Biography

Her father is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and her mother is Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

. After working as a stewardess

Flight attendant

Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...

 for Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines

is an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...

, she entered acting. She briefly used the name . In 1981, she married Kōichi Tabuchi

Koichi Tabuchi

is a Japanese former professional baseball player, manager, and commentator.Tabuchi played for the Hanshin Tigers as catcher between 1969 and 1978, where his combination with pitcher Yutaka Enatsu was called the "Golden Battery"...

, who at that time played baseball for the Seibu Lions

Seibu Lions

The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based west of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Prince Hotels, which in turn is owned by the Seibu Group...

, and retired from acting. The couple later appeared in commercials for Sakuracolor (a predecessor of Konica Minolta

Konica Minolta

is a Japanese manufacturer of office equipment, medical imaging, graphic imaging, optical devices, and measuring instruments. It is headquartered in the Marunouchi Center Building in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, with a Kansai office in Nishi-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture...

). They have a son, Yūshō Tabuchi, who is an announcer for Fuji Television

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 ....

.

Appearances

On television, Janet was a regular character in various jidaigeki

Jidaigeki

is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...

. In Yaburegasa Tōshū Akuningari, starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya, she appeared in episodes 1–83 as the character Muttsuri Oryū. In Edo o Kiru

Edo o Kiru

Edo o Kiru or Slashing Edo was a popular jidaigeki on Japan's Tokyo Broadcasting System. During the decades from its September 24, 1973 premiere until the July 25, 1994 finale, 214 episodes aired. It lasted through eight series, with several casts and settings...

(Part III) with Teruhiko Saigō

Teruhiko Saigo

is a Japanese singer and actor. As a singer, he is known as one of the three "Gosanke", referring to gosanke, the three great Tokugawa houses....

 she portrayed Okyō. With Masakazu Tamura

Masakazu Tamura

is a Japanese film and theatre actor.-Profile:Masakazu Tamura was born 1 August 1943 in Kyoto, Japan to Japanese actor Tsumasaburō Bandō. His brothers Takahiro and Ryō are also actors...

, she appeared in Wakasamazamurai Torimonochō, as Okon. She made guest appearances in Kozure Ōkami

Lone Wolf and Cub

is a manga created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Yorozuya Kinnosuke, and is widely recognized as an important and influential work.Lone Wolf and Cub...

, Abarenbo Shogun

Abarenbo Shogun

is a Japanese television program on the TV Asahi network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun. The program started in 1978 under the title Yoshimune Hyōbanki: Abarenbō Shōgun...

and numerous other series.

She also appeared in contemporary dramas. Among them was Supergirl

Supergirl (TV series)

Supergirl is a Japanese television crime drama. Originally broadcast between April 2, 1979 and March 17, 1980, lasting 51 episodes, the series featured an all-female cast, not unlike the earlier series Playgirl...

, with Yōko Nogiwa

Yoko Nogiwa

is a Japanese actress.-External links:...

, in which her character was in episodes 1–25. She was a regular in the 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....

 "Ginga Terebi Shōsetsu" Katei Sensō (1975) and Seishun Gigashū (1981, with Takeshi Kaga

Takeshi Kaga

is a well-known stage and movie actor in Japan who is probably best known internationally for his portrayal of Chairman Kaga in the Japanese television show Iron Chef produced by Fuji TV. His real name is .-Biography:...

). She had guest roles in G-Men '75 with Tetsuro Tamba

Tetsuro Tamba

was a Japanese actor.-Biography:Tamba is perhaps best known by Western audiences for his role as Tiger Tanaka in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice . By then, he had among other roles appeared in two films by director Masaki Kobayashi: Harakiri and Kwaidan...

 and Tokusō Saizensen, among others.

Highlights of Janets film career include the Kinji Fukasaku

Kinji Fukasaku

was a Japanese film actor, screenwriter, and best known as a celebrated and innovative filmmaker. He was born in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, and died in Tokyo, from prostate cancer...

 film Doberman Detective

Doberman Detective

, also known as The Doberman Detective, is a hardboiled manga series written by Buronson and drawn by Shinji Hiramatsu. It was serialized in the Weekly Shōnen Jump manga anthology from 1975 throughout 1979 and was originally collected in a 29-volume tankōbon edition...

with Sonny Chiba

Sonny Chiba

, also known as Sonny Chiba, is a Japanese actor, singer, film producer, film director and martial artist.Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience.- Early life :Born in Fukuoka, Fukuoka,...

 and Ningen no Shōmei with Yusaku Matsuda

Yusaku Matsuda

was a Japanese actor. Yusaku was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi to a Zainichi Korean mother. His father is not known. His date was wrongly recorded as 1950 on his birth records due to a parental error in filing a report.-Career:...

 (directed by Junya Sato

Junya Sato

is a Japanese film director.-Career:Born in Tokyo, Sato graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1956 with a degree in French literature. He joined the Toei studio and worked as an assistant to such directors as Tadashi Imai and Miyoji Ieki. He debuted as a director in 1963 with Rikugun zangyaku...

).

Source

This article incorporates material from the article ジャネット八田 (Janetto Hatta) in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on December 24, 2007.

External links

• Janet Hatta at JMDB
• Janet Yata at IMDB