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Nishida Toshiyuki fans were shocked and much saddened when over a year ago last March, this beloved celebrityﾑperhaps best known for his role as ﾒPigsy,ﾓ from the 1970s TV series ﾒMonkey Magicﾓ and then more recently, ﾔHamachan,ﾕ the endearing fishing-crazed company employee in the movie series, ﾒTsuri Baka Nisshiﾓ (A Fishing Foolﾕs Diary)ﾑcollapsed at home and had to be hospitalized, after suffering an acute heart attack. At the time, the ever-popular star had been scheduled to appear on stage at Kinokuniya Hall in Tokyo, where he had been busy only days before rehearsing for his role in the play, ﾒChibusa.ﾓ He was obviously forced to cancel those performances. Only weeks later, however, the irrepressible performer had recovered enough to be back at work, and although some 9 kilograms lighter as a result of his traumatic ordeal, was full-throttle ahead on production of the 14th installation of ﾒTsuri-Baka Nisshi.ﾓ
Eye-Ai is pleased to report that these days, ﾔHamachanﾕ continues to look just fine and in particular of late, is the subject of much attention and adulation. Toward the end of this past summer, along with the other wonderful cast members of the immensely popular and apparently ever-growing ﾒTsuri-Baka Nisshiﾓ series, he was on hand for the annual ﾒbutai aisatsuﾓ (or on-stage opening night public greeting) to inaugurate the start of the 15th episode, which had opened at the Mrunouchi Piccadery 2 in Tokyo.
Nishida-san has also been staring this past season in a four-part NHK drama called ﾒJiiji Mago to ita Natsu,ﾓ where he plays the role of the grandfather.
Nishida, whose zodiac sign is a Scorpio, perhaps lives up to personality attributes typical of that sign: loyal, emotive and very goal-driven. He is in fact so busy these days, that he is hard to catch up with. He recently changed his manager and as usual, when he makes an appearance in public, is thronged by fans and well wishers. So indeed, hats off to his continued good health!
Born on November 14, 1947 in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, the star got an early start in acting, first joining the Japan Acting Academy shortly after he left university, and then the Actorﾕs Training School. In 1967 he formed "Theater 67" with friends he met within his acting academy. After a year together the group split. Later from 1968-70 he was a member of the theater group "Seinenza" as a student. From 1970 the start of his professional career began. He debuted on stage, ﾒJyochi,ﾓ and it was in this role that he initially attracted positive attention. During the entire 1970s, he was simultaneously active in both TV and radio, and became known for his stock comedic appeal and friendly quirkiness, which was achieved in large part because of his unmistakable ﾒFukushima-benﾓ or Fukushima dialect way of speaking. It was also during the 70s that he debuted as a singer with the song, ﾒMomen no Aijo,ﾓ which won him the Golden Arrow Prize. One of his most well known songs, ﾒMoshimo Piano ga Hiketanara (If I Could Only Play the Piano) was also from this same time period. His film career began with bit parts in movies during the decade, and his first starring role, which earned him substantial attention as an actor, was in 1979 withﾒAkuma ga Kitarite Fue o Fuku.ﾓ The next year he starred in ﾒTaiyo o Nusunda Otokoﾓ that was later released abroad with English subtitles, as ﾒThe Man Who Stole the Sun.ﾓ
He married Toshiko in 1974, and their two daughters, Risa and Sayaka, were born shortly thereafter.
