Yumiko Takeshima (竹島 由美子, Takeshima Yumiko; born 1970) is a Japanese designer and former Principal dancer with…Yumiko Takeshima (竹島 由美子, Takeshima Yumiko; born 1970) is a Japanese designer and former Principal dancer with Semperoper Ballett, Universal Ballet, the Alberta Ballet Company, Feld Ballet, and the Dutch National Ballet. Born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Takeshima began dancing at the age of four in Sapporo. At the age of thirteen, she studied at the San Francisco Ballet School in the United States. Takeshima continued to dance throughout the 90s and early 2000s and started designing dancewear and costumes for ballet companies from all over the world. Takeshima founded the dancewear company YUMIKO and the YumiGirl Network in 2002. Her dancewear was used in Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 award-winning film Black Swan. She was the 2003 and 2005 recipient of the 'Best Female Dancer Award' by Dance Europe Magazine and won a gold medal at the 1996 Serge Lifar International Ballet Competition in Kyiv.
Waki Yamato (Japanese: 大和 和紀, Hepburn: Yamato Waki; born March 13, 1948) is a Japanese manga artist. She debuted in…Waki Yamato (Japanese: 大和 和紀, Hepburn: Yamato Waki; born March 13, 1948) is a Japanese manga artist. She debuted in 1966 with the short story Dorobō Tenshi. Since her debut, Yamato steadily created and published a variety of works in the genre of shōjo manga. Among her early time works, Mon Cherie CoCo, 1971, was adapted into an anime television series, and her work, Haikara-san ga Tōru, 1975 to 1977, was very successful, winning the 1st Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga in 1977. It was also made into a musical for the Takarazuka Revue, an anime series (which reached an international audience through TV broadcasts in Italy and France), and a live-action film. Through these early works, she established her position as one of the most popular manga artists.
Kawai Michi (河井 道; July 29, 1877 – February 11, 1953) was a Japanese educator, Christian activist, and proponent of…Kawai Michi (河井 道; July 29, 1877 – February 11, 1953) was a Japanese educator, Christian activist, and proponent of Japanese-Western ties before, during, and after World War II. She served as the first Japanese National Secretary of the YWCA of Japan and founded Keisen University.