| Hiroko Yakushimaru | |
| Native Name: | 薬師丸 ひろ子 |
| Birth Date: | June 9, 1964[1] |
| Birth Place: | Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan |
| Years Active: | 1978–present |
| Spouse: | [2] |
| Occupation: | Actress, singer |
| Hiroko Yakushimaru | |
| Channel Url: | UCO0Xab0r4X6JFNoSlw_YPuw |
| Channel Display Name: | 薬師丸ひろ子 |
| Years Active: | 2021 - |
| Subscribers: | 45.1k |
| Views: | 21,002,491 million times |
is a Japanese actress and singer.
After passing the audition for the film produced by Haruki Kadokawa, she began her acting career. Along with teen idols Tomoyo Harada and Noriko Watanabe who debuted from Kadokawa Haruki Corporation, she was often dubbed as one of "Kadokawa Sannin-musume" in her early career.[3]
Yakushimaru made her acting debut in the 1978 movie Never Give Up.[1] In 1981, she came into prominence with Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, the film where she played the leading role.[4] [1] She also recorded the same-titled theme song for the film, which hit No. 1 on Oricon in late 1981 and stayed there until January 18, 1982.[5] [1]
Since rising to fame, Yakushimaru has gained success as both an actress and a pop singer, mainly during the 1980s.[6] She had also worked as a prolific recording artist until her marriage with Kōji Tamaki, the leader of the band Anzen Chitai.[7] According to the Japanese Oricon chart, combined sales of her singles and albums have been estimated approximately 5.9 million copies to date.[8] [9]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Never Give Up | Yoriko Nagai | ||
| 1979 | Young samurai | |||
| 1980 | Toward the Terra | Jonah Matsuka (voice) | ||
| Kei Yamaba (leading role) |
| |||
| 1981 | Yuka Mitamura (leading role) | |||
| Izumi Hoshi (leading role) |
| |||
| 1982 | Kayoko Ōdate (leading role) | |||
| 1983 | Naomi Arai (leading role) | |||
| Shizu-hime (leading role) | ||||
| 1984 | Main Theme | Shibuki Ogasawara (leading role) | ||
| Shizuka Mita (leading role) |
| |||
| 1985 | Tamako Arisugawa (leading role) | |||
| 1986 | Cabaret | waitress (cameo) | ||
| Etsuko Kirino (leading role) | ||||
| 1988 | Downtown Heroes | Fusako Nakahara (leading role) | ||
| 1989 | Ready | Lady | Ryoko Takahashi (leading role) | |
| 1990 | Midori Yoshikawa (leading role) | |||
| Naoko Hirashima |
| |||
| 1992 | Shoko Kishida (leading role) | |||
| 1993 | Nurse Call | Kozue Igarashi (leading role) | ||
| 1997 | Yoko Hioki | |||
| 2003 | Mirei Asada | |||
| 2004 | Lakeside Murder Case | Minako Namiki | ||
| 2005 | O'Hagi no Tsubone | |||
| Yoko Kaneda | ||||
| Tomoe Suzuki |
| |||
| 2006 | Mari Minegishi | |||
| Mirei Asada | ||||
| Yoshiko Iida | ||||
| 2007 | Mariko Tanaka | |||
| Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 | Tomoe Suzuki |
| ||
| Megane | Morishita ("Megane"'s Friend) | |||
| 2008 | Utatama | Yuko Senuma | ||
| 2009 | Heaven's Door | Mariko Shiraishi | ||
| 2010 | Sakura Kitami |
| ||
| Hanamizuki | Ryoko Hirasawa | |||
| 2011 | Setsuko Kikutani (leading role) | |||
| 2012 | Always: Sunset on Third Street 3 | Tomoe Suzuki | ||
| 2015 | Sinbad: A Flying Princess and a Secret Island | Sinbad's Mother (voice) | ||
| 2017 | Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura | Shizuka | ||
| The 8-Year Engagement | Hatsumi Nakahara | |||
| 2018 | Cafe Funiculi Funicula | Kayo Kōtake | ||
| 2019 | Black School Rules | Virginia Woolf | ||
| 2020 | Mio's Cookbook | Ohyaku | [21] | |
| 2022 | Riverside Mukolitta | (voice) | [22] | |
| Tombi: Father and Son | Taeko | [23] | ||
| 2024 | Last Mile | Natsuyo Misumi | [24] | |
| Blue Period | Masako Saeki | [25] | ||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Third daughter of the wife | ||
| 1979 | Kayoko Ōdate (leading role) | It was released in cinemas later. | |
| 1997 | Mrs. Cinderella | Mizuho Kayama (leading role) | |
| 2000 | Miu Minazuki (leading role) | ||
| Africa Pole Pole | Naoko | ||
| 2002 | Nanami Fujiki (leading role) | ||
| 2002 | Satomi Kudo (leading role) | ||
| 2002 | Kisarazu Cat's Eye | Mirei Asada | |
| 2004 | Yoshie Tsujimoto | ||
| Chie Aida (leading role) | |||
| 2005 | Tiger & Dragon | Katsuko Shiraishi | Guest of Episode 6 |
| Shioka Ikeuchi | |||
| Umeko | Momoko Kawai | ||
| 2007 | Byakkotai | Shige Sakai | |
| 1 Litre no Namida: Special Edition – Tsuioku | Shioka Ikeuchi | ||
| Fumika Kawamura | |||
| 2008 | Sachiko Nozoe | ||
| Keiko Tamura | |||
| Tome Torihama | |||
| Yuka Enomoto | |||
| 2009 | Hamako Watanabe (leading role) | ||
| 2010 | Nobuko Maehara | Guest of Episode 5 | |
| Chiyoko Suma | |||
| Q10 | Kuriko Yanagi | ||
| 2011 | Shoko Sakuragawa | ||
| 2012 | Fukuko Ishii (leading role) | ||
| Haruko Hasebe | |||
| 2013 | Amachan | Hiromi Suzuka | Asadora |
| 2016 | Yuriko Onodera | ||
| 2018 | Unnatural | Natsuyo Misumi | Special appearance |
| 2019 | Idaten | Marie | Taiga drama |
| 2020 | Yell | Mitsuko Sekiuchi | Asadora[26] [27] |
| 2022 | Yamamura | [28] | |
| Year | Album details | Chart positions | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPN[29] | ||||
| 1982 | (featuring monologue by Hiroko Yakushimaru)
| 1 | Nippon Columbia | |
| 1984 |
| 1 | Toshiba EMI/East World | |
| 1985 |
| 2 | ||
| 1986 |
| 2 | ||
| 1987 |
| 3 | ||
| 1988 | Sincerely Yours
| 8 | ||
| 1989 | Lover's Concerto
| 2 | ||
| 1990 | Heart's Delivery
| 3 | ||
| 1991 | Primavera
| 13 | ||
| 1998 |
| — | BMG Funhouse | |
| 2018 | Etoile
| 18 | Victor Entertainment Japan | |
| 2024 | Tree
| 17 | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||
| Year | Album | Chart positions (JP) | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Best Collection | 7 | Toshiba EMI/East World |
| 1988 | 18 | ||
| 2000 | Love Collection: 1981–2000 | — | BMG Funhouse |
| 2011 | 43 [30] | EMI Music Japan | |
| 2021 |