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The story
Actress Yaeko Mizutani (87, real name Yoshie Matsuno), a leading figure of the Shinpa theater troupe, died of pneumonia on August 28, Shochiku announced on the 31st. Comedian Tomochika (53) has long performed an impersonation character named “Mizutani Chieko” — a name just one character off from Yaeko Mizutani’s — and released a statement of condolence through her talent agency, explaining that the resemblance was purely coincidental. On 5ch, many voices doubted her sincerity, saying it’s hard to believe Tomochika wouldn’t know the name of such a legendary actress, while others argued it wouldn’t be strange for her not to know, depending on generation or genre.
Tomochika Mourns Yaeko Mizutani, Apologizes for the One-Character Difference in “Mizutani Chieko” — Thanks Her for the Grace to Laugh It Off
Shochiku announced on the 31st that Yaeko Mizutani (real name: Yoshie Matsuno), a leading actress of the Shinpa theater troupe who was also active in film and television, died of pneumonia on the 28th. She was 87 and from Tokyo.
Tomochika (53), who had a personal relationship with her during her lifetime, released a statement of condolence through her agency.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
I hate this kind of sneaky move.
Re: #27
The internet crowd never bothers fact-checking either — just running with assumptions and snap judgments. That's pretty bad too, honestly.
And yet it's actually "Oyama Junko."
Murai Kunio and Murai Hideo.
Until I saw this article I seriously thought Tomochika had died 😂
Same with impersonations in general — if the person being imitated complains, they get slammed for being petty. And especially for Tomochika, being a Yoshimoto comedian, given comedians' current standing in showbiz, she couldn't have complained no matter how big a name Yaeko Mizutani was.
Seiko Matsuda and Seiko Sawada.
Maki Mizuno and Miki Mizuno.
Jun Inoue and Junichi Inoue.
Daisuke Miyagawa (宮川大助) and Daisuke Miyagawa (宮川大輔) — same pronunciation, different kanji.
Hiromi Iwasaki (岩崎宏美) and Hiromi Iwasaki (岩崎ひろみ, written in hiragana).
Akiko Yada and Akiko Wada.
DAIGO, DaiGo, and Daigo.
didn't know
picked a name at random
turns out someone similar already existed
that's the whole story, right?
Even I, someone with zero particular interest in or knowledge of showbiz or theater, at least know the name of that famous actress. There's no way Tomochika didn't know it.
The fact that she built her whole character around being a "big-name veteran" makes "I didn't know" impossible to believe.
About as much as when the Date act that was supposed to appear got cancelled? She's still actively working right now, so if she doesn't smooth this over somehow, the real damage — ticket refunds and the like — would be brutal lol
No way she didn't know. She's a major senior figure in the industry — there's no way a fellow entertainer wouldn't know her.
I'm 5 years younger than Tomochika, and I honestly didn't even know Yaeko Mizutani existed, so I don't think it's an impossible story. I always assumed Tomochika's character was modeled more on someone like Sachiko Kobayashi.
Kind of savage when you put it that way lol
Even if it were a lie, if she'd just said something like "I admired Yaeko Mizutani and, out of misplaced reverence, gave myself a name way above my station — I'm sorry" — that would've at least been endearing…
Exactly that. Also the part where she plays up being some big-shot veteran.
He's way too fluent in Japanese. And on top of that, he can look at the language objectively from the outside too.
If you mean Jitsuo, there was one at the Hankyu Braves too.
Shintaro played for the Yakult Swallows.
That type is always lenient on themselves, though.
Even with small numbers, "one" alone would be especially bad. Just imagine pretending not to know and calling yourself "Kitajima Ichiro" ("one") — terrifying to even picture, given the famous enka singer Saburo Kitajima ("three") already exists.
Maybe she thinks being on TV makes her the bigger deal and looks down on her — kind of a Yoshimoto comedian habit.
So how would it NOT have been harsh?
Background and Key Points of This Story
Yaeko Mizutani is a prestigious stage name representing the Shinpa theater troupe, handed down traditionally since the first generation. “Mizutani Chieko,” on the other hand, is the name of an impersonation character Tomochika has performed for years — one character off from the real actress’s name — and it kept being used that way throughout Mizutani’s lifetime without incident. What split opinion on the thread boils down to one question: did the 53-year-old Tomochika really not know the name of a major actress from the same era? Some argue there’s no way she wouldn’t know, given her position on television, while others point out that even a heavyweight of the theater world can have low name recognition with the general public depending on the field, so it wouldn’t be strange for her not to know. The “grace” mentioned in the headline refers to the fact that Yaeko Mizutani herself reportedly never raised the issue during her lifetime; this latest statement of condolence simply revisited and explained the backstory on the occasion of her death — it isn’t a new controversy, a distinction that’s easy to miss.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou Sokuho+) thread “[Entertainment] Tomochika Mourns Yaeko Mizutani, Apologizes for the One-Character Difference in “Mizutani Chieko” — Thanks Her for the Grace to Laugh It Off.”
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