Yoshiko Yamaguchi
Also Known As: Li Xianglan, Yoshiko Ōtaka, 李香蘭, 李香兰, 大鷹淑子, Ri Koran, Shirley Yamaguchi, Ri Kōran, Li Xiang-Lan, Lee Heung-Lan, Li Hsiang-Lan, Yamaguchi Yoshiko, Pan Shu-Hua
Biography: Yoshiko Yamaguchi (山口 淑子, Yamaguchi Yoshiko, February 12, 1920 – September 7, 2014), also known by her stage names Shirley Yamaguchi and Li Xianglan, is a China-born Japanese actress and singer who made a career in China, Japan, Hong Kong, and the United States. She was elected as a member of the Japanese Parliament in the 1970s and served for 18 years. Early in her career, the Manchukuo Film Association concealed her Japanese origin and she went by the Chinese name Li Hsiang-lan (李香蘭), rendered in Japanese as Ri Kōran. This allowed her to represent China in Japanese propaganda movies. After the war, she appeared in Japanese movies under her real name, as well as in several English language movies under the stage name, Shirley Yamaguchi. After becoming a journalist in the 1950s under the name Yoshiko Ōtaka (大鷹 淑子, Ōtaka Yoshiko), she was elected as a member of the Japanese parliament in 1974, and served for 18 years. After retiring from politics, she served as vice president of the Asian Women's Fund. She died at the age of 94 in Tokyo on September 7, 2014.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Fushun, Manchuria
Birthday: February 12, 1920
Deathday: September 07, 2014
Adult: No
Gender: Female
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Known For:
House of Bamboo
Overview: Eddie Kenner is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson, a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1955-07-01
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Scandal
Overview: A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1950-04-26
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Endless Passion
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Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1949-09-29
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Japanese War Bride
Overview: A Korean war vet and his bride face subtle and sometimes extreme racism when they return to his home in rural California.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-01-29
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John Gunther's High Road
Overview: John Gunther, a great traveler in many parts of the globe, presented on the American ABC channel the documentary program "John Gunther's High Road" from September 7, 1959 to October 1, 1960, namely 30 episodes. Two adventure trips filmed in distant places were broadcast: The first documentary film was shot exclusively for the show and the second film offered was a great classic adventure or exploit film by another director.
Genres: TV Movie Documentary Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1959-09-07
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Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
Overview: A history of anti-Asian racism and yellowface in Hollywood after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2019-10-13
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Sayon's Bell
Overview: Based on the true story of a 17-year old Atayal girl called Sayun Hayun from Nan'oku village, Giran district, Taihoku Prefecture (in current Taiwan) who went missing and was thought to have drowned whilst helping carry the luggage of her teacher Masaki Takita during a storm in 1938.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1943-07-01
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The Legend of the White Serpent
Overview: Lavish Japanese-Chinese coproduction based on an ancient Chinese legend about a man who falls in love with a snake goddess in human form.
Genres: Drama Romance Fantasy Horror
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-06-22
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Winter Jasmine
Overview: An inept and recently graduated Japanese man begins working in the administration of Manchuria, under the supervision of his uncle. Meanwhile, he becomes acquainted with both a Japanese and Manchurian woman.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1942-03-21
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Eternity
Overview: The life and story of Lin Zexu and the First Opium War.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: zh
Release Date: 1943-06-01
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君と僕
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Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1941-11-15
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Chin Ping Mei
Overview: Chin Ping Mei 金瓶梅 (1955) is a Hong Kong feature film written by Ku Wen-Chung and directed by Wang Yin, it was produced by Shaw Brothers Studio. This is an adaptation of the Lotus Pan tale.
