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Fuku Suzuki
鈴木 福
SUZUKI Fuku at J-CULTURE FEST 2020.jpg
Suzuki in 2020
Born (2004-06-17) June 17, 2004 (age 20)
Tokyo, Japan
Occupation Actor
Years active 2006–present
Agent Theatre Entertainment
Notable work
TV dramas
Marumo no Okite (2011)
Yōkai Ningen Bem (2011)
Kodomo Keisatsu (2012)
Filmed works
Kodomo Keisatsu (2013)
Singles
Maru Maru Mori Mori! (2011)
Height 167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Awards Details

Fuku Suzuki (鈴木 福, Suzuki Fuku, born 17 June 2004) is a Japanese actor from Tokyo. A member of the talent agency Theatre Academy, he made his first appearance in 2006 on the NHK children's programme Inai Inai Baa! before earning a major role in Marumo no Okite and more recently the lead role in the television drama and film Kodomo Keisatsu. Suzuki has also featured as a tarento in various variety and quiz shows, most notably Waratte Iitomo! where he was a "holiday regular". His younger sister, Yume Suzuki, is also a child actress.

As a singer, Suzuki is most famous for his 2011 collaboration with child actress Mana Ashida under the name "Kaoru to Tomoki, Tamani Mook". The duo released the hit single "Maru Maru Mori Mori!" which earned them a place on the prestigious music show Kōhaku Uta Gassen and the Special Award at the 53rd Japan Record Awards.

Career in television and film

Suzuki Fuku
Suzuki in 2011 at Nagaoka Matsuri, Nagaoka, Niigata.

Child actor and presenter

Suzuki made his first television appearance in 2006 as a toddler on the NHK preschool children's programme Inai Inai Baa! before making minor appearances (largely as children during flashbacks of protagonists) on works such as: the 2009 police procedural "Keikan no Chi" (as Tamio) and the 2010 asadora "GeGeGe no Nyōbō" (as Takashi). He gained a more prominent role playing Tomoya Yusa, the protagonist's son, in the 2010 film "A Boy and His Samurai".

By 2011, Suzuki was playing a major role as Tomoki Sasakura in the Fuji TV television drama series Marumo no Okite. Despite a poor ratings share of 11.6% for the initial episode, the final episode gained an average audience share of 23.9%. The final audience share made the episode one of the most watched drama episodes of the year, second in the first seven months only to Jin. Sports Nippon claimed that poor expectations for the programme due to the young cast as the reason for the initial low figures, though it concluded that ultimately the popularity of Suzuki and his co-star Mana Ashida were responsible for the show's success, especially after the theme song, performed by Ashida and Suzuki, reached number 3 on the Oricon weekly singles chart. The popularity of the pairing led to a two-hour special, hosted by the pair, to be broadcast directly after the final episode. Oricon, however, stressed that the pairing was not the sole reason for the show's success, noting that the well-crafted screenplay was also pivotal. The success of the series led to a special being broadcast on October 9, 2011, which achieved an audience share of 16.7%. An additional special was commissioned in 2014 and will be broadcast on September 28, 2014. An emoticon featuring Suzuki's character was created to promote the episode on the messaging service Line.

In 2011, Suzuki played the supernatural being Bero in Nippon Television's television drama adaptation of Yōkai Ningen Bem, a role for which he earned the Supporting Actor Award at the 15th Nikkan Sports⋅Drama Grand Prix. Suzuki was not only the youngest recipient of the award but also the first child actor to be awarded at the Nikkan Sports⋅Drama Grand Prix. Asahi Shimbun notes that Suzuki's success in the role was due to his efforts in basing his portrayal of Bero around the animated version of the film and his ability to convey affection whilst portraying the supernatural being.

