Kazeshoujo 「風少女」
Kazeshoujo means The Girl in the Wind. This was a famous 1988 昭和６３年４月 NTV production starring
Gotou Kumiko in her teens. She acts as a 13 year old high school girl with the usual teenage problems: parents, boyfriend and school life. Her father has an affair, her whole family is screwed...but the theme song by Okamura Takako is great!
I first watched it in 1990-1992 one of those years. It was the first Japanese drama that Singapore brought in (I think, I did not catch Tokyo Love Story said to have been shown at that time). The beautiful backgrounds by Oota Keibun (whom I only realised was the artist only recently) and the beautiful song "Believe" really inspired me to fall in love with the drama and search for more. However, at that time my knowledge of Japanese and the drama itself was so limited, I felt stuck. I could only listen to it via a recorded tape off the video opening credits. It was only in January 1998 did I manage to find the singer was Okamura Takako in a tiny CD shop in Ikebukuro. I got the CD Takako Okamura 2000 and it is fantastic! However, no sign of the drama...
Only recently did I do a net search and found that Gotou Kumiko was the actress in that drama and also the drawings were famous and done by Oota Keibun おおた慶文.
Now why did I not do research many years before this? Well, being busy and being the type of person who likes to leave the best for last, the desire to seek knowledge on Kazeshoujo was left to the last minute. I only regret that there is not much more available. It was an old show in 1988 and it shot Gotou Kumiko to fame.
However, this drama is very very special to me and started my love for Japanese drama. After all, don't we always wish we could be whisked back to the '80s and relive the bubble gum lifestyle of a teenage girl. The nostalgic feeling of those days...!
So here is my tribute to Kazeshoujo, adding to the tiny but surviving sites of the drama available!
My main emphasis here is not on Gotou Kumiko, although it was her face and youth that launched this series to fame. The art of Oota Keibun serves as a reminder of the good old days and a beautiful backdrop to the opening credits of the drama.
Gotou Kumiko 後藤久美子
Gotou Kumiko has retired and married a French F1 racer. She lives in Geneva now and recently attended the Cannes Festival. You can find her picture books on the net, but not many sites of her.
Oota Keibun probably drew her for the background of Kazeshoujo, but he has a tendency to mix the faces..so you get many actresses from whom he drew inspiration, but the faces are all the same.
For more information on Gotou Kumiko, please click the picture.
The Oota Keibun おおた慶文 Kazeshoujo Gallery 「風少女」
These pictures are from a sticker collection (famous pictures would be the second and the fourth one.) I bought at Farrer Road..at EPB heeheehee...I think they are collector's items now, considering that I cannot find them anymore..Argh, blame it on youth. Some are missing and some were used during childhood letters so bless those who had the stickers! Of course, typical Taiwanese piracy, no acknowledgement of the stickers so I did not know they were by Oota Keibun...but these are the last remaning ones left!
The original ones were taken from FOUR SEASONS, the book below. Please click on it to continue.
back to Okamura Takako.