Three Girls Revitalizing Asia

Three Girls Revitalizing Asia (Japanese: 興亜三人娘, romanized: Koa sannin musume), known simply as Three Girls, was a transnational girl group that was active briefly in the 1940s.^[1] The trio was part of Japan's cultural propaganda efforts during the Second World War, aimed at promoting the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere—a concept that sought to create a bloc of Asian nations ruled by Japan, ostensibly free from Western imperialism due to being controlled by the Japanese colonial empire.^[1]

Three Girls Revitalizing Asia 興亜三人娘
1940 Japanese propaganda poster depicting Three Girls Revitalizing Asia
Background information
Origin	Japan
Genres	Musical nationalism
Years active	1940–1941
Labels	Nippon Columbia
Past members	Bai Guang Saiko Okuyama [ja] Ri Kōran

Career

The group released its first single, "Koa sannin musume" (興亜三人娘; "Three Girls Revitalizing Asia"), in December 1940, under the Nippon Columbia (Columbia Japan) label.^[1][2] The track is a Japan–Manchuria–China friendship song, sung by all three girls in the major key.^[1] The song's lyrics describe each culture as its national flower, chrysanthemum for Japan, orchid for Manchuria, and plum blossom for China.^[1][3] The B-side track was "Kokoro ni saku hana" (心に咲く花; "Flowers Blooming in My Heart"), a ryūkōka sung by Ri Kōran, also about the three girls.^[1] On the album cover, each girl is depicted wearing her respective national costume while holding flowers and smiling. Slightly below them on the cover is a male Imperial Japanese pilot.^[1]

The group disbanded in 1941, shortly after releasing a re-recorded version of the single.^[1] One of the group's members, Ri Kōran, went on to have a successful career as an actress, journalist, and politician.^[4] Despite its short run, Three Girls is credited with inventing the "marketing strategy where each member takes up a unique 'official position' in the group", still used by many idol groups in the modern day.^[1]

Membership

The group consisted of three young singers, each representing a national identity within the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere:^[1]

• Bai Guang (representing China)
• Saiko Okuyama [jp] (representing Japan)
• Ri Kōran (representing Manchukuo)

Ri Kōran was ethnically Japanese, but was born in what became Manchukuo and selected for the group in part for her ethnically ambiguous appearance.^[1]