Kimiko Yo
Acting
Biography
Kimiko Yo was born in Yokohama, a city just south of Tokyo to a Japanese mother and Taiwanese father on the 12th of May 1956. Her cousin was actress Bunjaku Han. She became active in front of the camera in 1987 and has been a feature of Japanese television and cinema ever since. She had begun acting on the theatre stage in 1976. Audiences may mostly know her for her supporting role in Shin Gojira, as a sympathetic colleague in the 2008 films Departures, which won an Oscar, and kind wife and waitress in Ramen Girl, but she has almost 200 credits to her name. These include an abnormal neighbour in The Drugstore girl and serene presence in Café Lumière where she was directed by a Taiwanese director in Japan. Dear Doctor (2009) propelled her name forward in Japan and was an award winner. She has several Japan Academy prizes to her name. Like most celebrities she pushes products and has done commercials for telephone companies, shampoos and cosmetics manufacturers. Yo is married to a man who at the time was a NHK employee in 2006 and is managed by the Alpha Agency.
Born: May 12, 1956
Place of Birth: Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Known For
The Kind-Hearted Cat
Miyuki, a single mother and nursery teacher, meets Sri Lankan Kumara while visiting Tohoku as a disaster volunteer. A year later, the two of them who fulfilled a fateful reunion are gradually attracted to each other. Straightforward and charming, Kumara quickly becomes friends with Miyuki's daughter, Maya, and eventually, the three begin to live together like a family. Miyuki and Kumara exchange promises of marriage, but it is short-lived happiness.
Churasan
The 64th NHK Asadora Renzoku Drama is Churasan, a story of a young woman, Kohagura Eri, who was born in Kohamajima Island, Okinawa on May 15, 1972, the day when Okinawa was returned to Japan from the U.S. Eleven years later, Kamimura Shizuko and her two sons, Kazuya and Fumiya, from Tokyo come to stay as the guests of a small inn run by Eri’s family. Eri’s fun-loving, yet eccentric family welcomes them warmly. However, Eri is shocked to hear one of the sons, Kazuya is terminally ill and Shizuko and her sons came to Okinawa to spend his last moment together in beautiful nature. Fumiya, Kazuya’s younger brother, and Eri promise to marry each other someday. However after Kazuya’s death, Fumiya and his mother leave the island to go back to Tokyo. Years later, they are reunited, Eri as a nurse and Fumiya, a doctor, working at the same hospital in Tokyo.
The Gift of Your Heart
When Aihara Ame was a high school student in Nagasaki, she wasn’t confident in herself due to her past. Asano Taiyo was a student attending the same school as Aihara Ame. He was the only person who talked to her brightly. With him, she was able to see her life positively for the first time in her life. She had feelings for him. After her graduation, she went to Tokyo to fulfill her dream of becoming a patissier without telling Asano Taiyo about her feelings for him. After 8 years, she returns to Nagasaki. One day, she meets Asano Taiyo, whom she has never forgotten, and is elated to see him again. An accident soon occurs, and Aihara Ame falls into deep despair. A man appears in front of her and introduces himself as a guide from the afterlife. He tells her that if she gives her heart to him, he will make a miracle for her.
Hakusen Nagashi
Sonoko Nanakura is a straight A student, daughter of a doctor. She meets Wataru Okochi, a tall orphan guy working in a factory, who attends school at night. Her parents warn her not to get involved, and a smart boy Yusuke Hasebe also seems interested in her.
Solitary Gourmet Summer trip to Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan
Atsuhime
The 47th NHK Taiga Drama is a life story of Princess Atsu, who was born in Kagoshima Prefecture, then called Satsuma, and became the wife of Tokugawa Iesada, the 13th shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate. She accedes to the highest rank in Ooku, the inner palace of the Edo castle where women related to the reigning shogun resided. Iesada dies soon after their marriage and Atsuhime assumes the name Tenshoin at the age of 23. She exerts herself for the Tokugawa clan and for the nation during the upheaval in the Meiji Restoration, headed by those from Satsuma.
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
The series depicts "Kyoto as Kyoto people love it" in dramas and documentaries.
