Remembering Yoko Shimada for Shogun, nude photo books, and sex scenes

The Japanese actress Yoko Shimada (島田陽子) has died, aged 69, from complications of colorectal cancer.

She was best known internationally for her English-speaking role in the miniseries Shogun from 1980, adapted from the James Clavell bestseller.

Shimada rose to fame in Japan in the 1970s as an actress and singer, and then capitalized on her role in Shogun and became a star in Japan (though more international roles were few and far between).

But it all came crashing down in the late 1980s, when an affair with the musician Yuya Uchida was exposed by the tabloids and all her work dried up. Uchida originally planned to marry Shimada but Kirin Kiki refused to divorce. Shimada then ran into major financial troubles, unable to pay her mortgage.

She attempted to deal with these issues by doing a “hair nude” photo book. These full-frontal nude erotic art books were then enjoying the peak of their popularity, with the releases by the likes of Rie Miyazawa, Saki Takaoka, and Kanako Higuchi selling huge numbers at the start of the decade.

Shimada’s debut in 1992, Kir Royal shot by Tadashi Endo, was a similar hit, selling half a million copies over 10 years. The appeal likely lay in her fame and notoriety, but also her age: she was now a jukujo (cougar), at almost 40, whereas the other celebrities appearing in hair nude photo books at the time were usually very young. She followed Kir Royal up with two more nude photo books in the 1990s: YOHKO and quatre.

We have included highlights from all three photo books here.

In 1996, Shimada married a younger man, though they would divorce in 2019.

In the 1990s, she had a small comeback internationally with a role in the film Crying Freedom. She did a nude sex scene (by now, she was in her forties) — in a closet!

Despite the success of her photo books, she struggled to find regular work, and turned to adult video. In 2011, she released two porn videos from Muteki, the label that specializes in such crossover releases. She was 57! She also did nude photo shoots to promote the release.

From international TV to movies, hair nude photo books, and even porn, Yoko Shimada’s career had it all — and she didn’t let age dictate her choices either!