This figuratively walloped me when I read the sad news just some minutes ago from Michael Kamiooka's Twitter account which had the report from "Sponichi Annex". I knew that actor/singer/TV personality Toru Watanabe（渡辺徹）had his health issues, but I was stunned to find out that he had died on November 28th from sepsis at the age of 61.
Watanabe was a mainstay on variety shows either hosting or guesting them. He was always a jovial presence wherever he appeared, and one example of that was during his time on the long-running detective series "Taiyo ni Hoero!"（太陽にほえろ!）as the burly Detective Junji "Rugger" Takemoto, a very genki and fresh-faced young cop.
The Tochigi Prefecture native didn't have a huge discography. He released 9 singles between 1982 and 1991, along with having a couple of duet singles with comedienne Kuniko Yamada（山田邦子）, and four studio albums in the 1980s. Watanabe will always be known musically for his hit "Yakusoku"（約束）, his 2nd single from August 1982.
His follow-up single for "Yakusoku" was "Ai no Naka e" (Into Love) which came out in December that year. The lyricist Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）, who was also behind "Yakusoku", was back for "Ai no Naka e", but this time, the composer and arranger was Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏行）. The feeling of the song is quite similar to that of the previous single with it kinda straddling between straight pop and City Pop. Perhaps it was also made as a fit for his cop character on "Taiyo ni Hoero!", but I then discovered that it was actually used for a Glico chocolate ad.
"Ai no Naka e" peaked at No. 6 on Oricon and became the 59th-ranked single for 1983. Watanabe's wife was former aidoru/actress/TV personality Ikue Sakakibara（榊原郁恵）, and my condolences go out to her and her two sons along with Watanabe's friends and fans.
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