| Kyoko Kano | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kyoko KANO October 7, 1962 Osaka Japan |
| Residence | Tokyo |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Other names | Koko |
| Known for | Bust: 96cm Waist: 58cm Hips: 91cm |
| Height | 169cm (5'6.5")[1] |
| Website | |
| The Kanō sisters' official website | |
| Mika Kano | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mika KANO September 23, 1967 Saijō, Ehime Japan |
| Residence | Tokyo |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Other names | Tamagon, Mikaringu |
| Known for | Bust: 96cm Waist: 57cm Hips: 91cm |
| Height | 170cm (5'7")[1] |
| Website | |
| The Kanō sisters' official website | |
Kyoko Kano (叶 恭子 Kanō Kyōko, born 7 October 1962 in Osaka) and Mika Kano (叶 美香 Kanō Mika, born 23 September 1967 in Saijō, Ehime), known collectively as the Kano sisters (叶姉妹 Kanō shimai), are Japanese celebrities.
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The Kano Sisters say they are half-sisters with different mothers.[2] There is also a 3rd "sister" who initially made appearances with the two. She eventually withdrew from the scene, according to industry sources, and now only intermittently appears with them.[3] The lack of resemblance between them as well as their refusal to answer any questions about their age (even their reported ages are speculation) or past fuels speculation the three are not sisters at all, but just another group of tarento with a carefully crafted gimmick.[2] Within Japan it is rumored that before becoming celebrities, they were high priced call girls for the jet set level.[4]
In 1997, the oldest sister Kyoko debuted in 25ans, an upscale women's fashion magazine, as one of its "supaa dokusha" (super readers). Her success led to both sisters appearing regularly on Japanese TV. Their main claim to fame is their outrageous sense of style, involving highly revealing clothes, flashy jewelry, and jet-set travel. Often wearing see-through dresses with deep V-necks, the sisters generously show off their full breasts and long legs.[3]
Apart from frequent television appearances, they market a series of exercise videos, erotic calendars, collectible fashion cards[5] and coffee-table pictorials, featuring the two preening mostly naked before a soft-focus lens.[6] Japanese toy maker Takara Co. began to sell 30-centimeter-high dolls modeled after the Kano sisters, called Kano Sisters' Gorgeous Dolls, in March 2002. The dolls were priced at 19,800 yen a pair.[7]
They are frequently invited to movie premieres, film festivals, and award ceremonies. Self-described "Lifestyle Consultants," Japanese women pay pounds 150 for a Kano seminar to hear their advice on how to get more from a relationship and how to apply a flawless face.[8] Businessmen pay them as much as $30,000 to make appearances at parties.[9] The sisters are each a former Miss Japan.[10]
In 3 April 2006, the Kano sisters published a collection of nude artistic photographs in a book entitled Sweet Goddess. Posing in a revealing style known in Japanese as "hea nuudo", or "hair nude," a term for nude photographs of women who display their pubic hair, the photographs were taken by Kyoko Kano with modeling by Mika Kano. Sweet Goddess was reported to be among the first path breaking collections that break this unwritten post-war publication rule.[11]Sweet Goddess was listed as a bestseller for several months.[12] The Kano sisters released a similar pictorial collection entitled Sweet Goddess 2 on 1 November 2006.
On 1 January 2000, Kano released an autobiographical book, Millennium Muse with an introduction by non-fiction writer Yuko Kobayashi. The book included full color photographs of her posing with younger sister and discusses Kano’s background and philosophy on life, love, men, money and sex. Some in the media panned the writing as amateurish. The book became an Asahi Shimbun bestseller.[13] Six years later, Kano followed it up with Toriorizumu, a non-fiction work that elaborates on these themes. Writing in the Shukan Post, she describes all 30 chapters and 237 pages as a "personal record experiencing a 'type of love without taboos.'"[14]
Kyoko claims she was the potential wife of an elderly American billionaire after "five Hollywood actresses failed to win his heart", but dumped him.[8]
In April 2000, author Shigeru Sato published an unauthorized biography of Kyoko Kano in which he depicted her lifestyle from the viewpoint of a pet cat. Kano sued the author for defamation, demanding 10 million yen in the suit. In September 2001, the Tokyo District Court ordered the author to pay Kano 5 million yen in damages, for infringing on Kano's privacy and dishonoring her reputation. In handing down the ruling, Presiding Judge Yoshihiro Katayama said that Sato used "blunt and excessive" expression in portraying Kano, who frequently appears on TV, "as a person who does not think of anything but sexual matters."[15]
In August 2005, Kyoko and Mika Kano sued Japanese actress Miri Okada for defamation based on Okada's televised June 2005 claim that the two sisters unsuccessfully tried to seduce Okada's husband, Norio Yaginuma.[16] The sisters were awarded 660,000 yen (approx. US$ 6,200) compensation by the Tokyo District Court in July 2006. Judge Shigehiro Ishikawa ruled, "[Okada's] claims were groundless and she neglected in her duty to ask that they not be broadcast."[17]
Teruo Kano, father of Kyoko Kano, allegedly accosted the Kano sisters with an umbrella in a Tokyo underground parking lot complex on December 25, 2007 after the sisters had allegedly refused to pay him back an undisclosed amount of money. The money was borrowed by Teruo to Kyoko more than 15 years ago. He was arrested for intimidation, accused of violating the Law concerning Punishment for Physical Violence.[18]
Following the incident, on 11 January 2008, Kyoko Kano filed a defamation lawsuit for 11 million yen (approx. US$ 103 thousand) in compensatory damages against weekly news magazine Shukan Shincho in the Tokyo District Court. According to the petition, the magazine's January 17 issue would run an article accusing the Kano sisters of duplicity. The magazine article alleged that "While Kyoko [Kano] had borrowed money from her father, she failed to repay the debt." The plaintiff insisted that it was the father who persistently asked for money, commenting that "such erroneous reporting could damage her reputation."[19] The editorial staff at Shukan Shincho would not comment on the lawsuit.[20]
Kyoko Kano
| Preceded by Keiko Ibi |
Miss Japan 1988 |
Succeeded by Norie Sawamoto |