62-year-old TV personality Mayo Kawasaki appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) on October 17th. She talked about her memories of her parents, who divorced when she was 18 months old, and the happiness of her remarriage to a cooking expert 21 years her junior.
He entered the entertainment industry at the age of 13 and made his debut as a singer at the age of 14. "When I think about it now, it was a very short time when I only had 13 years with my parents," he recalls. His parents divorced when he was 18 months old, and he grew up with his mother and grandparents. His mother is now 90 years old. He stands at the counter every day at his family's coffee shop in Osaka, which will soon be celebrating its 70th anniversary.
It was from his mother that he learned the value of money as a child. When he ran out of erasers playing and asked if he could buy some more, she admonished him, saying, "What are you talking about? I just bought some the other day. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sell a cup of coffee for 100 yen?" He cleaned the store, made the coffee in the morning, rolled up the washed towels, and served a cup, finally selling a 100 yen cup of coffee. "She told me not to waste money, and I've never forgotten those words. I still can't waste money," he said with emotion.
His father was originally an actor for Shochiku films, but quit midway through. That's why he "felt determined to achieve something (in acting), and I'm still working hard with that feeling." He said his father "had a serious illness and passed away at exactly 60 (years old). I grew up knowing almost nothing about my father, but just as he turned 60, he was in the final stages of cancer. By chance, I had a premonition and was able to search for him and reunite with him." He recalls that they met again before his death, "I was barely able to speak, but tears were streaming down my face, and I was so glad to have met him."
Last September, he remarried a cooking researcher 21 years his junior, and had their wedding in March this year. He has done all of his own makeup in the past for stage and period dramas, so he knows how to do it. He did the makeup for his mother, who was attending the ceremony, and chose her clothes. His wife did her nails. "It's nice to see my mother looking younger," he says with a smile.
At the wedding, he said, "My mother was full of energy and having a great time with everyone," and "she was with us until 3 or 4 in the morning without showing any signs of fatigue." When they came to Tokyo for the wedding and were walking down the street, he said his wife's mother had her arm around his shoulder or held his hand. "Seeing such a happy scene made me feel so glad that we got married. We both had small families (from single-parent households), so it feels like our family has suddenly grown," he said with joy.
