at the risk of appearing to be someone who can't tell japanese people apart... could that be ビートたけし? if it's not, the only other older japanese man i kno of is former prime minister 小泉.

that was the first person that came to my mind too

Andy for the win! anon-0 for second prize.

My Mad Internet Skillz have enabled me to decipher the hiragana name without resorting to an actual book, so for the benefit of other ignorant gaijin, the name in question is Takeshi Kitano.