BIG IN JAPAN
Norika Fujiwara
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Matt Wilce |
You could call her the
Japanese "It Girl," but most people know her as the J-phone girl, after the
product with which she has become most associated. Whatever, it' fair to say that Norika
Fujiwara has overtaken her "rival" Ryoko Hirosue in becoming Japan's Commercial
Queen. In addition to being J-phone's campaign girl her heart-shaped face has launched a
whole container ship of other products and there seems to be no end to her
ubiquity in TV-land.
So what has allowed this 29-year-old to monopolize our screens like this? Born on June 28,
1971, in Hyogo Prefecture, her good looks attracted talent agency scouts when she was
still a teenager, and while at university she started her modeling career for real,
appearing in magazines such as JJ and CANCAN. Her big break came,
however, and an incredibly big break it was, when she was nominated for - and won - the
Miss Japan Contest in 1992.
After this, she moved to Tokyo and entered the Japanese entertainment world in earnest.
Starting out with supporting roles in TV dramas she quickly progressed to starring ones.
Her most notable appearances include "Kinyobi no Koibito-Tachi-e," with
Katsunori Takahashi, and "Kiken na Kankei" last fall with SMAP's Goro Inagaki
and Etsushi Toyokawa. Her last big drama, "Okuman-choja to Kekon Suru Hoho," a
comedy along the lines of How to Marry a Millionaire, may yet turn out to have a grain of
truth. Despite rumors of the on-off kind, Norika has long been linked to LA's resident
Japanese actor Masaya Kato - don't believe the tabloids, close friends still refer to them
as a couple.
As well as training regularly at a fitness club, Fujiwara has a longstanding interest in
the martial arts thanks to her father, who practiced several martial arts himself. In the
mid-'90s, she co-presented the sports show "SRS," and she is an avid follower of
the dynamic, free-for-all style of K1 fighting. She is also a pretty mean English speaker
and she recently passed the level 2 Eiken test.
In one of this years most shameless acts of self-promotion, the kind that would make a
Spice Girl blush, limited editions of a Barbie-style "Norika" doll were released
to her adoring fans in April. No records have been released yet have about how many were
sold. Certainly not shy, Norika laps up the attention showered on her. Whereas most actors
grit their teeth and bear the frenzied flashes of a press conference, Norika lights up in
front of the camera. She also has the patience, or requisite self-interest, to talk about
her hair for twenty minutes. It must be nice to make the front page just by shearing your
locks.
Fujiwara's screen persona is, while undeniably charming, slightly ambiguous. Whereas Ryoko
Hirosue is carving out a career as the perennial "cute younger sister," Fujiwara
is acquiring the more worldly, sultrier charms of a femme fatale. In fact, one 1999 TV
drama, "Naomi" featured her as a sexually ruthless high school teacher preying
on her male students, and aroused calls of complaint to Fuji TV because of her
"immoral behavior."
It would be intriguing to speculate on Fujiwara's real-life peccadilloes, but they are
surround by a wall of silence. Whereas international "tarento" such as Beckham
and Posh Spice, have the freedom to speak off the cuff and make total fools of themselves,
Fujiwara is enclosed by a merciless PR machine, that doesn't permit the image of its
creation to be tarnished.
As for the future-a gorgeous wedding with another celebrity, a mildly intriguing scandal
in the usual tabloids, and a post-photobook career as a real actress... that'll be Norika
Fujiwara, then.
James Walker |
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