Actor Seiichi Tanabe appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) on April 1st. He talked about his experiences traveling abroad alone and the existence of his cousin with an interesting background.
He used to travel abroad two or three times a year, including for work, but due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, he hadn't been able to go for a while. Last year, he visited Paris for the first time in five years with his wife, actress Nene Otsuka. It was a month after Notre Dame Cathedral, which had been damaged by fire in 2019, reopened. "It's my favorite place in Paris, and whenever I go there, I always sit in a chair for a long time," he says.
He used to travel alone often when he was single, but stopped after getting married. Last October, he went to Singapore, where his favorite F1 race was held. His wife had work, so they talked it over, and he told her he really wanted to go, and so he went alone. "I just love overseas travel, so it was fun. I felt recharged, but there's a certain charm to being alone, and a bit of loneliness, I guess. Fun things are doubled when you're with someone, and sad things are halved," he said, reflecting, "I had this feeling somewhere that it would be more fun to share, or that it would be a waste not to."
Due to his wife's work, he also went to Taiwan alone and ate "bocchi-meshi" (eating by himself). "Along with the feeling of being moved by how delicious the food was, I also had the desire to share it with someone." He also went to a Michelin three-star restaurant alone. "I did come up with a plan, and I wanted people to think I was a Michelin or restaurant guide inspector," he revealed, disclosing his secret pleasure. He prepared a notebook and wrote notes for each dish, but laughed, "When I was leaving, someone asked me, 'Did you come here for a drama shoot?' so they figured it out."
Last year, I went to Yamaguchi Prefecture for the first time in a long time for the 17th anniversary of my grandmother's death at the age of 102. All my relatives gathered there, and I learned that Damian Hamada, the founder of the heavy metal band "Seikima-II" and the lyricist and composer of "The House of Wax Dolls," was also there. "He's my cousin," I revealed.
