There have been many multi-page articles on the life of Yoshiko Yamaguchi in many Japanese magazines. The reason I am posting some of them is because fascinating details about Yamaguchi's life is revealed in these articles; details which did not appear in her memoirs.
The below articles are from the 1941 The Pictorial World, Vol 17, No 2.
The below article contains interesting quotes from Seiko (Yoshiko's 12yr younger sister) which she apparently made to the Asahi Shimbun in the years after the death of Yoshiko.
A great friend of the blog has (once again) provided translation notes to me.
The 8 page article mentions the name of Doihara (first name Kenji) on 3 separate occasions - this is in contrast with YY's memoir which only mentions him once in passing (and does so in connection with Li Jichun, her adoptive father). Doihara was said to have been involved in behind the scenes activities in Manchukuo ranging from promoting the drug-trade in order to generate profit, through the military suppression of Chinese attempts to resist the Japanese. After the war he was judged to be a Class A war criminal and was executed; Li Jichun was also executed.
below is page 1 of the article:
here is great friend's translation:
Page 4
Top left
1933 – The debut of Li Xianglan: In
1932, the country of Manchuria was formed, and a Mukden radio station was created
to improve relations between Japan and Manchuria. Yoshiko Yamaguchi made her debut as Li
Xianglan on this radio station.
Top right
1920 – She was born in Liaoning province as the oldest daughter to a family
that was affiliated with Mantetsu railroad.
Father was Fumio Yamaguchi,
mother was Ai Yamaguchi. Yoshiko is
being cuddled by her mother in the picture.
She was born in the suburbs of the old Mukden city (modern day
Shenyang). As a
Mantetsu employee, Fumio was able to maneuver in China without being noticed (暗躍).
Yoshiko studied Chinese language.
Picture
of Yoshiko (age 12) with another girl
She studied at Bujun girl’s school: Family moved from Mukden to Bujun, where she
attended Bujun girl’s school. Because of suspicion that her father was a spy, they returned
to Mukden where she studied singing.
Bottom
1938 – Entering Manei Films:
When she visited Manei to help with dubbing songs, she was invited to do
a screentest with the director named Makino.
She was quickly invited to appear in the film “Honeymoon Express”.
Article
Text
“Going
forwards, do I live as a Chinese? Or
live as a Japanese?”
Yamaguchi
heard that Japan unconditionally surrendered on Aug 15, 1945 while at the home
of the Japanese Army broadcasting director.
In Shanghai,
she was picked up by the forces of Chiang Kai Shek and interned in a row of
houses in Honko (this is the Japanese reading, not sure what the Chinese
reading is). In a local newspaper, she
read the headline that said “the traitor Li Xiang Lan is to be executed by
firing squad”. The term “Kankan” that
was used in the newspaper headline for traitor was chosen to signify that she
sold the soul of the Chinese people to a foreign nation.
But Li Xiang
Lan was a Japanese.
Today, her
88 year-old younger sister Seiko said the following: “Our father Fumio
Yamaguchi was from Saga Prefecture and mother Ai was from Fukuoka
Prefecture. The two met in Manchuria,
married, and had 7 children. Yoshiko,
the oldest daughter, was born in 1920 and I was the youngest of the siblings,
born 12 years after her. When my older
sister Yoshiko was born, I was told that that my father taught Chinese for the
Mukden Mantetsu railways, but I really do not know what he did. Later, the family moved to Beijing to live in
a traditional house with garden.
Because Yoshiko was busy with filming, she was not living with us. She occasionally came back home with lots of
presents and to continue her voice lessons.”
here is great friend's translation:
Page 5
Top
Picture
1946 – After the war and her trial for
being a suspected traitor, she was repatriated to Japan: Although it was reported that she would die
by execution for being a traitor, she was able to prove that she was a Japanese
and be repatriated. Yoshiko is standing
in front row, 4th from left.
Nagamasa Kawakita stands second from right. At the top right is a picture of her departure
paperwork (issued by Shanghai authorities for repatriation).
1951 – Marriage to Isamu Noguchi
Below is a photo of her wedding reception that was attended
by people from the film industry. First
row, from far right: Akira Kurosawa, Mrs. Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune,
Yoshiko Yamaguchi, Mrs. Toshiro Mifune, Setsuko Wakayama, etc.. With her internationally known husband
Noguchi being very busy, their marriage ended after 4 years.
Article
Text
During her
later years, Yoshiko participated in a 6-hour interview with a major newspaper
reporter where 127 pictures from the past were shown to her. The
reporter said the following: “She maintained a very calm demeanor all
throughout (the interview), but when shown the picture of Doihara, she started
to repeat in a low voice ‘Doihara, Doihara…..’ with a stern look on her face. I
believe she possessed a deep hatred toward Doihara who had a deep relationship
with her father.”
