Actor Saburo Shinoda appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi), which aired on October 24th.
In 2013, he was invited to perform as a guest at the Mingei Theater Company, where he played a series of leading roles. After about seven years, the president of his agency was getting old and had to close the company, and at that time the director of the same company jokingly asked him to come work for them. In 2020, he replied, "I look forward to working with you," and joined the company.
He started using social media two years ago. When he asked about promoting his stage play, he was recommended TikTok. When he tried it, the response was greater than he expected. Since he starred in Ultraman Taro, he received many comments such as "It's been a long time since I've seen you," which he said was "encouraging."
"Apparently, Showa-era Ultraman is still on air in China, and young Chinese fans are waiting in my dressing room, asking for my autograph." When he toured Kyushu, some people even became members of the theater appreciation club and came all the way from Tokyo. "I imagine that must be quite an expense." He brought a doll of himself, given to him by a Chinese fan, to the studio and showed it off. "There are some people who don't really understand the language, but I think they see it as Taro's older brother," he said.
I once received some advice on reading aloud from Tomoko Naraoka, an actor with the same theater company. "When we were traveling together, I asked her what she kept in mind when reading aloud. She said that she wanted to respect the author and read faithfully and dispassionately."