In March 2012, Suzuki featured as a guest voice actor on the animated Doraemon film "Doraemon: Nobita and the Island of Miracles—Animal Adventure". Suzuki provided the voice for "Fūku", a seven-year-old boy who enjoyed going about his life at his own pace and was based on Suzuki himself. Suzuki described being cast in the role, which made him the youngest voice actor of Doraemon's thirty-two films, as a "pleasing yet unexpected surprise". His collaboration with Doraemon was extended to Asahi TV's animated television version when, in April 2012, Suzuki and his sister, Yume Suzuki, became regulars on a section entitled "A Box Project, 100 years After the Start of Doraemon". The siblings appear once a month on the section in a hosting role as so-called "Navigators" and is the first programme where the siblings appear together as regulars.

Together with his childhood friend Kanon Tani, Suzuki became the presenter of the children's television show "be Ponkikkīzu" which was first broadcast on the satellite channel "BS Fuji TV" in April 2012. The selection was seen as an experiment given the fact that show had traditionally been presented by established actors such as Bakushō Mondai. As a consequence, the pair became the first child presenters of a "Ponkikkīzu" show in its thirty-nine year history. After the announcement that he had been appointed as co-host, Suzuki commented that he was "looking forward to joining forces with his childhood friend and would try his best". As of September 2013, the pair continue to host the programme, which is now broadcast daily having previously only been broadcast on weekdays. A "Ponkikkīzu" DVD box-set is expected to be released in October to coincide with its fortieth anniversary.

Also in April 2012, Suzuki began playing the lead role in the late-night TBS Drama, Kodomo Keisatsu (literally "Child Police"), where he portrayed Shigeru Ōnuma, a fifty-year-old police chief who, along with the rest of his police force, had been transformed back into a child. Despite criticism regarding the use of child actors for a late night programme, the success of the series led to the release of a film of the same name in March 2013. The film débuted at number eleven on Japan's box office rankings and a DVD, which was released on September 4, 2013, débuted at number 48 on the Oricon weekly DVD chart. A spin-off series entitled "Kodomo Keishi" (literally "Child Police Superintendent") began broadcasting in January 2013, in which Suzuki plays a minor role as his original character. Mainichi Shimbun cites the starring of Suzuki as the lead character in Kodomo Keisatsu as the reason for the continued popularity of the series.

In late 2013, Suzuki began featuring alongside Haruna Kawaguchi, Sawa Suzuki and Seiichi Tanabe on the drama "Otto no Kanojo" (夫のカノジョ) (literally, "The Husband's Lover") where he portrayed one of two children, Masato Komatsubara, in a dysfunctional family. The first episode aired on October 24, 2013, in Tokyo Broadcasting System's Thursday nine o'clock slot and received 4.7% of the audience share. In subsequent episodes, the drama performed less well in terms of ratings and was consequently cut short to eight episodes; its average audience share of 3.87% was the lowest of any prime-time drama series to be broadcast in the 21st century on Japanese commercial television.

Suzuki featured in the 2014 film, "Akumu-chan the movie", reprising the role of Ryū Uehara having previously made a guest appearance for the fifth episode of the television programme of the same name. In his second film role of 2014, Suzuki featured in "Bara Iro no Būko", a film featuring Riho Sayashi directed by the director of Kodomo Keisatsu, Yūichi Fukuda.

Other television appearances

Variety and quiz shows

Suzuki was a regular member of the variety show, Waratte Iitomo, where he became a "holiday regular" in April 2012. The title "holiday regular" is a reference to the fact that he only makes appearances during school and national holidays. Upon joining the show, he expressed his excitement in being "able to meet a variety of people". As part of a 2013 Beat Takeshi variety show, Suzuki was sent to France along with Junji Takada to capture The Louvre from a child's perspective. The pairing was described by Oricon as being "distinctive". Suzuki has also appeared as a guest on several other variety and quiz shows, including: "Takarasagashi Adventure Nazo-toki Battle Tore!" (2012), "Downtown DX" (2012) and "Bakushō! Dai-Nippon Akan Keisatsu" (2013).

Talk shows

Suzuki has made occasional guest appearances on talk shows; most notably Suzuki became the focus the 37th anniversary of the talk show "Tetsuko no Heya" in February 2012. On the programme Suzuki discussed his New Year's break, his relationship with his sister and his interest in Kamen Rider with the host, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi.

