"Asami Kobayashi: Act II"

2020/06/11

Asami Kobayashi became a sensation through commercials for Parco and Shiseido, and was called the "Japanese Jane Birkin" as a role model for women who admired other women. In 1984, "Amaoto wa Chopin no Shirabe" (lyrics and production by Yumi Matsutoya, whose husband is Keio University alumni Masataka Matsutoya) became a hit, reaching number one on the Oricon charts as a singer. However, she suddenly vanished from the entertainment world, and her whereabouts were shrouded in a veil of secrecy. Why...?

A quarter-century later, three years ago, the "legendary muse" Asami Kobayashi returned to the public eye, gracing the cover of the magazine "Ku:nel." She spoke to me about her life without holding anything back.

The Tokyo Olympics, Woodstock, GS (Group Sounds), university protests, Yukio Mishima's ritual suicide, the oil shock, the bubble economy... From the 60s to the 80s, a period where events from another dimension seemed to occur one after another for me, she was also at the center of those intense seasons. An illicit love in her teens and Saint Laurent. Then, a secret romance with Shochi Tanabe, followed by an out-of-wedlock birth and marriage. As I wrote about her life, I also saw the creators who introduced Toshiko Kobayashi, a city girl who shone with a unique light, to the world as "Asami Kobayashi."

For example, Eiko Ishioka, who directed the Parco commercial "Inbi to Taihai" (Lewdness and Decadence). "A cruiser was waiting for me at Numazu Port. In any case, Ms. Ishioka had an aura. The lights were brilliant, and the standby was perfect," Asami recalls. "Working with the best means being under a 'spell.' When Ms. Ishioka told me to 'dance,' I danced. While being held from behind by a man in a black tuxedo, I realized that I loved these kinds of places. I felt that I was now in a place where talent was converging."

"Life is short. The nights have grown long." — The Parco advertisement became one of Ishioka's era-defining works, prompting one to think about the meaning of life itself, as if invited by that copy. Later, Ishioka moved to New York and won a Grammy Award for the album cover of Miles Davis's "TUTU."

Yuming, Eiko Ishioka, the people surrounding "Chianti" in Iikura, Shochi Tanabe who would become her husband... Each of their lives has a brilliance and hidden shadows. This book is a "story of legendary people" who lived through a youthful and stimulating Tokyo.

"Asami Kobayashi: Act II"

Hiroshi Nobue

Asahi Shimbun Publications

160 pages, 1,700 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.