Imamura Norio

Biography

Kiyonori Imamura (今村 清憲, Imamura Kiyonori), better known by his stage name Norio Imamura (いまむら のりお, Imamura Norio), is a Japanese stage actor and voice actor from Gifu. He is a graduate of the Fine Arts department of Nihon University. Imamura began his career in the musical troupe Musical Company It’s Follies and was coached by Nachi Nozawa.

Imamura tattoos himself as a hobby and has reportedly spent 4 to 5 million yen (the equivalent of $45,000 to $56,000) on tattoos over the course of a decade. From April 26 to June 7, 2010, Imamura posted pictures of his lower body on his blog with the intention of showing that his body had been completely tattooed. Imamura was arrested in July 2010 for posting images that were deemed indecent. This event forced Imamura to step down from his ongoing voice role as Emporio Ivankov in One Piece. On September 1, Imamura was released following a summary proceeding at the Tokyo Public Prosecutor’s Office and was given a fine of 500,000 yen (approximately $6,000).