On April 21st, actress, Tanaka Yoshiko (55) unfortunately passed away due to breast cancer.

In 1973, she debuted as a member of female idol group Candies which was extremely popular back in 1970s. She had been active as an actress since the group disbanded in 1978. �Recently, Tanaka was popular for her roles of being a mother.



She first found the breast cancer in 1992 a year after she got married to a business man, though she didn't reveal it to the public. �Even after she received surgery�to�remove the�tumor�on her left chest, she still suffered relapses several times. �However, she kept receiving treatment every time, and still continued her career as an actress.

In October 2010, she was diagnosed with duodenal ulcer, and was hospitalized. �Two weeks after she left the hospital in February, her health condition turned for the worse, and went back to the hospital. �After the examination, it was found out that her breast cancer�metastasised�to�multiple organs�including�lung and liver.

According to her husband, she never gave up on the eagerness toward her job as she kept telling him that she would revive from the ill no matter what, and wanted to keep pursuing her career as an actress. �However, she already confessed to the fellow members of her Candies days, Ito Ran and Fujimura Miki that she was close to death.

Her last work as actress was NHK drama "Te no hira no Memo" which was aired in October 2010.

Our condolences to her friends and family.

Source & Photo: Sanspo