投稿コーナー：いきなりステキ！
On the listener-submission corner 'Ikinari Suteki' (いきなり素敵) of TBS Radio's After 6 Junction 2 (アフター6ジャンクション2), a listener named Nukadoko shared the story of her flip phone snapping clean in two in Ikebukuro during a college-era rendezvous—and her audacious solution of asking a complete stranger to let her insert her SD card into his phone. The episode spiraled into a lively debate among the show's personalities about whether any of them would ever hand their own smartphone to a stranger.
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What this episode answers
What is the core of Nukadoko's 'Ikinari Suteki' experience?
While waiting in Ikebukuro for someone she had a crush on, Nukadoko dropped her flip phone and it split in two; she then walked up to a stranger at the station entrance and asked him to let her insert her SD card into his phone so she could retrieve her contacts and get back in touch with her date. The stranger turned out to be a ronin student from Kyushu, and several remarkable coincidences surfaced during their chance encounter.
Why did Nukadoko think of the SD card plan instead of using a public phone?
She hadn't memorized her date's phone number, making a public phone useless. She remembered that flip phones of the era stored contact lists on SD cards, meaning the card would work in any compatible handset, which led her to approach a stranger.
What kind of person was the stranger who helped her, and what coincidences came to light?
He was a ronin student who had come alone from Kyushu to sit university entrance exams in Tokyo and was uncomfortable walking into restaurants by himself; on top of that, he was planning to sit the exam at Nukadoko's own university, and the phone he carried was the exact same model as her broken one.
How did the personalities answer the question 'Would you lend your phone to a stranger?'
Kumazaki-kun (熊崎くん) said he would refuse outright—he'd sooner be seen naked than let someone touch his phone, and he wouldn't even allow his wife to handle it. Another personality took a middle position of 'it depends on my mood,' while a third joked he'd lend it without hesitation if the person asking were actress Hirose Suzu.
What kinds of stories does the 'Ikinari Suteki' corner accept?
The corner collects stories about 'unbelievably bold ways of closing the distance with someone,' both successes and failures; listeners submit them by email with 'Ikinari Suteki' in the subject line.
About the Corner 'Ikinari Suteki'
The listener-submission corner 'Ikinari Suteki' on TBS Radio's After 6 Junction 2 was conceived by director Katayama-kun. It collects stories about moments when someone closed the distance with another person in an almost unbelievable way—failures and successes alike. Entries arrive by email with 'Ikinari Suteki' in the subject line. At the top of this particular broadcast the hosts played a track by the band Platinum Rhythm (プラチナリズム) and referenced artist duo Sakura Shimeji (桜しめじ), who had apparently launched straight into a performance with no count-in. The hosts said they wished they could reach that level of instinctive synchrony, then laughed that they clearly couldn't—someone had audibly inhaled before starting.
Nukadoko's Story: The Day Her Flip Phone Split in Two
The submission that anchored the episode came from listener Nukadoko (ぬかどこ). As a university student she arranged to meet someone she had feelings for in Ikebukuro. She had just received a message—'I'll let you know when I'm close by car'—when she fumbled her flip phone and it hit the ground, snapping cleanly in two. With her phone dead and her date on the way, Nukadoko's first thought was a public phone, but she immediately ruled it out: she hadn't memorized his number. She was, by her own account, in a 'I will die if I don't see him tonight' state of mind.
The SD Card Gambit
Then it came to her. Flip phones of that era stored their contact lists on SD cards. If she could slip her card into someone else's handset, she could pull up her date's number and call him directly. She spotted a man standing alone at the station entrance, walked up to him, and asked: 'My phone is broken and I can't reach the person I'm meeting—would you mind if I inserted my SD card into yours?' Against all odds, he agreed without hesitation. He then suggested they step into a nearby café—he was hungry and reluctant to sit alone—and the two of them ended up having tea together while she sorted out her situation.
A Ronin Student from Kyushu and a String of Coincidences
As they talked, the coincidences piled up. The man was a ronin student (浪人生) who had traveled up from Kyushu on his own to sit university entrance exams in Tokyo. Eating alone in an unfamiliar city made him uncomfortable, which is why he had been standing outside in the first place. More remarkably, one of the universities he was targeting was Nukadoko's own school. And the phone he had been using was the exact same model as her freshly broken one—a detail that set them both off laughing about how fragile that particular handset was. She successfully reached her date, and the ronin student, clearly reluctant to see her go, suggested she bring her date over to join them. She politely declined and headed off. Looking back, Nukadoko says exchanging contact details that day might have kept the friendship going to this day.
The Hosts Weigh In: Would You Lend a Stranger Your Phone?
The story prompted a quick poll among the personalities. Kumazaki-kun answered instantly: 'I'd refuse on the spot.' For him, having someone else handle his phone would be worse than being seen completely naked—he added that this applies to his wife as well. He cited the privacy risks, the exposure of search history, and a broader wariness about how much personal data accumulates on a modern device, remarking that people today should think twice before signing up for anything online. A second personality was more ambivalent: 'It depends on how I feel at the time.' He acknowledged that the person asking would clearly be desperate, while noting that no one's life was actually on the line. A third voice in the conversation got the biggest laugh: 'If it were actress Hirose Suzu (広瀬すず), I'd hand it over immediately'—and 'Even if the whole thing turned out to be a hidden-camera show like Monitoring (モニタリング), I'd still lend it.' The discussion also touched on how the sheer volume of private data carried on a smartphone dwarfs what was ever on a flip phone, and on the lost art of memorizing phone numbers through wordplay (語呂合わせ)—a trick that would have saved Nukadoko a great deal of trouble.
Takeaways
- In the flip-phone era, storing contacts on an SD card meant a stranger's handset could serve as a lifeline—a workaround that actually worked for Nukadoko in Ikebukuro.
- On the question of lending a phone to a stranger, Kumazaki-kun flatly refused while another personality said it depended on the situation, with the two positions landing on opposite ends of the spectrum.
- The old habit of memorizing phone numbers through wordplay resurfaced as a piece of analog wisdom that modern smartphone dependence has all but erased.
This article is edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. It is not an official summary — please listen to the episode itself.