英語5分間トレーニング　徹底活用学習ブログ

TV drama "LiXianglan(李香蘭)" had been broadcasted for two evenings, yesterday and the before yesterday. Aya Ueto, a young Japanese TV talent, played LiXianglan, and other famous Japanese actors and actresses appeared on it.

I didn't know about LiXianglan, so I wasn't interested in this drama at all first.

But my 13-year old daughter really wanted to watch it. "Mom, if you don't have any TV programs you want to watch tonight, I'd like to watch "LiXianglan". I'm really looking forward to it", she said many times to me. It seemed that the article and some pictures which introduced the drama on the fashion magazine made her feel like watching it.

According to the article, LiXianglan is a Japanese singer and actress born in China before the last war. Her Japanese birth name is Yoshiko Yamaguchi. She made her debut as "LiXianglan", a Chinese actress and singer, in China. She was a beautiful girl and she became a big star in Japan and China in an instant.

But, to tell the truth, the films she appeared were "National Policy Films". The time was 1940's. All people, whether they liked it or not, had entered a period of war. So we can say that she was used as a propaganda tool by Dai Nippon Teikoku, or Empire of Greater Japan.

After the war, she was arrested and tried for treason against China. But fortunately, she could avoid execution. After that, she came back to Japan and started a new career as an actress here in Japan, under the name of Yoshiko Yamaguchi.

Having got those knowledge from the magazine, my daughter and I watched the drama. In the drama, Aya Ueto, a young Japanese TV talent, played Li Xianglan very well. I was amazed that she sang all songs in Chinese by herself.

And the story was very good.
I guess it was a little difficult for my daughter, who learned just outline of Showa era. That's because the famous and sometimes notorious events and the persons in the beginning of the era were in the drama, such as Yoshiko Kawashima and Manshukoku（満州国）.

But once she turned on the TV, she got drawn into the story. And after watching the drama, she seemed to have a great interest in that period.
Maybe she could get something important from the drama. It might be the way of life which were sported by history and fortune and never gave up to live.

She said she wanted to watch "The Last Emperor" next time.

２夜連続でやった「李香蘭」を見ました。どんな人物かまったく知らなかっただけに、感動しました。娘は昭和史をさらーっと習っただけなので難しいかなと思いましたが、ドラマに引き込まれて見てたようです。あの時代に生きる、生き抜く大変さを感じ取ったのかもしれません。今度は『ラスト・エンペラー』を観たいと言ってます。