Fujiko

Fujiko Tanaka
Quote:	"Have a pleasant day, please."
IC Info
Race:	Human
Sexuality:	Lesbian
Age:	???
Date of Birth:	20 January 1980
Place of Origin:	Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Height:	5'10" (178 cm)
Eye Color:	Blue-gray
Hair Color:	Red
Bloodtype:	O-
Sign:	Aquarius/Capricorn
Hobbies:	Gardening, cooking
Romantic Status:	Dating
Romantic Identification:	Polyamorous
Religion:	Shinto/Buddhist/Agnostic
Residence:	Yuriba Free Library
Occupation:	Librarian
OOC Info
Source:	Original (any resemblance to Lupin III is purely coincidental)

Fujiko Tanaka is a slightly shy, rather redheaded Japanese woman who occupies the position of Yuriba's chief librarian. Up until quite recently she was also the only one to occupy that title, until she elected to take on assistants. Her other duties include education, and membership on the Town Council.

Biography

An only child, Fujiko's childhood was relatively uneventful. Early on she showed interest in athletics, especially football (or soccer, to Americans) and swimming. While mildly outgoing, her first love was always books, a devotion encouraged by her parents, who were both schoolteachers.

Beginning in high school, she had a string of failed relationships with other girls, hampered both by an increasing shyness, and the normal problems attendant with a same-sex relationship (or even simply being homosexual) in a Japanese school. Unlike many, though, she found no lack of confidence in her own sexuality... only in the acceptance (or lack thereof) found in others.

Once in college, she continued her self-isolation, pursuing a major in information and library science at Yokohama National University and burying herself with the books she loved. Though an average student in most respects, it was the art of libraries where she truly excelled, graduating a full year early and immediately gaining a position at the Kanazawa branch of the Yokohama library system. Only two years passed there, though, before she noticed Yuriba mentioned in an obscure travel brochure and went there for a weekend visit, a visit which has since stretched out for several years and still shows no signs of ending.

Spring 2006 brought with it the opportunity to achieve one of her dreams: a fellowship at the main branch of the British Library for six months. Although saddened at the prospect of spending so much time away from her friends, she decided that this was too good an opportunity to pass up, and thus left Yuriba, to return in November. She enjoyed the experience so much, and the British Library was so kind as to consent, that in July 2007 she left again, though not without a bit more reluctance. Upon her return in December 2007, she seems to have settled down for good, tending to her books with typical professionalism, and a mildly forgiving nature toward those who return books in an untimely fashion.

In 2011, she accepted the additional challenge of teaching both language and literature to the varying grade levels at Rinkei Gakuen, a task she threw herself into with her typical intensity. Thus far, she's been well received, and prefers to think of her lack of native language skills as an advantage. In addition, she teaches a course in public speaking and rhetoric once a week for those who are interested. In the fall of 2015 she began to teach mathematics as well; while being outside her normal background, she's welcomed the challenge of instructing in an area she is not expert in.

2012 brought with it a series of earthquakes, and so Fujiko was more or less been placed at the forefront of assessing Yuriba's disaster readiness, and ways to improve the same. While actively soliciting and hearing suggestions from the island's residents, she admitted that as a whole the island was fairly well prepared, or at least stands to lose little. Post-disaster, she completed library renovations, and has kept a fairly low profile, while maintaining social contacts which branch out across a wide cross-section of island society.

As of 2016, she remains librarian, though has also been noted to be mascot of the Baby Seal. On 10 October she became a mother for the first time, giving birth to Midori Grace-Tanaka with Allya. Not long after, on 28 July 2018 she gave birth to triplets with Cecily, named Fuyumi, Natsumi, and Harumi.

Curiously, on the occasion of her 40th birthday she was very difficult to find for eight days.

Appearance

After a yearlong experiment with dyeing her hair blonde, Fujiko's hair has returned to its customary red hue. Her makeup is generally understated, though she will now and then take special liberties for dates and the like. Normally she tends to blouses and sweaters, and skirts which flatter her legs. As a rule, she will only don a coat in the coldest a Yuriban winter has to offer, or when it's raining too hard for an umbrella to compensate. She prefers to keep a businesslike, professional appearance at most times, and takes great pride, perhaps even a certain vanity, in her clothes. After a long, self-imposed ban, she will wear trousers and shorts as well, though such occasions are considerably more rare. In warm weather, she can occasionally be spied wearing nothing at all, as part of an ongoing experiment with nudism, one which has had varying levels of success. It's not uncommon for her to have a single lily blossom pinned in her hair at these times. Otherwise, she can be seen in a wide variety of outfits and costumes, enjoying changing her outfits and sometimes insisting on wearing certain clothes in certain places. Her expansive wardrobe is one of the larger ones on the island, though she is generally looking to broaden her tastes even more. Recently she has been cursed or blessed, depending on one's perspective, with the magical waters of the foxgirl spring. Unusually, this manifests itself in the form of three fox tails, rather than the conventional one. The reason for this is unknown, and she does not tend to discuss how she came about her current state. Her hair is notable as being among the longest on the island; it can sometimes reach as low as her calves, and is almost invariably worn straight.