Black Widow Business
Kozo Nakase attends meetings for single widowers looking to remarry. He meets Sayoko Takeuchi and eventually marries her. Not longer after their marriage, Kozo Nakase suddenly collapses and dies. Kozo Nakase leaves everything to Sayako. The rest of his family are left out of his will including his daughter Tomomi. Tomomi hires a private investigator, Honda, to find out more about Sayoko.
Chacha: The Princess of Heaven
Chacha, the woman of the blood of Nobunaga, who loved with Hideyoshi, and feared Tokugawa.
Dear Father
Set in an old prestigious ryotei (Japanese-style restaurant) in a small town in the center of Tokyo, a young itamae (cook for Japanese dishes) struggles his life, love and work while the long-lasted ryotei and the beloved old town face the change to survive the time. This heartwarming drama shows the intimate relationship of the community that has been lost nowadays, asks what the most important things in your life is, and tells how difficult it is to make a decision. The story is told in the form of a letter from him to his unknown father with lots of humor and love.
Filmography
as 高橋文世
as Ritsuko Nishi Freeman
as Tendo Ichiko
as Noriko Okada
as Yukino Aihara
as Mitsuzono Shizuku
as Matsuko
as Kazune Takigawa (old woman) (voice)
as Kazune Takigawa (old woman) (voice)
as Minoyama
as Michiko Wataguchi
as Hiruko Kirigoe
as Hanae Shoji
as Yoshie Andou
as Setsuko Goto
as Miko Noshiro
as Mori Kaoru
as Michiyo Muramatsu
as Ogata Yoko
as Eiko Tanaka
as Shibusawa Wakako
as Shingu
as Kozue Muranishi
as Mrs. Saito
as (voice)
as Cafe's manager (segment "Our Birthday")
as Yoko Shima
as Kimika Okada
as Michiko Tanaka
as Mitsuko
as Akiko Kawarada
as Akiko
as (segment “Hammer”)
as Erika Konami
as Chieko
as 요네자와 사유리
as Chieko Tachibana
as Yoriko Musubi
as Eiko Segawa
as Kô Mittwer
as Reiko Hanamori : Minister of Defense
as Machi Domoto
as 権田薫子
as Speaker
as fortune-teller woman
as Izumi Nobuko
as Motoko Ueno
as Motoko Ueno
as Hiroe Minami
as Izumi Nobuko
as Chieko Hanawa
as Nonaka Tomiko
as Togawa Yasuko
as Ryoko Nakaoka
as Ayako Akaike
as Mitsuru Funaki
as Yoriko Takasaki
as Taeko Yokomichi
as Haruko Inamura
as Tamiko Hamasaki
as Naomi
as Toyo Taiga
as Suzuki Tane
as Maiko Ayasato (Misty Fey)
as Yoko
as Satoko Kurita
as Innkeeper
as Miyagi Yoko
as Angel
as Yasuko Tanaka
as Yoriko Shimizu
as Shizuka Takei
as Ruriko
as Receptionist Yoshiko
as 우에노 마키코
as Akemi Ohtake
as Yuriko Kamimura
as Reiko
as Setsuko Kachigawa
as Hisa-hime
as Kita no mandokoro
as 엔죠지 치에코
as Mayumi Sasaki
as Kinu Murozono
as Chise Fujishima
as Fortune Teller
as Akiko Kanzaki
as Taniguchi Mafumi
as Hongo Naomi
as Ando Yukiko [Teacher]
as Tezuka Yukino
as Kujo Tomoko
as Yoko's Stepmother
as Yukiko Ando
as Hatsuko Kim
as Eri Yuki
as Kyoko Higuchi（樋口 京子）
as Akiko Hirayama
as Mieko's Mother
as Rume
as Kyoko Yamazaki
as Shibata Yoko
as Aya's Mother
as Chikako's Mother
as Ayako Tsuzuki
as Midori Chiaki
as Wife of Hiroshi's Brother
as Kuramoto
as Anzu's Mother
as Man's Lover in TV Drama
as Michi
as Ran
as Masako Ozawa
as Hiruko Kirigoe
as Yukawa
as Kaoru Kanzaki
as Nami Tsuchiya
as Nami Muraki
as Jiro
as Reiko's Mother
as Managing Director's Daughter
as Sanae Ebino
as Yuko
as Hiromi Nagisa