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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yoshiko Okada (岡田嘉子, Okada Yoshiko; 21 April 1902 – 10 February 1992) was a Japanese film and stage actress who was also famous for her defection to the Soviet Union.
Yoshiko Okada | |
|---|---|
 Yoshika Okada circa 1935 | |
| Born | April 21, 1902 |
| Died | February 10, 1992 (aged 89) |
| Occupation | Film actress |
Early career
Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, Okada studied at. She made her film debut in 1923 at Nikkatsu in Eizō Tanaka's Dokuro no mai.[1]
Defection
On 3 January 1938, Okada defected to the Soviet Union with her lover Ryōkichi Sugimoto,[2] seeking freedom from Japanese fascism and hoping to study theater with other Japanese in the USSR.[3] Sugimoto, however, was arrested and executed as a spy and Okada spent the next ten years in a prison camp.[2]
Late career
At the end of her confinement, Okada began to work for Radio Moskow and eventually got to study at the Moskow State Institute of Theater Arts. She helped stage a play and was selected to co-direct the film Ten Thousand Boys with Boris Buneev, a work that has been called "the first Russian film about Japan not intended to be a depiction of the 'vicious Japanese enemy.'"[2]