Genres: History Drama
Original Language: zh
Release Date: 1955-06-23
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Dear Soldier
Overview: Two Korean conscripts undergo Imperial Japanese Army training, much to the pleasure of their families.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1944-06-16
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China Night
Overview: Wartime propaganda filmed by the Japanese in occupied China, Shirley Yamaguchi portrays an orphan rescued from the streets by a kindly Japanese merchant marine officer. Part spy thriller and part Shanghai travelogue, it was part of a popular series known as "Chinese Continental Friendship" made by the occupying Japanese in China.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1940-01-02
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A Holiday in Tokyo
Overview: May Kawaguchi is a famous Japanese fashion designer. Returning to Tokyo from her home in New York, she travels incognito with a tour group, in hopes of having a quiet vacation without being noticed. But she is spotted and the press has a field-day with the returning celebrity. Her hopes of rest shattered, she agrees to put on a large-scale fashion show.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-04-15
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The Monkey King
Overview: A legendary pre-war comedy operetta starring Enomoto Kenichi, Hideko Takamine and Li Xianglan. The Sanzo Ikkou continues its westward journey, on a mission to prevent a demonic resurrection. As Genjo Sanzo, Cho Hakkai, Sha Gojyo, and Son Goku (Kenichi Enomoto) fight their way to their goal, their path is fraught with internal strife.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1940-11-06
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Song of the White Orchid
Overview: Song of the White Orchid was a co-production of Toho and Mantetsu, the railway that served the colonial region of Manchuria, and the first film in the Kazuo Hasegawa/Shirley Yamaguchi (Ri Koran) “Continental Trilogy.” Handsome Hasegawa (representing Japan) runs up against an impertinent Yamaguchi (representing the continent); not surprisingly, in the course of the film the woman comes around and realizes the benevolent intentions of the Japanese. In Song of the White Orchid Yamaguchi leaves Hasegawa, who plays an expatriate working for the railway, because of a misunderstanding. She joins a communist guerilla group plotting to blow up the Manchurian railway. Learning of the subterfuge that led to the misunderstanding, she renews her faith in Hasegawa—and by extension Japan—and tries to undermine the plot.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1939-11-30
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Angkor Wat Story - Beautiful Sadness
Overview: A Japanese artist (Ikebe), who had won the favor of the Cambodian royal family when he rescued their daughter during World War II, returns and falls for the now-grown princess, though neither realizes the other's identity.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-03-25
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The Lady of Mystery
Overview: Spies, Military Documents and Traitors.
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: zh
Release Date: 1957-12-22
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冤魂復仇
Overview: Revenge of wronged souls
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1939-01-01
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Fuun Senryobune
Overview: 1952 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-12-16
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Navy Wife
Overview: Japanese women, seeng how well American soldiers stationed in their country treat their wives, demand the same from their husbands.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1956-05-20
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Oath on the Burning Sands
Overview: A Japanese army engineer (Hasegawa) on the mainland must put his personal feelings for a beautiful Chinese woman (Ri) aside if he is to succeed at building a highway through the "bandit"- (aka anti-Japanese militia-) infested hinterlands.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1940-12-25
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Suzhou Nights
Overview: A hostile Chinese nurse (Yamaguchi) who works in an orphanage is won over by the care and commitment of the Japanese doctor (Sano) who treats her wards. Disease outbreaks and family obligations, however, threaten to torpedo their budding romance.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1941-12-29
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The Last Embrace
Overview: Yukiko Nogami is rescued during a mountain blizzard by handsome forester Shinkichi, and the two subsequently fall in love. But when Shinkichi dies in an avalanche, Yukiko leaves the mountains in despair and takes a job in a bar where she becomes deeply involved in the personal lives of several of the patrons. One day she thinks she sees Shinkichi alive, but it turns out to be a gangster named Hayakawa, a man on the run who bears an astonishing resemblance to Yukiko's lost love. Against her better judgment, she is drawn to help Hayakawa, though clearly danger follows him.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-03-11
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Foghorn
Overview: A Japanese woman, the mistress of an American, falls in love with her servant.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-03-03
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Sword for Hire
Overview: Soldiers Hayate and Yaheiji secretly escape from their besieged castle. Hayate has left behind his lover, Kano. On his way, Hayate is wounded and cared for by O’Ryo, who falls in love with him. But when Hayate accidentally kills her caretaker, he flees, with O’Ryo in pursuit. Subsequently, Hayate's comrade Yaheiji falls in love with Oryo. Kano, the lover left behind by Hayate, believes him dead, and becomes involved with another soldier, Jurota. When Jurota defects to the opposing army, he takes Kano with him. A double set of love triangles has developed, wherein each man and each woman loves one and is loved by another. Finally only combat and self-sacrifice can untangle the weave.
Genres: Drama Action Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-05-22
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The Most Beautiful Day of My Life
Overview: Life and love in corrupt postwar Tokyo, as a young couple struggles against both the law and the mob.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1948-09-26
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Toyuki
Overview: Shot mostly in Tokyo, this comedy depicts two Chinese tourists who have travelled from their country to Japan in order to experience the latter country.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1940-02-07
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Escape at Dawn
Overview: Mikami, a Japanese soldier, is captured by Chinese forces. Although able to escape, he is treated with contempt by his peers. After falling in love with a prostitute named Harumi, she convinces him to desert the army and live with her.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1950-01-08
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Shanghai Rose
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Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-08-13
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Ningen moyo
Overview: A love triangle among a girl, her poor boyfriend, and a rich company president.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1949-06-14
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My Nightingale
Overview: Sumida is separated from his wife and daughter when conflict erupts in Harbin. Years later, he finds that his wife passed away and her daughter was adopted by his friends at the Russian opera company.
Genres: Music Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1944-03-24
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First Love Questions and Answers
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1950-01-15
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