Background
He was born in Beppu, Ōita, as Jōji Kusunoki (楠城児, Kusunoki Jōji).
沖雅也
He was born in Beppu, Ōita, as Jōji Kusunoki (楠城児, Kusunoki Jōji).
In the same year, he debuted as a film actor at the Nikkatsu studio. In 1975, he became an adopted child of his talent agency president, Tadao Hikage. He ended his life by leaping from the top of a 47-storey building, the Keio Plaza Hotel.
He suffered from bipolar disorder.
His suicide note for Hikage was "Dad, I"m waiting in Nirvana." (おやじ、涅槃でまってる, Oyaji, nehan de matteru).