Japanese Spouses of the Rich and Famous

[Number11]

Uh... Are you serious? I guess you don't understand the Boss commercials. They're pretty clever.

[Mulboyne]

Film writer and journalist Jason Gray drew attention to an audio interview between Hikari Takano and Vincent Gallo which you can listen to here. It's worth taking the time if only for the way Gallo complains about Honda and refers to filmmaker Spike Jonze as "a pig piece of shit, him and his wife". The latter is a reference to Sofia Coppola who is divorced from Jones. Gallo elaborates "If you want to fuck Sophia, all you gotta do is say 'Hey Baby"...Sofia likes any guy who has something she wants...She's really a parasite like that, just like her fat pig father was."

Anyway, getting to the matter in hand, Gallo mentions James Remar in passing and Takano pipes up that Remar speaks some Japanese because he has a Japanese wife. A quick search on the web confirms that her name is Atsuko and they have two children, Jason Kenji and Lisa Mary. They were wed in 1982 if the information in a 2002 interview about being "married for 20 years" is correct. If you haven't already followed the Wiki link, you might be wondering who on earth James Remar is. For me, and I suspect for many others of a certain age, the fact he played Ajax in Walter Hill's "The Warriors" would be enough to qualify him for inclusion here.



It seems, however, that Remar has also occupied a couple of niche television roles. He has played Kim Cattrall's on-off love interest in "Sex and the City" but also plays the father of the lead in the serial killer black comic drama "Dexter". I've watched that show and never once made the connection. This seems to be a picture of the couple from 2003:



Remar's Japanese Wikipedia entry mentions that his son Jason, now around 20, once did some modelling for the Japanese fashion magazine Men's Joker.

[AruOjisan]

Don't know if anyone got this, but Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, of Pride (and now UFC) fame, is married to a JPN woman, Yuki.



Yuki keeps low profile, but here's a clip with him & her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0ZsgfOvjXQ#t=7m21s

...and yes, you're hearing right--she's calling him "N!GGA BITCH" & "OREO BITCH".

[Taro Toporific]

[Takechanpoo]

Another English prince was stolen by Jap evil bitch.
Though Ono Yoko was a fabricated witch, Michibata is a real one.
Someone should rescue Button from her.

[Taro Toporific]

Another English prince was stolen by Jap evil bitch.
Though Ono Yoko was a fabricated witch, Michibata is a real one.
Someone should rescue Button from her.

Don't worry...Michibata is a halfu "Jap evil bitch."

[Greji]

Someone should rescue Button from her.

You're right on that Take! I'll take her off his hands. It's the least I can do to save him.....

[Mulboyne]

Yves Ciampi was born into a family of musicians in 1921 but initially eschewed the arts to study medicine. When war broke out, he joined the resistance and was later decorated for his activities. He decided to give up a career in medicine for film-making and his first production in 1946 was about the liberation of Paris. He moved on to features which tackled social problems with a strong streak of romanticism.


Ciampi in 1968. See what's on the wall behind him?

By the mid fifties, he was well-known in French film circles and was handed the job of directing "Typhon sur Nagasaki" which was shot on location in Japan around the same time as "Sayonara" with Marlon Brando. The Japanese female lead was played by Keiko Kishi and the two clearly hit it off because Kishi announced plans in April 1957 to fly to France to marry him. Here she is being seen off at Haneda airport, sitting in the middle with four other great film actresses of the day: Kaoru Yachibusa, Hitomi Nozoe, Yoshiko Kuga and Ineko Arima.



The same shot was used as part of a magazine spread featuring Kishi in her wedding dress. She's with Ciampi in the picture next to it at the top on the right:



If Kishi's decision to marry a foreigner was unconventional, perhaps more surprising is that she continued her acting career, splitting her time between France and Japan. She remained a major star, pausing briefly in 1963 to give birth to a daughter, Delphine Asako Ciampi. She was a regular choice for joint Franco-Japanese projects but starred in prestigious local productions such as Kaidan which won a jury prize at Cannes and also an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film.

The marriage didn't last however. The couple divorced in 1975 and Kishi took custody of Delphine. The year before, she had starred alongside Robert Mitchum in Sidney Pollack's "The Yakuza", confirming her reputation as one of the few Japanese actors with international standing. Ciampi made few features but remained active with TV and documentary work until his death in 1982.

