Agnes Nalani Lum, born on May 21, 1956 to a Chinese

Chinese immigration to Hawaii

The Chinese in Hawaii frequently referred to by their Hawaiian name Pākē, constitute about 4.7% of the state's population, most of whom have ancestors from Zhongshan in Guangdong. This number does not include people of mixed Chinese and Hawaiian descent...

 father and a mother of Hawaiian ancestry, in Honolulu

Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, is a gravure idol star, singer, actress, and bikini

Bikini

The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...

 supermodel

Supermodel

The term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...

 popular in 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...

 in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At that time, she was nicknamed "Lum-chan" in Japan, though now that nickname can be confused with that of the fictional character Lum Invader

Lum Invader

is a fictional character and the female protagonist from Rumiko Takahashi's manga and anime series Urusei Yatsura. She is often believed to be the main protagonist of the series due to her iconic status. However, Takahashi has stated that Ataru Moroboshi is the main character. She is named Lamu in...

 from Urusei Yatsura

Urusei Yatsura

is a comedic manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi that premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday in 1978 and ran until its conclusion in 1987. Its 374 individual chapters were collected and published in 34 tankōbon volumes. The series tells the story of Ataru Moroboshi, and the alien...

.

Agnes Lum was the inspiration for the name of this character as she was extremely popular and well-known at the time the manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 was first released (1977). In order to avoid confusion with Agnes Chan

Agnes Chan

Agnes Chan or Agnes Miling Kaneko Chan is a pop singer, a television personality , a Doctor of Education, a professor at Japanese universities, an essayist, a novelist...

, another popular idol at the time, "Lum-chan" was used, though many fans called both simply "Agnes". Lum has appeared in numerous calendars, on posters, and magazine spreads, and these items regularly fetch high prices in the collectors market.

History

During high school, Lum worked as a model and became well-known in Hawaii. She was named Miss Hawaii USA

Miss Hawaii USA

The Miss Hawaii USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Hawaii in the Miss USA pageant.Hawaii is the most recent state to start competing at Miss USA, as it first competed in 1962. Prior to this delegates were sent to Miss Universe...

 at one point, but the title was taken away because she was too young to compete in the Miss USA contest. Lum became an overnight success in Japan after becoming the first Clarion Girl

Clarion Girl

A Clarion Girl is a Japanese campaign girl chosen to represent the Clarion car audio products in television and print advertising campaigns. A new representative is chosen annually, and many careers have been launched or enhanced due to being selected during the annual contest. The Clarion Girl...

 in 1975, hired to promote Clarion

Clarion (car audio)

is a Japanese manufacturer of car audio, automotive navigation systems, AutoPCs, visual equipment, bus equipment, and communication equipment.Up until the end of 2005, products in Japan were marketed under the brand name AddZest, while outside of Japan the same product typically carried the Clarion...

 products in a television

Television advertisement

A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...

 and print advertising campaign

Advertising campaign

An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication...

.

In 1976, she released her first single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

, titled Downtown After the Rain. That same year, she made her debut appearance on NHK's

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....

 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...

variety show. In 1996, Lum appeared, along with her twin sons, in a television commercial for the Daihatsu Pyzar

Daihatsu Pyzar

The Daihatsu Pyzar, sold in some export markets as the Daihatsu Gran Move, was a mini MPV manufactured by the Japanese automaker Daihatsu from 1996 to 2002. It was based on the chassis of the Daihatsu Charade....

.

Singles

• Keisuke Yamagawa (lyrics), Yūzō Kayama

  Yuzo Kayama

  is a Japanese popular musician and film star, born on 11 April 1937. His father, Ken Uehara, was a film star during the 1930s. Yuzo Kayama became a big star in the 1960s in the Wakadaishō film series....

  
   (composition)

  Reached 79 on 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...

  
   charts

  Mayo Shōno (lyrics), Masami Koizumi (composition)

Books

Listed chronologically, with newest at bottom.

• Agnes Lum, ISBN 4584170797, ¥2500, 2000, KK Bestsellers, 82 pages, ISBN 4916115120, ¥2381, 1998, Saibunkan,, Kenji Nagatomo and Miho Osada, ISBN 978-4-12-150238-4, ¥840, 2007, Chuokoron Shinsha, ISBN 978-4-87031-784-0, ¥1200, 2007, Asuka Shinsha

Sources:

External links

Agneslum.com (Italian fan website)

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