Talent Hirohide Yakumaru appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) on May 25th. He talked about the surprise celebration he received for turning 60 in February, as well as the joy he experienced on a family trip afterward.
Mr. Yakumaru had previously said that 60 is just a number and there was no need to celebrate his 60th birthday. However, since it marks the start of his second life, they decided to celebrate anyway, and he, his wife Hideomi Ishikawa, and his eldest son's family, who live in Japan, headed to their favorite restaurant.
His second son lives in Europe, and his third son, eldest daughter, and second daughter live in Hawaii, but he said, "I was surprised when I went to that restaurant and all five of my children were there." In the back room, "there were my friends from the entertainment industry and close friends, so there were about 50 people in total, it was a big surprise party," he said, adding, "My wife planned everything and worked with the children. I was truly surprised."
At the party, fellow trainees Hiroko Mita, Iyo Matsumoto, and Yu Hayami livened things up by singing a parody version of Shibugaki-tai's "NAI・NAI 16." Friends who couldn't attend sent video messages, and a video history of Yakumaru was shown on the screen. He happily recalled, "It seems the kids edited everything and gathered the materials, which really touched me."
At the end of the party, his 5-year-old grandson handed out dorayaki (Japanese sweet bean paste pancakes) that his wife had prepared to all the attendees, saying, "Thank you very much for today," as they left. "It was nice to catch a glimpse of my grandson's sociable side," he said, showing his grandfatherly side.
As we were cleaning up after his 60th birthday party, he told me, "We're all going on a trip tomorrow," and "The theme of this trip is to fulfill all of Dad's favorite things." So we went on a family trip. "I like golf, I like eating delicious food, and I like hot springs," so he had booked a place that would fulfill all of those desires.
"We've never been able to spend time together as a whole family because we live abroad or have work commitments. I was so happy that we could all be together this time. I was also really happy that we were able to take pictures together," she said with deep emotion.