[Note –
The reporter does not state how he knew Doihara had a deep relationship with
Yoshiko’s father. Interestingly, he
used the same Japanese word for deep (“fukai”] to describe Yoshiko’s hatred
toward Doihara and her father’s relationship with Doihara as if to make it
sound like these 2 things were inter-connected.
However, in her typical fashion, YY never uttered more than a few words
when it came to things that she did not want to reveal and so the reporter is
obviously drawing conclusions based on his own interpretation.]
Who saved
her from being executed at the Shanghai horse racing track was her friend from
her Mukden childhood days, a Russian named Ryuba. She
was working for the Russian Consulate in Shanghai and was able to make an
excuse to go to Beijing.
Seiko said
the following: “Within the traditional Japanese doll that my sister preciously
kept, I tucked in a copy of our Japanese family registry and then delivered the
doll to Ryuba at a Beijing restaurant.
Ryuba then delivered it to my sister.”
Yoshiko was
able to prove that she was a Japanese and at the end-March 1946, she was able
to board the Unsen Maru repatriation ship.
Yoshiko noted
the following: “Aboard the ship, I heard the Shanghai radio broadcast playing
the melody of my song Ye Rai Xiang. Having
returned to being Yoshiko Yamaguchi, I said under my breath ‘farewell Li Xiang
Lan’.”
After her
return to Japan, she became the actress known as Yoshiko Yamaguchi and surprised
the world by marrying the famous Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi.
Left
Side: A Chronology of Yoshiko
Yamaguchi’s life
1920
In a
coal-town located within today’s Liaoning province, Mukden (today’s Shenyang), Yoshiko
was born between father Fumio Yamaguchi (from Saga prefecture) who worked for
Mantetsu Railways and mother Ai.
1934
As the step-daughter
of Tiangjin mayor Pan Yu Gui, she entered middle school in Beijing under the
assumed name Pan Shu Hua.
1938
After
graduating, she debuted as Li Xiang Lan for propaganda film company Manei
Studios and became popular.
1939
Over the
next year, she appeared with Kazuo Hasegawa in 3 films – Song of White Orchid,
China Night, Vow in the Desert - and became a top star in Japan.
1941
On Feb 11,
Japan National Founding Day, she held a performance at the Nichigeki
Theatre. There were so many fans crowding
around the theatre that it became known as the “7.5 loops around Nichigeki”
incident.
1943
The movie
‘Bansei Ryuho’ that was shot in Shanghai became the biggest Chinese movie hit
ever.
1946
After the military
trial for being a suspected traitor, she was repatriated back to Japan.
1950
She appeared
with Toshiro Mifune in the hit movie Scandalous that was directed by Akira
Kurosawa.
1951
She married
famous Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi and made their home in
Kamakura. Four years later, they would
divorce.
1958
She married
again to foreign diplomat Hiroshi Odaka who was 8 years her junior.
1969
She became
an announcer for the Fuji Studio news and variety show “3:00pm and You”.
1974
Because of a
request from Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, she entered the upper house race for
the Japanese Diet. She would serve 3
terms, 18 years in-total.
1979
She visited
North Korea and held a press conference with leader Kim Il Sung.
1984
She became
the president of the Japanese Pet Lover’s Association.
2014
She passed
away at age 94
here is great friend's translation:
Page 6 – Photos and Captions
Top left
Headline: She was
close to Ryo Ikebe.
She celebrates her return from America with Ikebe (far left)
and others. During this year, Isamu
would come to Japan and their wedding ceremony was held at year-end.
Top Right
Headline: After the
war, she became the actress Yoshiko Yamaguchi
In 1950, she visited New York’s Time Square wearing a
kimono. She appeared in the Broadway
musical Marco Polo as Shirley Yamaguchi.
Middle left
Headline: Under the
name Shirley Yamaguchi, she appeared in American movies.
She appeared also in Hollywood films. To the left is a picture from House of Bamboo
(1955). At her press conference after
returning to Japan, she said that “she studied how to kiss”.
Middle right
Headline: With the
King of Comedy – Chaplin
Picture was taken during her stay in America where she met
Chaplin (3rd from right) at a home party. In Tokyo, she escorted him to a tempura
restaurant.
Far Right
Headline: From
Actress and TV Announcer, she transformed herself to become a Japanese Diet
member.
Middle bottom
Headline: A picture
with Setsuko Hara
An internationally famous actress of the same age, Setsuko
Hara was a lifelong friend who, after their retirement from show business, stayed
in close contact with Yoshiko over the phone.
Bottom right
Headline: Second
marriage to Foreign Diplomat Hiroshi Odaka.
Retires from acting.
