Tomokazu Miura

Tomokazu Miura 三浦 友和 Miura Tomokazu born Miura Minoru 三浦 稔 on January 28 1952 is a Japanese actor Miura attended Hino high school in Tokyo He was originally a member of rock group RC Succession but was asked to leave the group by their management when they signed a record contract12 However impressed by his looks the management company asked him to try out acting1 In 1974 he appeared in an advertisement for Glico with young singer Momoe Yamaguchi When casting the male lead for her film Izu no Odoriko they thought of Miura and he was chosen as the male lead The popularity of the MiuraYamaguchi combination led to them starring together in a series of films and television series They became known as the Golden Combi Although Yamaguchi had a separate career as a singer this was Miuras main form of employment through the 1970s In 1980 Miura and Yamaguchi married and the 21yearold Yamaguchi retired from show business Initially Miura struggled with his acting career which had consisted of playing Yamaguchis romantic partner3 However after a few years of struggle he was able to establish himself as an actor changing his type from the clean cut youth roles he had played with Yamaguchi to bad boy roles He won the award for best supporting actor at the 10th Hochi Film Award4 and at the 7th Yokohama Film Festival5 for Typhoon Club6 Miura is a keen pachinko player and was a smoker until he gave it up at the age of 50 Because of his appearance in cigarette advertisements it was debated in the Japanese diet whether Miura was an idol who could be considered to have a strong influence on underage smoking Due to his wifes relatively greater fame and popularity he is sometimes referred to as just Momoes husband Momoechan no Dannasan a name which he dislikes1 The couple have two sons Yutaro who went on to marry singer and seiyuu Yui Makino and Takahiro and have repeatedly been chosen as the ideal celebrity couple7 According to Miura they have never had a marital quarrel