Born Umeko Miura in Otaru, Hokkaido, in 1915, she was the seventh of eight siblings. Her family eventually settled in Meguro City, Tokyo, where she grew up. In 1928, she enrolled in the training program for the all-female Shochiku Opera Company, a onetime competitor of the Takarazuka Revue. There, she was given the stage name Takiko Mizunoe. Mizunoe cut her hair short, a novelty at the time—while Takarazuka had pioneered the trend of women who play male parts, referred to as otokoyaku, actresses in the troupe would simply tuck their long hair under a hat. This marked the beginning of Mizunoe's signature "cross-dressed fair lady" style, and she became known for her appearances onstage in a silk hat and tuxedo. The trend of otokoyaku cutting their hair short would eventually spread to Takarazuka as well, where it is still common practice today.
The Pink Strike
In June–July 1933, at age 18, Mizunoe led one of the Japanese labor movement's few successful actions of the period when she headed a strike of the Shochiku Opera Company's performers in reaction to wage cuts. By that point, Mizunoe had become a star, and news of the "Pink Strike"—so called because it was led by young women in their teens and twenties—spread throughout the media. The strike lasted for a month, and nearly 50 strikers were arrested, including Mizunoe. But eventually the action was successful, in part because the company could not be seen as exploiting its most popular star, and the company's management offered improved labor conditions and a wage increase for musicians.
Although the Shochiku Opera Company dismissed Mizunoe for two months following the labor dispute, she returned to the stage in September 1933 with a one-woman show, ushering in her peak period as a revue star. Mizunoe continued to be popular in male roles throughout the prewar period, with critics describing her as a "symbol of Girls' Opera." She toured northern China, the United States, and Europe, but returned to Japan as the country entered World War II. During the war, Japan imposed restrictions on cross-dressing, which forced Mizunoe to perform in female roles. Touring also became difficult due to restrictions on non-military travel and Alliedair raids.
Screen career and film producer
After the war, Mizunoe transitioned to a film career, beginning with 1949's Hana Kurabe Tanuki Goten. She also appeared on television, including as a host of the now long-running New Year’s Eve music show Kōhaku Uta Gassen in its first few years on air. In 1954, she was hired as a producer for Nikkatsu, Japan's oldest major movie studio, becoming one of the first female film producers in Japan. Her first film, Hatsukoi Kanariya Musume, was released the following year. In 1956, she produced the film adaptation of Shintaro Ishihara's Season of the Sun, the debut film for Japanese film icon Yujiro Ishihara, Shintaro's brother. Mizunoe would go on to collaborate with the Ishihara brothers again on Crazed Fruit, a controversial film that influenced foreign filmmakers such as François Truffaut. She discovered and promoted a number of other actors who would go on to successful careers in Japan's film industry, including Ruriko Asaoka and Masumi Okada, as well as current National Diet politician Akiko Santō. Mizunoe produced dozens of movies across a 16-year producing career before leaving Nikkatsu in 1970.
Retirement and later years
After ending her career as a producer, Mizunoe continued appearing on television until she retired in 1987, following an incident in which her nephew, Kazuyoshi Miura, was accused of murdering his wife. In the ensuing media attention surrounding Miura's case, allegations emerged that he was actually Mizunoe's child, not her nephew. Mizunoe, who never married, denied the allegation that Miura was her secret child as "baseless." Nevertheless, she largely retreated from public life, retiring to her home in Kanagawa prefecture, where she died in 2009 of natural causes at the age of 94.
