"Detective! Night Scoop" (ABC TV, Friday 11:17 PM) is a popular variety show in which "detectives" tackle viewers' quirky requests and worries. On February 27th, the ace detective investigated "fifth graders who turn 'chi' into 'ki'." Actor and film director Naoto Takenaka made his debut as the special director, with assistant director Seiya and secretary Saori Masuda also making appearances.
The request came from an 11-year-old girl in the fifth grade of elementary school in Osaka Prefecture. The girl has always had trouble pronouncing the sound "chi." For example, when she wants to say "chicken," it sounds like "kikin." This causes a lot of inconveniences at school and in her extracurricular activities. She thinks about how to get better at pronouncing the words, but she just can't find the answer.
The most difficult thing is when buying his favorite "Famichiki" (chicken), he ends up saying "Famikiki" and has to ask a friend to buy it for him. He wishes he could say "chi" so he could buy "Famichiki" by himself.
The client says he has difficulty pronouncing the sounds "chi" and "ji (ji)." The ace detective disguises himself as a "tongue man" and uses a large model of a mouth to teach him how to shape his tongue to make "chi," but gradually "chi" becomes "kee."
So they asked a speech-language-hearing therapist for help. After asking the client to make various sounds, it was discovered that her tongue was slightly shifted to the side. From there, under the teacher's guidance, the girl practiced pronouncing the sound "tsu" and then "tsuui." The girl's rapid growth was inspiring.