Advertising and sponsorships

Supermarket chain Itō-Yōkadō featured Suzuki together with "Marumo no Okite" co-star Mana Ashida on several of their television advertisements in 2011. In 2012, he featured (along with his sister) on a Toyota Sienta advertisement in April entitled "strange face", followed by an advertisement in August for a wedding magazine "Zexy" with Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, whose long-running show he had featured on earlier that year. Suzuki has also featured on several solo advertisements, including one for life insurance firm "Medicare Life" in 2011 and another for banana brand "Sumifru" in 2012. As of 2013, Suzuki continues to be featured in Itō-Yōkadō advertisements, having also made appearances for: Asahi Soft Drinks, Benesse, Kracie Foods and Megmilk Snow Brand.

Music career

In May 2011, Suzuki made his music début when he and Mana Ashida formed the music group "Kaoru to Tomoki, Tamani Mook" where they released the theme song to Marumo no Okite, Maru Maru Mori Mori! (マル・マル・モリ・モリ!), as a single under the music label Universal Music Japan. The single proved highly popular achieving number 3 in its first week of sales on the Oricon weekly chart, a feat which made the pair the youngest group to reach the top ten of the chart. The single retained its place in the top ten for twelve consecutive weeks and achieved number 1 on the 2011 truetone digital track chart. The song later received the Special Award at the 53rd Japan Record Awards and was certified a double platinum ringtone by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, whilst the group earned both the newcomer and special awards at the 44th Japan Cable Awards. Suzuki and Ashida also performed the single at the 62nd edition of the prestigious music show Kōhaku Uta Gassen. As a consequence of being born six days earlier than Ashida, Suzuki became the second youngest performer ever to feature on the programme. As of September 2014, the single has sold over 800,000 physical and over 5 million digital copies.

Following Suzuki's success with Maru Maru Mori Mori!, he released his first single as a solo artist entitled "Iya, Iya YO~" (イヤイヤYO〜!!) in December 2012 under the Universal Music Japan label. Suzuki promoted the song in front of three hundred fans at an event space in Shinjuku during the week of the song's release. Despite his performance being described as "ten times better than expected" by the song's writer Miruno Komorita, the song was less successful than his collaboration with Ashida, peaking at number 32 on the Oricon weekly chart.

In 2013, Fuku collaborated with "be Ponkikkīzu" co-presenter Kanon Tani forming the group "Fuku to Kanon". In February 2013 the single "Neko Nyan-nyan-nyan Inu Wan-wan-wan Kaeru mo Ahiru mo Gā-gā-gā" (ネコニャンニャンニャン イヌワンワンワン カエルもアヒルもガーガーガー) was released in two versions entitled East and West which peaked at 111 and 153 on the Oricon weekly chart respectively. The two versions differ in the fact that in the East version, Suzuki begins the song in the standard Japanese language (largely spoken in Tokyo or "East" Japan) whereas in the West version Kanon begins the song in the Western Kansai dialect.

In September 2014, a new version of "Maru Maru Mori Mori!" (entitled "Maru Maru Mori Mori! 2014") was confirmed and will tie in with a special broadcast of "Marumo no Okite". The single is expected to be released on 24 September 2014.

Personal life

Family

Suzuki is the eldest of four siblings. He has a sister, child actress Yume Suzuki (born 2006), a brother, child actor Tano Suzuki (born 2013), and another sister, Homa Suzuki (born 2015).

Hobbies and interests

Suzuki describes his specialist skill as his ability to play the koto and claims that his hobby is watching films; in particular he enjoys action films noting that he himself wants to be an actor famous for his roles in such films. This interest in action films can also be seen in his enthusiasm for Kamen Rider; Suzuki is said to enjoy acting out scenes from the science fiction manga in his spare time. Suzuki has shown interest in ghosts (yōkai) and films which contain them, explaining that at the age of four he was renting films such as the animated version of "GeGeGe no Kitarō". His interest in the supernatural is said to be a reason for his success in the role of "Bero" in Yōkai Ningen Bem. He also expressed his love of the animation Doraemon following his voice acting and presenting role on one of the show's mini-sections.

