Yumiko Araki
On December 10, 2004, a Japanese actress in her forties took the stage of the CCTV program "Art Life".
On the set of the show, she recalled that she used to be an actress in the process of filming on the set, which caused the audience familiar with her to dream back to the 1980s.
When talking about the Chinese audience, she sincerely expressed her gratitude and thanked one person in particular.
It was a man who had a "deep affection" for her, and without the man's persistence, she would not even be able to appear in the public eye again, let alone come to China to meet the fans who loved her.
This man was the future Richest Man in China, Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group. The actress who is regarded by Ma Yun as the "dream lover" on stage is the popular actress in Japan in the 1980s - Yumiko Araki.
Starred in "Volleyball Girl" and became popular throughout Asia
Yumiko Araki was born on January 25, 1960 in Saga Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. When she was a teenager, she looked sweet, her body was well-proportioned, and she was a beautiful girl loved by everyone.
At that time, it was the blowout period of the Japanese performing arts industry, and the audience of TV shows was very large, and she was affected by this and had always dreamed of entering the show business circle overnight.
However, Yumiko Araki's parents are honest people, especially her father, who has a very traditional ideology and has always hoped that her daughter can be a traditional Japanese woman and a good wife and mother after starting a family.
So in the matter of dreams, the family is unanimously against her. However, Yumiko Araki is a very talented girl, and whenever she is rejected by her father, she will cry with grievances.
Over time, the father also felt sorry for his daughter's insistence on his dreams, so he acquiesced to her entry into the show business circle.
Since then, Yumiko Araki has been practicing her form and singing voice diligently every day. Her figure is not very tall, only 151 centimeters at the age of 16, but this height can also be regarded as an ordinary height in the Japanese show business.
At the age of 16, he went to Japan's first "Horipro Artist Selection Team" and took the opportunity to debut, and the famous song "Crossing on the Shore" sold 44,000 copies in Japan.
In 1977, she went to the TV show and made her name remembered by many viewers with a song called "Crossing the Sea".
However, due to the fierce competition at that time, she did not achieve an official ranking, and after performing the final competition, Yumiko burst into tears.
Perhaps it was such a natural outpouring of emotion that touched the judges on the spot, and with the unanimous support of the audience, Yumiko won a special consolation award from the program group.
When she stood on the podium, she still had red circles under her eyes, tears fell from time to time, and the television broadcast camera also gave her a close-up at this time, and her chuchu and lovely appearance instantly conquered the national audience.
Later, according to the statistics of the TV station, the ratings of the program when Yumiko stood on the podium were almost double the ratings during the competition.
The TV station immediately decided to sign her as an artist, and with the theme of the most popular sports at the time, "Volleyball", it tailored the TV series "Volleyball Girl" for her, ready to focus on cultivating her.
In order to compensate for Yumiko's height flaw, the crew thought of many ways, such as finding actors of similar height to play with her, or modifying props in equal proportions, using shooting techniques to make her look as tall as a real volleyball player on TV.
After the script was finalized, Yumiko began special training. Every day, she not only needs to learn a lot of professional volleyball skills, but also needs to carry out special physical training to achieve the shape of a professional volleyball player.
In order to be able to interpret the characters in the play, Yumiko strives to run and bounce every day, and every day she will strain her muscles and even dislocate her joints.
Once, in order to achieve better results in a real combat sports save exercise, Yumiko accidentally hit her chin heavily on the floor, and her eyes went black and she slowed down for half an hour before she was fully awake.
No matter how hard the training, Yumiko never complained on the set, and even when she felt so painful that she couldn't hold on, she would only choose to secretly cry when she was alone, not letting anyone see.
Because at this time, she understands that tears are the catharsis of emotion in her own eyes, and in the eyes of others, it is a symbol of weakness. In this way, Yumiko completed the 81-episode shooting task of "Volleyball Girl" with extraordinary endurance and performance.
As soon as the TV series was broadcast, it quickly became popular throughout Japan, making countless people remember Yumiko's sweet and highly personal appearance, and also making the name of "Junko Oga", which she played, remembered by everyone.
But soon, the TV series was hidden by the TV station.
The main reason is that the story told in "Volleyball Girl" is mainly based on the theme of Junko Fawn leading the volleyball team members to the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.
But at that time, the Moscow Olympics were boycotted by Western countries, so the TV series was greatly restricted after it was broadcast, and the General Television Bureau did not even allow the film to carry out any publicity.
