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16-year feud unresolved after death of actress Keiko Matsuzaka’s father

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Recently, it was revealed that 56-year-old actress Keiko Matsuzaka's father died in December 2007, leaving unresolved a bitter feud between the two over her husband of 16 years -- guitarist Haruhiko Takauchi.

A source in the entertainment business recalls how Matsuzaka’s father Hideki repeatedly said, “Keiko is naïve and ignorant about the real world. I don’t care what others think – she’s being fooled by that man. He’s just after her money.”

Matsuzaka’s popularity rose after her 1979 hit song "Ai no Suichuka” and performances in films as “Kataku no Hito” and “Kamata Koshinkyoku” in the ‘80s. When Matsuzaka married Takauchi, who was an unknown guitarist at that time, Matsuzaka’s parents were outraged and went so far as to publicly disown her.

Despite the family friction, Matsuzaka sought ways to reconcile with her parents after the birth of her two daughters in 1992 and 1994. According to the aforementioned source, “She made time between film shoots to visit and look after her father, a diabetic, with her daughters. She handled the monthly bill of 500,000 yen for her father’s live-in caretaker.”

The actress strongly desired her father’s acknowledgement of her husband, and while her relationship with her father improved over time, he absolutely refused to meet Takauchi right up until his death.

An acquaintance says that Matsuzaka traveled with her mother to South Korea, her husband’s home country, after the father passed away. The mother is now on good terms with Matsuzaka but not with Takauchi, probably because of the father’s resentment.

It appears that the successful actress has yet to achieve the true reconciliation she yearns for.

© Japan Today

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10 Comments
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what a pathetic Father..not only does he criticize his daughters naivety(something he had direct control over during her formative years) but he also is too weak to even meet his daughters most significant other,wanted to keep her daddy's little girl too long by the sound of it and keep all her money for himself.

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You might well be right Bento, but it is pretty common in Japan. Though I doubt it is about the money, I believe it is more about who should be the prominent person in the relationship.

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Haru is actually a really nice guy, and talented. Keiko's father must have been a fool who thought that only rich men would be deserving of his daughter.

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In these kind of situations, the fathers opinion of someone he hasn't even met is simply indicative of HIS OWN personality. HE is the one who marries for money, and he thinks that's a natural and normal deire, and therefore he ascribes it to his daughters suitors.

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They are still happily married, so give it up. Her father was arrogant, and maybe brought on his death much more quickly with hiss own related stress.

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The father needed to let go of his anger and just respect his daughter for the choice she made in choosing her husband. All of that pent up anger surely made his illness worse and ultimately killed him in the end at a young age. Its so sad that he couldnt see the light and just end his self-created suffering.

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Keiko Matsuzaka was about 40 years old when she married Haru. I guess she didn't marry earlier because her father never approved all the men she dated. So she must have really love Haru to go against her father's wish. I really admire her for that. Not many women could do it.

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According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiko_Matsuzaka) Matsuzaka's father was Korean as well. Maybe it's a Korean thing.

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There may be more to this than meets the eye. Is it not possible that the father did a background check on the prospective son-in-law - as all Japanese dads do - and found to his horror that Harahiko-san is Burakumin? Just an idea. Or maybe he just didn't like long-haired, hippy guitarists!

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The article says her hubby's family's from Korea. That makes him a "foreigner," which is a bit more difficult to hide. Why pay somebody for a background check? It would be a matter of open public record when they go to register the marriage. Moreover you can only be a Burakumin if your ancestor was one, and that crowd hasn't taken any new applicants since around 1871.

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