Momoe

Hear the name Momoe from a soap opera on TV last night - it is such a long forgotten name.

For those of a younger generation, I am referring to Momoe Yamaguchi (山口百惠). Yes, she is always the actress - somewhat like Irene Adler. "I am like the prima donna who makes positively the farewell performance ... it repeats itself an indefinite number of times !" No, she is not Hercule Poirot - nor most of the other imitators. After the last song in Budokan (武道館), promise was kept and she was off the stage - forever. We are left only with her films and albums. Her life as an artist was short - just like Sakura (櫻花) has a short time for flower viewing. That makes her a perfect symbol of Japan, and an eternal figure to be remembered.

Momoe wrote an autobiography Aoi Toki (蒼白時光), which I read in my university days. It is, of course, hardly a good book; but the title says all. To a (traditional) girl who gave everything to her family, the time under the lime light was no doubt a period of pallor.