In the heyday of the industry in the 1990s, Sawaki along with Taka Kato and Chocoball Mukai represented something of a “Big Three” as far as actors.
Now, aged 53 years, Sawaki is battling cancer. “It might be one year or it could be two years,” the actor said in an appearance on AbemaTV last October about how long he has left.
Unbowed, Sawaki is fighting the good fight — much of which is being documented on his Twitter account.
“Happy New Year,” he wrote on January 1. “For me, this will be the year that decides my fate. I’ll do my best. For everyone, please make this year a fulfilling one.”
“The Nampa King”
Since making his debut in 1988, Sawaki, a native of Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, has starred in at least 10,000 AV films.
During his career, he garnered the nickname “The Nampa King” for his appearances in multiple titles in which he carries out nampa — or the picking up of women — in the street.
Sawaki began feeling ill during a shoot in February of last year. He then visited a hospital at the urging of actress Yuka Oshima.
On March 26, he said on Twitter that he was halting performances. Then, on April 11, he announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus and hypopharynx.
During an interview with the Mainichi Shimbun (Nov. 14, 2020), he said that he experienced trouble downing food and water for about a year before the diagnosis. However, he didn’t think much of it.
公表します!
食道がん＋下咽頭がんにより来週には入院します。 食道がんが大分進んでいるので、手術の選択肢は無く化学放射線治療になります。 公表する必要は無かったかも知れないけど黙って消えて行くのは無いかな?って思いました。男優復帰は置いといて父親復帰を目指します。息子を見ていたい。 pic.twitter.com/3FjwN14PHD
— AV男優沢木和也「S.Z=洗濯侍」 (@RYkyDVRDzpT5gHy) April 11, 2020
10,000 films
Sawaki received anti-cancer treatments in April and May. However, they were not effective.
He then began receiving radiation treatments, which worked. He is now taking the cancer medication Opdivo once every three weeks.
The Mainichi reporter says that despite Sawaki’s reputation as nampa royalty, his personality is quite the opposite.
“I was supposed to be out drinking every day, but I didn’t play around even during the ‘Bubble Era,'” he says. “Sometimes I drank too much, but if I did that now, I’d be sick.”
“Good motor skills”
Sawaki says that he has continued to be AV actor because he likes the work. “I don’t sit in the same seat every day and work,” he says. “The shooting location is always different. It’s been just right for me, a person who want to live freely.”
There is a flip side. “I feel sorry for the man who does a job that is not recognized by the world and cannot be revealed to his children,” he says. “When I was a middle school student, I wanted to be a police officer. It is a stable job and I have good motor skills.”
It might not be all that it is cracked up to be. Sawaki cautions that though the AV industry has had its share of scandals — including the forcing of women to perform as actresses — there remains a misunderstanding that working in AV provides decent employment.
“Once you come here [to the world of AV], you can’t go back,” he says. “I think sex should be open but AV more underground.”
Support from Marica Hase
On Twitter, Sawaki provides daily updates on his ordeal, often with a photograph of a meal. Some photos show him hobbling around with the aid of a cane.
In July, he returned to the set. However, he was fully clothed the entire time. “I’ve lost more than 10 kilograms, and I don’t want to show my thin body,” he says to the Mainichi. “I’ve got my pride.”
In November, Sawaki completed a crowdfunding project to raise funds for the publication of his autobiography “Preparing to Die.” On the site camp-fire.jp, he raised more than 2 million yen.
One of his supporters has been actress Marica Hase, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Hase, who has only met Sawaki a couple of times, initiated the sale of t-shirts with proceeds headed to him.
“It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been acquainted,” Sawaki says, “and I want to return the favor.”
Sawaki has said that he is skeptical about using medical treatment to prolong his life. However, he does want to live long enough for one thing: to see his son, a third-year middle school student, go to high school.
“I want to see him play high school baseball,” he tells Harbor Business Online. “I love high school baseball. That’s all I want to see.”