Health

Suzuki has suffered from hay fever since the age of three and has the motor speech disorder dysarthria.

Discography

Singles

Year No. Title Notes Peak chart position
Oricon
Weekly
Singles
Chart
Billboard Japan
Hot
100
RIAJ
Digital
Track
Chart
2011 1 "Maru Maru Mori Mori!" Collaboration with Mana Ashida as "Kaoru to Tomoki, Tamani Mook";
theme song of drama Marumo no Okite
2 2 1
2012 2 "Iya, Iya YO~" 32 chart
discontinued

2013 3 "Neko Nyan-nyan-nyan Inu Wan-wan-wan Kaeru mo Ahiru mo Gā-gā-gā ~East-hen~" Collaboration with Kanon Tani as "Fuku to Kanon" 111
4 "Neko Nyan-nyan-nyan Inu Wan-wan-wan Kaeru mo Ahiru mo Gā-gā-gā ~West-hen~" Collaboration with Kanon Tani as "Fuku to Kanon" 153
2014 5 "Maru Maru Mori Mori! 2014" Collaboration with Mana Ashida as "Kaoru to Tomoki, Tamani Mook";
theme song of drama Marumo no Okite
"—" denotes a release that did not chart or is yet to be released.

Filmography

Where possible, the official English titles have been used. Where none exists, the Japanese title has been transcribed into English using Hepburn romanization.

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2010 Golden Slumber (ゴールデンスランバー) Tatsumi Tsuruta
2010 A Boy and His Samurai (ちょんまげぷりん) Tomoya Yusa
2010 Inu to Anata no Monogatari, Inu no Eiga (犬とあなたの物語 いぬのえいが) An unnamed boy
2010 Ōkike no Tanoshii Ryokō: Shin-kon Jigoku-hen (大木家のたのしい旅行 新婚地獄篇) An unnamed brother
2012 Doraemon: Nobita and the Island of Miracles—Animal Adventure Fūku Voice actor
2012 Yōkai Ningen Bem (映画 妖怪人間ベム) Bero
2013 Kodomo Keisatsu (コドモ警察) Shigeru Ōnuma Lead role
2014 Akumu-chan The Movie (悪夢ちゃん The 夢ovie) Ryū Uehara
2014 Bara Iro no Būko (薔薇色のブー子) An unnamed boy
2017 Mixed Doubles Takeru Gotōda
2019 The 47 Ronin in Debt Ōishi Chikara
2021 Zokki
2021 Saber + Zenkaiger: Super Hero Senki Shotaro Ishinomori
2022 Kappei Takechi

