Famous People in Japan



Akashiya Sanma

Date of Birth 1 July 1955
Place of Birth Wakayama

Sanma is one of the most famous TV comedians. His real name is Sugimoto Takafumi.

In 1974 he became a pupil of Shofukutei Matsunosuke. After two years he made his debut as the comic storyteller, Shofukutei Sanma. But after that he stopped telling comic stories, and went to Tokyo. A half year later he returned to Osaka and entered the entertainment world again. In 1986 he was awarded the Japan Broadcast Entertainment Grand Prix.

Now he plays an active part as a comedian, a master of ceremonies, a DJ and an actor. He has many popular TV programs. Especially when he is the master of ceremonies he talks a lot, and everybody laugh at his joke. His movie, "Ikoka Modoroka" is famous because he acted in it with his wife. Also, he talks "Kansaiben" on his drama and TV programs which everyone associates with humor. At present he has a lot of fans.

He often appears on TV and he has a lot of programs. For example there are "Manma of Sanma", Karasawagi of love", "Sanma's super Karakuri TV" and "Yappari Great teacher". He got married a famous actress, Otake Shinobu in September, 1987. And he had one daughter named Imaru. But they were divorced five years later.

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References: The Gendai Jinmei Jiten

Reported by: Takeuchi Asako
Data verified by: Kato Yukiko
Date of Report: January 1997
Updated by: Yoshimi MorikawaOctober, 1997

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