Junko Sakurada
Encyclopedia
is a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese singer and actress. She was part of a music trio in 1973, which included Momoe Yamaguchi
Momoe Yamaguchi
is a former Japanese singer, actress, and idol whose career lasted from 1972 to 1980. In that time, she became one of the most notable singers in Japanese music, and an acclaimed actress. She withdrew from the entertainment business at the peak of her career to marry her frequent costar, fellow...

 and Masako Mori. Sakurada then became successful in a solo music career. In 1979 Sakurada appeared in a film made by the production company Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...

, and became popular as an actress. She received multiple awards for her acting roles, including the Hochi Film Award
Hochi Film Award
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by the Hochi Shimbun.- Categories :*Best Picture*Best International Picture*Best Actor*Best Actress*Best Supporting Actor*Best Supporting Actress*Best New Artist*Special Award*Best Director- Winner :...

, Award of the Japanese Academy, Kinema Junpo Award, and Mainichi Film Concours. Sakurada, a member of the Unification Church
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...

, participated in an arranged mass wedding held by the church and presided over by church founder Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...

 and his wife Hak Ja Han
Hak Ja Han
Hak Ja Han or Hakja Han Moon is an influential member of the Unification Church and the wife of the church's founder, Sun Myung Moon. They married in April 1960 and have 13 children and 20 grandchildren...

, in 1992. Publicity about her membership led to a decline in popularity, and she withdrew from public life. In 1999, representatives for the church said that she was happily married with three children, and did not wish to speak with the press.

Biography

Sakurada was born in 1958. She is a singer and actress. In 1973, she was part of "a hit female trio", which also included musicians Momoe Yamaguchi
Momoe Yamaguchi
is a former Japanese singer, actress, and idol whose career lasted from 1972 to 1980. In that time, she became one of the most notable singers in Japanese music, and an acclaimed actress. She withdrew from the entertainment business at the peak of her career to marry her frequent costar, fellow...

 and Masako Mori. The music trio became popular as part of the television program Producing the Stars (Star Tanjō!
Star Tanjō!
The was a Japanese talent show from Nippon Television.- Most winners :*Masako Mori*Junko Sakurada*Momoe Yamaguchi*Hiromi Iwasaki*Pink Lady*Mako Ishino*Yoshie Kashiwabara*Kyōko Koizumi*Akina Nakamori*Yukiko Okada...

); they were known as "The Trio of Third-Year Junior High School Students" ("Hana no Chu 3 Trio"). According to Japan Pop!: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture, after this experience in a music group, she went off on her own to develop a solo music career, and became a megastar
Superstar
A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity.Superstar or superstars may also refer to:-People:* Warhol Superstar, associates of Andy Warhol* WWE Superstar, the term used to refer to entertainers from the WWE...

. Cruising the Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo described Sakurada as a 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...

 music idol, like Pink Lady
Pink Lady (band)
is a Japanese female pop music duo of the late 1970s and early 1980s, featuring Mitsuyo Nemoto and Keiko Masuda...

 and Linda Yamamoto
Linda Yamamoto
is a Japanese singer and actress whose greatest hit song was in 1973.-Biography :Yamamoto was born March 4, 1951 in Kitakyushu to a Japanese mother and an American father. Her father was a U.S. serviceman who died in the Korean War when she was only two years old. Yamamoto moved to Yokohama as a...

. Sakurada's music inspired then 15-year-old Junichi Hirokami
Junichi Hirokami
is a Japanese conductor.Born in Tokyo, Hirokami studied conducting, piano, musicology, and viola at the Tokyo College of Music. He won the first Kondrashin International Conducting Competition in Amsterdam in September 1984 at age 26...

, who would go on to become a classical conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

. Hirokami started a fan club dedicated to Sakurada in 1973, located in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...

 close to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. In 1979, Sakurada appeared as a principal cast member in the film The House of Hanging (Byoinzaka no kubi kukuri no ie), made by production company Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...

. By 1991, she had become a "movie heartthrob".

Sakurada is a member of the Unification Church
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...

 founded by Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...

 in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 in 1954. According to The Washington Times
The Washington Times
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...

, which is owned by the Unification Church affiliated News World Communications
News World Communications
News World Communications, Inc., is an international news media corporation. It was founded in New York City, in 1976, by Unification Church founder and leader, Sun Myung Moon. Its first two newspapers, The News World and the Spanish-language Noticias del Mundo, were published in New York from...

, Sakurada joined the church in 1977. In July 1992, Sakurada announced she would allow Moon to select a husband for her in an arranged marriage
Arranged marriage
An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...