In this way, the screening time of the popular TV series that only broadcast half of the show moved from the evening peak to the midnight show, and the ratings dropped again and again. After 1981, the tv series was completely hidden by the TV station, and it was never screened again in Japan.
This was no small blow to her, and the continuous high and low walks made her lose confidence in her acting career.
So in 1983, at the age of 23, Yumiko chose to return to the family and prepare to get married, which for the Japanese showbiz at the time meant leaving.
The mother-in-law died, and she fell ill, from the test of fate
Yumiko's husband, Yuhara, was a well-known Japanese musician at the time. The two met at an event and quickly fell in love.
At the low point of Yumiko's career, Yuhara was by her side to encourage her. In this way, the two announced their marriage after two years together.
But after the marriage, Yumiko did not escape the teasing of fate. Her mother-in-law fell ill a week after their marriage, and the two could not care about the honeymoon trip, and Yumiko even pushed away all the work in her hands and took care of her mother-in-law lying on the hospital bed.
However, although her mother-in-law's illness was freed from the danger of life under Yumiko's careful care, she still suffered from severe Alzheimer's disease, and not only was she often delirious, but also unable to take care of herself in daily life.
Faced with such a situation, Yumiko decisively took on the full responsibility of taking care of her mother-in-law and running the family.
Her mother-in-law's illness was getting worse by the day, and she would often accuse Yumiko of not giving him food, or that Yumiko had taken her things; and even said that Yumiko would bring a strange man to her house, and the strange man she said was her own son, Yuhara.
In the face of these accusations, Yumiko has never confronted her mother-in-law, and she is also alone in the room with grievances, and she often comforts herself by saying, "I am Junko Fawn, I want to live strongly, and I have to take care of this family." ”
It was this simple belief that allowed Yumiko to take care of her mother-in-law for twenty years.
It was not until 2003 that my mother-in-law died of a sudden deterioration in her condition. Before she died, her mother-in-law held Yumiko's hand and said, "Thank you Ami, you will definitely have a good life in the future." After saying this, the mother-in-law passed away.
The death of her mother-in-law hit her very hard, because during her relationship with her husband, her relationship with her mother-in-law has always been very good, and the marriage between the two is also matched by the mother-in-law to some extent.
Before her mother-in-law died, Yumiko had already given birth to a boy, and by this time the son had grown up, but her life did not lead to happiness. She was diagnosed with a malignant tumor during a postpartum medical examination.
At this time, she could not withstand the successive blows, and she once wanted to end her life with death. But whenever this happens, she thinks of her beloved husband and her newborn son.
So she firmed up again and regained her confidence with junko's life creed.
Half a year later, Yumiko went to the hospital for a review and found that the previous tumor had become benign, and Yumiko was overjoyed. Because during this time, she has realized the true meaning of her life and can already face life in a very calm way.
In the most painful and dark days of her life, it was her own heart that brought light to her life.
Restart the acting career and devote himself to Sino-Japanese friendly relations
In fact, after getting married, Yumiko did not choose to quit show business completely. She tried to continue to appear in the public eye and gain some popularity for herself.
She has starred in tv commercials for detergent, participated in talent shows, and even used her experience in caring for her mother-in-law to produce a nursing program for the elderly called "Mentally Prepared Caregiving".
But because she was already a "housewife" when she returned to show business, the audience did not buy it.
In this way, Yumiko chose to completely disappear and began to commute to work every day like an ordinary office worker, and as for Junko Oga, she could only become a comfort in her own heart.
But what she didn't know was that in China on the other side of the ocean, "Volleyball Girl" was extremely popular, and even affected a generation of Young Chinese people.
In 1983, the film "Volleyball Girl" was introduced to China as a sports propaganda film, when the country was in the midst of a boom of "just winning the volleyball world championship".
This film was instantly pushed to the peak by the audience, and the image of Junko Fawn has also become a childhood goddess in the eyes of countless people. Among these people, the person who most looks forward to her is the future china's richest man , Ma Yun.
At that time, when the TV series "Volleyball Girl" was popular, Ma Yun was still a student under 20 years old. At that time, Ma Yun was in the trough of failing the college entrance examination twice in a row, and once gave up hope for the future.
But when he saw the perseverance shown by Junko Xiaolu in the TV series, he was greatly encouraged, prompting him to regroup and retake the third college entrance examination in his life.
