Ken Shimura has become the first Japanese celebrity to die from coronavirus aged 70. The funnyman died from pneumonia caused by Covid-19, according to his agents who announced the sad news today.
A representative for the star said: "I don’t think he imagined he would die a death like this. "I am sure he was working hard with a sense of mission to deliver laughter to people." Shimura was one of the country’s best-known comedians with a career dating back to the early 1970s.
He co-starred with Masashi Tashiro, Nobuyoshi Kuwano in the Japanese variety show Shimura Ken no Bakatono-sama. He had been hospitalised in Tokyo and died on Sunday evening, NHK said.