On November 6, actor Takuya Kimura appeared at the “Gifu Nobunaga Festival” held in Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture. This is an event in which groups of people dressed as samurai march in procession. Kimura led the procession on horseback, dressed as Nobunaga Oda.
The event attracted 460,000 visitors compared to Gifu City’s population of 400,000. Everyone gathered to catch a glimpse of Takuya Kimura. 10,000 bleacher seats were prepared for spectators to enjoy the samurai procession, and seating was determined by lottery. Applications had to be submitted by “return postcard by mail.” By the way, in Japan, there is such a thing as a “return postcard,” which is a postcard that consists of an outgoing postcard and a return postcard in one continuous piece, which can be cut off at the centerline. They are used for applications. For example, by writing the recipient’s address on the outgoing postcard and your address on the return postcard, you can save the recipient the trouble of writing your address and the postage costs of sending it back. Nevertheless, the culture of mailing letters has declined with the oncoming of e-mail, and few organizations use these “return postcards” anymore. In such a situation, the return postcards have disappeared from the few dealers who still sell them. Because people tried to secure a seat to see Mr. Kimura.
Mr. Kimura is an actor that the public recognizes 100% of the time. He had been a member of an idol group called SMAP since his teenage years. Japanese women always fell in love with Takuya Kimura. His name is “Takuya Kimura,” but everyone abbreviates his name and calls him “KimuTaku.” Really, that’s what EVERYONE (from young to old) calls him. He found it offensive until recently. The gap between him and his true self, who was merely a young man from the countryside, troubled him because the masses had faith in the good-looking, perfect, and flawless “KimuTaku.” Just as Beyoncé created a separate persona as an entertainer on stage, he embraced his identity as “KimuTaku” when he turned 40. At the age of 49, he is still the handsome “KimuTaku” who has taken Japan by storm. The social and economic impact of his event proves this fact.
