A female business owner in her thirties with model-like good looks, Ms. Ako, spoke as if she were trying to squeeze out a few words. She began to talk about the “other side” of the popular actor with a sad expression on her face. By “him,” she meant actor Masanobu Katsumura (age 62). Masanobu Katsumura, 62, is an actor who trained under director Yukio Ninagawa from the age of 21 and is a well-known supporting player in a wide range of stage productions and dramas. In his personal life, he has a wife of 30 years and a daughter, whom Katsumura himself announced on SNS this summer. Katsumura, who is known for his “child-craving” nature, as he shares episodes with his daughter on his TV programs, fell into a deep relationship with Ako, whom he met through an acquaintance in December last year. At first we were just friends and went out for drinks, but when he finished a big job and spent some time off abroad, his feelings for me changed. …… During his two-week stay, I started getting frequent lines and phone calls from him. When he returned to Japan, I picked him up at the airport and told him that day that we would be together forever. But he said, “My wife and I are in the process of divorce settlement, and when I consulted a lawyer, he told me that since we have been separated for over 15 years, it does not constitute adultery.” …… He said he was going through a divorce, and I was partly moved by his approach, so I took a liking to him.” (Ms. Ako, same below) After the relationship started, they spent more time at Katsumura’s house. Katsumura even bought bedding for Ako, and she brought her own personal belongings to the house as well, and they became semi-living together. Immediately after that, however, Ako reveals that she began to feel more and more stressed about the lifestyle. He’s a very difficult person,” she says. He would get angry over trivial things and then suddenly start crying. He also has a nervous side. Whenever I take something out of the refrigerator and leave it in the kitchen for just a few seconds and the refrigerator door is left open, he comes running to me and closes the door without saying a word. At other times, in addition to more than 50 lines a day, he would listen to me on the videophone for several hours discussing the actor. I gradually began to feel that my self-esteem was going down while I was with him.” Despite such stress, Ako once accepted Katsumura’s love, seriously considered her future with him, and continued on her path to love. However, five months into their relationship, an incident occurred that sealed their breakup.
