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Yōka Wao
is a Japanese performing artist and a former member of the Takarazuka Revue, where she specialized in playing male characters (''Otokoyaku''). She joined the revue in 1988 and resigned in 2006. Her nicknames are Takako (from her real name: Takako Ōkawa (大川 貴子 ''Ōkawa Takako'') and Wao. She is the only Otokoyaku to be top in her class as well as the last otokoyaku top star to have joined the company during the Shōwa era. She was born and raised in Osaka (according to Takarazuka Graph 2003 April issue). Troupe history * Snow Troupe: 1988–1997 * Cosmos Troupe: 1998–2006 General information Wao first attracted attention when she played the role of Oscar in the New Actor Show of 1989 Snow Production ''Rose of Versailles''. Later on, she took the leading role in the New Actor Show of ''High and Low''. After graduating from the New Actor Show cast, she progressed to playing solid supporting roles in the main troupe productions. One of her notable roles during the Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2.7 million in the 2020 census, it is also the largest component of the Keihanshin Metropolitan Area, which is the second-largest metropolitan area in Japan and the 10th largest urban area in the world with more than 19 million inhabitants. Osaka was traditionally considered Japan's economic hub. By the Kofun period (300–538) it had developed into an important regional port, and in the 7th and 8th centuries, it served briefly as the imperial capital. Osaka continued to flourish during the Edo period (1603–1867) and became known as a center of Japanese culture. Following the Meiji Restoration, Osaka greatly expanded in size and underwent rapid industrialization. In 1889, Osaka was officially established as a municipality. The construc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ko Minoru
A KO is a knockout in various sports, such as boxing and martial arts. K.O., Ko or Kō may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * KO (musician), Canadian musician who plays a fusion of hip hop and folk music * ''K.O.'' (album), a 2021 album by Danna Paola * K.O (rapper), South African rapper Ntokozo Mdluli * Karen O (born 1978), lead singer of the rock group Yeah Yeah Yeahs * Kevin Olusola, American cellist, beatboxer and member of ''a cappella'' group Pentatonix * ''K.O.'', a 2008 album by Rize * "K.O.", a 2004 song by Smujji Other media * Ko (Go), in the board game ''Go'' * ''Ko'' (film), a 2011 Tamil action movie * ''Knight Online'', a 2004 online role-playing game Language * Ko language * Ko (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana こ and コ * ISO 639-1 code for the Korean language Surname * Ko (Korean surname) * Gao (surname), a surname of Chinese origin romanized to Ko in Hong Kong * Ke (surname), a Chinese surname romanized as "Ko" in the Wade–Gile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryuichi Kawamura
is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known as lead singer of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989. He started a solo career in 1997, three years before Luna Sea disbanded in 2000. In 2005, Kawamura formed Tourbillon with fellow Luna Sea member Inoran and Hiroaki Hayama. He rejoined Luna Sea when they reunited in August 2010. Kawamura's first full-length album ''Love'' topped the Oricon chart with sales of around 1,021,000 copies, making him the only male solo artist to have an album sell over one million copies within its initial week in Oricon charts history. That same album sold over 3,200,000 copies by the end of the year, therefore it holds the record for best-selling male solo album. In 1997 alone, with his mini and full-length albums and four singles (of which "Glass" sold over one million itself), he sold over six million records. Career 1986–2000: Luna Sea, solo debut Ryuichi Kawamura started his musical career as vocalist of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryoko Yonekura
is a Japanese actress and former fashion model best known for her role in the Japanese medical drama '' Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon''. She also performs the voice of Black Widow in the Japanese-language releases of the ''Avengers'' film series. Career Yonekura studied classical ballet for 15 years from the age of five. Represented by the Oscar Promotion agency, she won a national young beauty award in 1992. In 1993, she started her career as a model, working for fashion magazines such as ''CanCam''. She announced her intention to start her acting career in June 1999. Her acting debut was in the TBS television drama '' Koi no Kamisama'' (God of Love), and has appeared in many dramas ever since. Yonekura played the role of Roxie Hart in the Japanese-language production of Chicago in Tokyo 2008 and in 2010. She then learned the role in English and made her Broadway debut in 2012, reprising her role in July 2017, and again in July 2019. Filmography Television / Net Drama * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago (musical)
''Chicago'' is a 1975 American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Chicago in the jazz age, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same title by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, about actual criminals and the crimes on which she reported. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal". The original Broadway production opened in 1975 at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for 936 performances, until 1977. Bob Fosse directed and choreographed the original production, and his style is strongly identified with the show. It debuted in the West End in 1979, where it ran for 600 performances. ''Chicago'' was revived on Broadway in 1996, and a year later in the West End. The 1996 Broadway production holds the record as the longest-running musical revival and the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. It is the second longest-running show ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lady Chacha
or (1569 – June 4, 1615) was a prominently placed figure in the late-Sengoku period. She was the daughter of Oichi and sister of Ohatsu and Oeyo. She was a concubine and second wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was then the most powerful man in Japan. She also became the mother of his son and successor, Hideyori. Her time period being that of large turmoil and overhaul, Yodo-dono had an interest toward both politics and administration. She actively acted in the restoration of the Toyotomi clan after the fall of the Council of Five Elders, as Hideyori's guardian. Alongside her son, Yodo-dono led the last anti-Tokugawa shogunate resistance in the siege of Osaka. When her two younger sisters became prominent members linked to the Tokugawa clan, Oichi's three daughters were vital to maintaining a diplomatic relationship between the two most powerful clans of the time, Toyotomi and Tokugawa. Her sister, Oeyo, was the wife of the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada, and matriarch of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rokuonji Temple
