Sasaki Kuranosuke's father passes away due to stomach cancer

Sasaki Kuranosuke's father Sasaki Katsuya who was the chairman of Sasaki Shuzou, a longtime brewery in Kyoto, died of stomach cancer on 10 October at the age of 83. The wake will be held from 6pm on 13 October while the funeral will be held at Koekisha Bright Hall from 1pm on the following day. The funeral host will be the late Sasaki's third son Akira who is also the president of Sasaki Shuzou. According to Sasaki Kuranosuke's agency, there are no plans for him to release a personal comment since the funeral is organised by his family's company and he will attend both the wake and funeral.

Sasaki Kuranosuke and his father were known to be on good terms and had appeared together in various variety programmes and a Hino Motors CM 5 years ago. The family business Sasaki Shuzou has been around for 123 years and is managed by Sasaki's younger brother as his elder brother entered the field of architecture and he is an actor. Originally, Sasaki had intended to take over the family business and entered Tokyo University of Agriculture to study agriculture and later transferred to the same faculty at Kobe University. However, he developed an interest in acting when he was in the drama club during his university days and worked for two and a half years at an advertising agency before quitting to become an actor. At that time, Sasaki's unexpected move made his father disappointed enough to say that he had gone onto the wrong path. Coincidentally, the elder Sasaki was the one who indirectly caused this to happen since he had recommended that his son join the drama club and build up guts to speak in front of others which he saw as essential skills for doing business. Sasaki's stage name was even coined by his father who wanted to combine the kanji words sakagura which means brewery and the name Oishi Kuranosuke which he readily accepted.

Source: Nikkansports