| Three Girls Revitalizing Asia | |
| Native Name: | 興亜三人娘 |
| Native Name Lang: | jap |
| Origin: | Japan |
| Genre: | Musical nationalism |
| Years Active: | 1940-1941 |
| Label: | Nippon Columbia |
| Past Members: | Bai Guang Ri Kōran |
Three Girls Revitalizing Asia (Japanese: 興亜三人娘|Koa sannin musume), known simply as Three Girls, was a transnational girl group that was active briefly in the 1940s.[1] The trio was part of Japan's cultural propaganda efforts during the Second World War, aimed at promoting the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere—a concept that sought to create a bloc of Asian nations led by Japan, free from Western colonialism.
The group released its first single, "Koa sannin musume" ("Three Girls Revitalizing Asia"), in December 1940, signed under Nippon Columbia.[2] The track is a Japan-Manchuria-China friendship sung by all three girls in the major key. The song's lyrics describe each culture as its national flower, chrysanthemum for Japan, orchid for Manchuria, and plum blossom for China.[3] The B-side track was "Kokoro ni saku hana' ("Flowers Blooming in My Heart"), a ryūkōka sung by Ri Kōran, also about the three girls. On the album cover, each girl is depicted wearing her respective national costume while holding flowers and smiling. Slightly below them on the cover is a male Imperial Japanese pilot.
The group would disband in 1941, shortly after releasing a re-recorded version of the single. One of the group's members, Ri Kōran, would go on to have a successful career as an actress, journalist, and politician.[4] Despite its short run, Three Girls is credited with inventing the "marketing strategy where each member takes up a unique 'official position' in the group", still used by many idol groups in the modern day.
The group consisted of three young singers, each representing a national identity within the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere:
Ri Kōran was ethnically Japanese, but was born in Manchukuo and selected for the group in-part for her ethnically ambiguous appearance.