. This led to "a mad scramble among young Japanese men" competing to be her groom. In August 1992, Sakurada took part in a Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 along with 10,000 other couples representing 131 nations. Her husband is a Japanese businessman who is also a Unification Church member and an official within the church. Sakurada said to journalists that she felt "very happy" to have married a husband selected for her by Moon.

According to The Australian, "Ms Sakurada disappeared from public life soon after the ceremony." One of Sakurada's last roles as a star was in the television piece Don't Call Me Auntie (Obasan Nante Yobanai de) on NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

. According to The Daily Yomiuri, "This was one of Junko Sakurada's last starring roles before she fell out of favor with the public. Since she took part in the Rev. Moon's Unification Church mass marriage in Seoul in August, it is said that her commercial contracts have evaporated." In 1999 a church spokesperson said: "Ms Sakurada is living happily with her husband and three children. She does not want to talk to the press."

Music

  • Watashi no Aoi Tori (1973), winner of the newcomer's prize at the Japan Record Award
    Japan Record Award
    for outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association, is major music awards show held annually in Japan.- Categories :The Japan Record Award are four awards which are not restricted by genre....

    s
  • Hana Monogatari (1973), rose to the Oricon
    Oricon
    , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

     best ten
  • Hajimete no Dekigoto (1975), reached Oricon #1
  • Natsu ni Goyōjin (1976), prizewinning performance
  • Kimagure Venus (1977), nominated for a Japan Record Award
  • Shiawase Shibai (1977), gold medal at Japan Record Awards
  • Lipstick (1978)
  • Santa Monica no Kaze (1979), won Producers' Association award at Japan Song Awards
  • Keshō (1981)


Kōhaku Uta Gassen
Kohaku Uta Gassen
, more commonly known as simply Kōhaku, is an annual music show on New Year's Eve produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK and broadcast on both television and radio, nationally and internationally by NHK's networks and some overseas broadcasters which bought the program...

 (1974) (1975) (1976) (1977) (1978) (1979) (1980) (1981) (1982)

Charted Singles
# Title Release Date/Chart Position
1
Debut single
1973-02-25 (#12)
2 1973-05-25 (#27)
3
Covered by Morning Musume
Morning Musume
, sometimes referred to as is a Japanese idol girl group, whose act generally revolves around singing and dancing to upbeat melodies. They are the lead group of Hello! Project, which is managed and produced by Tsunku, who composes nearly all the lyrics and melodies of their songs...

1973-08-25 (#18)
4
First top ten hit
1973-11-10 (#9)
5 1974-03-05 (#10)
6 1974-05-25 (#10)
7 1974-08-25 (#9)
8 ' 1974-12-05 (#1)
9
1975-03-05 (#4)
10 1975-05-10 (#9)
11
Covered by W
W (Double You)
, also written as Double You or Double U, was a Japanese pop duo associated with Hello! Project. Nozomi Tsuji and Ai Kago, former fourth generation members of Morning Musume, were in the group.- 2004 :...

1975-06-05 (#2)
12 1975-08-25 (#4)
13 1975-11-25 (#5)
14 1976-02-25 (#4)
15 1976-05-25 (#2)
16
1976-08-25 (#2)
17 1976-12-05 (#11)
18
1977-02-25 (#6)
19 1977-05-15 (#7)
20 1977-09-05 (#8)
21 1977-11-05 (#3)
22 1978-02-25 (#11)
23
}||align="right"|1978-06-05 (#10)
|-
|24||align="left"|||align="right"|1978-09-05 (#14)
|-
|25||align="left"|||align="right"|1978-12-25 (#29)
|-
|26||align="left"|||align="right"|1979-02-25 (#24)
|-
|27||align="left"|||align="right"|1979-05-25 (#25)
|-
|28||align="left"|||align="right"|1979-08-25 (#51)
|-
|29||align="left"|||align="right"|1979-11-25 (#51)
|-
|30||align="left"|||align="right"|1980-04-21 (#44)
|-
|31||align="left"|||align="right"|1980-07-21 (#65)
|-
|32||align="left"|||align="right"|1980-10-21 (#85)
|-
|33||align="left"|||align="right"|1981-01-01 (#42)
|-
|34||align="left"|||align="right"|1981-06-05 (#53)
|}

Studio albums
# Title Release Date
1
Debut album
1973-06-25
2 1973-09-25
3 1974-01-10
4 1973-03-25
5
1974-08-25
6 1975-03-25
7 1975-07-05
8 ' 1976-04-05
9
1976-12-05
10
1977-07-25
11 1977-12-05
12
}||align="right"|1978-04-25
|-
|13||align="left"|
||align="right"|1978-10-25
|-
|14||align="left"|||align="right"|1979-03-05
|-
|15||align="left"|
||align="right"|1979-06-01
|-
|16||align="left"|||align="right"|1979-09-05
|-
|17||align="left"|||align="right"|1981-03-05
|-
|18||align="left"|||align="right"|1981-11-05
|-
|19||align="left"|||align="right"|1983-09-23
|}

