"Detective! Night Scoop" (ABC TV, Fridays at 11:17 PM) is a popular variety show where "detectives" tackle bizarre requests and worries submitted by viewers. On June 26th, Detective Ken Maeda investigated "the mysterious men who control television in Kumamoto." Director Amon Miyamoto made his first appearance as special director, with Assistant Director Yasushi Ishida and Secretary Saori Masuda also appearing.
The request came from a 29-year-old woman from Kumamoto City. Born and raised in Kumamoto Prefecture, she moved to Osaka to attend university. Three years ago, she decided to make a fresh start and returned to Kumamoto, but while watching local television, a question arose in her mind: the presence of "older male celebrities" who dominate Kumamoto's local programs.
While local Osaka programs feature comedians, local Kumamoto programs, for some reason, frequently feature older male entertainers rather than comedians. For example, Kame-kichi, Masayan, Chinnen, Eitaro, Tanaka Yohei, Ueda Keisuke, Yamauchi Kaname, Otaguro Koichi, Takamura Kohei, Ota Hiroki, Kanabunya, and others... I can think of at least 10 off the top of my head.
For women, it's strange that these men, whose occupations are unknown, appear on television so naturally. What led them to appear on local Kumamoto programs in the first place? Do the people of Kumamoto know their backgrounds and identities? Or have they simply been accepted by the public as "the men we often see"? This is something that should definitely be investigated.
I'm particularly interested in Kame-kichi, Masayan, and Chinnen. In fact, Detective Maeda had previously conducted a survey in a shopping district in Kumamoto with photo panels of the three, and almost 100% of people, young and old, said they knew them. Then Kame-kichi and Masayan appeared. Surprisingly, Chinnen appeared via a panel because he has a regular TV show. We immediately started asking them all sorts of questions, from how they got on TV, their income, their agencies, to secrets about their lives. So, what did we discover about the reasons for their popularity?
