Rumiko Matsubara -- Wakare（不実）

 

One of the highlights of my time working as the receptionist at the old International Student Centre at the University of Toronto was when the building was chosen to be one of the filming sites for the 1993 movie "M. Butterfly" starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone regarding forbidden love between the two main characters. Many of our rooms were used as certain areas within the French Embassy located in China. Of course, there was a lot of excitement of an actual Hollywood movie being filmed in my workplace. 

Apparently, the grand staircase was the final factor that got us selected by director David Cronenberg. I actually got to meet the famous director when he came in one day to take a look at the ISC. He was very friendly and a fair bit shorter than I'd thought (basically the same height as me at about 173 cm). I have a few stories about the "M. Butterfly" era but for brevity here, I'll just relay the part where a lot of Chinese students came to the front desk like happy puppies and asked whether Lone would be filming his scenes at the centre. Alas, I had to tell them that he was filming his scenes half way around the world while Irons would be filming within the centre. Didn't quite get the enthusiastic reception there.

I have to say that although I never saw the entire movie, I did marvel at how well Lone was able to play a woman, fooling and bewitching Irons' character. Apparently, something like that happened in real life in Japan in the 1980s. Hokkaido-born former thespian and TV personality Rumiko Matsubara（松原留美子）was a "New Half"（ニューハーフ）...a Japanese term that could describe either a transgender woman or a drag queen (the impression I got from the J-Wiki article on her was that she may have even been the originator of the term). While she was working in Roppongi, Tokyo, she was actually able to convince clients at a hostess club that she was a real woman. She was even selected to be the image girl for the "Roppongi Beauty" campaign without anyone finding out that she was a man. A couple of people involved with a movie saw one of her posters and recruited Matsubara to be the star and were absolutely flabbergasted when Matsubara told them that he was actually a guy.

Fame soon followed and when fame follows anyone in Japan, that means it's time to cut records. And Matsubara did release a couple of singles in 1981 and 1982 with one album coming out in 1981. Plainly titled "New Half", one of the tracks is "Wakare"（Parting） although the actual kanji is read as "Fujitsu" (Insincerity). Written by Yoko Katsura（桂葉子）and composed by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, it's quite the languid City Pop number which is performed with a very light touch by the singer. Melodically, it could describe the night life in the buildings filled with hostess clubs in the livelier areas of Tokyo.

Matsubara was gainfully employed in front of the camera for at least half of the 1980s but eventually the phone calls to her dried up and she returned to her work as a hostess. But she faded from view completely by the 1990s.

The ISC