Japanese Spouses of the Rich and Famous

[Mulboyne]

The topic of Yoko Ono and John Lennon cropped up in a conversation recently. One friend wondered whether we could think of any other Japanese partners for well-known foreign artists, financiers, sports stars, politicians etc - leaving aside the obviously fucked gaijin candidates. The well ran dry surprisingly quickly, even after we included divorced couples. I think that reflects very poorly on our collective memory so it is clearly time to call on the resources of this board.



My opening gambit was Formula One racing driver Jean Alesi and his wife Kumiko Goto. She happens to be famous in her own right which probably makes it an easy one to remember. Any other ideas?

[Taro Toporific]

You told us before about the Barclay brothers of the Barclay's empire. Frederick Barclay had a Japanese wife, Hiroko Kususaka---they now have split up.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3407799.stm

[Taro Toporific]

Mr. Iggy Pop, was previously married to a Japanese

Les McKeown formerly of the Bay City Rollers now lives in a flat in Hackney, east London, with his Japanese wife, Peko, and 16 year old son.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/the-roller-coaster/2005/07/01/1119724798252.html
http://lesmactribute.tripod.com/lrmpage6.html

[Mulboyne]

One couple that might not be on the tip of anyone else's tongue is Bruce Wilpon, the son of the New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon, and his wife Yuki Oshima daughter of Shohkoh Fund loan shark king Ken Oshima. They have just set up home in London with a view to becoming a society couple and promoting vegetarianism. Bruce speaks Japanese so actually he is something of an FG. Mets fans unhappy with the performance of Kaz Matsui blame these two for getting involved in the deal.

Guardian: We love each other

Yuki
...In my freshman year, I was dating someone and made the mistake of mentioning that my father was being interviewed for the Forbes billionaire list...When I went to Yale, my father said, "Don't you dare come back and say you're going to marry a white guy." I said to him, "I can't promise that."
Bruce
I had it worse, being the son of a baseball team owner...Having self-made entrepreneurs for parents means it has been difficult to be judged on our own merits

Sunday Times: Animal crackers

If you haven’t heard of the Wilpons yet, that is because their publicity campaign has only just started. But in New York...they are one of the hottest society couples since Jackie Bouvier met John Kennedy...The only time the couple become cagey is on the question of money. Bruce says he earns his living as a playwright, musician and scriptwriter for the Cartoon Network, and that Yuki works partly as his agent and partly as representative for the range of organic products her aunt sells in Japan.

[sillygirl]

What about :


http://www.stevenseagal.com/aikido.html

[Charles]

Good question Mulboyne-sama! Right off the top of my helmet I know that James Newell Osterberg, Jr., AKA the one and only, Mr. Iggy Pop, was previously married to a Japanese woman named "Suchi Asano" an artist in her own right. And from what I have read and heard, apparently Iggy fell in love at first sight after meeting her after one his shows at Nakano Sun Hall here in Tokyo.

ha.. I saw them together once. Back maybe around 1984 or 5, one night at about midnight, I went to the Ralph's grocery store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood to buy a pack of smokes. I got in line and there right in front of me was an extremely inebriated Mister Iggy Pop himself, with big bottle of vodka in one hand, an extremely eccentrically dressed asian woman hanging off his arm.

[jingai]

Forget the Seagal wife crap, this is classic:

Steven Seagal currently holds a 7th Dan granted by the Aikikai and trains out of his home with his senior students, who in turn operate the dojos in Los Angeles and Taos. Seagal Sensei also has a school in Ventura, California under Larry Reynosa Sensei. Reynosa Sensei has trained with Steven Seagal for 11 years, holds the rank of Yondan (4th degree black belt) and is a direct disciple of Steven Seagal Shihan. He has sworn his allegiance, loyalty, and love to him and his style of Aikido. Ten years ago, Seagal Sensei honored Reynosa Sensei with the name "Makato" which means "sincere heart" in Japanese. Therefore, the school is also called Makoto Dojo. Seagal Sensei is a priest of the Omoto-Kyo sect, as was O'Sensei. Seagal Sensei's name in Aikido circles is Take Shigemichi, meaning pathway to Prosperity.

[AssKissinger]

Jazz drummer, Elvin Jones, married a Japanese woman named Keiko.

[Cubed]

You told us before about the Barclay brothers of the Barclay's empire. Frederick Barclay had a Japanese wife, Hiroko Kususaka---they now have split up.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3407799.stm

Didn't she set up Canon Persona Recruitment, which in turn has connections with ne'erdogood types in Japan?

Ps, I married a Japanese woman and I do well for myself. Do I count?

