is a Japanese actress. She won the award for best actress at the 17th

Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan. The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers. In 1961, the six major Japanes ...

for '' Kinokawa''. She is professor at Tokyo University of Social Welfare and serves as the 2nd head of Nihon Taishōmura theme park.

Life

Yōko Shōji (庄司葉子) was born on August 20, 1934, in

Tottori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous prefecture of Japan at 570,569 (2016) and has a geographic area of . Tottori Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the west, Hirosh ...

, to a family of cotton merchants who had settled in Yumihama. Her family is a branch of the Shōji family, the landed magnate of Watari. She is the niece of businessman and politician Shōji Ren. Tsukasa attended Tottori Prefectural Sakai High School and graduated from

Kyoritsu Women's Junior College is a private junior Colleges in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the 149 junior colleges in Japan set up in 1950 when the junior college system started. It consists of three departments now. Department and Graduate Course Departments * ...

. When she was scouted by

Ryō Ikebe was a Japanese actor. He graduated from Rikkyō University and originally wanted to be a director, but ended up debuting as an actor at Tōhō in 1941. He did not achieve popularity until starring in a series of youth films in the late 1940s. H ...

to became an actress, it was met with great objection from her uncle Shōji Ren. According to Ren's associate Yasuda Mitsuaki, Ren told Tsukasa and Ikebe that "I could not show my face to urhonorable ancestors if the Shōji clan would produce a riverbank beggar

owly actor ''Owly'' is an American children's graphic novel series created since 2004 by Andy Runton and published by Top Shelf Productions. Series overview The series, which is largely without standard text dialogue making it a pantomime comic, is abo ...

If you would do this, you will be cut out from the family for a ''kalpa'' orever" After this, Ikebe asked something to be done about Ren's opinion. Despite the great objection by her uncle, Tsukasa still decided to pursue a career as an actress. She married politician and attorney Hideyuki Aizawa. Their son Hiromitsu married singer and actress

Shoko Aida is a female J-pop artist and actress. She was born in Higashimurayama, Tokyo, and debuted as a member of the J-Pop duo Wink. She began working as a solo artist on 1 April 1996, one month after Wink dissolved. She collaborated with Kaori Iida f ...

Filmography

Films

*''

Meoto zenzai , also known as ''Love is Shared Like Sweets'', is a 1955 Japanese drama film directed by Shirō Toyoda, starring Hisaya Morishige and Chikage Awashima. It is an adaptation of the 1940 novel of the same name by Sakunosuke Oda. ''Marital Rela ...

'' (1955) *''A Holiday in Tokyo'' (1958) *''

Life of an Expert Swordsman is a 1959 samurai film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshiro Mifune. Its story is an adaptation of the 1897 Edmond Rostand play ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', and its basic plot faithfully follows that of the play. The film was released in ...

'' (1959) *''

The Birth of Japan is a 1959 Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. The film is based on the legends '' Kojiki'' and '' Nihon Shoki'' and the origins of ''Shinto''. The film was the highest-grossing film of 1959 for Toho and the second highest grossing domestic ...

'' (1959) *'' Late Autumn'' (1960) *''

Yojimbo is a 1961 Japanese Samurai cinema, samurai film co-written, produced, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō, Takashi Shimura, Kamatari Fujiwara, and Ats ...

'' (1961) *''

The End of Summer is a 1961 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu for Toho Films. It was entered into the 12th Berlin International Film Festival. The film was his penultimate; only '' An Autumn Afternoon'' (1962) followed it, which he made for Shochiku Films. P ...

'' (1961) *'' Chūshingura: Hana no Maki, Yuki no Maki'' (1962) *''Kinokawa'' (1966) *''

Samurai Rebellion is a 1967 Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Masaki Kobayashi. The film is based on ''Hairyozuma shimatsu'', a short story by Yasuhiko Takiguchi. Film historian Donald Richie suggests an approximate translation for its original Japanese title, ...

'' (1967) *''

Scattered Clouds is a 1967 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse starring Yōko Tsukasa and Yūzō Kayama. It was Naruse's final film after a long lasting career which started in 1930. Plot Shortly before Yumiko's and her husband Hiroshi's (an employee o ...

'' (1967) *''

Goyokin is a 1969 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film directed by Hideo Gosha. Set during the late Tokugawa period, the story follows a reclusive ''rōnin'' who is trying to atone for past transgressions. Plot Magobei Wakizaka is a samurai for the Sabai clan. A ...

'' (1969) *'' Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor'' (1969) *''

Prophecies of Nostradamus is a 1974 disaster film by Toshio Masuda, based on a 1973 novel by Ben Goto, itself inspired by the prophecies of Nostradamus. Plot In 1853, Genta Nishiyama begins preaching the prophecies of Michel de Nostradame using a copy of his book ''Ce ...

'' (1974) * ''

Rhyme of Vengeance ''Rhyme of Vengeance'' ( ja, 女王蜂) is a 1978 Japanese film, directed by Kon Ichikawa. It is based on Seishi Yokomizo's novel of the same title. It is 4th in Kon Ichikawa and Koji Ishizaka`s Kindaichi film series. Plot In the Daidoji fami ...

'' (1978) *'' Mifune: The Last Samurai'' (2015)

Television

*''

Daichūshingura (Dai Chushingura) is a Japanese television dramatization of the events of the Forty-seven Ronin. The first episode aired on January 5, 1971, and the 52nd and final episode appeared on December 28 of the same year. The NET network broadcast it in th ...

'' (1971) *'' Haru no Sakamichi'' (1971),

Lady Kasuga was a Japanese noble lady and politician from a prominent Japanese samurai family of the Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. Born Saitō Fuku (斉藤福), she was a daughter of Saitō Toshimitsu (who was a retainer of Akechi Mitsuhide). She was t ...

* ''

Ōoku The refers to the women's quarters of Edo Castle, the section where the women connected to the reigning resided. Similar areas in the castles of powerful , such as the Satsuma Domain, were also referred to by this term. History The ''Ōok ...

'' (1983) *''

Ohisama is a Japanese television drama that aired on NHK in 2011 in the Asadora time slot. Originally it was planned to air from March 28, 2011 (same as 2005's Asadora series Fight) to September 24, 2011, but it was delayed due to the earthquake and tsu ...

'' (2011)

Honours

Medal with Purple Ribbon are medals awarded by the Government of Japan. They are awarded to individuals who have done meritorious deeds and also to those who have achieved excellence in their field of work. The Medals of Honor were established on December 7, 1881, and we ...

(2003) * Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2010)

References

External links

Official website
* 1934 births Japanese film actresses Living people Actors from Tottori Prefecture 20th-century Japanese actresses Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class {{Japan-film-actor-stub