Yōko Mihara
Yōko Mihara was an actress of Japanese exploitation cinema, erotic dancer and pin-up model who was active from the 1950s to 1970s.
Life and career
Mihara signed up with Shintoho in 1951 but appeared mostly in minor roles, pursuing the career of a pin-up model and stripper, until her role as the lead actress in Teruo Ishii's 1957 film Nude Actress Murder Case: Five Criminals. The following year, Shintoho made Mihara the star of their low-budget ama series in place of Michiko Maeda. She first appeared in Yoshiki Onoda's Cannibal Ama followed by the 1959 Girl Divers at Spook Mansion.Following Shintoho's bankruptcy in 1961, Mihara worked almost exclusively for Toei, including four films in Ishii's Abashiri Prison yakuza film series in 1966 and 1967 and later in their onsen geisha sexploitation films, eventually becoming a staple actress of the studio's "pinky violence" subgenre by the early 1970s.