[floatr][/floatr]I suspect few readers of FG will be familar with Yves Ciampi but he was well-known in France when he married Kishi. If you feel somewhat cheated by his obscurity, perhaps I can add a small bonus. The couple's daughter Delphine (right) was brought up by Kishi when they split but she identified as much with France as Japan and moved to Paris. Taking her lead from her dad's family, she performs as a musician under the name Delphine Thirteen:



In Paris, she met Australian rock musician Warren Ellis of the Dirty Three. They married and live together in the city with their two children, Roscoe and Jackson. Ellis is also known for his work with Nick Cave and was a member of Cave's Grinderman project. Here they are giving it some thrash with "No Pussy Blues". Ellis is playing guitar on the left.

[YThd]WuDP7c3Zd8I[/YThd]

[Mock Cockpit]

Wonder if Grinderman and Beasts Of Bourbon have played together? Would have been a lot of burnt old cunts in that room if they have. Odd seeing Nick Cave playing guitar.

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

Don't think they would have as the reformed Beasts around the same time imploded yet again. They would both pull the same crowd though.
Saw a bit of Dirty Three, was never really that impressed, found the violin to be put too forward in the sound and annoying. They were supporting a lot of touring acts at the time so I couldn't avoid them.
With the mix in Bad Seeds and Grinderman it works better.

Still it beats Blixa banging his hubcaps.

[FG Lurker]

Another English prince was stolen by Jap evil bitch.
Though Ono Yoko was a fabricated witch, Michibata is a real one.
Someone should rescue Button from her.

You're right on that Take! I'll take her off his hands. It's the least I can do to save him.....

Looks like Take got his wish and Greji may get his chance...

Jenson Button Breaks Up with Jessica Michibata

(Hard to imagine dumping a body like that so maybe Take is right.)

[Samurai_Jerk]

Hard to imagine dumping a body like that

Not if you're a millionaire pro athlete.

[FG Lurker]

Yep, YBF strikes again... Button back with Michibata. Looks like Greji missed his chance (or didn't compare well with Button! )

[Coligny]

Yep, YBF strikes again... Button back with Michibata. Looks like Greji missed his chance (or didn't compare well with Button! )

:love2::cheers::bounce::romance::kanpai:

Best news evar.... they wuz so cute together...

[Marked Trail]

I can't be arsed to wasted hours trying to find the previous reference in this thread to Spike Jonze and Rinnko Kikuchi, but today for some damn reason the Japanese blogosphere [color="Silver"](what-a-term)[/color] is awash in photos of their visit to to Akihabara, Tokyo last January.





http://www.tokyohive.com/2010/09/kikuchi-rinko%E2%80%99s-relationship-status/

http://www.purple-diary.com/post/323549268/spike-jonze-and-rinko-kikuchi-in-akihabara-tokyo

http://celeb247.blogspot.com/2010/09/s.html

http://grooveasia.com/news/26425/Rinko-Kikuchi-dating-director-Spike-Jonze

[Mulboyne]

It passed me by that the wife of Mark David Chapman, murderer of John Lennon, is a Japanese-American. I'm sure this was remarked on at the time. It gained a new lease of life a couple of years ago when it was revealed that Gloria Hiroko Chapman (nee Abe) was to be allowed conjugal visits with her husband. A journalist doorstepped her and you can read his article here

[Edited to make sense]

[FG Lurker]

It passed me by that the wife of Mark David Chapman, murderer of John Lennon, is married to a Japanese-American.

[Mulboyne]

:spin:

Good point. Edit on the way.

[Mulboyne]

[IkemenTommy]

Prodigy frontman Keith Flint is married to Mayumi Kai

I wonder if he smacks his bitch up.

[Mulboyne]

[Catoneinutica]

I wonder if he smacks his bitch up.

Heh!

[Catoneinutica]

[Screwed Up Eyes]

He was married and had a child with the pianist Bao Huiqiao but she was led to believe he had been executed.

I wish I had been married to a peenist...but, rather than execute it, she just left it for dead....

