Yoshiko Otaka Filmography

Yoshiko Ōtaka , is a China-born Japanese actress and singer who made a career in China, Japan, Hong Kong, and the United States. By the 1940s, she became one of the Seven great singing stars. She was elected as a member of the Japanese Parliament in the 1970s and served for 18 years. Yoshiko Ōtaka was born Yoshiko Yamaguchi to Japanese parents, who were then settlers in Fushun in Manchuria. Yamaguchi Fumio was an employee of the South Manchuria Railway. From an early age, Yoshiko was exposed to Mandarin Chinese. Yamaguchi Fumio had some influential Chinese acquaintances, among... whom were Li Jichun and Pan Yugui . By Chinese custom for those who became sworn brothers, they also became Yoshiko's "godfathers" and bestowed upon her two Chinese names, Li Xianglan and Pan Shuhua 潘淑華. . Yoshiko later used the former name as a stage name and assumed the latter name while she was staying with the Pan family in Beijing. As a youth Yoshiko suffered a bout of tuberculosis.
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