A friend of Sayako's father and a well known journalist. Sayako admires him and wants to be a good journalist like Kanemoto. He commits suicide. Sayako has a vision of him being on trial in the afterlife. There he declares that he does not believe in a life after death. Consequently, he is punished harshly. The judges talk about the "reborn buddha" during the trial and it is the first time Sayako hears about that. She decides to do some research.