is a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 actor and voice actor. He is noted for his roles in Return of Ultraman

Return of Ultraman

is a tokusatsu SF/kaiju/superhero TV series, and is the 4th Ultra Series.Eiji Tsuburaya had originally intended for the Ultra Series to end with the 1967 series Ultra Seven , but Ultraman proved to be too popular a character to keep down...

, Eyeful Daisakusen, Uchuu Keiji Gavan

Uchuu Keiji Gavan

is the first of the Metal Hero Series. It aired on TV Asahi from 5 March 1982 through February 25, 1983.For distribution purposes, Toei refers to this television series as Space Cop Gabin.-Plot:...

, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger, G-Men '75

G-Men '75

was a long-running prime-time television detective series in Japan. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:54 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System network from May 24, 1975 to April 3, 1982. A sequel, G-Men '82, followed, as did various specials. With several updates and cast...

, and Shin Kyoto Meikyū Annai. His guest roles have included multiple episodes of Key Hunter

Key Hunter

was a prime-time television detective series in Japan. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:56 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System network from April 6, 1968 to April 7, 1973...

, Mito Kōmon

Mito Kōmon

is a Japanese jidaigeki or period drama that has been on prime-time television since 1969. The title character is the historic Tokugawa Mitsukuni, former vice-shogun and retired second daimyo of the Mito domain...

, Taiyō ni Hoero!, Zenigata Heiji

Zenigata Heiji

is Japanese fictional character, the hero of a series of Japanese novels, films and TV programmes set in the Edo period of Japanese history. He is a policeman who catches criminals by throwing coins, the zeni of the title, thus Zenigata Heiji. The hero was created by novelist Kodō Nomura in 1937...

, and Abarenbō Shōgun

Abarenbo Shogun

is a Japanese television program on the TV Asahi network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun. The program started in 1978 under the title Yoshimune Hyōbanki: Abarenbō Shōgun...

. He is also a regular guest star in the two-hour prime-time special drama format, with 35 appearances on the Tuesday Kayō Suspense Gekijō and 25 on the Saturday Doyō Wide Gekijō. A veteran jidaigeki

Jidaigeki

is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...

actor, Nishida portrayed the recurring villain Mugensai who masterminded the plot to assassinate the shogun in the series Shogun Iemitsu Shinobi Tabi

Shogun Iemitsu Shinobi Tabi

was a pair of television jidaigeki series on TV Asahi in Japan. The first aired in 1990–1991 and the sequel in 1992–1993. Kunihiko Mitamura portrayed Tokugawa Iemitsu in both series....

 Part II. He appeared as Asano Daigaku, younger brother of the daimyo

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 whose forced seppuku

Seppuku

is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...

triggered the events of the Forty-seven ronin

Forty-seven Ronin

The revenge of the , also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, or the took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century...

, in The Fall of Ako Castle

The Fall of Ako Castle

is a 1978 Japanese historical martial arts period film, directed by Kinji Fukasaku. It depicts the story of the Forty-seven Ronin...

. A modern role was in the 1986 Kei Kumai

Kei Kumai

was a Japanese film director from Azumino, Nagano prefecture. After his studies in literature at Shinshu University, he worked as director's assistant....

 film adaptation Umi to Doku

The Sea and Poison

is a 1986 Japanese film directed by Kei Kumai and based on a novel by Shusaku Endo.-Cast:* Eiji Okuda as Suguro* Ken Watanabe as Toda* Takahiro Tamura as Professor Hashimoto* Kyôko Kishida as Ohba, Head Nurse* Mikio Narita as Shibata* Shigeru Kôyama as Gondo...

of the Shusaku Endo

Shusaku Endo

Shūsaku Endō was a 20th-century Japanese author who wrote from the unusual perspective of being both Japanese and Catholic...

 novel of the same name (translated as The Sea and Poison

The Sea and Poison

is a 1986 Japanese film directed by Kei Kumai and based on a novel by Shusaku Endo.-Cast:* Eiji Okuda as Suguro* Ken Watanabe as Toda* Takahiro Tamura as Professor Hashimoto* Kyôko Kishida as Ohba, Head Nurse* Mikio Narita as Shibata* Shigeru Kôyama as Gondo...

). Three films in the Gokudō no Onna-tachi series of gangster films are also to his credit. In anime, Ken provided the Japanese voice of Kazundo Gouda

Kazundo Gouda

is a fictional character in Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell anime series. He is the primary antagonist of Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG...

 in Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG

Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG

is the second season of the anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, based on Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell. It was written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama, with original character design by Hajime Shimomura and a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno...

.