Actor Tsuyoshi Muro appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on February 26th. He talked about his father, aunt, marriage, and more.
Muro, 49, said his parents divorced when he was four years old, and although his father, a carpenter, was awarded custody of him, he was soon taken in by his aunt's family and raised by them and his grandparents.
"I haven't seen my father since I was 22, the year after I told him I was going to drop out of university to pursue an acting career," he said. "My father left me in the care of my aunt and her family, but he looked so cool when he was working and looked like he was having a great time drinking afterwards. More than just as a father, I admired and respected him for the free way he lived."
I once got a call from an unknown number on my old cell phone. When I answered, he said, "Oh, Tsuyoshi, Tsuyoshi, it's me," and "It's my dad," and asked me, "When can we meet? Tsuyoshi, when can we meet?" When I asked him, "Why did you suddenly decide to meet at this timing?" he said, "Nothing, but I'm working hard at work. Let's meet." I laughed and said, "I'll think about it again," and hung up. After that, he called me once or twice and I answered his phone, and I felt that he was doing well. I looked at his family register a few years ago and it seemed like he had a new woman by his side, so I hope he's doing well.
He now treasures his aunt who raised him, and says, "I want her to be glad that she raised Tsuyoshi." When his aunt injured her back, he took that opportunity to spend more time together as a family. They treat them to delicious meat and take them on trips together. "It's only now in my late 40s that I've become a man who can finally complain and express my frustrations to my family," he reveals.
There is no possibility of marriage at the moment. When I went to visit my grandmother before she passed away, she asked me, "Do you have a girlfriend, Tsuyoshi?" When I answered, "I don't have one," she burst out laughing. My grandmother, who was not in good spirits, burst out laughing in the hospital room, saying, "I don't think Tsuyoshi will ever get married." "I don't know what she saw through," said Muro with a wry smile.
