Ken Shimura

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Ken Shimura (志村けん Shimura Ken), real name: Yasunori Shimura (志村康徳 Shimura Yasunori, born February 20, 1950 in Higashimurayama, Tokyo), is a Japanese comedian and actor. He co-starred with Masashi Tashiro, Nobuyoshi Kuwano in the Japanese conte variety show "Ken Shimura no Bakatono-sama".

He is most famous for starring in Hachiji Da Yo! Zen'in Shugo! with the comedy group The Drifters and Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan with Cha Kato, another former member of The Drifters.

[edit] Timeline

From September to October 1996, a rumor that he had died was circulated.
In 2001, he did a duet with Naoko Ken as "Ken♀♂Ken" in "Ginza atari de Gin Gin Gin" (銀座あたりでギンギンギン).
In April 2002, he recorded a one-off single with Hello! Project's unit "Mini Moni", with the collaboration credited to "Bakatono to Mini Moni Hime" (バカ殿様とミニモニ。姫). They recorded two songs named after a catch phrase of his, "Ai-in".

[edit] Anecdotes

His stage name "Ken" comes from his father's name "Kenji" (憲司). His father worked as a vice-principal in an elementary school and Shimura was brought up in a strict family. However, he has suffered from dementia since he was involved in a car accident in front of his home when he was in junior high and it's said that it's almost impossible for him to judge the things when Shimura decided to enter The Drifters. Shimura's conte of grandfather is "It was the thing which made father of this time a model", Shimura declares in his autobiography.

In April 2005, during the demonstrations in China against Japan becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a photograph of his face was put on a website for the Chinese anti-Japanese movement for reasons that are unclear.

He is well-known not only in Japan, but also in Taiwan, Thailand, and India. It is also notable that Takeshi Kaneshiro is a fan of his.

Shimura severely criticized former co-star Masashi Tashiro after Tashiro's arrest, saying, "I want that fellow to disappear from the entertainment world because he did a pathetic thing for him."