[Catoneinutica]

Meet Tetsuya Ishiwaka, author of How I Caused the Credit Crunch, which chronicles the City bacchanalia that was his career in finance, and hubby of Simone, a Brazilian "lap dancer."

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23827022-city-banker-who-visited-brothels-was-salesman-in-goldman-sachs-fraud.do

-catone
-simone may not be famous to you guys, but she's famous in my pants. Just ask for a bottle of her "finest champagne." Oh wait, she's retired now.

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]I feel our Australian friends have been remiss in not bringing up Kenneth Baillieu Myer before, a man described by Sir Ernest Edward "Weary" Dunlop as "one of Australia's great men of all time". Myer's father, Sydney, established one of the best-known retailing brands in the country. The stores have changed hands a few times over the decades but you can still see the name in streets and shopping malls throughout Australia.

Ken Myer was his father's eldest son, he received a good Melbourne education and had won a place at Oxford when the outbreak of WWII made it impossible for him to go. At his mother's suggestion, he went instead to Princeton but decided within months to enlist in the Navy. He saw action in New Guinea, the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the English Channel before concluding his war as part of the occupation forces in Japan. He was to say later of his first visit to the country that it "made an indelible impression ... that was my baptism of fire in Japan. That's what started the love affair."

Sydney Myer had passed away in 1934, when Ken was only 13, but it was long assumed his eldest son would take up the reins when he was older. In fact, Sydney Myer's will had stipulated it. Ken followed his father's wishes after the war, and cemented his position among the local establishment by marrying Prue Boyd, the daughter of wealthy Victorian sheep farmers.

The Myers retail empire did well enough at first under his stewardship but it was clear that Ken's real interests lay elsewhere. When his father had died, the family had set up the Sidney Myer Charitable Trust (known today as the Myer Foundation) and Ken used this to become an an active supporter of the arts and sciences.

As a leading local figure, he also became involved in politics but surprised his family and peers by coming out in support of the Australian Labor party in 1972. When they won the election later that year, Labor leader Gough Whitlam offered Ken the position of Governor-General. He turned it down, saying that his wife, Prue, wanted to continue her academic career and their five children were still in their teens and early 20s.

In truth, Myer's marriage was breaking down. It's difficult not to look back and see Ken Myer's support for the Australian Labor Party as the first time in his life he had done something for himself rather than just following the wishes of his family and the Australian establishment. He was 51 years old in 1972 and those around him had noticed how he had become uncomfortable with the growing demands and expectations. That same year, he took himself off for a private holiday in Japan.

His biographer would later describe the trip as a moment of liberation in his life. Myer had maintained an interest in Japan since his occupation days, for instance, sponsoring oriental art collections and exhibitions through the family foundation. He had visited the country many times, often on business - the company had opened a buying office in Osaka in 1959 - and had even picked up some of the language.



As one of Australia's leading retailers, he had developed contacts with similar wealthy retailing families in Japan. His wife, Prue, joined him when he visited for the Osaka Expo in 1970 and saw the strength of these relationships for herself. She enjoyed her trip but often found the attitudes to women "demeaning". In other countries, she joined her husband on factory and store visits but not in Japan.

Ken's trip in 1972 was no spur of the moment visit. His long service with the company entitled him to some extended leave and he had begun planning the year before. Prue soon understood that she was not invited. She wasn't entirely happy about the arrangement but accepted it. Her experience in 1970 made her realize that she would probably see little of her husband even if she did press to go with him.

Through Tanji Kosuge, head of Isetan Department Store, Ken had met Koichi Tsukamoto, founder of lingerie maker Wacoal. Tsukamoto was to become a close confidante of Ken's and both men introduced him to a side of Japan which few foreigners saw. Myer would stay in Tokyo at an exclusive ryokan called Fukudaya, not far from the New Otani. That was his base during his holiday and that's where he first met 27 year old Yasuko Hiraoka.

[floatr][/floatr]Yasuko Hiraoka was from a good family, friends of the Kosuge and Tsukamoto clans. She had been asked to meet Myer in Tokyo and take him to a lodge in Yudanka, near Nagano, where Kosuge and some employees from Isetan would join him. Yasuko, a diminutive 150cm tall, turned up at Fukudaya wearing a green parka which Ken thought made her look like "a little green frog". She also wore plus-fours with brown-checked knickerbockers. "She was so tiny," Myer said later, "I thought 'Oh God!'"

