Born in Manchuria in 1920 to Japanese parents, Yamaguchi was well on her way to becoming a famous actress and singer at an early age. As a result of a mild case of tuberculosis, a doctor recommended her to do exercises to regulate her breathing which led her to be scouted by Fengtian Broadcasting who saw her play a minor role in a recital during her training with Madame Podresov, a prominent opera singer (Hiroshi et al.).
Her career in film began when she was recruited by the Manchurian Film Association and debuted under the name Li Xianglan (Ri Kōran is the Japanese reading of the characters) in the 1938 film Honeymoon Express. Li Xianglan, which meant “Fragrant Orchid” was given to her by close friends of her father according to Chinese customs. Her popularity rose not only due to her career in acting but her singing career as well, which was featuring in Eternity, a film released in 1943 that was shot in Shanghai and was a Japanese-Chinese joint production. An overt critique of the First Opium War, the film became a hit thanks to its catchy songs (Jan Strusiewicz). Many are still considered Chinese pop classics and at the time, made [Yamaguchi] one of the most popular singers in all of China.
Shortly after the release of this film came the end of World War II. From the start of her career, Yamaguchi portrayed herself as a Chinese woman both on-screen and in her personal life. However, the on-screen women were not shown in the best light. In China Nights (1940), after being slapped by a Japanese man who she later marries, she says, “It didn’t hurt at all to be hit by you. I was happy, happy.” To Chinese audiences, watching a Japanese man strike a Chinese woman and then fall in love felt doubly humiliating (Liu). They could see the overt similarities between the plot and current events: Japan colonizing China with goals to bring the Chinese people under their rule, somewhat like “getting the girl.”
After the war, these acting roles led her to have troubles with the Chinese government. According to Yamaguchi, she was arrested in Shanghai and sentenced to death by firing squad for “collaborating” with Japanese imperial forces as a Chinese citizen but was spared execution by providing documentation smuggled into the country that proved her Japanese citizenship (Jan Strusiewicz). In the book "Another Girlfriend" written by the literary critic Kenko Kawasaki, he raises questions regarding the legitimacy of her story. Kawasaki, who was acquainted with Yamaguchi when she was alive, wrote the following about his motivation for writing the book, suggesting that he was dissatisfied with some aspects of Yamaguchi Yoshiko's life story:
When one reads closely from the viewpoint of critical research, one is often left with the puzzling feeling that something has been left out, or that important matters have been mentioned too casually, as if they were trivial matters (Nojima).
Kawasaki chose his words carefully, as this could be perceived as a challenge to Yamaguchi Yoshiko's writing, but his motivation for writing this book can be seen as his determination as a researcher to strip away the "mask" of the mythologized Yamaguchi Yoshiko.
Whether or not this happened as she has accounted, when talking about the roles she portrayed in films during this time, Yamaguchi has stated in many interviews that she deeply regretted them. In an interview published in 1991 discussing the release of a musical based on her life, she said, “I was so stupid. I thought I was working for the sake of the Manchurian people. When I saw the situation for the first time with clear eyes, I couldn’t believe how gullible I had been (Associated Press).” In another she states, “I thought my films were simple romances. I recently viewed three of my films at the time and was shocked because they were such obvious propaganda (Nickerson).” After the trial, she was repatriated back to Japan.
When she returned to Japan, she found work with director Akira Kurosawa; first in the 1950 film Escape at Dawn, and then in Scandal of the same year. Eventually she moved to the United States and, under the name Shirley Yamaguchi, appeared in a few films and even in one Broadway musical. While in the U.S., she met and married Isamu Noguchi, an American artist and interior designer, in 1951 who she eventually divorced by 1955. She then married Hiroshi Otaka, a Japanese diplomat and moved back to Japan where she worked as a news anchor for Fuji TV on the show The Three O’clock You, reporting on topics including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Vietnam War. It was during a broadcast in 1972 that she learned of China and Japan’s establishment of diplomatic relations. When asked if she had a vivid memory of the day that diplomatic relations were restored, she replied:
At exactly three, during my program, the news arrived. I mustn't cry, I thought, I can't let the women in the studio see me crying, so I went and hid behind the speakers in the studio and covered my face with a handkerchief. The director, Mori Akio, saw me crying and shot me from behind (Hiroshi et al.).
By 1974, she was elected to the House of Councilors (the upper House of the Japanese
parliament) where she served three terms totaling 18 years. Additionally, she served as vice-
president of the Asian Women’s Fund and worked on efforts for women’s rights. In 1993, she
was decorated with the Gold and Silver Star of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Second Class, an honor established by Emperor Meiji in 1888.
Yoshiko Yamaguchi died in September 2014 in Tokyo at the age of 94. The events of her life illustrate the intricacy of identity and complications that can arise from it. Despite that, she was able to have a successful career not only in entertainment, but in public service as well. Her legacy stands through her appearances in film and the songs she performed that are still popular today.
Additional Notable Films
My Nightingale (1944)
House of Bamboo (USA, 1955)
The Legend of the White Serpent (Japan, 1956)
A Holiday in Tokyo (1958)
Selected Notable Songs
featured in the film Crazy Rich Asians and covered by Teresa Teng in 1971
Selected Media
live performance at a concert in Sacramento, California in 1950
held for the Japanese-American’s interned during the war
lecture by Inuhiko Yomota, a Japanese film historian,
for the Japan Society NYC
lecture by Michael Bourdaghs, Robert S. Ingersoll Professor of East Asian
Languages & Cultures, University of Chicago
Works Cited
Associated Press. “Musical Revived Wartime Tale.” Newspapers.com, 28 July 1991,
www.newspapers.com/image/589339858/?match=1&terms=yoshiko_yamaguchi. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
Hiroshi, Tanaka, et al. “Looking Back on My Days as Ri Koran (Li Xianglan).” The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus, vol. 2, no. 10, 11 Oct. 2004, apjjf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/article-776.pdf. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
Jan Strusiewicz, Cezary. “Yoshiko Yamaguchi: The Singer, Actress and Politician Who Loved
Japan and China.” Tokyo Weekender, 6 Aug. 2024, www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/japanese-culture/yoshiko-yamaguchi-the-singer-actress-and-politician-who-loved-japan-and-china/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
Liu, Annie. “China Nights: Li Xianglan and Japanese Propaganda Films .” Women’s Song
Forum, 7 Feb. 2023, www.womensongforum.org/2023/02/07/china-nights-li-xianglan-and-japanese-propaganda-films/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2025.
Nickerson, Colin. “An Actress’ Life, a Nation’s Past.” Newspapers.com, 15 Nov. 1991,
www.newspapers.com/image/439653471/?match=1&terms=yoshiko_yamaguchi. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
Nojima, Tsuyoshi. “【書評】‘李香蘭’が川島芳子に仕掛けたインテリジェンス工作：川崎賢子『もう一人の彼女』.” Nippon.com, 19 July 2019, www.nippon.com/ja/japan-topics/bg900064/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2025.