Miwa Akihiro, a Japanese singer and actor who voiced the wolf god Moro in the animated film "Princess Mononoke" and the Witch of the Waste in "Howl's Moving Castle," has died. He was 91.
According to Japanese outlets including Nikkan Sports on the 28th, the performer's agency said, "Miwa Akihiro passed away from old age at 9:30 a.m. on the 20th."
The agency said he had scaled back activities over the past year due to advanced age and focused on regaining his health. His condition deteriorated rapidly about three months ago, and he convalesced at home; in his final moment, he reportedly said, "Thank you," and passed peacefully.
A handwritten message he left in his lifetime was also released. He conveyed the belief that "the key to solving all the world's problems is love, and if there is love, war will not occur," and the agency said, "Please remember for a long time his wish for a world without discrimination and prejudice."
He was born in 1935 in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, and at age 10 in 1945 personally experienced the atomic bombing at his home in Nagasaki. He continued musical, lecture, and writing activities on themes such as war, discrimination, and poverty, and even after a cerebral infarction in 2019, he kept working in broadcasting and writing. He debuted as a singer at 16, and after changing his name to Miwa Akihiro in 1971, he was active as an actor in theater and TV drama. He was born male but lived in women's attire and was also active as an LGBTQ rights advocate.
In Korea, he was popular as a voice actor. In 1997, he played Moro, an ancient deity in the form of a wolf, in director Hayao Miyazaki's animated film "Princess Mononoke," and in 2004 he voiced the Witch of the Waste in "Howl's Moving Castle," among other roles.