It took all day to reach the lodge, using two trains and a car. Kosuge had dinner with them but left shortly afterwards, giving Myer his own private room while Yasuko had a separate room next door. Her job was to babysit Myer until the others, including her cousin Ayako, arrived the following morning. Yasuko hadn't been looking forward to the idea of being alone with the "old man" and had in fact asked Ayako to turn up earlier, which she had been unable to do because of other engagements.

When Ayako did arrive, she found a fine state of affairs. She was immediately taken aside by the innkeeper's wife who told her the "important foreign guest" had disappeared into his room the previous night with "the young Japanese girl of good family". The evidence of the futons was clear the following morning. Ken Myer's life had just changed forever. When Myer had told Gough Whitlam in 1973 he couldn't take the position of Governor-General, it was because he was already thinking of how to arrange his life to be with the Japanese girl he had met just a few months earlier.

He wasn't thinking of divorce - still a scandalous proposition in Australia for a public figure - but even a separation from his wife would see his reputation plunge. Nevertheless, he decided in 1974 to ask Yasuko to live with him in Australia. He would leave his family in Melbourne and they would find somewhere together in Sydney. There were still many hurdles, however.

Not least of which was telling Yasuko. If her relationship was about to scandalize society in Australia, it had already done so back in Japan. Her family had kept her out of his reach once they realized what had occurred. She was already late getting married and that task wouldn't be made any easier know that she had slept with a foreigner. He managed to pass word back through Fukudaya and when Yasuko telephoned there to see if he had returned to Japan, she got his message: "Come as fast as possible to Australia". There was still the small matter of a visa. Myer spilled his heart out to Sir Keith Shann, Australian Ambassador to Japan, and within 48 hours, Yasuko Hiraoka was good to go. She ran away from home and arrived in Australia on 30th October 1974.

It wasn't hard for Australian society to see Prue as a woman badly wronged. She was much-admired in her own right and war memories were still fresh enough for Australians to resent Yasuko just for being Japanese, let alone a homebreaker. Nevertheless, Myer insisted on her accompanying him during his engagements and perceptions changed in some respects at least. Word had quickly gone around that Ken Myer had fallen for a Japanese bar hostess. When Yasuko Hiraoka walked into a room, however, she was not at all what they expected. She was no Asian siren, no alluring geisha: she was a tiny girl who looked no more than 18 years old. If they'd had the concept of a Japanese schoolgirl fetish in Sydney in 1974, then Myer would surely have been damned. As it was, no-one really knew what to make of her.

Myer tried to engineer a reconciliation between Yasuko and her family. By 1975, she was 30 and beyond hope of a decent marriage to a Japanese man. Tsukamoto of Wacoal told him he needed to marry her since her family could not accept her as his mistress. He arranged his affairs accordingly later that year and she became his wife.

[floatl][/floatl]They remained married until 1992. Myer still got depressed occasionally but Yasuko found ways to bring him out. She knew he liked salmon fishing and, as a birthday present, arranged a trip to Alaska. For several days the couple camped and fished in the Togiak River area, near Bristol Bay in the southwest. On July 30th, the light aircraft in which they were travelling to a camp upstream, hit the side of a mountain, caught on fire and the petrol tanks exploded. Both died instantly.

[Yokohammer]

I feel our Australian friends have been remiss in not bringing up Kenneth Baillieu Myer before ...

What a great story! I had no idea!

The Myer store was a central feature in Melbourne when I was a kid, and going to see the Myer Christmas Windows with the family each year was a major event that I always looked forward to. Apparently the store has just been redeveloped at a cost of some A$300 million.

Fascinating. Thanks for the info.

[Mulboyne]

Leah Dizon has announced that she has just married a Japanese stylist she met through work. Since she is American and reasonably well-known, I suppose the couple qualifies for a mention here. According to reports, they registered the marriage after Dizon discovered she was pregnant.

She divorced her husband in December and is now living in New York, with her daughter, studying acting.

(According to Nikkan Sports)

[IkemenTommy]

She divorced her husband in December and is now living in New York, with her daughter, studying acting.

Game over, Leah.