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Hello Project Producer Tsunku Has Vocal Cords Removed After Laryngeal Cancer Returns

Hello! Project producer Tsunku revealed on Saturday that he had his vocal cords surgically removed. He had made a surprise visit at Osaka's Kinki University's entrance ceremony, which marked the first time he had made a public appearance since he announced in October that his laryngeal cancer had returned. Kinki University is Tsunku's alma mater.

Tsunku addressed the incoming students at the ceremony via a letter that was projected on a screen. The host of the ceremony also read out the letter on Tsunku's behalf.

Tsunku had announced in March 2014 that he had laryngeal cancer and would halt all his public activities. In April 2014 he produced the entrance ceremony for Kinki University, but he had to miss the actual ceremony due to his medical treatment. He again produced this year's entrance ceremony.

He noted in his letter that he had wanted to produce the entrance ceremony again this year so he could work hard with all his might. He added in the letter, "I have just started to walk this new lifepath after throwing away my voice. Everyone here is the same. Because it's me now, I can do this work. This is the work that only I can do. While thinking these things, I am living. Everyone also has something they can do because you are you. There is also something that only you can do."

Tsunku has composed music and provided lyrics for most of Morning Musume's songs as well as for other Hello! Project idol groups. He was the lead singer of the rock band Sharan Q. That band performed the opening theme songs for the Orphen television anime and the DNA² ending theme song "Single Bed," which became a nationwide hit.

Tsunku debuted as a voice actor in the anime adaptation of Tomoko Nishimura's Gokujō!! Mecha Mote Iinchō high school romance manga in 2009.

Tsunku's Berryz Koubou Hello! Project idol group announced last August that the unit would be put on hiatus indefinitely starting in spring 2015. The group celebrated its tenth anniversary in January 2014.

Source: Oricon via Hachima Kikō

Update: Typo fixed. Thanks, leafy sea dragon