It was also this college entrance examination that allowed him to successfully enter Hangzhou Normal University.
After graduation, Ma Yun was busy starting a business, but every time he encountered bottlenecks and difficulties, he would think of the sweet smiling face of Junko Xiaolu in the TV series and the spirit of not being afraid of difficulties.
Ma Yun said: "There are many times when I have thought about giving up Alibaba, and it was my childhood idol that gave me the motivation to continue. ”
In 1994, Ma Yun came to Japan for the first time after the initial success of entrepreneurship. He wants to find the real actor of Junko Fawn and thank her in person.
But in the TV drama cast list, the words "Araki Yumiko" are all composed of "Katakana" and there is not a single Kanji, so Ma Yun has no idea what her real name is.
After inquiring about it in Japan, and because the drama has been hidden in the snow in the early years, the actor's name is also little known, and Ma Yun has not been able to find Yumiko Araki herself as desired.
Since then, Ma Yun has come to Japan six times to look for Yumiko Araki, but found nothing. It wasn't until after 2000 that Ma Met some friends who worked in the Japanese film and television industry.
After inquiring from many people, yumiko Araki, who was already a mother and worked in a commercial company, was found. At that time, she was 40 years old.
The first time they met, Yumiko was very surprised, she never knew that in China on the other side of the ocean, there are so many viewers who like her.
Ma Invited her to a meet-and-greet in China to feel the enthusiasm from Chinese fans, and Yumiko agreed without hesitation.
In September 2004, Yumiko Araki was invited by Jack Ma to Alibaba's headquarters and met with Chinese fans. At the scene, she was infected by the enthusiasm of Chinese fans, and was once excited to tears.
On December 10, Yumiko appeared on the CCTV talk show "Art Life", recalling the bits and pieces of the TV series shooting with the audience and sharing her life experience.
During the show, the host gave her a volleyball with the signatures of each of the day's audience. When she accepted the gift, tears filled her eyes.
She told the host: "I never thought that there were so many chinese audiences who liked me and liked Junko Fawn. I will definitely get back on my shoulders, I love China. ”
After returning to China, she published a new book called "Enlightened Care", officially announcing her return to the literary and artistic showbiz.
Many readers praised her for her twenty years of filial piety to her mother-in-law, and many programs began to invite her to record programs, and the following year she and her husband Yuhara participated in a couples travel variety show.
On May 30, 2007, she released her latest single "The Traveler of the Millennium", and she maintains that every year she comes to China to perform, and vigorously promotes the culture of peace and friendship between China and Japan.
In 2014, Yumiko Araki was named "Ambassador of Sino-Japanese Friendly Relations" and was invited to participate in the Spring Festival Gala of Beijing Satellite TV. In 2018, Tokyo, Japan, held a "Weibo Japan Heroes' Meeting", and Yumiko Araki won the "China-Japan Friendship Contribution Award".
In 2020, at the age of 60, she took to the stage of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Shanghai in January and sang the classic theme song of "Volleyball Girl" in a familiar melody, which attracted applause from the audience.
After the performance, she told the audience: "Thank you for still liking Junko Xiaolu, I am very grateful to China, this is my second hometown." ”
For her, the significance of "Volleyball Women" is too great, she said: "For the Chinese audience, I can't repay, I can only do my own modest efforts in the relationship between the two countries." ”
Now that she is proficient in communicating with Chinese, she has also opened her own Weibo account to share her life with fans every day. On July 26, 2021, she also posted on Weibo to cheer for the competition of the Chinese women's volleyball team.
Her most recent update was on February 21, 2022, when she shared the closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics and wrote words like "Thanks bring so much touch" in Chinese.
Today, she is no longer the smart and sweet "Fawn Junko", but she still maintains the vitality and vitality of that year.
She said: "I have not gone well on the road of acting, it can even be said to be very mediocre, but I can learn in middle age that there are so many audiences in China who like me, then I am very satisfied, I love China." ”
Resources
[1] Xinmin Evening News, December 14, 2019, "Remember Junko Fawn in Volleyball Women"? We had a close contact with her."
[2] "Wenhui.com", December 13, 2019, "The Big World of Performing Arts" will usher in the "Junko Oga" comeback concert, Yumiko Araki to take care of her mother-in-law for 40 years"
[3] Xinmin Evening News, December 14, 2019, "Youth has a smiling face - Impression of Junko Xiaolu"