Yoshiko Yamaguchi

Yoshiko Yamaguchi was a woman of many identities. She was a singer, an actress, a journalist, and a politician.

She was born on February 12, 1920, in Fushun, Manchuria. At that time, Manchuria was part of the Republic of China. Her parents were Japanese settlers living in a coal mining area. Because of her upbringing, she grew up speaking Mandarin Chinese. This bilingual ability would define her complex career and her many public personas.

Her early musical training was shaped by a health struggle. As a youth, Yamaguchi suffered from tuberculosis. To help strengthen her breathing, doctors recommended voice lessons. While her father wanted her to study traditional Japanese music, she preferred Western styles. She studied classical singing with an Italian dramatic soprano named Madame Podresov. This training helped her become a coloratura soprano, a singer capable of performing very high, agile notes.

In 1938, Yamaguchi began her film career with the Manchuria Film Production company. They debuted her in the film *Honeymoon Express*. The company gave her the Chinese stage name Li Hsiang-lan, known as Ri Kōran in Japan. This choice was driven by political and economic motives. The film industry wanted a star who could represent China while working for Japanese-controlled interests. She became a massive star and served as the Japan-Manchuria Goodwill Ambassadress. However, her true Japanese identity was kept secret from her Chinese colleagues. They noticed she ate white rice instead of sorghum and was paid ten times more than Chinese actors, but they did not know she was Japanese.

Her fame led to controversial work, such as the 1940 film *China Nights*. This movie portrayed Japanese soldiers in both positive and negative lights. In the film, a Chinese woman reacts to a Japanese man with gratitude rather than hatred after being slapped. This caused great anger among Chinese audiences. They felt the character was a dishonest portrayal of Chinese people. Later, many of her songs from this era were banned in China. They were even labeled "Yellow music" in the 1950s, a term used to denounce popular music as improper.

World War II brought a life-threatening crisis for Yamaguchi. After the war ended, she was arrested in Shanghai by the Kuomintang. They accused her of being a traitor for her work in Japanese propaganda films. She was sentenced to death by a firing squad. Her life was saved by a clever act of smuggling. Her parents produced her birth certificate to prove she was a Japanese national. A friend named Lyuba Monosova Gurinets smuggled the document into Shanghai inside the head of a geisha doll. This proof of her nationality cleared her of treason charges.

Following her acquittal, she moved to Japan in 1946. She began a new career using her real name, Yoshiko Yamaguchi. She worked with famous directors like Akira Kurosawa. In the 1950s, she expanded her reach to the United States. She performed on Broadway and appeared in Hollywood under the name Shirley Yamaguchi. During this time, she married the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi in 1951. She often felt torn between her Japanese roots and her Chinese upbringing.

In her later years, Yamaguchi transitioned into media and public service. She became a television host and an anchorwoman. She reported on major global events, such as the Vietnam War and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 1974, she was elected to the Japanese House of Councilors. She served in the Japanese parliament for 18 years, completing three terms. She also served as the vice president of the Asian Women's Fund. Yamaguchi passed away on September 7, 2014, leaving behind a legacy that spanned many different cultures and roles.