The Japanese actress who voiced Anna in Japan’s dubbed version of ‘Frozen’ was cremated on Tuesday, three days after she died falling from her hotel room.
Sayaka Kanda’s celebrity parents, aged 35, were photographed holding a pink Urn with the cremains of their child on Tuesday. They briefly spoke to media representatives in Sapporo.
Masaki Kanda (71), her father, stated that they said “goodbye” and that only the closest relatives were there.
Seiko Matsuda, aged 59, spoke with a shaking voice and thanked the audience for their attendance despite the freezing weather. The pair then bowed to the ground and fled.
Pictured: Actor Masaki Kanda, right, and singer Seiko Matsuda speak to the media after the cremation of their daughter and actress Sayaka Kanda, on December 21, 2021 in Sapporo, northern Japan
Japanese actress Sayakakanda (voiced Anna) was cremated three days after her death from falling from her hotel room.
Kanda & Matsuda separated when Kanda was 10 years old.
Ms Kanda was found on the ground in an outside area on the 14th floor of the 22-storey hotel where she was staying in Sapporo at 9.40pm on December 18.
According to local media reports, she was taken to hospital.
Investigators have ruled out foul play in Ms Kanda’s death, and believe that she either took her own life or fell from the hotel accidentally.
Ms Kanda was also an actress on the stage who played Princess Anna in Japan’s 2013 animated Walt Disney movie ‘Frozen.
Local media reported that the actress was attending rehearsals to perform in the musical “My Fair Lady” on Friday.
However, Ms Kanda didn’t show up to a musical performance at the theatre in Sapporo (the capital of northern Japanese island Hokkaido) on Saturday afternoon. That evening, Kanda was discovered dead.
Sayaka Kanda (left), 35 years old, died after falling from 22-storeys of a hotel. Ms Kanda portrayed Princess Anna (right), in the Japanese animated Walt Disney film “Frozen”.
Ms Kanda didn’t show up to a performance of ‘My Fair Lady,’ a musical at the theatre in Sapporo (the capital of northern Japanese island Hokkaido),
Toho Co. announced Tuesday that a second cast will perform the play from late January.
Performances of ‘My Fair Lady’ were also cancelled on Sunday and Monday following the news of Ms Kanda’s death.
The company paid tributes to the actress for her work in Japan’s entertainment business.
Takako, the Japanese voice actor for Elsa in “Frozen,” commented on Disney’s official Twitter feed that she felt’speechless” at her colleague’s death, noting that the ‘time we shared is an unreplaceable treasure’.
Ms Kanda’s agency thanked fans for their support on Tuesday, writing on its official website: ‘We solemnly accept our responsibility for not being able to protect Kanda.’
Earlier, the agency L’aube Inc. said: ‘We are very sorry to give such a report to all the fans who supported us and all the people who took care of us.
“We remain unable to accept the loss of our mother and have been trying to make peace with her passing.”
According to The Japan Times, Ms Kanda was an actor in musicals from the age of 20. She got married in 2017, but she divorced two years later.