Anna Tsuchiya has always been an artist of diversity being that she has gone from model to music to film and only a few years back added motherhood to her ever increasing list of achievements. I guess you could say she is like the Japanese J-Lo, but waaaaaaaay more quirky and with better taste. Her latest endeavor has had her promoting the sports brand name Quicksilver of which among other products she has been involved with such as the legendary Gibson guitars, has given her the accommodating publicity that I think she deserves.
Just this past Monday, Anna along with actor Kenji Sakaguchi appeared at an event in Tokyo to promote Quicksilver’s new line of surfing gear. To be honest, I’m finding it a little tricky to imagine what this would entail. Did they have Tsuchiya standing in front of a green screen, riding a surfboard and making light of toughing out killer waves that would have left even the most experienced “dude,” stuck headfirst in the sand with his Speedos coiled tightly around his neck? Or maybe they just had her in tight lycra, flaunting her curves and sitting on the laps of company executives, promising them some sort of excursion to paradise if only they were to support the brand; “try these new shades, when you put them on palm trees morph into bodacious beach babes.” Who knows? One thing I’m sure of though is that her zeal for anything that she puts her mind to will certainly rocket Quicksilver into a sunnier spotlight.
Whilst at this expo of sorts Tsuchiya was asked about her thoughts on Ryoko Shinohara who has just given birth to a boy, “Boys are good,” said Anna, “because they are active. You can learn many things from having a son. I hope she enjoys child raising.” You hear that Ryoko? Apparently your new baby boy is going to make you more intelligent; and here I thought that parenthood just involved insomnia, migraines and repeated viewings of Mary Poppins.
Tsuchiya’s path to stardom began when she was offered a modeling job for an adolescent magazine known as Seventeen. From then on she moved into music forming the J-Rock band Spin Aqua of which deserves more recognition than they get, as even though the band only recorded one album, it is an album that stands out all the more for being the first and last. Almost as though it were a landmark in her career, one shiny disc that she can look back and say “I did something great there.”
Despite Anna’s recent success as a solo artist (venturing into genres from R & B to pop to rock), I don’t think she will ever be able to capture the pure, stripped down rock n’ roll spirit that not only her youth but also the essence of that formation seemed to lend to the music. However, that is enough about her musical talents, for this is a film blog and so I think it wise to end this digression here and make note of a few of her most recent acting roles.
In the film Sakuran, which is based on the Manga of the same name, Tsuchiya plays a girl named Kiyoha who gradually goes through all the steps required to become an oiran courtesan; the highest mistress who makes her bread by acting as a “companion” to Samurais and Taros. She is sold by her parents at a young age into the red-light district and given residence at the Tamagikuya house (brothel) where she is looked after by the current oiran. It is not long before she moves up the hierarchy to become an adept courtesan and then an oiran herself, causing problems of envy between Kiyoha and her guardian. If you want a western film that would introduce you into some of the themes of Sakuran, I might suggest Camille which has Greta Garbo playing a courtesan in Parisian high society.
Tsuchiya has also had minor roles in the films Dokoro, Memories of Matsuko and The Taste of Tea. She made her acting debut as a co-star in the film Kamikaze Girls in which she played a rebellious biker girl who makes an unexpected friendship with a girl indulged in the world of Lolita fashion. So yeah, check out anything you can get your hands on involving Anna and maybe buy yourself a new swimsuit in the process.
Nathan
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