From a race queen to an actress… showing off her breasts in a wet scene, and also shoulder 100 million yen on her ex-husband’s shoulders, the legend of Miss Reiko Takashima.

The first car she bought was a used Skyline… She became a race queen to earn money for racing and car expenses.

In 2012, “Eyelid no Tengakusei” and “Watashi no Kaasan – Tenshi no Uta” were released one after another, and on the May 2 broadcast of “Downtown DX” (NTV), she shared an episode about a complicated fracture she suffered as a young actress, which made her realize that her career as an actress was over, Reiko Takashima is active in movies, dramas, and variety shows. Although she has a strong image as an “extreme wife” and the arrest and divorce of her ex-husband, she has had an impactful life up to that point.

Born on July 25, 1964, in Yokohama, Japan, Reiko Takashima got her motorcycle license at age 16 and her automobile license at 18. The first car she bought was a used Skyline. A native of Yokohama, he worked for an automobile company after graduating from high school and worked there for three years before retiring. Soon after that, he obtained a domestic Class A license and became so involved with cars that he entered races.

However, “I ended up competing in two races, but the results were so disastrous that I can’t even talk about them. I ran into bumpy opponents and crashed all by myself.” (FLASH ’97, June 1, 1997, Rinzoku issue), “I was in a lot of trouble as I crashed a number of cars and wrecked them. I had put all my savings into it, but they soon ran out.” (Weekly Post, January 1-8, 2003).

In order to earn money for her racing and car expenses, she became a race queen, joined a modeling agency, and began her career as a model.

As part of her modeling career, she appeared in a commercial for “Torabayu” in 1988, which caught the attention of Ken Matsudaira, and in 1989 she made her debut as an actress in the drama “Ranrenbo Shogun III” as the role of the “Oniwaban.

Although she was a late bloomer at the age of 25, the days spent filming at Kyoto’s Ohata Studios provided Takashima with a great deal of experience.

Although she was told by others that she should get married as soon as possible and that she did not have the personality to survive in the entertainment industry,” she wrote in the June 1, 1997 issue of FLASH, “the experience of being on set in Kyoto was invaluable, and it still motivates me when I work in Tokyo. It is still the driving force for me when I work in Tokyo. (Ie no Hikari, January 2010 issue).

Her first starring role in a movie as an understudy…and the intense love scenes that followed were also a topic of conversation.

In 1993, the lead actress in the movie “Wandering Brain,” was replaced by Takashima, and she was asked to play the lead role for the first time in a movie. When she was told that there would be a nude scene, she said, “This may be my last chance. (Asahi Geino, April 24, 2003 issue), and she played a rich love scene with Masateru Kanda, including a wet scene in which she presses her breasts against a windowpane. This physical performance raised her reputation as an actress, and she steadily increased the number of films in which she appeared.

She also said, “I have loved the movies of Ken Takakura and Junko Tomiji since I was a student, and I also loved Kanako Higuchi’s “Kagero”. So when I was offered this role, it was like a dream come true.” (Kinema Junpo, February 1, 1996 issue) Takashima, who had a passion for ninkyo films, passionately played the role of Orin Shiranui, a veteran expatriate, in “Kagero 2. From that time on, she began to increase her presence as an actress.

The commercial for “Yellow Cherry Blossom” aired in 1997, and it was this commercial that sealed Takashima’s popularity. Her glamorous appearance in a kimono, sipping a sake cup while shedding tears, captured the hearts of adult men. Takashima later commented on her tearful performance, “Actually, I was dumped by my boyfriend just before recording that commercial, so naturally my teary glands were relaxed. (Weekly Post, January 1, 2003 issue).

In 1999, Takashima became the fourth “Kyokudo no Tsumatachi” (Gokudo no Tsumatachi: Red Deadly Intent), following Shima Iwashita, Yukiyo Juju, and Yoshiko Mita. 35 years old and in her prime, Takashima’s appearance in kimono was well received, and she became one of Takashima’s most popular works. She became the fourth “Kyokusuma” (extreme wife) of the series.

Her husband’s arrest and divorce became a major scandal.

As mentioned above, she had been dating a man for many years, but the relationship broke up. Although there was no other news, she married Noboru Takachi in 1999, the same year she appeared in Kyokusuma. They wed in Hawaii and were known as a loving couple, but divorced in 2004. The reason was that Kochi was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and marijuana, and his adulterous partner was also arrested at that time. The arrest and divorce were widely reported at the time, partly due to the ironic fact that the partner was “a woman who used to be a race queen and has a great style” (Josei Seven, July 14, 2004 issue).

Even in the midst of this huge scandalous arrest and divorce, Takashima showed her “super-wife” charm. The couple lived in a mansion worth about 300 million yen, one-third of which was in Kochi’s name. If he were to repay the debt, it would amount to 110 million yen, including fees. Mr. Takashima took care of this debt in the form of property sharing.

In addition, “Recently, there are reports that a ‘meeting to encourage Kochi’ is being planned with Takashima’s backing,” according to a source in the entertainment industry (Sunday Mainichi, July 23, 2005 issue), “He (Kochi) is no good without me. I will take care of him until the end. I will take care of him until the end.'” (Shukan Bunshun, November 23, 2005 issue).

In recent years, Takashima has changed from her previous roles, playing the main character’s mother in the movie “Ichiban Aitai Hito” and the main character’s grandmother in “Watashi no Kaasan – Tenshi no Uta”. In the future, we can expect to see her as a mature woman with the sexiness and extreme wifely intensity that she once showed in the past.