Asian Beauty Appreciation

The China Lover is the 2008 novel by Ian Buruma, a Dutchman  now living in New York and teaching at Bard College. I’ve included the novel as the introduction to this article because the book jackets cover art are really eye catching.

The subject of the novel, or maybe it should be called a historical-fiction book based on real life events, is Yoshiko Yamaguchi who was also known as Shirley Yamaguchi, Li Xianglan, and Ri Kouran. Yoshiko was born in Manchuria in 1920 to Japanese parents.

Following the Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese had set up a puppet Manchurian government. By the late 1930′s, she’d grown into a very pretty and talented young woman who soon caught the eyes of the Japanese working there. Yamaguchi wanted more than anything else to be a singer and a movie star.  The Japanese believed they had struck gold with this talented young woman, because she was fluent in both Mandarin and Japanese. Her movie career began and her career seemed to be fast tracked. But there was a problem.

Yamaguchi, was asked to pose as a Chinese girl by her Japanese handlers. Though born in China, and raised in China, she was Japanese. She was even given a Chinese name, Li Xianglan, to attract the Chinese audiences.

The agent makes a pitch to the director

As I said above, she wanted to be a star. But her films were in actuality propaganda pieces. Yes, even in 1940, the terms ‘win the hearts and minds‘ was in full use; nearly 30 years before this term was used by the United States in their efforts in Viet Nam. The roles she played under the name of Li Xianglan were all about Chinese girls falling in love with Japanese men. This was part of the propaganda plan that the Japanese used to help the Chinese to begin thinking of the Japanese occupation as beneficial and paternalistic.

But there was a lot of pressure on her. She found it difficult to live under an assumed identity. She chafed about having to act Chinese when she was really Japanese. As the pressure mounted, Yamaguchi realized she’d never be a star in  her own right. She also realized that she was a political instrument, though she hadn’t realized it at first. She threatened to quit. She was told to forget those notions and get back to work. When again she threatened to quit, she was told no chance. Back to work and shut up.

making nice to the military

But the Chinese were not fooled. When one particular role showed Ri Kouran as a Chinese woman was being beaten, belittled and abused by the Japanese character, a huge controversy arose.  The Chinese resentment about the Japanese rapidly and publicly increased. When Japan was ultimately defeated in WWII, the Japanese plans for China were publicly reviled as simple global aggression. Li Xianglan/ Ri Kouran/Yoshiko Yamaguchi was arrested by the Chinese and charged with treason and collaborating with the Japanese. She was on trial for her life. She ultimately revealed that she was in fact a Japanese and not a Chinese National and was cleared.

A promo image for the TV Series

But that’s not even close to the end of her story. After the war, Ri Kouran relocated back to Japan and relaunched another film career. She caught the attention of Hollywood and came to the USA and starred in a few films. She even did a Broadway musical in New York. She would later marry the famed Japanese-American architect Isamu Noguchi.

A scene from within a movie from a scene in the TV drama

When that marriage floundered in the middle 1950′s they divorced and Yamaguchi went back to Japan. Once more she launched another career, this time as a TV News anchor and talk show host. She became successful in this phase as a crusading TV journalist. This lead to her marriage to a Japanese diplomat Hiroshi Otaka.

Ri Kouran at a live performance meeting an old friend from the audience

In 1974, she was elected to the Japanese Parliament and she served for 18 years (3 terms). This was certainly a thrilling life. One that a film writer or novelist did not create. nor even dream of creating, yet, Yoshiko Yamaguchi actually lived it.

Buruma’s novel is this same story told through the eyes and ears of three different and separate men who came into contact with her at various stages of her life. Buruma’s book has a ctreative and interesting structure to it. One woman’s story as told over a 50 year period,  by three separate men is not something you read very often.

But the story of Yoshiko still has more to it. A Japanese tv mini-series called Ri Kouran was produced and aired in February 2007. All of the images, other than book jackets and another TV production, are of Aya Ueto and are from the DVD made from the Japanese TV series production.

Meisa as Kawashima with Ri Kouran as a supporting character

There was In fact, a second tv series involving Yamaguchi that was produced and that aired in 2008. It was called Dansou no reijin. Meisa  Kuroki starred as Yoshiko Kawashima, a woman in the military during the Japanese occupation who befriended Ri Kouran.

Ueto looks gorgeous in the period costumes, and I simply could not resist sharing them. The Youtube below is a music video of the Ueto song Namida no Niji which will show you some small segments from the Ri Kouran TV show mixed with the new music.