[3] For his contributions to the arts, the Japanese government decorated Tanaka with the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1999 and the Order of the Rising Sun in 2006.

[3] His first notable role was as a thug in Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well (1960), and he would later work with the director again on Sanjuro (1962) and Dodes'ka-den (1970).

He established himself as an actor with the role of lecherous antagonist Shinjiro Ishiyama, nicknamed "Aodaishō", in 1961's Daigaku no Wakadaishō.

[2] Tanaka also appeared in Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan (1964), and portrayed Daisuke Jigen in Lupin III: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy (1974).

[2] Tanaka is well-known for starring as Goro Kuroita in the Kita no Kuni Kara television series, which had various installments between 1981 and 2002.