Personal Life
In 1991, he married former idol singer Kaori Shimizu. Together they had two children.
After returning to Japan in 2005, Sasaki continued his affair with actress Kanako Enomoto, who was thirteen years his junior. When Enomoto became pregnant, Shimizu divorced Sasaki on March 18, 2005. Enomoto would birth prematurely on April 29, 2005, and the affair has caused the popularity of Sasaki and Enomoto to drop considerably.
Sasaki's interest in sports extend outside baseball. In 2002 and 2003, he lent his name and his pocketbook to Formula Nippon, an auto racing series in Japan. His Team 22 won two races in that time. He is known to wear a half sleeved shirt no matter what the weather is. He has also appeared as a judge on the Iron Chef television program.
He had a side recording career, with an album of his vocals over techno beats.
He chose 22 for his uniform number, because he was born at 2:22 on February 22 (2/22). The BayStars have permanently honored his number.
Read more about this topic: Kazuhiro Sasaki
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