But it was with the Nihon TV series ﾒSaiyuki,ﾓ or ﾒMonkey Magicﾓ that launched him to fame and international recognition, as the series, which was made in Japan in the late 70s and released abroad in the 1980s, achieved nothing short of cult status with foreign viewers, and in particular, those in Britain. The English script was written by David Wir and is narrated by Frank Duncan, who, typically interspersing with the storyﾕs action, funky little bits of quirky ﾔOrientalﾕ wisdom and double entendres, gives the series in English, its hip, cult-status quality. Starring in the cast alongside Nishida-san, who played the role of ﾒChohakkai,ﾓ or the pig monster ﾒPigsy,ﾓ was: Masaaki Sakai, Shiro Kishibe, Masako Natsume, Tonpei Hidari and Shunji Fujimura. The ﾔMonkeyﾕ story is based on an ancient Chinese epic, Hsi Yu Chi (Journey to the West) and is set in the year 630 AD. In the story, which has been described as a ﾒsurreal blend of Oriental fable, martial arts pop Buddhism and slapstick comedy,ﾓ a group of demons and monsters try to stop a priest, who is making a journey to retrieve some ancient Buddhist scriptures from a Buddhist monastery in India. ﾒPigsyﾓ or ﾒChohakkai,ﾓ as he is always referred to by the main character of Monkey, represents the carnal nature of manﾑlaziness, gluttony and greed. Formerly a lord in heaven, he is immortal but was thrown out of heaven for being lustful. In the story, which typically centers around comic fight scenes in which Pigsy defends himself with a muck rake, he simultaneously tries to woo any number of beautiful young maidens whom the entourage encounters on their perilous journey.
In the decade of the 80s, Nishida-san continued to be both very active in TV and movie productions, and perhaps his biggest hit of those years, at least internationally speaking, was in Dun-Huangﾕs 1988 production of ﾒThe Silk Road.ﾓ A Chinese-Japanese co-production directed by Junya Sato, this was an epic production of grand pageantry that sought appeal both through relating history as well as providing swashbuckling entertainment. The action is set in the Dun Huang, a desert city that was the last outpost of the Chinese on the ancient trading route of the Silk Road, and there are some incredible battle scenes. Adapted from a novel by Japanese novelist, Yasushi Inoue, the film recreates events that are what came to be known as the ﾒThousand Buddhist Caves.ﾓ The drama is seen through the eyes of a young scholar, Zhao Xingde, played by Kochi Sato, who is on a caravan of traders that is attacked by a band of Chinese mercenaries, and it is Nishida-san who plays the role of the head Chinese general. Xingde is taken under the wing of Nishida-san, in the story, which then soon progresses into a love story in which a princess from an enemy tribe (played by Anna Nakagawa) falls in love with Zhao. The star-crossed lovers try to flee but are tragically separated.
More recently, Nishida appeared, in 2000, in ﾒAoiﾑTokugawa Sandaiﾓﾑ NHKﾕs dynamic tale based on James Mikiﾕs story of three generations of the Tokugawa dynasty. The drama recreates this grand era in Japanese history, which unfolds each week with intense drama and excitement. The all-star cast includes: Tsugawa Masahiko, Iwashita Shima, Emori Toru, Tamura Ryo, Kurosawa Toshio and Kusabue Mitsuoko. In 2001, he starred in a popular TV show ﾒTantei Knight Scoop,ﾓ (Detective Knight News) and that same year was also in a Tokyo stage musical production of ﾒFiddler on the Roof.ﾓ
Last year 2003 Nishida left Seinenza Dec.31, and has been with office Koback since January 2004.
In the ﾒTsuri Baka Nisshiﾓ series, which originally began back in 1988, Nishida-san has continually played the part of good-natured Hamasaki Densuke, who is affectionately known as ﾒHamachan.ﾓ Hamachan is the ﾔanti-heroﾕ of the series, or the foil to his boss, Suzuki-san. The two were first fishing buddies before they realized that they both worked for the same company, albeit in different places in the company hierarchy. ﾒHamachanﾓ is just a regular salaryman who, sometimes to the distress of his boss, would much rather be fishing than working to further his way up the corporate ladder. Yet the tables are turned and the relationship between the two is equalized when they go fishing, as it is ﾒHamachanﾓ who assumes the role of ﾒsensei,ﾓ or teacher, and Suzuki-san his eager pupil. It is Hamachanﾕs moral, loyal and honest-to-a fault character that Suzuki-san most respects. The story takes twists and turns as ﾒHamachanﾓ moves between his family and corporate life, all the while thinking about fishing. It is no wonder that such a warm-hearted comedy that suggests that even in this day and age character still not only counts, but comes out on top, is so enormously popular. Eye-Ai hopes to see the loveable ﾒHamachanﾓ in many more episodes to come!
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