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The Yomiuri Shimbun Princess Hisako of Takamado, right, and her eldest daughter Princess Tsuguko look at the re-created office of Tsuneo Watanabe at an exhibit at the Imperial Hotel in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on Tuesday. Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings President Toshikazu Yamaguchi provides an explanation for them.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Yomiuri Shimbun Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, visits the exhibition.The Yomiuri Shimbun Sadaharu Oh, left, Chairperson of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, is seen with lifetime honorary manager of the Yomiuri Giants Shigeo Nagashima, seated in a wheelchair, at the exhibition.
16:25 JST, February 26, 2025
An exhibit commemorating Tsuneo Watanabe, the late representative director and editor-in-chief of The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, was held on Tuesday as part of a farewell ceremony at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. Watanabe passed away in December at age 98.
The exhibition featured photos of Watanabe and items related to his life, and even included his office from the company’s headquarters, providing a chance for about 3,900 attendees from business, financial, baseball and other communities to remember the executive and his achievements.
On an altar at the ceremony, a portrait of Watanabe was displayed along with flowers offered by Princess Hisako of Takamado. Attendees formed a long line in front of it to offer their own flowers.
Among the attendees was former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who had a close relationship with Watanabe.
“Both myself and my father [former House of Representatives member Fumitake Kishida] were close to him not only as politicians but also as people,” he said. “He supported my life. I really miss him.”
The commemorative exhibition consisted of six sections: “A lifelong journalist,” “Sales-first policy,” “Thoughts on print culture,” “Together with Nippon Television Network Corp.,” “Leaving his mark on professional baseball and contributing to sports,” and “His office and his real self.”
Some articles by Watanabe were displayed on panels, including exclusives he wrote when he was starting out as a journalist, editorials he authored as the editor-in-chief and a copy of a page from The Yomiuri Shimbun in 1994 presenting the paper’s draft proposal for amending the Constitution. Rare video footage edited by Nippon TV was also played at the exhibition.
Watanabe’s office was made part of the exhibit by transporting his desk, his sofa and other objects from the company’s headquarters in the Otemachi district of Tokyo. Also exhibited were books presented by former Liberal Democratic Party Vice President Banboku Ono and former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, as well as Watanabe’s favorite pair of glasses, his pipe and his single-lens reflex camera.
“Watanabe was a classic journalist while at the same time being an excellent manager and a well-educated person,” said Fujio Mitarai, chairman and chief executive officer of Canon Inc., who offered his prayers for Watanabe. “I hope he will watch over the future of Japan from a higher place.”
Watanabe became the owner of the Yomiuri Giants pro baseball team in December 1996 and devoted himself to the development of Japan’s pro baseball community, leading him to reform the rookie draft system.
“I knew him since I was young as baseball drew us together,” said Shigeo Nagashima, lifetime honorary manager of the Giants, who attended the ceremony. “I hope he will watch his beloved Giants from heaven.”
Sadaharu Oh, chairperson of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, said Watanabe was very demanding of the Giants to make sure that fans would be satisfied. “I learned from him how a man could stick to his principles no matter who opposed them,” he said.
Also among the attendees at the farewell ceremony were Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike; Masakazu Tokura, chairman of both Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) and Sumitomo Chemical Co.; novelist Jiro Asada; Shiro Nakamura, chairman of The Asahi Shimbun and head of the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association; Kodansha Ltd. President Yoshinobu Noma; NHK President Nobuo Inaba; and Nippon Television Holdings Inc. Chairman Yoshikuni Sugiyama.
