Farewell Ceremony for Tsuneo Watanabe Held at Imperial Hotel Tokyo Attended by Ishiba, Others from Various Circles Including Baseball World

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, February 26, 2025

A farewell ceremony for Tsuneo Watanabe, who was the representative director and editor-in-chief of The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings and died on Dec. 19 at the age of 98, was attended by many people from various sectors, including political circles, business circles and professional baseball.

The ceremony, which was held at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, was attended by Princess Hisako of Takamado and her eldest daughter Princess Tsuguko, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, former prime ministers Fumio Kishida and Yoshiro Mori, Canon Inc. Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai, lifetime honorary manager of the Yomiuri Giants Shigeo Nagashima, chairperson of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Sadaharu Oh and others.

After attending the ceremony, Ishiba spoke to reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office, saying, “As a journalist, he had the strong sense of mission that a healthy forum for speech is essential for the development of democracy.”

At the altar, a portrait of Watanabe, a funeral contribution offered by the Emperor and other items were displayed, and attendees placed white carnations one after another on a stand and joined their hands in front of the portrait. There was no eulogy, and classical music, which Watanabe had selected for his funeral before his death, was played at the venue.

A memorial exhibition of Watanabe’s achievements was held in a separate room, which featured a reproduction of his office, panels introducing his various activities and a display of items related to him. The farewell ceremony was organized by The Yomiuri Shimbun.