Michiyo Aratama

was a Japanese film and stage actress. Biography After graduating from the Takarazuka Music and Dance School, Aratama joined the Takarazuka Revue in 1945. She gave her film debut in 1951, but it was not before 1955 that she left the Takarazuka Revue, signing first with Nikkatsu film studios, then, after her contract expired, with Toho. She worked for directors such as Mikio Naruse, Yasujirō Ozu and Masaki Kobayashi, appearing in films like The Human Condition, The End of Summer, Kwaidan and 47 Ronin. In 1974 Aratama was covered in a column by American fashion writer Eugenia Sheppard. The article called her the "Japanese Greta Garbo" and related her thoughts on her stardom as well as the attitudes and status of women in Japan. From the late 1970s she concentrated solely on stage and television work. Due to health problems, she reduced her appearances after 1994. She died of heart failure in 2001.