[kurohinge1]

Forget the Seagal wife crap, this is classic:

... Seagal Sensei's name in Aikido circles is Take Shigemichi, meaning pathway to Prosperity.

That's what he thinks!

The real meaning, within Aikido circles, is "moves like a dramatic mushroom"

[Cubed]

[Mulboyne]

Paul Rodgers, singer with Free, Bad Company and, more recently, with Queen, married Machiko. Shortly afterwards, he developed a severe drug problem. Unrelated, I think. They were together for 25 years but divorced in 1996. Their two children, Stephen and Jasmine formed Boa:

[Greji]

[Taro Toporific]

Paul Rodgers, singer with Free, Bad Company and, more recently, with Queen, married Machiko. ,, Their two children, Stephen and Jasmine formed Boa

But Boa is Korean.


Korean TV CMs
http://www.kancoma.com/cm/actress004.html
http://www.avexnet.or.jp/boa/index.htm

[Papa-Lazarou]

Hobo-impersonating, holocaust-denying chess master Bobby Fischer



not pictured, Japanese wife Miyoko Watai

[blackcat]

Kiwi Actor Sam Neil has a J-wife.

no blackbelts BUT HE CAN ACT!

that fucking tool SS can`t.

http://www.americanphoto.co.jp/pages/celebrity/N/Neil_Sam/Plans.html



HA I suppose the caption means " Noriko Watanabe"

[Mulboyne]

Johnny Fingers, (John Moylett) who played keyboards for the Boomtown Rats (featured prominently in the video for "I Don't Like Mondays") married a Japanese girl and has two children. He now lives in Japan and works for Smash Promotions who orchestrate Fuji Rock. He is now a fully-fledged FG but he caught yellow fever in London.

I have a passing acquaintance with his story since his old Japanese girlfriend (possibly now his wife but probably not) was widely regarded as "hot stuff" when she was temping in London many years ago.


..at Fuji Rock (wife not included) ...

Are there any baseball players who have found a life partner here? Or is that only "Mr Baseball"?

[Mulboyne]

The other candidate to crop up here before is actress Olivia Hussey (Juliet in Zeffirelli's film and, most recently, Mother Theresa) who was married to Japanese singer and actor Akira Fuse.

[sillygirl]

Johnny Fingers, (John Moylett) who played keyboards for the Boomtown Rats (featured prominently in the video for "I Don't Like Mondays") married a Japanese girl and has two children. He now lives in Japan and works for Smash Promotions who orchestrate Fuji Rock. He is now a fully-fledged FG but he caught yellow fever in London.

I have a passing acquaintance with his story since his old Japanese girlfriend (possibly now his wife but probably not) was widely regarded as "hot stuff" when she was temping in London many years ago.


..at Fuji Rock (wife not included) ...

Are there any baseball players who have found a life partner here? Or is that only "Mr Baseball"?

Woh! There's a blast from the past...wonder if he still wears pyjamas?
Eeh, The Fine Art of Surfacing - natsukashii

[Mulboyne]

Here's Maiko, the Dowager Viscountess Rothermere, widow of the late UK press baron, Vere Rothermere (owner of the The Daily Mail).

Dowager Viscountess Rothermere (right) with Kurt and Tomoko Masur.

Scuttlebutt from the Scottish Media Monitor

The Mail's hypocrisy about obeying the law will, of course, come as not surprise to those who have followed its approach to family values. While sternly preaching monogamy to its readers during the 1970s and 1980s, ageing proprietor Lord Rothermere was engaged in a prolonged adulterous relationship with a Japanese hand-model. The dowager Viscountess is now known to some disrespectful Mail staff as 'Lady Hand-job."

As the evidence of the picture above indicates, German conductor Kurt Masur and his wife Tomoko also qualify for the thread.

[sillygirl]

Should make this thread a sticky......

[Mulboyne]

"Lady" Toshiko Marks. Formerly married to the late Sir Michael Marks, then co-owner of the British retailing institution Marks and Spencer. He divorced her in 1985 and remarried but she seemed to keep using the title "Lady" for some years. She now holds the position of Professor of Contemporary Japanese Culture at Shumei University so she uses that instead. Her recent publication was "Otanano Kuni Igirisu, Kodomo no Kuni, Nihon" or "England is a Nation of Adults, Japan is the Land of Children."

[sillygirl]

Sticky!

Nice one....

[sillygirl]

Former President of Uganda did it....

http://www.myuganda.co.ug/news/?more=73

They're divorced now...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3531260.stm

Former Ugandan President Godfrey Binaisa has married his Japanese bride without meeting her.
The 84-year-old exchanged vows with Ms Yamamoto by satellite link in front of followers of the Unification Church, also known as Moonies.

'Yuganda' being the right word.....