Television

Year Title Japanese Role Channel Start Date End Date Notes References
2009 Keikan no Chi 警官の血 Tamio (as a child) Asahi TV February 7, 2009 February 8, 2009 Uncredited
2010 GeGeGe no Nyōbō ゲゲゲの女房 Takashi (as a child) NHK March 29, 2010 September 25, 2010 Uncredited
2010 Daimajin Kanon 大魔神カノン Shōta TV Tokyo April 2, 2010 October 1, 2010
2011 Marumo no Okite マルモのおきて Tomoki Sasakura Fuji TV April 24, 2011 July 3, 2011 Special broadcast on October 9, 2011
2011 Another face Keiji-Sōmuka Ōtomo Tetsu アナザーフェイス
刑事総務課・大友鉄
Yūto Ōtomo Asahi TV May 26, 2011 May 26, 2011
2011 Hanazakari no Kimitachi e 花ざかりの君たちへ Tomoki Sasakura Fuji TV July 10, 2011 July 10, 2011 First episode cameo
2011 Yōkai Ningen Bem 妖怪人間ベム Bero Nippon Television October 22, 2011 December 24, 2011   
2011 62nd NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen 第62回NHK紅白歌合戦 Performer NHK December 31, 2011 December 31, 2011 As part of "Kaoru to Tomoki, Tamani Mook"
2012 Waratte Iitomo 笑っていいとも! Holiday regular Fuji TV April 2, 2012 March 31, 2014
2012 be Ponkikkīzu beポンキッキーズ Presenter BS Fuji TV April 2, 2012
2012 Blackboard-jidai to Tatakatta Kyōshi-tachi ブラックボード~時代
と戦った教師たち
Ryū Shirahama TBS April 5, 2012 April 5, 2012
2012 Kodomo Keisatsu コドモ警察 Shigeru Ōnuma TBS, MBS April 17, 2012 (TBS)
April 19, 2012 (MBS)
June 19, 2012 (TBS)
June 28, 2012 (MBS)
2012 Doraemon ドラえもん Navigator Asahi TV April 27, 2012 As part of a monthly mini-section entitled
"A Box Project, 100 years After the Start
of Doraemon"
2012 Ikkyū-san (TV series) 一休さん Ikkyū Fuji TV June 30, 2012 June 30, 2012 Drama adaptation special
2012 Kuruma Isu de Boku wa Sora o Tobu 車イスで僕は空を飛ぶ Daisuke Ishii Nippon Television August 25, 2012 August 26, 2012
2012 Akumu-chan 悪夢ちゃん Ryū Uehara Nippon Television November 10, 2012 November 10, 2012 Guest for episode five
2013 Kodomo Keishi コドモ警視 Shigeru Ōnuma TBS, MBS January 22, 2013 March 26, 2013
2013 Share House no Koibito シェアハウスの恋人 Masaru Fukui Nippon Television February 6, 2013 February 6, 2013 Guest for episode four
2013 Onna Nobunaga 女信長 Takechiyo Fuji TV April 5, 2013 April 6, 2013
2013 Ikkyū-san 2 一休さん 2 Ikkyū Fuji TV May 5, 2013 May 5, 2013 Drama adaptation special
2013 Another face Keiji-Sōmuka Ōtomo Tetsu 2 アナザーフェイス刑事総務課・大友鉄2 Yūto Ōtomo Asahi TV April 20, 2013 April 20, 2013
2013 Nikai ga Kowai 2階が怖い Ryū Hatano Fuji TV August 17, 2013 August 17, 2013 As part of "Hontō ni Atta Kowai Hanashi"
2013 Otto no Kanojo 夫のカノジョ Masato Komatsubara TBS October 24, 2013 December 12, 2013
2014 Miyamoto Musashi 宮本武蔵 Iori Asahi TV March 15, 2014 March 16, 2014
2014 Keiji 110 Kilo 刑事110キロ Mitsuru Aizawa Asahi TV May 8, 2014 May 8, 2014
2017 Warotenka わろてんか Young Fūta Takei NHK October 2, 2017 March 31, 2018 Asadora
2020 Utsubyō 9dan うつ病九段 Sōta Fujii NHK December 20, 2020 TV movie
2022-2023 Kamen Rider Geats 仮面ライダーギーツ Ziin/Kamen Rider Ziin Asahi TV September 4, 2022 Recurring Role

Dubbing roles

Year Title Role Notes References
2011 Happy Feet Two Erik
2015 The Peanuts Movie Charlie Brown
2022 Strange World Ethan Clade

Awards

2011

  • 53rd Japan Record Awards: Special Award for "Maru Maru Mori Mori!"
  • 4th Parenting Awards: Kids Category
  • 44th Japan Cable Awards: Newcomer for "Kaoru to Tomoki, Tamani Mook"
  • 44th Japan Cable Awards: Special Award for "Kaoru to Tomoki, Tamani Mook"

2012

  • 26th Japan Gold Disc Awards: Top Five New Artists for "Kaoru to Tomoki, Tamani Mook"
  • 26th Japan Gold Disc Awards: Top Five Songs by Digital Download for "Maru Maru Mori Mori!"
  • 15th Nikkan Sports⋅Drama Grand Prix: Supporting Actor Award for "Bero" in "Yōkai Ningen Bem"

2013

  • The Fantastic Fest 2013: GUTBUSTER COMEDY FEATURES Best Actor in "Kodomo Keisatsu"
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