Live Albums
# Title Release Date
1
1974-12-21
2
}||align="right"|1975-12-21
|-
|3||align="left"|||align="right"|1976-12-21
|-
|4||align="left"|||align="right"|1977-12-21
|-
|5||align="left"|
||align="right"|1978-12-21
|-
|6||align="left"|||align="right"|1979-12-21
|-
|7||align="left"|||align="right"|1980-12-21
|}

Greatest Hits Releases
# Title Release Date
1
1974-07-05
2 1974-12-05
3 1975-08-05
4 1975-11-20
5
1976-10-25
6 1977-06-25
7 1978-06-25
8 ' 1979-07-01
9
1980-12-05
10
2005-03-09
11 2005-12-16
12
}||align="right"|2007-07-25
|-
|13||align="left"|
||align="right"|2009-09-16
|}

Film

(Shochiku
Shochiku
is a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. It also produces and distributes anime films. Its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada...

, 1975) (Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...

, 1975) (Shochiku, 1975) (Shochiku, 1976) (Toho, 1976) (Shochiku, 1977) (Toho, 1978) (Toho, 1979) (Toei
Toei Company
is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...

, 1980) (Toei, 1987) (Toho, 1988) (Shochiku, 1989) (Toho, 1989) (Toei, 1990) (Toho, 1990) (Toho-Towa ,1991) (Kadokawa Pictures, 1993)

Television

(TV Asahi
TV Asahi
, also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network....

, 1973) (Nippon Television
Nippon Television
is a television network based in the Shiodome area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan and is controlled by the Yomiuri Shimbun publishing company. Broadcasting terrestrially across Japan, the network is commonly known as , contracted to , and abbreviated as "NTV" or "AX".-Offices:*The Headquarters : 6-1,...

, 1974) (TBS
Tokyo Broadcasting System
, TBS Holdings, Inc. or TBSHD, is a stockholding company in Tokyo, Japan. It is a parent company of a television network named and radio network named ....

, 1974) (Nippon Television, 1974–1975) (TBS, 1975) opening narrator (ABC (of Asahi) and Shochiku, 1978) (Nippon Television, 1978) (TBS, 1980) (TBS, 1981) (NHK, 1982) (TBS, 1982) (TBS and C.A.L, 1982) (TBS, 1983) (KTV
Kansai Telecasting Corporation
, often called or , is a TV station affiliated with Fuji News Network and Fuji Network System in Osaka, serving the Kansai region of Japan...

, 1984)} (NTV, 1984) (TBS, 1985) (NHK, 1985) (NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

 morning drama, 1985) (TBS Telepack, 1986) as Princess Mego, wife of Masamune (NHK Taiga drama
Taiga drama
is the name NHK gives to the annual, year-long historical fiction television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white Hana no Shōgai, starring kabuki actor Onoe Shōroku and Takarazuka star Awashima Chikage, the network has hired a producer, director, writer, music...

, 1987) (CX
Fuji Television
is a Japanese television station based in Daiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, also known as or CX, based on the station's callsign "JOCX-DTV". It is the flagship station of the Fuji News Network and the ....

, 1988) (NTV, 1989) (CX, 1990) (CX, 1991) - 8 hours 50 minutes (CX, 1991) (four appearances)

Awards and nominations

Year Award Work Category Result
1987 Hochi Film Award
Hochi Film Award
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by the Hochi Shimbun.- Categories :*Best Picture*Best International Picture*Best Actor*Best Actress*Best Supporting Actor*Best Supporting Actress*Best New Artist*Special Award*Best Director- Winner :...

Itazu - Kuma Best Supporting Actress Won
1988 Award of the Japanese Academy Itazu - Kuma Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Kinema Junpo Award Itazu - Kuma Best Supporting Actress Won
1990 Award of the Japanese Academy Hana no furu gogo Best Supporting Actress Nominated
1993 Hochi Film Award Ohikkoshi
Moving (1993 film)
Moving is a 1993 Japanese drama film directed by Shinji Sōmai. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Kiichi Nakai* Junko Sakurada* Tsurube Shôfukutei* Mariko Sudo* Tomoko Tabata - Renko...

Best Supporting Actress Won
1994 Kinema Junpo Award Ohikkoshi Best Supporting Actress Won
Mainichi Film Concours Ohikkoshi Best Supporting Actress Won


External links

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