Japanese actor Ken Watanabe undergoes surgery for stomach cancer

Acclaimed Japanese actor Ken Watanabe has undergone endoscopic surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in the stomach which was detected recently, according to a statement issued by a representative of the actor in Tokyo Wednesday.

The statement added the 56yearold actor was detected with early stage cancer during a recent medical checkup and is now recuperating at a Japanese hospital.

Watanabe was scheduled in March to return to Broadway to play King of Siam in the musical, The King and I, for which he won a Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical in 2015.

“I am preparing myself in earnest for the (Broadway) stage. I would like to ask for your understanding that the start of my performance in New York will be a little delayed,” said a handwritten message from the actor in the statement.

Watanabe, a native of Koide, a mountainous town in northwestern Japan, was also diagnosed with leukemia in 1989, but he managed to recover from it in less than a year.

The Japanese actor rose to international fame in 2004 with his role as Katsumoto Moritsugu in the Hollywood movie The Last Samurai, for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.