Masako Izumi

was a Japanese actress, singer and adventurer.

Life and career Izumi was born in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan on 31 July 1947. She joined Wakakusa Theatre Company and started her acting career as a child actress at the age of 11. Three years later, she moved to Nikkatsu Film company and she became one of the three representative actresses of the Nikkatsu called Nikkatsu Sannin Musume along with Sayuri Yoshinaga and Chieko Matsubara.

Izumi was the first Japanese woman to reach the North Pole on an expedition, which she did in 1989.

Izumi died from cancer on 9 July 2025, at the age of 77.

Selected filmography Kojo no Tsuki (1958) The Snow Flurry (1959) as Sakura Nagura The Seven Challengers (1961) The Love Story of Ginza (1962) Bad Girl (1963) as Wakae Kita Hikaru umi (1963) The Bastard (1963) as Emiko Okamura Wakakusa Monogatari (1964) as Chieko Tattooed Life (1965) as Midori Kinoshita The Society (1968) as Mineko Kobayashi The Wild Sea (1969) Earth Ninja Chronicles: Duel in the Wind (1979) Men and War Part II (1971) Blood Vendetta (1971) Shin Heike Monogatari (1972) (TV series) as Yomogiko Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari (1998) (TV series)