, officially named , is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. It is one of the most popular buildings in Kyoto, attracting many visitors annually.Bornoff, Nicholas (2000). ''The National Geographic Traveler: Japan''. National Geographic Society. . It is designated as a National Special Historic Site, a National Special Landscape and is one of 17 locations making up the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which are World Heritage Sites. History The site of Kinkaku-ji was originally a villa called ''Kitayama-dai'' (北山第), belonging to a powerful statesman, Saionji Kintsune. Kinkaku-ji's history dates to 1397, when the villa was purchased from the Saionji family by ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and transformed into the Kinkaku-ji complex. When Yoshimitsu died the building was converted into a Zen temple by his son, according to his wishes.Scott, David (1996). ''Exploring Japan''. Fodor's Travel Publications, Inc. . During the Ōnin war (1467–1477), all of the buildi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Watson
Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. He began singing as a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club. He came to attention in 1999 when he sang "God Save the Queen" at the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, "Barcelona" at the last match of the Premiership season between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford, and a full set of songs at the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final in Barcelona between Manchester United and Bayern Munich. Watson's debut album ''The Voice'' was released in May 2001; four others followed. An album planned for November 2006 was delayed due to the removal of a benign pituitary tumour. This album, titled '' That's Life'', was eventually released in March 2007. Later that year, it was discovered that there had been a regrowth of the pituitary tumour and bleeding into Watson's brain. He underwent emergency surgery and was discharg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mari Hanafusa
(born February 28, 1973) is a former member of the Takarazuka Revue, in which she specialized in female roles (''Musumeyaku''). She is from Tokyo and joined the revue in 1991 and retired in 2006. She is the first and the only musumeyaku of her class to receive top billing. Troupe membership history * Star Troupe: 1991–1993 * Snow Troupe: 1993–1998 * Cosmos Troupe: 1998–2006 Facts Considered the "Mary Pickford of Takarazuka", she gained audiences' attention during her first years in Star Troupe, and three years after her debut, in 1994, became top ''musumeyaku'' of Snow troupe. Having performed with five different stars as partners, Maki Ichiro (of the Snow troupe), Fubuki Takane (Snow), Yū Todoroki (Snow), Asato Shizuki (Cosmos) and Yōka Wao (Cosmos)--the latter her partner the longest—over the course of twelve years, Hanafusa enjoyed the longest run as star musumeyaku in the Takarazuka's history. Also, upon her participation in the 1994 new actor production of ''Gone w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Never Say Goodbye (musical)
''Never Say Goodbye'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Shûichirô Koike and music by Frank Wildhorn. It was written specifically for Takarazuka Revue, the all-female Japanese theatre company. Wildhorn was the first non-Japanese to write an original musical for the company. Set against the background of the Spanish Civil War, the plot centers on socialist playwright Katherine McGregor and renowned photographer Georges Malraux, a Polish Jew who fled his homeland for Paris. The two first meet in Hollywood at a party announcing the film adaptation of Katherine's play ''Tempest in Spain'', based on the opera ''Carmen''. The two are reunited in Barcelona, where they unexpectedly find themselves falling in love as they become embroiled in a battle against fascism. Directed by Koike, the production was staged in 2006 at the Takarazuka Grand Theater in Takarazuka, Hyōgo from March 24 through May 8, and at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater in Tokyo, Japan from May 26 through July 2. The c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mao Ayabuki
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which he led as the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from the establishment of the PRC in 1949 until his death in 1976. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist, his theories, military strategies, and political policies are collectively known as Maoism. Mao was the son of a prosperous peasant in Shaoshan, Hunan. He supported Chinese nationalism and had an anti-imperialist outlook early in his life, and was particularly influenced by the events of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and May Fourth Movement of 1919. He later adopted Marxism–Leninism while working at Peking University as a librarian and became a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), leading the Autumn Harvest Uprising in 1927. During the Chinese Civil War ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sakiho Juri
is a Japanese performing artist and a former member of the Takarazuka Revue, where she specialized in playing male characters (Otokoyaku). She joined the revue in 1990 and resigned in 2005. She is from Osaka. Troupe history * Moon Troupe: 1990–1998 * Cosmo Troupe: 1998–2000 * Supreme Member: 2000–2005 General information Considered as one of the powerful and multi-talented actresses while she was in the rooster, she started her Takarazuka career at Moon Troupe. Even though never being cast as the top bill during her new actor era, she already showed her talent since then—the most memorable is Jaqueline Carstone in the first act of '' Me and My Girl''. In her latter day in Moon Troupe, she once again portrayed in a female role: Anita from the Moon's production of ''West Side Story''. Also, she could be in tough role like Ricardo in ''The Wind of Buenos Aires'' and a small-time crook like Duchain in ''Crossroad''. In 1998, she was being transferred to the newly found Cosm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
