辛坊治郎 ズーム そこまで言うか！【最新回のみ】currently outside the Japan top 100
2026年9月22日（火）辛坊治郎ズームそこまで言うか！
On September 22, a national holiday, Shinbo Jiro opened the show grumbling about office workers occupying the park benches meant for seniors' stretching exercises near his home, and an earthquake bulletin for Ibaraki Prefecture (seismic intensity 3, M3.9) interrupted the live broadcast. In the second half, listener letters drove discussion of Atami's transformation from a quiet couples' getaway into a town packed with twenty-somethings, the intent behind North Korea's released missile-launch monitor images, and Shinbo's experience firing tricky questions at a free generative AI.
What this episode answers
Why has it recently become harder to use the benches at the park near Shinbo Jiro's home?
More office workers from the area have started bringing bento lunches because of rising prices and sitting on the exercise-equipment benches meant for elderly residents, so Shinbo found them occupied more often, though on this holiday families had taken them over instead.
What did the earthquake bulletin for Ibaraki Prefecture reported during the live broadcast say?
The bulletin reported an earthquake with an epicenter in northern/southern Ibaraki Prefecture at a depth of roughly 50 kilometers and a magnitude of about 3.9, with the time corrected from "around 3:24" to "around 3:34," and no tsunami risk.
Why is Atami now being called a town for young people?
Atami is now called a young people's town because listeners reported its station-area shopping street full of people in their teens and twenties with long lines at pudding and sweets shops, a shift attributed partly to the city's active policy of granting filming permits for dramas and variety shows.
What intent did Shinbo Jiro see behind the monitor images North Korea released of its missile launch?
Shinbo saw the monitor images—showing a range of over 900 kilometers and a two-stage trajectory that descended once before climbing again—as intended to showcase missile capabilities that make interception difficult.
What tricky questions did Shinbo Jiro put to a free generative AI?
Shinbo asked the free generative AI whether AIs might attack each other, how many people it could respond to at the same time, and whether it was God, to which it replied "I am not God."
September 22 fell on a national holiday, one of the days off in this year's scattered holiday stretch. Shinbo Jiro opened the show by heading to his neighborhood park, where he'd noticed a recent change. Apparently driven by rising prices, more office workers from the area have started bringing bento lunches to the park and eating them while sitting on the benches of exercise equipment meant for elderly residents to stretch their backs. Shinbo said he'd taken to giving these people resentful looks every time he passed without ever actually saying anything, and often ended up on the receiving end of a glare instead. But on this holiday the benches were empty, replaced instead by fathers out with their kids, letting him finally stretch his back on the equipment for the first time in a while. He also mentioned that the Ginza and Tsukishima areas were packed, with inbound tourists joined by Japanese sightseers and the pedestrian-only zones adding to the crowds.
Benches Occupied by the Bento Crowd
As described above, Shinbo used his own park visit to illustrate how the cost-of-living squeeze has changed everyday habits near his home, while noting that the holiday briefly restored the benches to their intended use by families.
Earthquake Bulletin During the Live Broadcast
After the show began, the studio received a flood of emails about an earthquake, and it turned out the studio's seismograph had registered a reading of "1." An earthquake bulletin then came in during the live broadcast; the time was initially given as "around 3:24" before being corrected to "around 3:34." The epicenter was in northern/southern Ibaraki Prefecture, at a depth of roughly 50 kilometers, with a magnitude estimated at 3.9. No tsunami risk was reported from the quake.
Atami Has Become a "Young People's Town"
Among the listener letters, one listener who had visited Izu's Atami reported that the shopping area near the station was full of people in their teens and twenties, with long lines forming at pudding and sweets shops. Shinbo, who still pictured Atami as a destination for a quiet, low-key couples' trip ("shippori ryoko"), seemed surprised. Another listener wrote in saying the Atami they visited on a company trip 35 years ago was almost unrecognizable now, and the show noted that the city's active policy of granting filming permits for dramas and variety shows has helped fuel its popularity with young people. The discussion also touched on how Shibuya's west side tends to draw younger crowds while its east side skews older.
North Korea's Missile and Tricky Questions for a Generative AI
In the news segment, the show covered reports from North Korean state media that a new weapon was tested on September 20, releasing footage and monitor images of what appeared to be a hypersonic ballistic missile launch. Shinbo analyzed the range figure of over 900 kilometers shown on the monitor, along with the missile's two-stage trajectory — descending once before climbing again — as intended to showcase capabilities that make interception difficult. The segment also touched on a Reuters report about a security-related agreement between the United States and Greenland, and an international joint investigation reporting that the Trump administration had transferred 25,000 migrants to third countries. Shinbo also shared his experience posing mischievous questions to a free generative AI he hadn't paid for — asking whether AIs might attack each other, and how many people it could respond to at the same time. He got a laugh from the studio by recounting how, when he asked "Are you God?", the AI replied, "I am not God."
Takeaways
- A surge of office workers bringing bento lunches led to the benches at Shinbo Jiro's neighborhood park being occupied, which he grumbled about on air.
- An earthquake bulletin for Ibaraki Prefecture (seismic intensity 3, M3.9, no tsunami) interrupted the live broadcast and had to be worked into the script.
- Atami has become popular as a filming location for youth-oriented dramas, completely overturning its old image as a quiet, low-key couples' getaway.
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.