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The story
Mikio Date (51), one half of the comedy duo Sandwichman, has suspended his entertainment activities after suffering a stroke (cerebral infarction). On August 26, it was announced that he would be pulling out of a concert appearance, and on the 28th his talent agency, Grape Company, revealed the reason for his hiatus on its official website. According to the announcement, Date had been reporting unusual symptoms for about six months — daily nosebleeds, trouble focusing his eyes, and his wife pointing out that “his complexion looked bad.” It also emerged that back in June his comedy partner Takeshi Tomizawa had urged him, “Go see a doctor already!” On 5ch’s “Geinou Sokuho+” (entertainment news) board, users compared his case to celebrities who died of stroke or brain hemorrhage in the past, and debated blood pressure management and lifestyle habits.
Mikio Date (51) of Sandwichman had been scheduled to appear as “Yorozu Mikio” at the Tokyo performance of “Chieko Mizutani’s Utage Join Concert 2026” on August 27. However, the day before, on the 26th, it was announced that he would be withdrawing from the show due to poor health.
“Date had also missed the broadcast of the radio show ‘Sandwichman the Radio Show Saturday’ (Nippon Broadcasting System) on the 22nd due to poor health. But no specifics — whether it was illness or injury — were ever disclosed, leaving even people close to him with no choice but to wait and watch,” said one entertainment industry insider.
As concern over Date’s health spread, his talent agency, Grape Company, announced the reason for his hiatus on its official website on the 28th.
Source: jisin.jp / Original article here
What people said
Apparently Hideki Saijo also died after having three strokes.
Saijo kept going to the sauna even after having a stroke, that's on him.
Saunas are murder on your blood vessels.
When you actually get checked, a lot of people turn out to have had small strokes —
sometimes several of them.
This isn't someone else's problem.
Saijo had a stroke and died of multiple organ failure, but the underlying cause was never made public.
Even when someone dies of multiple organ failure stemming from a stroke, the death certificate just lists the immediate cause of death as "multiple organ failure" —
it doesn't record what actually caused the stroke in the first place (diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, etc.).
Went to the hospital and they just said "let's keep an eye on it" and left it at that.
No noticeable symptoms though.
If that's your systolic (top number), 100 is basically ideal.
If it's diastolic (bottom number), that's a bit high.
High diastolic pressure is no joke.
Re: #22
My diastolic is 94 too, but when I go to the hospital it's just an "eh, well…" and that's the end of it.
When the nurse takes it manually it reads 84, but the machine always shows over 90.
Bananaman's Shitara
Speed Wagon's Idota
Sandwichman's Tomizawa
Kirin's Kawashima
Of all the guys whose comedy partner had to step back, Tomizawa's the one I'm most worried about.
Wait, doesn't Tanaka from Bakushou Mondai also only have one of something?
Having this many warning signs and still leaving it alone was on him too.
Getting nosebleeds every single day is just not normal.
Probably from high blood pressure?
Maybe that sounds impossible to your fragile little worldview, but medically there are tons of cases like this.
Don't judge everything by your own standards.
Date apparently loved saunas too, but his blood pressure went over 200 and his doctor told him to stop, so he doesn't go anymore these days.
Also apparently he's had bladder cancer.
Is that doctor actually prescribing him blood pressure medication?
Or is that insane 200/140 reading just a "war story from before he got put on meds"?
Actually, no —
if it's mild, you can even get back to driving after a brain hemorrhage.
I know someone who passed the practical retest and everything.
Someone I know is living a totally normal life too.
If it's caught early and you get to the hospital fast,
recovery these days can be really good.
Seriously, makes no sense.
Caregiving must have been rough.
She's not his doctor, don't blame her.
At the end of the day it's on the person himself.
His spouse has nothing to do with it.
If he's off work for the rest of the year, he'll probably rethink things, right?
used to get nosebleeds during matches a lot,
and he died of a brainstem hemorrhage at 40.
A brainstem hemorrhage can take you out in one shot.
and drop out of all those food-eating location shows.
Apparently he loves high-calorie food, so diet is probably a factor too.
Sounds like his arteriosclerosis has progressed — aside from just aging, the likely causes are high cholesterol, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, obesity, and lack of exercise.
Smoking's no good either.
This is probably a different level of stroke —
likely a blockage in a much bigger vessel.
No, that's not the point.
You're treating it like it's some disease from a completely different world —
the point is, you might already have a small one yourself and not even know it.
Sandwichman's Mikio Date: "My face is swollen, right?" — admits to feeling unwell: "It's not itchy or anything, but lately…"
[June 28, 2026, 8:01 AM]
https://www.nikkansports.com/m/entertainment/news/202606270001878_m.html?mode=all
He went on to confess, "Just my right eye wouldn't open today. When I woke up, there was gunk all over it. It's not itchy, but lately I can't focus." Tomizawa warned him, "Go see a doctor!"
Though I bet it's precisely because it was scary that he avoided getting checked out until his body was screaming at him.
If he wants to live long, he's got no choice but to keep up exercise and a better diet from now on, permanently.
There are always people who avoid the hospital because they're scared,
but isn't it scarier to end up too late to treat?
Haha, only a total space-case could pull that off (the line is a bit garbled in the original).
Background and key points of this discussion
A stroke (cerebral infarction) occurs when a blood vessel becomes blocked and cuts off blood flow to the brain; it often strikes suddenly with no clear warning signs, and it’s said that plenty of people are walking around with small, symptomless infarctions without realizing it. In the thread, some users speculated that Date’s daily nosebleeds and inability to focus his eyes were rooted in high blood pressure, while others weighed in to distinguish his case from that of Hideki Saijo, who died of a stroke, and Shinya Hashimoto, who died suddenly of a brainstem hemorrhage — though the article itself doesn’t make clear that stroke, brain hemorrhage, and brainstem hemorrhage, while all cerebrovascular conditions, differ in cause and severity. The symptoms and timeline described here come from the agency’s announcement and tabloid reporting; the specific diagnosis, test results, and whether he was hospitalized have not been disclosed. Regarding the fact that he reportedly had been feeling unwell for about six months, opinions split between those criticizing the delay in seeking treatment and those who felt that managing one’s own health is ultimately a personal responsibility.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (“Geinou Sokuho+”) thread “[Suspends Activities Due to Stroke] Sandwichman’s Date — Daily Nosebleeds, Unfocused Eyes, Wife Noted ‘Bad Complexion’… The ‘Physical Abnormalities’ He’d Reported Since Six Months Ago [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★].”
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