Mitsuko Mori :

Mitsuko Mori (森 光子, Mori Mitsuko, May 9, 1920 – November 10, 2012), real name Mitsu Murakami (村上美津, Murakami Mitsu), was a Japanese actress. In May 2009, she became the first actor in Japan to have performed the stage play Hōrōki (放浪記, “A Wanderer’s Notebook”) 2,000 times. She was born in Kyoto, Japan.

On May 11, 2009, Takeo Kawamura announced that Mori would be awarded the People’s Honour Award

Mori died of heart failure on November 10, 2012, at a hospital in Tokyo, aged 92.

Google Doodle Today

Today’s Doodle celebrates prolific Japanese singer and actor Mitsuko Mori, who became the first entertainer in Japanese history to perform 2,000 times in “Horoki” (“A Wanderer’s Notebook”), a theater play based on the autobiographical novel of author Fumiko Hayashi. In recognition of this unparalleled lifetime achievement, on this day in 2009, she became the first actress to ever receive Japan’s prestigious People’s Honor Award.

About Mitsuko Mori:

Film

Lost Spring (1967) – Hatsu

Scattered Clouds (1967)

Princess Mononoke (1997) – Hii-sama (voice)

Sennen no Koi Story of Genji (2001) – Sei Shōnagon

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Television drama

Onna tachi no Hyakuman goku (1988) – Maeda Matsu

Nene: Onna Taikōki (2009)

Dubbing

Murder, She Wrote – Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury)

Honours

Medal with Purple Ribbon (1984)

Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon (1992)

Person of Cultural Merit (1998)

Order of Culture (2005)

People’s Honour Award (2009)

Junior Third Rank (2012; posthumous)

More About Mitsu Murakami

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Born Mitsu Murakami in Kyoto, Japan on May 9, 1920, she made her cinematic debut at 14 in a historical drama film. Also a gifted vocalist, Mitsuko moved to Tokyo in 1941, where she sharpened her skills as a jazz singer, a talent she showcased throughout the decade on tours in Japan, China, and Southeast Asia.

In 1952, Mitsuko continued to prove her dynamic range when she made her comedic debut in a stage play featured on radio broadcasts across Japan—widespread exposure that cast her into the national spotlight. An established name in Japanese entertainment, Mitsuko premiered in “Horoki” in 1961 as the lead character Fumiko Hayashi, a role she played well into her 80s for a record 2,017 performances.

Before one of these productions in 2007, over 45 years since it first showed, Mitsuko told reporters that she was retiring her character’s signature reflex to good news—a forward somersault—to avoid injury in her old age. She gave her final “Horoki” performance in 2009, bowing out as a superstar of contemporary Japanese theater.

Here’s to all the memories, Mitsuko Mori!