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Director, comedian and actor Takeshi Kitano at a press event at the National Science Museum of Tokyo on November 1, 2019
Photo: Yoshio Tsunoda / AFLO / imago images
In Japan, a man with a pickaxe attacked the car of the famous comedian Takeshi Kitano, who became famous in Germany for his game show "Takeshi's Castle", which was produced in the 1980s.
The 74-year-old television star, who was sitting inside the vehicle, was unharmed in the attack on Saturday night, according to local media reports.
The attacker, a 40 to 50-year-old man from the Chiba region east of Tokyo, destroyed the windshield and hit other parts of the car.
According to the broadcaster NHK, the attack took place on the company premises of the broadcaster TBS following filming for a news and entertainment program.
The police arrested the man at the scene, as NTV reported.
His motive was initially unclear.
Kitano is one of Japan's most famous TV personalities as an actor, director, presenter and comedian.
At the beginning of his career he caused a sensation in films such as "Violent Cop" (1989) about a violent homicide investigator and his inexperienced colleague or "Boiling Point" (1990), in which a gas station attendant, mainly with harsh depictions of the demi-world of Japanese organized crime comes into conflict with the yakuza.
Kitano later achieved international fame through his roles in the dark dystopian thriller "Battle Royale" from 2000 and the thoughtful crime drama "Hana-Bi" from 1997, which he also directed.
His life will be retold in a Netflix biopic in 2021.
dak / afp