エンディング「スピリチュアルコーナー」

What Is the Spiritual Corner?

The Spiritual Corner is a regular feature at the end of Tokyo Pod Kyokakyoku (東京ポッド許可局). Listeners send in stories of uncanny coincidences or strange alignments they have experienced in daily life — moments they felt were 'spiri-tuned' — and the hosts rule on whether each story qualifies as 'spiritual' or not. Every listener whose submission is featured receives a 'Spi-Checker' as a prize. This episode featured three submissions.

Episode 1: An English App Called Out a Listener's Headache (Akita Prefecture · Otome Chika Kyokuin)

The listener describes herself as a chronic migraine sufferer. Feeling the early warning signs of a migraine one day, she decided to get through her daily English-study session before it got any worse and opened her learning app. The sentence that appeared on screen: 'This headache is really annoying.'

The hosts immediately ruled it spiritual. When one host called it a 'good spi,' another countered, 'Are there bad spis?' — a question that was resolved with the curiously philosophical conclusion: 'Spi is spi.'

Episode 2: A Lighter Vanished; a Different-Colored One Appeared (Fukuoka Prefecture, Age 42 · Megane Gorilla Kyokuin)

During a work break, the listener pulled out a lighter to smoke, only to fumble it into a narrow gap. When they reached in to retrieve it, the lighter in their hand was a different color from the one they had just dropped — and it matched a lighter they believed they had lost somewhere months earlier. The lighter they had originally dropped was nowhere to be found.

The hosts were baffled by the layered complexity of the situation but rallied around phrases like 'a miraculous relay baton,' 'we want this made into a movie,' and 'it's like a story from Greek mythology.' The final verdict arrived with a note of bewilderment: 'I'm not sure what to make of this, but it's incredible.'

Episode 3: 'Gato-san' Was Actually Mr. Kato (Nagano Prefecture, Age 40 · 9-Hours-of-Sleep Kyokuin)

This was the episode's biggest moment. A listener who works at a food-and-drink establishment described a regular customer who always came in alone, ordered a gateau au chocolat and coffee every single time, and left after a brief stay. The entire staff had quietly nicknamed him 'Gato-san.' One day, Gato-san sent a reservation message to the shop's social media account. His profile photo confirmed it was him — but his real name in the account left everyone stunned: Kato.

The hosts were effusive: 'This is too spiritual,' 'This is a perfect score — 100 out of 100.' One host admitted to having privately hoped 'please let it be Kato,' and said it was 'the first time I have ever truly felt something spiritual,' describing the sensation as if the whole staff had prayed together and had their wish granted. The conversation then veered into a chicken-and-egg debate: did he come to love gateau au chocolat because his name was Kato, or did his love of gateau au chocolat somehow bring about the fate of being named Kato? One tangential joke also landed: 'Maybe he saw the Kato Rebellion in history class and developed a taste for gateau au chocolat.'

The Hosts' Own Spiritual Moment: Famima Socks

When asked whether they had experienced anything spiritual lately, one host shared their own coincidence. Convenience store fashion — clothing sold at convenience stores, particularly FamilyMart T-shirts and socks — had been trending recently, and the show had planned to cover it in that very episode. Midway through the broadcast, the host suddenly noticed they had been wearing FamilyMart socks all day — purely by chance, long before the topic was on the schedule. 'Is there a broadcast more convincing than this? I've been wearing them for ages,' they laughed. The other host was equally taken aback, saying, 'I didn't just say 'huh' — I actually gasped.'