Editing Japanese in Pop Culture (section)

=1980s=

==SHOGUN/NBC/1980==
([[Toshiro Mifune]]/costar) Toranaga, a powerful warlord who lived in feudal Japan in the 1600s. Also featured are Yoko Shimada as Lady Mariko, who interpreted for a shipwrecked English navigator  named John Blackthorne (referred to as “Anjin-san”); [[Frankie Sakai]] as Yabu; and [[Nobuo Kaneko]] as Ishido, Toranaga’s nemesis. The five-part, twelve hour miniseries is based on James Clavell’s epic novel of the same name. 

==PINK LADY/NBC/1980==
(Mitsuyo "Mie" Nemoto, Keko "Kei" Masuda) Known as "Pink Lady", these two female Japanese rock singers were introduced to American television via this comedy variety hour. Mie & Kei may have been popular in Japan, but their U.S. debut quickly fizzled out. One  reason the series disappeared: the stars spoke very little English and had to be guided through the program sketches by American comedian Jeff Altman. You may remember their rock record "Kiss Me In The Dark." 

==MAGNUM, P.I./CBS/1980-88==
(Kwan Hi Lim) Lt. Tanaka, Japanese-American police detective based in Honolulu who often crossed paths with private detective, Thomas Magnum during the 1982-88 seasons. 

==ST. ELSEWHERE/NBC/1982-88==
([[Kim Miyori]]) Dr. Wendy Armstrong, Japanese-American medical resident working at Boston's St. Eligius Hospital (a.k.a. "St. Elsewhere"). During the 1982-84 season, Dr. Armstrong's character was written out of the series via suicide brought on by her demanding hospital responsibilities and her depression over her anorexia nervosa problem. 

==THE DEVLIN CONNECTION/NBC/1982==
(Takayo) Mrs. Watanabe, the efficient Japanese housekeeper and cook of Brian Devlin, a former intelligence officer who now ran the Los Angeles Cultural Arts Center. 

==HAWAIIAN HEAT/ABC/1984==
([[Mako]]) Major Taro Oshira, a Japanese-American police officer responsible for supervising two Chicago street cops new to the Hawaiian Islands. Also featured were bikini clad beauties Leila Hee Olsen as Leila;  Tina Marie Machako as Tina; and Julie Marie Olsen as Julie. 

==E/R/CBS/1984-85==
([[Shuko Akune]]) Maria Amardo, a lazy Japanese-American receptionist with a smart mouth who worked at a Chicago-based emergency room at Clark Street Hospital. 

==GUNG HO/ABC/1986==
([[Gedde Watanabe]]) "Kaz" Kazuhiro, a Japanese manager stationed at the Assan Motors automotive plant in Hadleyville, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Other cast included Patti Yasutake as Kaz's wife, Umeki; Sab Shimono as Kaz's assistant, Saito; Emily K. Kuroda as Saito's wife, Yukiko; Rodney Kageyama as Ito; and Scott Atari as Kenji. The series was based on the Ron Howard film "Gung Ho" (1985) about a group of Japanese businessman who participated in a joint American-Japanese automotive plant venture. 

==OHARA/ABC/1987-88==
(Noriyuki [[Pat Morita]]) Ohara, a mild-mannered Japanese-American who worked as a detective for the Los Angeles police department. Called the "Un-cop", Ohara shunned firearms, didn't drive and spouted philosophical sayings like "a flea makes life harder for a Jackass than a Jackass for a flea". Brain over brawn was his motto but when necessary he used his proficiency in martial arts to subdue the bad guys. Later in the series, Ohara left the force to become a private investigator along with a fellow police detective.

==RAGS TO RICHES/NBC/1987-88==
([[Kimiko Gelman]]) Rose, one of five orphaned girls adopted by Nick Foley, a West Coast self-made millionaire who lived in a Bel Air mansion with an aging but hip English butler during the days of 1961. Rose's mother was a Japanese-American imprisoned in an American concentration camp during World War II. While interned she fell in love with an U.S. Army soldier and became pregnant. When the baby's father shipped out, Rose's grandfather gave the baby (Rose) up for adoption. Disheartened, the next day Rose's mother walked in front of a moving train. 

==STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION/SYN/1987-94==
(Rosalind Chao) Keiko Ishikawa O'Brien, a Starfleet botanist of Japanese descent who married Miles O'Brien, the transporter chief aboard the starship USS Enterprise-D. Also featured were Patti Yatsutake as Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, a member of the Enterprise-D medical staff; Benjamin W. S. Lum as Jim Shimoda, an assistant chief engineer featured on episode No. 3 "The Naked Now"; Robert Ito as Tac Officer Chang in charge of Starfleet Academy examinations on the episode No. 19 "Coming of Age"; and Keone Young as Buck Bokai (a.k.a. Harmon Bokai), one of professional baseball's greatest player who broke Joe DiMaggio's record for consecutive hits in the year 2026 as mentioned on episode No. 13 "The Big Goodbye." The Bokai character was integrated into a holographic program used by the African-American commander Benjamin Sisko to play baseball on board the Enterprise on episode No. 14 "The Storyteller,"; and his holographic image came to life and escaped the confines of his holographic programming on episode No. 16 "If Wishes Were Horses." 

==TOUR OF DUTY/CBS/1987-90==
([[Steve Akakoshi]]) Pvt. Randy "Doc" Matsuda, a Japanese-American Army soldier assigned as a medic during the Vietnam War in 1967. His character died in action during the 1987-88 season. The program also featured a number of oriental actors who portrayed the many Vietnamese soldiers, peasants etc. This series was the first series to actually address the issues of the Vietnam War during prime time television. 


==MURPHY'S LAW/ABC/1988-89==
(Maggie Han/costar) Kimiko Fannuchi, a beautiful Eurasian fashion model who lived in San Francisco loft apartment with Daedalus Patrick Murphy, a lovable, but alcoholic insurance investigator. Kimiko's father was Italian; her mother was Japanese.  In 1985 Maggie Han played Cindy Rhee, a beautiful Asian female in the miniseries James A. Michener's Space.

==CHICKEN SOUP/ABC/1989==
([[Shuko Akune]]) Helen, a Japanese social worker working at the Henry Settlement House in New York City. 

==ISLAND SON/CBS/1989-90==
([[Clyde Kusatsu]]) Kenji Fushida, an amiable Japanese-American Chief of Surgery who worked as a physician at Kamehameha Medical Center in Honolulu .with Dr. Daniel Kulani, the adopted son of Hawaiian parents. 

==THE KARATE KID/NBC/1989-90==
(Cartoon Character) Miyagi (voice of Pat Morita), a sage oriental from Okinawa, Japan with martial arts skills who originally worked as an apartment handyman in Southern California. This animated cartoon based on the motion picture "The Karate Kid" (1984) and two sequel films, followed Miyagi and his student Daniel as they traveled about the world in search of a religious artifact with mystic powers. They were accompanied by an Okinawan girl named Taki.