Françoise Moréchand (born March 29, 1936) is a French TV personality in Japan and an author. Moréchand was one of the first foreigners to appear as foreign

tarento Celebrity, Television personalities in Japan, known as in Japanese, are celebrities who regularly appear in Media of Japan, mass media in Japan, especially as panelists on variety shows. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, bankable stars in Ame ...

on Japanese TV in 1964.

Early life and education

Moréchand's father was an engineer at a steel factory and her mother was a French instructor at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the family moved from Paris to

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

. They returned to Paris just before the

liberation of Paris The liberation of Paris (french: Libération de Paris) was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi G ...

in August 1944. After graduating from the

Collège Sévigné The Collège Sévigné is a French non-denominational private school. The school was founded in 1880 by Mathilde Salomon, becoming the first French non-denominational high school for young women, two months before the vote of the "Camille Sée" ...

in Japanese and Eastern Languages, Moréchand wanted to become a Chinese or Russian interpreter. Instead she went to Tokyo in 1958 with her first husband Guy Moréchand, an anthropologist. She is the mother of Agata Moréchand. Her father Jean Marie was an engineer diplomed from École Nationale des Arts et Métiers, promotion Paris 1914.

Career

In 1964 for the Tokyo Olympics, she worked for

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

television. In 1974,

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women's ready-to-wear, luxury goods, and accessories and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Chanel i ...

entrusted her with the management of its cosmetics division in Japan. During this period of time, she met her current husband, Tatsuji Nagataki, an author and an authority on French culture and arts. Moréchand became a Japanese television star, a fashion specialist, an author, and a professor of comparative cultures at Kyoritsu University. She is a consultant and lecturer at the

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

. She also works as an adviser for French Foreign Trade.

Publications

As of 2019, Moréchand has authored 33 works, published variously in Japanese, French, and Chinese, which are held in 65 libraries internationally, including the

National Diet Library The is the national library of Japan and among the largest libraries in the world. It was established in 1948 for the purpose of assisting members of the in researching matters of public policy. The library is similar in purpose and scope t ...

Harvard College Library Harvard Library is the umbrella organization for Harvard University's libraries and services. It is the oldest library system in the United States and both the largest academic library and largest private library in the world. Its collection ...

, the New York Public Library System, the

University of Chicago Library University of Chicago Library is the library system of the University of Chicago, located on the university's campus in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is the tenth largest academic library in North America, with over 11.9 million volumes as ...

, and the Université Charles de Gaulle. Her most widely held book is ''La Gaïjine'', and ''Le chic, c'est chic'' has sold over a million copies.

Selected books

* Moréchand, Françoise. 1976. ''Le chic, c'est chic.'' * Moréchand, Françoise. 1978. ''Eregansutte nani''. * Moréchand, Françoise. 1984. ''Ii onna wa ryōri ga wakaru: Parijennu wa kuishinbō''. Tōkyō: KK Besuto Serāzu * Morechand, Francoise. 1987. ''Furansuryū kaji no tanoshimikata''. Tōkyō: Besutoserāzu. *Moréchand-Nagataki, Françoise, and Carol-Anne De Carolis. 1990. ''La Gaïjine''. Paris: R. Laffont. *Moréchand, Françoise. 1996. ''Moreshan no gekijo nikki''.

Awards

In 2009, Moréchand was awarded the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

from France. In 2014, the French ambassador to Japan presented her with the insignia of Commander in the

National Order of Merit An order of merit is conferred by a state, government or royal family on an individual in recognition of military or civil merit. Order of merit may also refer to: * FIFA Order of Merit, for significant contribution to association football * PDC O ...

, for "devoting herself for fifty years to communicate with the Japanese and the French in order to discover the riches of each of these cultures".

References

External links

* (video, 3:26) {{DEFAULTSORT:Morechand, Francoise Living people 1936 births Expatriate television personalities in Japan French expatriates in Japan