-making, and chose not to reveal her Japanese identity. Her Japanese identity was never divulged in the Chinese media till after the war but was brought to light when she performed in Japan under the her assumed Chinese name as the Japan-Manchuria Goodwill Embassadress.

In 1942, Yoshiko appeared in the film Leaving a good name for prosperity 萬世流芳. The film was shot in Shanghai in commemoration to the centenial of the Opium War. A few top Chinese stars in Shanghai also appeared in the film and endured the repercussion of controversy. The film was of anti-British nature and a collaberation between Chinese and Japanese film companies. Nontheless, its anti-Colonization tone might also be interpreted as a satire to the Japanese expansion in east Asia. Regardless, the film was a hit and Yoshiko a national sensation. Her film theme songs in the curious style of coloratura soprano with Jazz/Pop-like instrumental, Candy-peddling song 賣糖歌 and Quiting (opium) song 戒煙歌 elevated her to the status as one of the top singers in all Chinese-speaking regions in Asia overnight. Many songs recorded by Yoshiko during her Shanghai period became evergreen classics in Chinese popular music history. Another noteworthy one is Tuberoses 夜來香.

Following World War II she avoided execution for treason by revealing her Japanese identity, and established a career as Shirley Yamaguchi in Hollywood and on Broadway, appearing in films during the 1950s in Hong Kong, Japan and the U.S. She returned to Japan after the war, in 1946, and launched a new acting career there, under the name Yoshiko Yamaguchi. After retiring from the world of film in 1958, she appeared as a hostess and anchorwoman on TV talk shows. In 1967 she became the host of The Three O' Clock You (Sanji no anata) TV show, reporting on Palestine as well as the Vietnam War. In 1974, she was elected to the House of Councilors (the upper House of the Japanese parliament), where she served for 18 years (three terms). She co-authored the book, Ri Koran, Watashi no Hansei (Half My Life as Ri Koran). She now serves as a Vice-President of the Asian Women’s Fund.

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