[Mulboyne]

Since divorced couples feature prominently, it's worth bringing up the Jacques Chirac mistress and lovechild rumour.


Not the mistress, not the lovechild

Mr Chirac was furious that before the presidential election...the DGSE began investigating rumours about his "family entourage" in Japan, a country he has visited more than 45 times. The phrase is French newspaper code for an extramarital relationship.

His son, thought to be in his early 20's, is probably now in Switzerland.

[Mulboyne]

The 1995 IWA World Women's Pro-wrestling champion, Reggie Benett, married Kenji Ishihara and settled in Japan.

Reggie also appeared as an actress in Over the Top (1987) Vendetta (1986) Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)

[Taro Toporific]

Reggie Benett

Isn't this photo in the wrong thread?

..some of these girls here I'd be scared to break her in two... so I do like a bit of meat on my bone

[Mulboyne]

Not exactly a rich or famous candidate but...


"Memoirs of a Stripper": eBook by Marie W. Tsukuda

A former Vegas show girl turned Japanese corporate wife finds work in California strip clubs...
I was in Nagoya, Japan, a large unexciting industrial city for five lonely years, trapped in a loveless marriage with my absentee Japanese husband, Haru. I originally went over to Japan to work with a dance troupe. Yes, a long time ago, I actually was something resembling a real dancer. Anyway, I know this sounds so trite you probably think I made it up, but Haru saw me in the chorus, was bedazzled by my energy, and asked the Mama San if he could meet me...Haru came from a long line of wealthy samurai. But, his family had fallen on hard times when Haru was just a young boy. Even though his family would always be able to maintain their high social stature, it became slightly tainted because of some of his father's dealings with some shady characters, aka Yakuza.
...I always thought the reason I drank so much was because I was stuck in Japan. It never dawned on me the reason I was stuck in Japan was because I drank so much. But looking back now, the irrefutable truth was I would never have stayed in Japan feeling so trapped if I hadn't been drinking...more...

[oyajikun]

Not exactly a rich or famous candidate but...


"Memoirs of a Stripper": eBook by Marie W. Tsukuda

A former Vegas show girl turned Japanese corporate wife finds work in California strip clubs...
I was in Nagoya, Japan, a large unexciting industrial city for five lonely years, trapped in a loveless marriage with my absentee Japanese husband, Haru. I originally went over to Japan to work with a dance troupe. Yes, a long time ago, I actually was something resembling a real dancer. Anyway, I know this sounds so trite you probably think I made it up, but Haru saw me in the chorus, was bedazzled by my energy, and asked the Mama San if he could meet me...Haru came from a long line of wealthy samurai. But, his family had fallen on hard times when Haru was just a young boy. Even though his family would always be able to maintain their high social stature, it became slightly tainted because of some of his father's dealings with some shady characters, aka Yakuza.
...I always thought the reason I drank so much was because I was stuck in Japan. It never dawned on me the reason I was stuck in Japan was because I drank so much. But looking back now, the irrefutable truth was I would never have stayed in Japan feeling so trapped if I hadn't been drinking...more...

Interesting read, thanks.

[Mulboyne]

Les McKeown formerly of the Bay City Rollers now lives in a flat in Hackney, east London, with his Japanese wife, Peko, and 16 year old son.

No-one would suggest that marrying Japanese drives you to drink. On an unrelated note:

FALLEN Bay City Roller Les McKeown will have to walk for 18 months after he was banned for drink driving yesterday. A court heard how the 70s pop pin-up crashed his car while twice the limit and threatened witnesses who tried to stop him fleeing the scene. The judge was also told that McKeown, 50, was down to his last 6000 pounds and needed Legal Aid for the case. As well as the 18-month ban, the singer was fined 1000 pounds with 846 pounds costs. He joked to reporters outside court: "Lend me a couple of grand, will you?"

McKeown was convicted of reckless driving in 1976 after a 76-year-old woman was hit and killed by his car. And he landed back in court after losing control of his Volvo estate in Islington, north London, in July last year. He hit another car and got stuck on a traffic island. The singer then decided to do a runner. John Coates, prosecuting, told the court: "A witness saw him get out with a female passenger. They retrieved items from the boot then walked away "Several witnesses asked him to wait for the police but he told them to go away.

"He told one witness,'I will do you if you don't stop following me.' He told another, 'F*** off, leave us alone or I will punch you.' "He went to a house near the accident. He and his passenger emerged several minutes later with two other people. They climbed into a Jeep and drove off with the defendant as a passenger. "The police caught up with the vehicle, the defendant was breathalysed and found to be over the limit. He denied being the driver of the Volvo." The court heard McKeown had an alcohol reading of 75.The legal limit is 35.