Tsuneo Watanabe, the powerful head of Japan’s largest newspaper who had close ties with the country’s powerful conservative leaders, has died, his company said. He was 98.
Watanabe, the editor-in-chief of the Yomiuri Shimbun for over 30 years, died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital on Thursday, the Yomiuri said.
Watanabe joined the newspaper in 1950 and covered politics throughout his career, attending editorial meetings until last month. He was still checking copy in his hospital room days before his death, the newspaper said.
