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Actor Sonny Chiba Passes Away Due to Pneumonia Caused by COVID-19 (Updated)
posted on 2021-08-19 10:01 EDT by Alex Mateo

Actor and martial artist Sonny Chiba passed away at a hospital in Kimitsu City in Chiba prefecture on Thursday at 5:26 p.m. due to pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). He was 82.

Chiba's agency reported on Thursday that he had gone to the hospital on August 8 because his pneumonia from COVID-19 had worsened. He was on supplemental oxygen, but he was unable to recover before his death.

Chiba is survived by his children: actress Juri Manase, actor Mackenyu, and actor Gordon Maeda.

Chiba was born under the name Sadaho Maeda on January 22, 1939 in Fukuoka. He moved to Kimitsu at the age of four. He took on the stage name Shinichi Chiba, and later the name Sonny Chiba for international audiences.

Chiba starred as the title lead in the manga-to-film adaptation Golgo 13: The Kowloon Assignment as well as in cameos in Battle Royale II: Requiem, Kill Bill, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. He gained popularity in Japan through the 1968 TBS television series Key Hunter and the Fuji TV series Shadow Warriors. He is best known worldwide for playing historical icons such as Hanzō Hattori and Jūbei Yagyū as well as fighting masters in over a hundred films. Chiba starred as Takuma Tsurugi in The Street Fighter film. He was also cast in a stage play of the Resident Evil (Biohazard) video game series.

Update: According to Chiba's agency, he had not been vaccinated for COVID-19. Source: Kyodo News

Source: Oricon via Hachima Kikо̄

Solauren wrote: ↑2021-08-20 10:28am The question I have is - WHY wasn't he vaccinated? Did he... refuse the vaccination...?

Health Supplement Claiming to Fight COVID-19 Removes Endorsement By Sonny Chiba
posted on 2021-08-24 17:45 EDT by Kim Morrissy

The "Dr's Hydrogen Celeb" hydrogen supplement product removed an endorsement video by Sonny Chiba following the actor's passing due to COVID-19. The president of Dr's Farma, the company which releases the supplement, has claimed that the product is "essential" as a countermeasure for COVID-19.

According to a National Institutes of Health fact sheet for health professionals, the data is "insufficient to support recommendations for or against the use of any vitamin, mineral, herb or other botanical, fatty acid, or other dietary supplement ingredient to prevent or treat COVID-19."

A cached version of the website from March includes Sonny Chiba's name and headshot in a list of celebrity endorsements.

Chiba's video testimony is still viewable as an unlisted video on the product's YouTube channel. Dr's Farma president Hideo Kawabata also cited Chiba's endorsement in a lecture at a Global Peace Convention 2017 forum.


Chiba passed away at a hospital in Kimitsu City in Chiba prefecture on Thursday due to pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). He was 82. According to Chiba's agency, he had not been vaccinated for COVID-19.

<Snip previously posted details on Chiba's career.>

[Via Hachima Kikо̄]