Actor Avoids Jail Time Despite Assisting in His Parents’ Deaths

The family had reportedly made the pact after the actor was set to be accused of misconduct.

A renowned actor from Japan has avoided serious prison time after being charged with assisting in his parents’ death as part of an alleged suicide pact. According to The Guardian, Ennosuke Ichikawa, a fourth generation of the leading kabuki acting family in the nation, learned his fate after trying to save his legacy, which was a leading motivation behind the deadly decision.

Ichikawa was arrested in June after his mother and father were discovered dead in their Tokyo home in May. The outlet reports that the actor “wished to kill himself” after learning a magazine was set to run a story about him harassing and sexually abusing actors and staff in his theatre collective.

His parents joined in the decision and all three took pills on May 17, with 75-year-old mother Nobuko and 76-year-old father Hiroyuki. The latter was also a famous kabuki actor in the country, going by the stage name Danshiro Ichikawa. The couple passed between the moment that evening and the morning. Their son survived, however, and was discovered in a confused state inside the home.

“I thought I would leave deep scars on the tradition and culture of kabuki,” he said in a statement. “Now, I blame myself for not being strong enough to live in the throes of despair.

“Days never go by without me thinking of my decision that day. I’m sorry that only I survived, while my parents died. I was given a chance to live on. From now on, I will try and figure out what to do,” he added.

The ruling on Friday came as the actor was out on bail. The judge sentenced him to three years in prison, but suspended him for five years, calling the suicide decision “short sighted” and that he was guilty of a crime. His lack of prison time doesn’t mean he isn’t facing a load of backlash due to his actions.

“Given his contributions to the kabuki world, we would like to support him,” Shochiku, an entertainment company behind some kabuki productions, said in a statement. They added that they could not ignore “the impact his actions have had on society.”

Before the controversy and deadly decision, Ichikawa was a Laurence Olivier award winner, performed globally, and was one of the main names pushing “super-kabuki,” which added in technology. A successful example is the critical darling kabuki adaptation of One Piece.