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Narrator/Voice Actor Akira Kume Passes Away Due to Heart Condition
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Actor, narrator, and voice actor Akira Kume passed away due to heart failure in a Tokyo nursing home on Thursday. He was 96.
The Tokyo native attended Tokyo Universtiy of Commerce (now known as Hitotsubashi University) during Japan's postwar period. He founded the Japanese Society for Theatre Research in 1949. He appeared in the NHK "serial TV novel" Ashita Koso in 1968, and he performed in a variety of other television series and films.
Kume is known for his work as a narrator and voice actor. He narrated the NHK variety program Tsurube's Salute To Families and continued to work into his 90s. Kume narrated anime such as Botchan, In The Beginning - The Bible Stories, and Phoenix, and he had roles in Doraemon: Nobita's the Night Before a Wedding, Space Adventure Cobra - The Movie, and Penguin's Memory: Shiawase Monogatari. According to Kume's family, he retired from narrating last year due to his health and moved into a Tokyo nursing home.
Kume received the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government in 1992, as well as the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Rosette in 1997.
Source: NHK via Hachima Kikō
