Toru Watanabe

Early life

Watanabe was born on 12 May 1961 in Oyama, Tochigi.^[1][2] His mother worked as a poster girl for a local restaurant her family ran, and his father worked as a nagashi accordionist.^[2][3] The family moved frequently, around "the heart of the Kantō Plain, on the borders of Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, and Saitama prefectures", and he once lived in a six-story tenement house in the Kosuna area in Koga, Ibaraki.^[2] He was educated at Ibaraki Prefectural Koga Third High School [ja].^[4] He later attended the Bungakuza Theatre Institute and joined the agency in 1985.^[1]

Media career

In 1981, he debuted as Junji Takemoto/Rugger in the TV drama Taiyō ni Hoero!, before starring in the 1984 Nippon TV drama Kaze no Naka no Aitsu  [ja].^[5][6] In 1987, he played Hiroshi Kiyomitsu in the film Actress  [ja].^[7] He won the 1982 Golden Arrow Award for Best Newcomer in Broadcasting.^[8] He starred in his film debut in Yoake no Runner (1983).^[9] He was one of the winners of the 1985 Elan d'or Award for Newcomer of the Year.^[10]

In 1982, he released his first single "Kare (Rival)".^[6] He rose to popularity with his second single "Yakusoku", made for Glico Almond Chocolate commercials, topping at #2 on the Oricon Singles Chart.^[5][11] Three more singles, "Ai no Naka e" (1982), "Yaketsuku Memory", and "Again" (both 1983), reached the top 30 of the same chart.^[11] He also appeared on several variety shows.^[9] He appeared alongside Jackie Chan in Kirin Company's commercial for its Nama A Beer.^[12] The Yomiuri Shimbun noted that he had a reputation for his cheerful personality.^[13]

Watanabe also performed on the stage for several decades, including at Bungakuza.^[1] He won the 2000 Kikuta Kazuo Theater Prize [ja] Theater Award for his roles as Teppei Ōmori in Akasatana  [ja] and Yamauchi Kazutoyo in Kōmyō ga Tsuji  [ja].^[14]

In 2019, he served as the emcee of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 74th National Athletic Meet [ja] in Ibaraki Prefecture.^[15]

Illness and death

Watanabe suffered from chronic health problems. He was reportedly a voracious eater, consuming 6,000 calories a day, and he normally ate six meals a day, including three bento boxes during filming.^[16][17] He once peaked at 130 kg (290 lb), before slimming down to 90 kg (200 lb), and he was later diagnosed with diabetes.^[16] After having a heart attack, he was diagnosed with ischemic heart disease in April 2021, underwent surgery for aortic valve stenosis in May, and was discharged from the hospital with a weight of 79 kg (174 lb).^[18][16][19] He resumed activities in July 2021.^[20] He dropped out of several planned stage performances due to his illness that year.^[9] He often underwent dialysis due to chronic kidney failure from diabetes.^[21]

On 19 November 2022, his final appearance before his death was a remote appearance at the Akita University Medical Forum;^[22] despite his precautionary negative COVID test, the forum had gone remote.^[23] After returning to Tokyo the next day, he was diagnosed with bacterial gastroenteritis and hospitalized.^[6] He died of sepsis at 9:01 p.m. on 28 November 2022.^[9] He was 61.^[13]

A family funeral was held in Tokyo on 5 December, with his eldest son as the chief mourner, and the same day his wife and eldest son held a joint press conference about his death.^[24] His dharma name was "Yōkōin Kentoku Tetsushinkoji (陽光院賢徳徹真居士)".^[25] A farewell ceremony was held at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa on 28 March 2023, with approximately 1,200 people in attendance.^[5]

Personal life

After co-starring together in Kaze no Naka no Aitsu, Watanabe married singer and actress Ikue Sakakibara in October 1987.^[6] Their wedding reception took place at Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa and was broadcast live on Nippon Television Network, hosted by Kazuo Tokumitsu and reaching an audience rating of 40.1%.^[3][26] The couple had two children, actors Yūta [ja] and Takuya.^[27] In 1993, after reports surfaced that he had been having an affair with a 27-year-old model for more than nine months; he denied the affair at a press conference.^[17]

Watanabe had also spoken about his experiences with death threats made by a maternal uncle against his father.^[28] Watanabe built two houses in Setagaya, both after each of his sons was born; by 2022, the latter was worth an estimated 400 million yen.^[3]

Watanabe loved mayonnaise so much that he secretly consumed it even though his wife, worried about his health, limited the condiment in the household.^[19] At his farewell ceremony, attendees received a specially designed bottle of mayonnaise in his honour.^[29]

Albums

Singles