Wakabayashi is best known in English-speaking countries for her role as
Bond girl Aki in the 1967
James Bond film
You Only Live Twice. Before this, she had made many films in her native Japan, especially
Toho Studio's monster films, such as
Dogora, the Space Monster (1964) and
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), both of which were also released under various other titles. In
Ghidorah, she played a mystical princess, who could predict the future and was also a prophetess. When production of
You Only Live Twice began, Wakabayashi was slated to play the role of
Kissy Suzuki while her co-star
Mie Hama played Suki, one of Tiger Tanaka's top agents. When learning English proved to be a major hurdle to Hama, the women switched roles, with Hama playing the smaller part of Kissy and Wakabayashi playing the larger part of Suki. At her suggestion, the character of Suki was renamed Aki. They had acted together in
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) and
Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (1965), from which footage was recut to make
Woody Allen's ''
What's Up Tiger Lily?'' In 1971, she made an appearance in an episode of ''
Shirley's World. Wakabayashi made only one more film (and a guest TV appearance) before disappearing from both the big and small screen. In an interview in G-FAN'' magazine (No. 76), Wakabayashi said she retired from acting owing to injuries sustained while making a film. ==Selected filmography==