Kaji Meiko - Japanese Actress and Singer

Kaji Meiko is a Japanese actress and Enka (Japanese popular music genre) singer, born on March 24, 1947 in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan.
After appearing in several juvenile girl gang and women in prison films, Kaji gained fame in her role as Yuki in Lady Snowblood.
The film was based on the manga by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Kazuo Kamimura.
Kazuo Koike also created the Crying Freeman and Lone Wolf and Cub mangas.
Lady Snowblood was one of the inspirations for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films.
The theme song to Lady Snowblood and the theme song of the Sasori series( Female Convict 701: Scorpion, another women in prison film) were both sung by Kaji, and were used in Tarantino's Kill Bill, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.
Kaji also appeared in the sequel to Lady Snowblood, Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance.


posted to http://beautifulasianwomen.blogspot.com/ on Sept 27th, 2009

Miyazaki Aoi - Japanese Actress

Japanese actress Miyazaki Aoi was born on November 30, 1985, in Tokyo Japan.
Miyazaki had her first role at the age of fourteen in the film, One Summer's Day.
She went on to make over twenty one movies including Nana, Eureka, First Love, Tada, kimi wo aishiteru (Heavenly Forest), Synesthesia and Virgin Snow.
Miyazaki is currently working on the film Solanin, based on the Japanese manga written and illustrated by Inio Asano.
Besides movies, she has done several television shows including Junjo Kirari (Pure Heart), R-17, Atsuhime (Princess Atsu) and Hatachi no kekkon (Wedding at 20).

Miyazaki won the Galaxy Individual Award for her role in Atsuhime.
Her brother Masaru Miyazaki is also an actor, and together they starred in the film Hatsukoi.

You can check out Miyazaki's website (in Japanese) here:
http://www.aoimiyazaki.jp/

Miyazaki Aoi, posted to http://beautifulasianwomen.blogspot.com/, on Sept 20th, 2009

Nagasawa Masami - Japanese Actress

Nagasawa Masami was born on born June 3, 1987 in Iwata, Shizuoka.
She is a Japanese actress that works for Toho Entertainment.
Nagasawa is the daughter of Kazuaki Nagasawa, the former manager of the J. League (Japanese professional association football league) team Júbilo Iwata.
She graduated from Horikoshi High School, the same high school attended by other Japanese stars Ayumi Hamasaki, Ayase Haruka, Aya Ueto, Jun Matsumoto, Tomohisa Yamashita and Tanaka Koki.
In 2005, 2006 and 2007 she was the cover girl for Toho Calendar.
In March 2006, Nagasawa was voted the Most Popular Actress in Oricon Style.
She has appeared in eighteen movies, including two Godzilla movies, Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003) and Godzilla: Final Wars (2004).
Nagasawa has worked on twenty three TV dramas, the first one being Pure Soul in 2001.
Her latest movie is Magare! Spoon, is currently under production.


Nagasawa Masami, posted to http://beautifulasianwomen.blogspot.com/ on Sept 11th, 2009

Kawashima Azumi - Japanese Idol

Kawashima Azumi was born on August 8, 1979 in Tokyo, Japan.
She is one of the top Japanese idols.
Kawashima has released over 17 videos in Japan, the first being "Promise/Appointment" released in 1998.
She also had 9 photobooks released from 1999 to 2003.
In 1999, she starred in the V-Cinema (direct-to-video) horror film "Demon Killer" or "Junreiki".


Kawashima Azumi posted to http://beautifulasianwomen.blogspot.com/ on Sept 11th, 2009

Koyuki - Japanese Actress and Model

Koyuki was born on December 18, 1976, in Zama, Kanagawa-ken, Japan.
She is a Japanese model and actress.
Koyuki started her modeling career in 1995 and hasn't looked back, appearing in over 17 Japanese dramas, TV and magazine ad campaigns and films.
She frequently appears in Japanese print and television marketing campaigns for Panasonic.
Koyuki has appeared in ten movies, the best known to American audiences being The Last Samurai.
She was Taka, the wife of a Samurai slain by the character Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise).
Recently she appeared in "Blood: The Last Vampire" based on the Japanese anime.
The movie is about a 400-year-old half human-half vampire girl named Saya (played by Gianna Jun) who hunts vampires in partnership with humans and seeks to destroy Onigen (played by Koyuki), the most powerful of vampires.
The film was generally panned by American critics.



Koyuki, posted to http://beautifulasianwomen.blogspot.com/ on Sept 11th, 2009

More Yoko Kumada

I did an entry on Yoko Kumada back in 2007, so I figured it was time for another.
Yoko was born on May 13, 1982, in Gifu city, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.
She is a Japanese idol and singer.
Yoko has done a lot of TV work in Japan, her first appearance being London Hearts on the TV Asahi network.
She has released over 38 DVDs, the first being "à la mode" in 2002 and the most recent being Muteki in 2009.
As with a lot of Japanese Idols she has also released several Photobooks starting with "mimoza" in 2002.
Yoko has released one single, "Always" which was released in 2006.


posted to http://beautifulasianwomen.blogspot.com/, Sept 5th, 2009