She was one of the most popular singers in all of China and Japan. A friend of Charlie Chaplin, she was also a well-known actress, appearing in a number of Akira Kurosawa movies. On top of all that, she was also a trailblazing politician who advocated for Palestinian rights over 50 years ago and a self-taught polyglot.
Any one of these would make for an impressive lifetime achievement. But when fate asked Yoshiko Yamaguchi which legacy she wanted to go with, she refused to choose and picked all of the above. As we approach September 7 and the 10th anniversary of her death, let’s remember one of the most fascinating women in modern history.
© 20th Century Fox Film Corp What’s in a Name? Quite a Lot, It Turns Out Born in 1920 to Japanese settlers in Manchuria, China, Yamaguchi spoke Japanese as her first language while picking up Mandarin and later even a little Russian after befriending one Lyuba Monosova Gurinets at her school. Yoshiko’s increasingly international upbringing was later supplemented by singing lessons from an Italian soprano. Through these experiences, the young girl unknowingly laid down the foundation for her future, turbulent life.
After Japan’s invasion of the region in 1931, Yamaguchi’s singing got her scouted by Man’ei, the Manchukuo Film Association, who, interestingly, would later give the world Japan’s first female director. Because she was fluent in Mandarin by then, Man’ei wanted Yamaguchi to use a name given to her by her Chinese go.