Veteran actor Tadao Nakamaru passed away on the afternoon of April 23 due to a ruptured aortic aneurysm. He was 76.

Sources say that Nakamaru seemed healthy as late as April 20, when his wife, political critic Kaoru Nakamaru, took a trip with him to Hiroshima. But just three days later in the morning, Kaoru found him collapsed in their bathroom at home, and he was taken to the hospital. He temporarily regained consciousness, but unfortunately the internal bleeding could not be stopped.

As an actor, Nakamaru appeared in countless films and dramas, including "Key Hunter" and "Mitokomon." However, he had been absent from the screen since 2006.