A friendly, interesting and fun veteran singer.

Yoshio Tabata, commonly known as Batayan, is a man who, since I was a child, has been lullabies

from the radio to pop songs such as "Kaeri Fune" and "Wakare Fune",

"Otone Tsukiyo", "Genkai Blues", "Mugi to Heitai", etc.

I think he was a singer who was extremely popular with the masses.

My grandmother was a big fan, and she always went to see his Osaka performances at the Osaka Theater, a classic theater located in Sennichimae, Osaka. At that time, this theater did not have reserved seats, and the seats were reserved early in the morning, so it was a good place to go. In order to secure a good seat, we lined up in front of the theater. In the case of popular singers, the queue would wrap around the theater several times. My grandmother would say to me, "Shige-chan, do you want to get a part-time job? If you can save a spot, I'll give you 500 yen." In those days, 500 yen was a lot of money for a middle-school student like me. I replied without hesitation, "Yes, sure." I remember taking the first tram in the morning from my parents' house in Senba to the Grand Theater in Sennichimae to save a spot. I never thought I would meet Yoshio Tabata in person. I never dreamed I would be working with him.

In 1961, the 36th year of the Showa era, Yoshio Tabata was cast as the head clerk of an inn in the film "Hatamoto Taikutsu Otoko, Nazo no Nanairo Goten" by the great master of the north, Ichikawa Utaemon.

This was the first time we met at the studio.

Many singers appeared in this film, including Hideo Murata, Komadori, Sisters, Chiyonosuke Azuma, Nahoko Kubo, and Shingo Yamashiro.

While waiting for the filming, I went to greet Yoshio Tabata. So I said, "Ann, are you from Osaka?

I was born in Mie, but I grew up in Tsuruhashi, Osaka."

I felt a strange affinity with him, like a father or an older brother, even though I was a little older than him.

After that, I looked up to him like an older brother and we got along well.

I was able to keep in touch with Tabata Yoshio until his later years.

I was always grateful for his help when filming ended.

Even after that, I always went to visit Tabata's Osaka performances in the dressing room.

However, I was in Sennichimae, Tabata Yoshio's home ground. The large theater in the area had disappeared, and the venue had been replaced by Nakaza in Dotonbori from Sennichimae. Once a year, there was a Nakaza performance, and during that, an event that shocked the whole of Japan occurred in August 1979, I think. The newspapers reported that "Tabata Yoshio wins 60 million yen on a slot machine in Las Vegas." The whole of Japan was surprised, but I was also shocked. The following year, in the New Year of 1980, in Nagoya, a long-term performance was being held at the Chunichi Theater, so if it was okay, I would like to play. I got a call from Tabata Yoshio's manager asking if I would like to come back to see him, so naturally I went to his dressing room to visit him. I asked him about the incident in Las Vegas last year, and he told me about it in a funny way. At that time, when Tabata finished work, he would go to Las Vegas for about a week and spend his days at the casino. I stayed at the Hilton, and the slot machines at the hotel were a great way to relieve stress. I tilted the handle toward me, making a clanging noise. At that time, there were a lot of Japanese customers in Las Vegas.

It was around 4am in the morning.

The slot machines with the highest odds are Big, Junk, and Board.

The numbers are arranged in five rows horizontally and three rows vertically, top, middle, and bottom.

Big, Junk, and Board are five rows horizontally on the bottom row, and when five numbers appear, a bell starts ringing to indicate the payout.

When he looked, he saw that it was "290,000 dollars," which was "64 million yen" at the exchange rate at the time.

The hotel staff rushed over and immediately recognized the Japanese singer, Tabata Yoshio. He said that he met Paul Anker, who was doing a show in Las Vegas at the time, and that he asked him to come to his dressing room, and that they talked for a long time about the show and Japanese songs. I also went to Las Vegas once to see Frank Sinatra, and played the slot machines at the hotel, but it was a complete mess. Personally, I met Yoshio Tabata when we were shooting a movie in 1961, and he helped me out a lot after that, and I still feel like he's my big brother.