Director and writer Shigeru Tsukada died of a stroke on Tuesday at a Tokyo hospital. He was 82.

Tsukada joined the Toho movie studio in 1945. He started out as a theater director but eventually moved on to writing for television, working on shows like the music program "Yoru no Hit Studio" and the variety show "8 Ji da yo! Zenin Shugo," as well as NHK's year-end Kohaku Uta Gassen. In his 40s, he also became active as a talento, making his own appearance on "Yoru no Hit Studio."