Hibari Misora was born in Isogo-ku, Yokohama, Japan. Her father was , a fishmonger, and her mother , a housewife. Misora showed musical talent from an early age after singing for her father at a World War II send-off party in 1943. When he saw this, he used much of his family's savings to allow his daughter to start a musical career. In 1945 she gave her first performance in a concert hall in Yokohama, at the age of eight. She used the name , which her mother had proposed. A year later she appeared on a NHK broadcast, and impressed the Japanese composer Masao Koga with her singing skill. He thought she was a prodigy with the courage, understanding, and emotional maturity of an adult. In the next two years, she became an accomplished singer and was touring notable concert halls to sold-out crowds. Her recording career began in 1949 at the age of twelve, when she changed her stage-name to and starred in the film . The film brought her nationwide recognition. She recorded her first single for Columbia Records later that year. It became a commercial hit, selling more than 450,000 copies. After that, she recorded "Kanashiki kuchibue", which was featured on a radio program and was a national hit. As an actress, she starred in about 160 movies from 1949 to 1971, and won many awards. Her performance in "Tokyo Kiddo" (1950), in which she played a street orphan, made her symbolic of both the hardship and the national optimism of post-World War II Japan. Her third single was from the film and was another hit, "Watashi wa machi no ko".
As a singer, she became known for her performance of enka, a sentimental form of Japanese popular music which emerged during the early part of the 20th century, and was renowned for her live performances, and singing which encapsulated the emotional pain of those who had suffered. Although she did not understand English, she made excellent recordings US jazz standards.
Throughout her career she recorded over 1,401 songs, with her best selling song "Yawara" selling 1.8 million times.
In 1973 Tetsuya Katō, Misora's brother, was prosecuted for gang-related activity. Although NHK did not acknowledge any connection, Misora was excluded from "Kouhaku uta gassen" for the first time in eighteen years. Offended, she refused to appear on NHK for years afterwards.
Health problems also plagued her in her later years. In April of 1987, on the way to a performance in Fukuoka, Misora suddenly collapsed. Rushed to hospital, she was diagnosed with avascular necrosis brought on by chronic hepatitis. She was confined to a hospital in Fukuoka, and eventually showed signs of recovery in August. She commenced recording a new song in October, and in April of 1988 performed at a concert at the Tokyo Dome. Despite overwhelming pain in her legs, she performed a total of 39 songs.
Her triumph was to be short lived. She had drunk a lot of alcohol for decades. This had weakened her liver, and her condition grew worse. On 24 June 1989, after being confined to a hospital in Tokyo, she died from pneumonia at the age of 52. Her death was widely mourned throughout Japan.
Beginning in 1990, television and radio stations play her song on her birthdate each year to show respect. In a national poll by NHK in 1997, the song was voted the greatest Japanese song of all time by more than 10 million people.
In 1994, the "Hibari Misora Museum" opened in Arashiyama, Kyoto. It traced the history of Misora's life and career in multi-media exhibits, and displayed various memorabilia. It attracted more than 5 million visitors, until it officially closed on November 30, 2006, as to allow a scheduled reconstruction of the building. The main exhibits were moved into the Shōwa period section of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, until reconstruction was complete. The new "Hibari Misora Theater" opened on April 26, 2008, and includes a CD for sale of a previously unreleased song.
People are unsure where Hibari Misora's parents were originally from.
Some people think that she was of Korean origins, and that both her parents and herself had Korean passports. Others disagree. After studying her ancestry, they think that her parents were not Korean, but rather Japanese.
Cool
Cool can mean:
Northumberland Park railway station
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Angel Road railway station
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The Snorks are a race of small, colorful, fictional beings that live happily in the underwater world of Snorkland. They have snorkels on their heads, which are used to propel them swiftly through the water. As evidenced by the cartoon series, when a Snork becomes excited their tube makes a ""snork"" sound. Like the Flintstones or the Smurfs, they have much of the same technology as contemporary humans, adapted to their own aquatic environment. The Snorks use clams as currency, a reference to the slang word ""clam"", meaning ""dollar.""
According to the Snork back-story, a few ventured to the surface (which the Snorks believe is "outer space") in 1643, and watched a Royal Navy ship being attacked by pirates. The captain wound up in the water, and that was the first contact between the species when the Snorks saved his life, to which the captain then expressed his gratitude by writing a book about the Snorks, although very few humans believe in the existence of the Snorks. Since then, Snorks have adopted several human habits, such as wearing clothes.
Target
Target can mean any of the following:
First Lady
First Lady is an unofficial title used for the wife of a non-monarchical head of state or chief executive.
Some countries have a title, official or unofficial, that is or can be translated as "first lady". The title is not normally used for the wife of a head of government who is not also head of state.
First Gentleman is used where the head of state's spouse has been a man, such as the Philippines or Malta. While there has never been a male spouse of a U.S. President, "First Gentleman" is used in the United States for the husband of a governor.
First Spouse, a rare version of the title, can be used in either case where the spouse of a head of state is male or female. This term is used to promote gender equality and gender neutrality.
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