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The man Hawaii fans know as "Jiro" was born Kiyonari Saito on May 5, 1947 in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, just north of Tokyo.
During his college years, Saito was a member of a theater group that performed the works of French writers. Saito worked part-time at a teahouse, where he earned a modest wage of 580 yen a day. During his lean years, Saito considered getting a regular job as a salaryman (Japanese white collar worker), but ultimately decided to persevere in his pursuit of acting.
Saito got his first big break when he was cast in the role of "Jiro" for the "Kikaida" series (Jinzo ningen kikaidaa in Japanese) on the NET-TV network (now TV Asahi). Rather than auditioning for the part, he was tabbed for the role when the wife of the program's producer chose his photo from a lineup of finalists, exclaiming, "He's the one!" Before the series debuted, Saito officially changed his name to Ban Daisuke. Ban starred in all 43 episodes of "Kikaida" (1972-73) and appeared in many episodes of the spin-off "Kikaida-01" series (1973-74).
Ban went on to star in other superhero series like "Inazuman" and "Ninja Captor." His filmography also includes roles in TV series and movies including: "Aguri"; "Suzuran"; and "Hanshichi Torimonocho" on Japan's NHK network; "Choshichiro Edo Nikki" (NTV); "Gridman" (TBS); "Zenigata Heiji"; "Gift";and Yo nimo Kimyou na Monogatari" (Fuji); "Abarenbo Shogun" and "Sasurai Keiji" (TV Asahi); and "Tokugawa Buraicho" and Oedo Sosamo" (TV Tokyo).
More recently, Ban starred in a number of movies, most recently the hit horror series Ringu ("The Ring", 1998); Rasen ("The Spiral", 1998); Ringu 2 ("The Ring 2", 1999); and Ringu 0: Basudei ("The Ring 0: Birthday"). The American remake of "The Ring" by DreamWorks Pictures was released in October 2002.
Ban has made commercial appearances for food product company Ajinomoto and the Marui Department store among others.
His autobiography Jinzo Ningen Kikaidaa, Jiro Tabi no Tochu de ("Super Android Kikaida: In the Midst of Jiro's Journey") was published by Kadokawa Shoten in August 2001.
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