Five years after the war had ended (1950), Yamaguchi, who was
once an enemy to America and Great Britain because of her previous appearances in
propaganda movies for the Japanese Army, was invited to travel to America. This trip was planned to promote the American
premier of her film Scandalous that was directed by Akira Kurosawa and
co-stared Toshiro Mifune.
While in America, Yamaguchi experienced two good fortunes. The first was that she passed the audition
for the Broadway musical Marco Polo. She
was to debut as Shirley Yamaguchi.
The second was meeting sculptor Isamu Noguchi, who was 15
years her senior. Her sister Seiko
said: “Both of them experienced the upheavals of war, my older sister Yoshiko
in China and Isamu in America and this common experience brought them
together. Later, I met Isamu many times
and thought he was an artist with a pure heart.”
In Dec 1951, with Ryuzaburo Umehara as the go-between, they
wed in Japan. Before the war, Umehara
had drawn a portrait of Li Xiang Lan in Beijing. He said: “A cat can show 200 expressions,
but you have even more. Your right eye
reveals your free spirit, while your left eye shows you are quiet and shy.
here is great friend's translation:
Page 7 – Photos and Captions
Top left:
Headline: 1974 –
Running for Japanese Parliament
Toshio Yamaguchi recommended that she run for office and
sent his own secretary Ichiro Samukawa to help her. For former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, who
was a Li Xiang Lan fan, she was a secret weapon in the area of foreign
diplomacy.
Top right:
Headline: 1969 - Her
appointment as host for the TV show “3:00 and You”.
She displayed her abilities as the host for the variety-news
show. In 1973, her interview with Fusako
Shigenobu became a big story and brought prominence to variety-news shows.
Picture with Fusako Shigenobu.
Middle left:
Headline: 1979 – She
is welcomed by Kim Il-Sung
In North Korea, the land of mystery, Kim Il-Sung was a fan
of Li Xiang Lan which he clearly expressed at the press conference. He asked her to sing at the dinner banquet.
Second from bottom left:
Headline: 1981 –
Appearing at the Nichigeki Theatre with Kazuo Hasegawa
Appearing at the finale for the Nichigeki Theatre, where
many memories were made, she performed a duet with her former co-star Kazuo
Hasegawa from the 3 movies they made in Manchuria. They
were showered with applause.
Bottom left:
Headline: 2014 – Her
passing at age 94
With no children and her husband having passed away 13 years
earlier, Yamaguchi’s memorial was held at the Hotel Okura with many mourners in
attendance.
Page 7 – Article
The two made their home in an atelier owned by Isamu’s
friend ceramist Rosanjin Kitaoji in Kamakura City, but
things fell apart 4 years later.
Seiko: “The cause of their breakup was that they grew apart because
of how busy they both were with their careers and my older sister’s American
visa not being approved. After the
divorce, when Isamu came to Japan, he called saying ‘I want to see Yoshiko.’ But my older sister had no intention to see
him.”
In 1958, Yamaguchi again surprised Japanese society. She retired from show business and married a
foreign diplomat, Hiroshi Odaka, who was 8 years her junior. A a 3rd class secretary, Odaka was
sent to work in Myanmar.
Starting in 1969, on top of her role as the wife of a
foreign diplomat, she became the host of Fuji Television’s news-variety show
“3:00pm and You”. Three years later when
the normalization of relations with China became known, this news was
broadcasted on the show with much emotion.
In 1974, she ran for election after receiving an invitation
from the Liberal Democratic Party. She
would go on to serve 3 terms for a total of 18 years.
Ichiro Samukawa, her secretary during her days in
Parliament, said:
“She was mainly involved as a member of the foreign affairs
committee. She would say ‘if I don’t do
this work, who will?’. During the oil shock when Saudi Arabia became
a hot topic, she met directly with King Faisal and secured a supply of oil.
In 1979, she visited North Korea where she met with Kim Il
Sung for a solo interview. I
accompanied her on this trip. It seems
that during the war that Kim was a fan of Li Xiang Lan and so he incessantly
asked her to sing a song. She sang a
Japanese song that was very touching.”
In 2001, her husband Hiroshi passed away. In 2014, Yoshiko’s life came to an end at age
94.
Seiko: “During her last days, when she was bedridden, she listened to her songs from her days in China.”
Page 8 Quote:
(This may not be best translation as
I think there is something left unsaid about her trying so hard to be Chinese
while also deceiving her Chinese friends about who she really was…it will be
interesting to see how other people would translate it and extrapolate what she
really meant)
The Japanese people will never understand my suffering as a teenager who tried so hard to become a Chinese.
Quote at bottom:
According to younger sister Seiko, Yoshiko in her later
years always said that “War is something that we absolutely should not do”
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