Interests

In addition to her beloved library and books, Fujiko likes to keep in shape, mostly by jogging or swimming. Lately she has been less avid about this than she has been in the past, taking a more relaxed view toward exercise, perhaps at the expense of enjoying her own cooking creations. In a less athletic vein, she also likes to garden. Despite her self-deprecating claims to the contrary, she has a real flair for this, and her perennials are especially breathtaking in the late spring to early summer. Since 2012 she's maintained a vegetable garden as well, again with good results.

Recently she has taken up baking, and while starting with small things, her cookies and muffins have earned great praise from those few lucky enough to have sampled them, and her brownies have also received favorable reviews. In reflection of this, she won an honorable mention at the 2010 Fall Food Festival. Sadly, her skills with meats is rather more lacking, and she finds pasta almost impossible to cook without boiling it to a mush or a tooth-cracking al dente.

She also has a passing interest in magic and the supernatural. This is partly predictable, given the prevalence of such phenomena on the island; it's practically unavoidable. Also, though, because of its absence in her hometown; Yokohama is the quintessential modern city. In fact, Fujiko often feels quite the minority on the island, as there is almost nothing of the supernatural about her at all, which makes her recent Jusenkyou expression all the more striking. She has been known to refer to herself jokingly as "magically tone deaf." Nevertheless, she is of the opinion that if one cannot do, one can at least read. After all, all knowledge is worth having.

Relationships

After steadfastly refusing to devote herself to any one woman for years--the string of too many failed relationships still haunting her--she seemed finally to have hit things off rather well with Ada, after having considered her a friend for some time. The two had dated since spring of 2007, a relationship which shows little sign of waning. Thus, few were surprised when they announced their engagement in December 2010. Through stumbles and missteps, they remained devoted to each other. However, after calling off their engagement by mutual consent in September 2011, Fujiko finally ended their relationship in February 2012, though she refuses to discuss her reasons for doing so. She still likes to maintain strong friendships--and more--with several girls, finding her heart still unable or unwilling to be bound to just one other. As she ages, though, she finds her circle of friends shrinking, largely by choice, as she devotes her time and attention to a more select few.

One of Fujiko's hallmarks is her desire--verging on the obsessive--to get along well with everyone. Going to nearly any length to avoid confrontation with anyone, regardless of how unpleasant they might be, she tends to pride herself on maintaining friendly relations with as many women as possible, and so a complete list of those acquaintances and friends would be unnecessarily long. Thus, while she has both a group of friends and a smaller circle of closer friends, she hesitates to put any of them ahead of the others. If pressed, she might admit to having deeper feelings for Allya, Abryn, Cecily, Lily, Kayla and Rae, while also having close friendships with Brysaihe, Anna, Leona, Sarai, and Diana. However, she is quick to remind most that she dislikes making anyone feel they are less important to her than someone else. Allya is notable for having been Midori's other mother.

Miscellaneous

Fujiko Tanaka at work, summer 2011.

Owing to her cultural and family backgrounds, few things are as important to Fujiko as politeness, and there can be no worse insult than to be thought of as rude. As such, her speech can tend to be a bit overly formal at times. Similarly, she cannot abide rudeness in others, and that can in fact be considered one of her turn-offs. She enjoys talking to new people and finding out more about them. Though she readily admits to being a horrible singer, she enjoys listening to pop, of both American and Japanese varieties. In fact, prior to her trip to England, American pop music was the main influence on her spoken English; happily, she's gotten much better at it. Her speech has a bit more than a hint of British Received Pronunciation at times, which becomes even more obvious when she speaks English, though she finds American accents quite alluring, and tries to emulate them at times, with mixed success. She also takes an almost perverse pleasure in a mode of speaking charitably described as wordy; she revels in double and triple negatives, sometimes to the annoyance of those around her. Also, despite having little skill of her own, she does take a casual interest in sport, including baseball, soccer, and recently ice hockey.

She spends much of her time at Leona's Bar and Girl, though her other haunts include The Dragon’s Brew, and The Baby Seal. At the latter, one may find her working behind the counter, albeit it rarely. More often, she ends up as a mascot of sorts. Really, there are almost no corners of the island she hasn't poked her nose into, though in recent years she tends not to roam far beyond the confines of the village proper.