TOKYO - Japanese actor Keiko Kishi, who won acclaim at home and abroad for starring in films beginning in the 1950s before expanding her career to include writing essays in the 1980s, died of old age on Aug. 7, her office said Wednesday. She was 93.
Kishi created a sensation in Japan in the aftermath of World War II, with women copying the way she wrapped a scarf around her head in a blockbuster film series. The Yokohama native later relocated to Paris to marry late French film director Yves Ciampi, years before overseas travel was liberalized in Japan.
Kishi began her acting career in 1951 and quickly rose to stardom after playing Machiko, the heroine in the trilogy "Kimi no Na wa" (What is your name?). The series launched the "Machiko maki" scarf-wearing fashion fad.
She was cast in the 1956 French-Japanese film "Typhoon over Nagasaki," which was directed by Ciampi.
She took on a wide variety of roles, including in period dramas and romantic films, balancing her career between France and Japan.
She also appeared in the 1974 U.S. crime drama film "The Yakuza."
She authored a number of essays, including "Apple of Belarus," which won the Japan Essayist Club Award.
Kishi served as an ambassador for the U.N. Population Fund from 1996.
