Shimura’s half-century run as one of Japan’s many tangible comedians finished Mar 29, when he died during a age of 70 due to pneumonia caused by COVID-19. Upon being certified to a Tokyo sanatorium on Mar 20 after building a heat and experiencing respiratory problems, Shimura was diagnosed with serious pneumonia; a day later, he was put on a ventilator and never regained consciousness. On Mar 23, it was announced Shimura had tested certain for COVID-19, so apropos a initial distinguished Japanese party figure to be diagnosed with a virus.
“I don’t consider he illusory he would die a genocide like this. we am certain he was operative tough with his clarity of goal to broach delight to people,”” pronounced a deputy of Izawa Office, Shimura’s talent agency. “I wish we will remember him and laugh. Until a end, he was committed to presenting delight to a people.”
Born Yasunori Shimura on Feb. 20, 1950, in Higashimurayama, Tokyo, Shimura’s comedic aspirations grew after saying his father, a despotic judo instructor, being perplexed by televised comedy shows. After completing his education, Shimura went on to join one of Japan’s many famous comedy groups, The Drifters, in 1974. (The outfit, that started as a rock-n-roll rope a decade earlier, achieved durability prominence in Jun of 1966, when it served as a opening act for a Beatles’ first-ever Japan opening during Tokyo’s famed Budokan arena.)
Shimura assimilated after The Drifters had shifted their concentration to comedy and became a prime-time TV prodigy with Hachijidayo Zen’inshūgō! (“It’s 8 o’clock! Everybody get together!”), that ran from 1969 to 1985. One of a many dear accumulation shows in Japanese history, Hachijidayo drew record-high ratings—at a peak, roughly 50% of a country’s TVs tuned into a program—thanks to a code of slapstick, lowbrow amusement that done it generally renouned with children, many to a dismay of parents. (Many deliberate it a Japanese reflection to “The Benny Hill Show.”)
Soon after he began personification guitar in a group, Shimura grown his behaving skills with a other members, and it wasn’t prolonged before he demonstrated a present for comedy. Shimura’s childish appetite helped The Drifters grasp new heights; in interviews, he referenced a Marx Brothers and Jerry Lewis as inspirations. His emotive style, in that he employed farfetched corporeal movements and facial expressions, helped him interest to non-Japanese audiences as well. (Shimura was quite famous for his Chaplin-esque “mustache dance.”)
After Hachijidayo ended, The Drifters disbanded though continued to get together for occasional specials. In 1986, Shimura teamed adult with associate Drifter Cha Kato for a array Kato-Chan Ken-Chan Gokigen TV (“Fun TV with Kato-Chan and Ken-Chan”), that enjoyed a successful run until 1992.
The module enclosed a shred in that viewers were speedy to contention comical video clips from their home movies, an thought recognised by Shimura. This format was introduced to American viewers by ABC when it launched America’s Funniest Home Videos in 1989.
Shimura’s comedy skits and repeated characters managed to keep him resolutely confirmed in a inhabitant alertness on possibly side of a 1989 changeover from Japan’s Shōwa Era to a Heisei Era. Among his many noted characters were a extravagantly renouned Baka Tonosama (“stupid lord”) and Henna Ojisan (“strange uncle”), both of whom sojourn resolutely confirmed in a minds of Japanese comedy fans.
In 2006, Shimura launched his possess comedy theater, Shimurakon (“Shimura spirit”), while 2007 saw him benefit new fans by hosting Tensai! Shimura Doubutsuen (“Genius! Shimura Zoo”), a weekly prime-time animal uncover in that he common a spotlight with dogs and monkeys.
Shimura remained active right adult until his passing, starring in countless TV programs. Though he frequency achieved as a required actor, before to his death, Shimura had landed his initial starring film purpose in Kinema no Kamisama (“God of Cinema”), a comedy from a mythological executive Yōji Yamada. Shimura was also scheduled to lift a Olympic fire representing his hometown of Higashimurayama during a flame send for a 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, that were deferred to 2021 due to a pathogen epidemic.
Soon after a news of Shimura’s flitting broke, a flourishing members of The Drifters—Cha Kato, 77, Boo Takagi, 87, and Koji Nakamoto, 78—released a matter expressing their grief. “I feel loathing for a coronavirus that took divided a life of The Drifters’ treasure, and a Japanese treasure. we wish everybody to take his genocide as something that could occur around we and take caring of yourselves,” pronounced Kato. “I wanted to do a skit with we again. we extend my deepest condolences,” combined Takagi.
His celebrity extended overseas, generally to Taiwan, where President Tsai Ing-wen used Twitter to emanate a matter thanking Shimura for a “laughter and energy” he brought to a Taiwanese people. On YouTube, his clips have garnered millions of views, with many of his many famous appearances dubbed in mixed languages.
Shimura’s astonishing genocide sent startle waves via Japan as a republic grappled with a tellurian pandemic. News and speak shows offering dedicated coverage to his life and death, with a brew of his contemporaries and many younger celebrities profitable reverence while reminding audiences of Shimura’s multi-generational appeal. Groups of fans and media congregated outward a sanatorium where Shimura died, and a televised reverence on Apr 1 was noticed by some-more than 40 million people opposite his homeland.
A lifelong bachelor, Shimura is survived by dual comparison brothers.
