Veteran actress Kazuko Yoshiyuki, whose career spanned an incredible eight decades, has passed away.
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Yoshiyuki died from pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital on Sept. 2, according to The Japan News. The beloved actress was 90.
Kazuko Yoshiyuki Came From a Prestigious Family
Kazuko Yoshiyuki was born in Tokyo in 1935. Her father, Yoshiyuki Eisuke (1906–1940), was a novelist and a member of the Japanese Dadaist movement. He passed away young, leaving behind three talented children.
She had an older brother, Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, a novelist, and a sister, Rie Yoshiyuki, a poet. She suffered from asthma from a young age and often visited her grandparents in Okayama for the change of air. She graduated from Joshigakuen Girls’ High School in Tokyo in 1954.
Yoshiyuki began her acting career with the theatre troupe Gekidan Mingei in 1955, playing the role of Sophie in Junji Kinoshita’s A Japanese Called Otto in 1966. Her major stage breakthrough came in 1977 when she portrayed Anne Frank in The Diary of a Young Girl.
Kazuko Yoshiyuki Made Her Film Debut in 1955, Acting in Films Until Last Year
According to IMDb, she made her screen debut in 1955 and has appeared in over 60 films. She received the Best Supporting Actress award at the 1959 Mainichi Film Award. Later, in 1978, she won Best Actress at the Japan Academy Prize for her role in the film Empire of Passion.
“Empire of Passion” (1978)
— 捨吉 60s (@sutekichi009) September 9, 2025
R.I.P. ✦ Kazuko Yoshiyuki pic.twitter.com/TljP9FlqZ6
She also lent her voice to the character Toki in Studio Ghibli’s beloved animated feature Ponyo (2008). She also voiced Nanny in the studio’s film When Marnie Was There.
Her final film role was last year’s Diamonds in the Sand.
She also had a career as an essayist.