Hiroshi Inuzuka

**Hiroshi Inuzuka** (born 23 March 1929 – 27 October 2023) was a Japanese actor and bass player. He is a member of Hajime Hana and The Crazy Cats. He was the last survivor of the group. The only member of Crazy Cats to have survived to the Reiwa era. His nickname was **Wan-chan**, which means "Mister Dog" in English. He also worked as a talent agent at the Sakai Office.

## Career

Inuzuka grew up in Ōmorimachi, Ebara-gun, Tokyo (now Omori, Ota-ku, Tokyo) in 1929.  He was originally from a Hatamoto family who left from the Mikawa Province to Edo with Tokugawa Ieyasu They were landowners who lived in the area of the current main building of the Daiichi Hotel Tokyo for more than ten generations until his grandfather's generation.

His father, Noboru (1894-1983), was a merchant and worked extensively abroad, so Inuzuka became familiar with jazz and Hawaiian records, which developed an interest in music. After graduating from the Hyosung Junior High School and Army Flight School, he attended and graduated from the College of Social Sciences, Bunka Gakuin in 1949.  After being introduced by an American exchange student who was friends with his father and was in the commercial business, Inuzuka joined IBM (International Business Machines Corporation), which was conducting a statistical survey of expeditionary forces at the time, but left the company two years after the presenter returned to Japan. He left the company because many American workers bullied him and called him names.

After leaving IBM, he joined the Hawaiian band Green Glass Cap Boys, created by his older brother in 1951. His brother told him to play the bass. Inuzuka took private lessons in the basics with the director of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. That is why it has become a variant of the bass jazz bow. In 1952, he joined Tetsuaki Hagiwara and Duke Octet at the invitation of Teruo Yoda of Six Lemons. He started playing modern jazz. However, Inuzuka felt something that was unfamiliar with the jazzy style of those days, and at the invitation of Hajime Hana, who used to come to the dressing room at the time, he began participating in the formation of "Hajime Hana and Cuban Cats",which became Crazy Cats on April 1, 1955.

His main instrument was the wooden double bass. After that, while appearing in television and movies as a member of the group, he also starred in Daiei as "The Fourth Man" along with Hitoshi Ueki, Hajime Hana, and Kei Tani. However, Inuzuka, who says, "Basically, I don't like antics," has appeared more often in non-comedies since 1970, and became engrossed in the theater when Jukichi Uno and Koichi Kimura taught him drama. Inuzuka then started thinking about transferring to Watanabe Productions, the multimedia management company. After the current office was approved in the 10th negotiation, he left production in 1986. At that time, the president of Watanabe Productions, Shin Watanabe, even said to Inuzuka the day before he left, "If you have difficulties, come back to the studio."

He was especially close to Kei Tani due to Shimodo's similarity. When the other members went out into town at night, the remaining two spent time making cards and story material. Even if they met for the first time in a long time, they could understand everything just by looking at each other. At the farewell party after his death, Inuzuka read the condolences. Even when Êtarô Ishibashi, who is also a first-grade senior at Hyosung Junior High School, left the group and headed for his cooking career, which he's really good at it, Inuzuka cheered him on by saying "Oy, it's a fish that It has water", and Shin Yasuda, the youngest member of the group, always said "with me" Mr. Ahn, " respectfully. Similarly, he praised Senri Sakurai saying, "When Bandman's average monthly salary was ¥40,000, Mr. Sakurai was ¥180,000, but no one ridiculed him." Regarding the death of Ueki in 2007, he commented: "It is too early to be 80 years old today." Even Kei Tani, whose memory has deteriorated, is behind the camera with his own dial, and Hajime Hana is angry that he was suddenly called his real name, Hirom, in the production of "Shabontama Holiday". In 1980, when Hajime  Hana sent a bouquet to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the formation of Crazy Cats, he called Hajime Hana, saying, "Idiot Sadao, do something extra," and there was a story that they cried between them.

The silhouette of the man who plays the guitar from "Stardust" at the end of the show was Inuzuka himself. He also played variety characters like Jinbesu in "_Operation Crazy_", Hiroku in "_Baka ga tanku de yatte kuru_" and private detective Inumaru in "_Kureji no buchamukure daihakken_". In November 2012, Senri Sakurai died and Inuzuka became the last surviving member of the band.

Not only as a musician but also as an actor. Inuzuka was active even after the age that he is said to be a great veteran, but his wife died around 2015, and he himself turned 90 years old and suffered from spinal canal stenosis and other diseases. He announced his intention to retire as an actor at the end of the film "Labyrinth of Cinema" (directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi) scheduled to be released in 2020, saying that his body was stuck as he was affected by the disease. However, this is only a retirement as an actor, not as an artist or comedian. As of 2019, Inuzuka led a retired life in a condo for the elderly in Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture.

## Death

Hiroshi Inuzuka died at the age of 94 on 27 October, 2023. With his death, all members of Crazy Cats have passed away.

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Hiroshi Inuzuka
- **native name**: 犬塚弘
- **native name lang**: ja
- **birth place**: Ōmori, Ōmori, Tokyo, Japan
- **death date**: 27 October 2023
- **occupation**: Actor
Comedian
Bassist
- **years active**: 1955-present
- **spouse**: Eiko Kaguya (married 1968, her death 2015)