TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Ken Shimura, a veteran slapstick comedian and a one-time member of rock and roll band and comedy group the Drifters, a household name in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s, died of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus Sunday, his agency said Monday. He was 70.
Shimura was hospitalized on March 20 after developing a fever and being diagnosed with severe pneumonia. He tested positive for the virus on March 23, becoming the first Japanese entertainment figure to announce their infection.
