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 an actress from Chūō, Tokyo

Chuo, Tokyo

is one of the 23 special wards that form the heart of Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Chūō City in English.Its Japanese name literally means "Central Ward," and it is historically the main commercial center of Tokyo, although Shinjuku has risen to challenge it since the end of World War II...

. She is the daughter of the famous Japanese painter of shin hanga

Shin hanga

was an art movement in early 20th-century Japan, during the Taishō and Shōwa periods, that revitalized traditional ukiyo-e art rooted in the Edo and Meiji periods...

 style prints

Woodblock printing

Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper....

, Shinsui Itō, and her second and present husband is actor Masahiko Tsugawa

Masahiko Tsugawa

, born Masahiko Kato on January 2, 1940 in Kyoto, Japan is a Japanese actor and director.He made his debut at the age of 16 in the Kō Nakahira film Crazed Fruit in 1956. Tsugawa's family was heavily involved in the film industry since before his birth...

.

Asaoka was in the Takarazuka Revue

Takarazuka Revue

The Takarazuka Revue is a Japanese all-female musical theater troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals, and sometimes stories adapted from shōjo manga and Japanese folktales. The troupe takes its name...

 from 1952 to 1955. She was a cast member (musumeyaku), belonging to the Moon Troupe (Tsuki).

She is famous for her roles in Japanese television series and has appeared starring opposite of Shintaro Katsu

Shintaro Katsu

, born Toshio Okumura was a Japanese actor, singer, producer, and director...

 in both a film of the Zatoichi

Zatoichi

is a fictional character featured in one of Japan's longest running series of films and a television series set in the Edo period. The character, a blind masseur and swordmaster, was created by novelist . This originally minor character was developed for the screen by Daiei Studios and actor...

series and in the first film of the Hanzo the Razor trilogy. She is, however, mostly famed for her singing. She is also a voice actor, or seiyū

Seiyu

Voice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...

, in the 1999 anime film My Neighbors the Yamadas

My Neighbors the Yamadas

is an anime film directed by Isao Takahata and released by Studio Ghibli on July 17, 1999. The movie is a family comedy that is presented in a comic strip style which is unusual since all the other Studio Ghibli movies are presented in the traditional anime style of Studio Ghibli...

directed by Isao Takahata

Isao Takahata

is a Japanese anime filmmaker that have earned critical international acclaim for his work as a director. Takahata is co-founder of Studio Ghibli with long-time collaborative partner Hayao Miyazaki. He has directed films such as the war-themed Grave of the Fireflies, the romantic-drama Only...

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