2026年9月23日（水）辛坊治郎ズームそこまで言うか！

Holiday Small Talk: Traffic Jams, Young People, and an Accidental Book Plug

September 23 was the substitute holiday for Autumnal Equinox Day, and Shinbo Jiro and Shinjuyama Sayaka went on air live at 3:30 p.m. Holiday traffic came up quickly. "Compared to the old days it's more spread out," Shinbo said. "There used to be jams where you wouldn't move a millimeter for hours — it's not that bad anymore." He linked this to the growing number of young people who can't afford cars. "For young people in Tokyo, a car is out of reach, let alone a boat — that's just the reality. And yet you have a slice of the IT world earning extraordinary money, so the gap is right in your face." That thread somehow led to a mention of his own book, *Naze Anata wa Hinkonin no Mama Nanoka* (Why Do You Stay Poor?), which he quickly walked back with a sheepish laugh: "I wasn't trying to advertise it."

Listener Mail: A Cursed Tortoise, Hanoi Traffic, and Shine Muscat at ¥1,296

A flood of listener emails kept the show lively. One listener asked about Kobe on behalf of their 20-year-old daughter, who had just landed a job there. Shinbo's verdict: "It's a good city, great food. The one catch is a local policy against building single-room apartments, so finding a place to live can be a struggle."

A message about a crab spotted in the middle of a road in Adachi Ward opened the door for Shinbo's own story. While driving a mountain road — pond on the left, hillside on the right — he came across a roughly 10-centimeter tortoise sitting in the center of the lane. Not wanting it to get run over, he stopped and threw it into the pond. The regret came later. "That tortoise was probably fighting its way toward the mountain, and I just reset it back to zero," he said. Whether the creature is now cursing him or plotting its revenge, he admitted he still isn't sure — and laughed it off.

A report from Hanoi about swarms of motorcycles flowing past one another without collisions struck Shinbo as the same principle at work in Tokyo's Shibuya Scramble Crossing, where pedestrians converging from all four directions somehow avoid each other without a single crash. A listener near the Kurawanka fireworks in Hirakata warned that unlighted cars parked along Route 915 had nearly caused a rear-end accident. And a report of Shine Muscat grapes priced at ¥1,296 — about ¥23 per grape — prompted Shinbo to explain why they command a premium: "One reason growers and buyers both love them is that individual grapes don't fall off the bunch easily."

Zoom Flash: UN Speech, Japan-US Summit, Typhoon, Oil Markets

Shinbo ran through the week's headlines. Japan's prime minister addressed the UN General Assembly in New York, pledging closer cooperation with like-minded nations on the risks posed by advanced AI and reaffirming Japan's consistent support for the International Criminal Court — though he made no reference to the Trump administration's decision to sanction ICC officials. The Japan-US summit lasted 35 minutes and centered on aligning views on China and confirming cooperation on security and economic security.

Typhoon No. 25 left nine people dead across Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, with four still missing and search operations ongoing. On energy, President Trump said he was considering banning domestic exports of diesel fuel, which has hit record highs domestically. Shinbo read this as a pre-midterm move to hold down prices for farmers — a core constituency. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia's oil pipeline, damaged in an attack, had resumed operations, with exports from the port of Yanbu expected to restart. The two developments together pulled crude oil prices back to around $89.35 a barrel.

Shinbo on the Dog-Dementia Study and the Osaka Metropolis Plan

A research team including the National Institute for Environmental Studies tracked roughly 11,000 elderly people over seven and a half years and reported that dog owners were 48% less likely to develop dementia than those who had never owned a dog. Shinbo, a self-described dog lover, still wasn't buying it. "A lot of humanities-side research works backward from the conclusion," he said, flagging what he called a reverse-causation problem: only people who are already healthy enough can keep a dog in the first place. He also cited a friend whose elderly relative was dragged down by a large dog during a walk, fell, and ended up bedridden. "Large dogs can be dangerous for older people," he added.

On the Osaka Metropolis Plan referendum, Shinbo noted that with Nippon Ishin no Kai now controlling both the city and prefectural governments, the old friction has evaporated — and with it, public interest in the vote. Lower turnout, he explained, benefits the opposition, whose organized vote comes mainly from Osaka city employees and their families. To drive up turnout, supporters are reportedly considering naming the new wards after the Expo mascot Myaku-Myaku. Shinbo offered his own satirical alternative — Kita-Miyakumiyaku, Minami-Miyakumiyaku, Higashi-Miyakumiyaku, Nishi-Miyakumiyaku — and got a laugh.

Garlic's "Stem" Is Actually a Flower Stalk

A listener from Saitama spent the long weekend sowing garlic and broccoli seeds. Shinbo revealed he had done something similar: leftover cloves from a Chinese net bag of garlic bought at the supermarket went into a pot and grew beautifully. "I grew it here in Japan, so it's domestic produce," he declared. The experience also taught him a botanical footnote worth sharing: what Japanese cooking calls *ninniku no me* (garlic "sprouts") is not a true sprout at all — it is the flower stalk, cut before the plant blooms. After the leaves appear, the stalk shoots upward rapidly, and harvesting it before the flower opens is what gives you the edible stem sold in stores.