Japan’s Second World War film idol Rikoran dies at 94

Japanese film idol Yoshiko Yamaguchi, who was known as Rikoran and symbolised Japan’s dreams of Asian conquest, has died aged 94.

Known as Shirley Yamaguchi in the US and one of biggest Japanese film stars during and after the Second World War, Yamaguchi died of heart failure on September 7, according to Japan’s public NHK television.

Born to Japanese parents in northern China in 1920 and raised in Japan’s wartime puppet state Manchukuo, Yamaguchi debuted as a Chinese singer Li Xianglan — Rikoran in Japanese — and starred in Chinese-language films made by Japanese-run Manchurian Cinema Association.