#265 たぬきの金玉
On the September 26 recording of Mayurika's (マユリカ) flagship show Unagelorin (うなげろりん), third regular Nakano-san failed to show up for the 9:50 a.m. call at Radio Kansai, going completely unreachable from 8 a.m. onward while co-hosts Nakatani and Sakamoto feared the worst. The culprit turned out to be a deep sleep on the Shinkansen — paired with a scheduling mix-up — producing nearly twenty missed calls and a panicked text from his own wife.
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What this episode answers
Why was Nakano-san late to the recording, and how did he manage to sleep through nearly twenty incoming calls?
He had assumed the recording time was the same as usual and got the slot wrong before boarding the Shinkansen, then set his phone on the tray table without noise-cancelling earphones and fell into a dead sleep during the longest stretch of the trip, between Nagoya and Shin-Yokohama, so station announcements, passenger movement, and call vibrations never reached him.
What worst-case scenarios did Nakatani and Sakamoto consider while waiting at the studio, and what steps did they take to find him?
They considered that he might have collapsed at home, been found unconscious on the street, or even been arrested, having ruled out oversleeping, a dead battery, and joining the wrong meeting; to find him, Nakatani and Sakamoto placed ten to twenty calls between them, production staff called every ten minutes, and Nakatani reached out indirectly to his wife.
How did Nakano-san's wife react to the situation, and what did she say?
She was alarmed and said she couldn't get through to him either when first contacted; afterward she texted him that she thought he'd gone missing, and added she'd keep watching until his shirt, which he had washed before leaving, dried.
What does the title 'Tanuki no Kintama' mean, who came up with it, and how did the logic behind it take shape?
It means 'raccoon dog's scrotum' and was coined by Sakamoto, who said he'd always thought Nakano-san's face looked like one; the logic then snowballed into 'everything he does is like a tanuki's kintama,' and finally that a double mistake equals two kintama, which equals tanuki no kintama, locking in the title.
How bad was Nakatani's own legendary late arrival, and why did it put him on the defensive during this very episode?
It was bad enough that Sakamoto called out Nakatani for having a nerve to criticize lateness, and Nakatani admitted he had once deliberately turned his phone off and wandered aimlessly while inventing an excuse after showing up late to work, meaning he'd pulled the same unreachable-latecomer move on purpose, which got him branded tanuki no kintama too.
An 8 A.M. Read Receipt, Then Silence
The recording was set for a 9:50 a.m. arrival at Radio Kansai. At 8 a.m., Nakano-san had sent a message to the work group LINE chat, confirming he was up and moving. Then nothing. Calls went through — the line rang — but he never picked up. His phone was clearly on. Thirty to forty minutes before the recording was due to start, Nakatani and Sakamoto were still standing in the studio with no word from him.
Between the two of them, they placed ten to twenty calls. The production staff rang him every ten minutes on top of that. What made the silence feel especially wrong was that Nakano-san was known as someone who doesn't sleep in and is meticulous about time. The contrast between that reputation and the radio silence only deepened the dread.
Ruling Out Possibilities One by One
Nakatani and Sakamoto worked through the options by elimination. Phone on but no answer — so he probably hadn't just dozed off. Calls connecting — so it wasn't a dead battery. Accidentally joining the wrong remote meeting — even then, he could have sent a single message. Every explanation they ruled out left only darker ones behind: maybe he had collapsed at home, been found unconscious on the street, or — someone actually said it — been arrested.
Nakatani made the call to reach out, indirectly, to Nakano-san's wife. Her response did nothing to calm anyone down: 'I can't get through to him either.' She was now just as alarmed, and the anxiety that had started in the studio spread beyond it.
The Truth: Asleep Between Nagoya and Shin-Yokohama
With the recording nearly underway, a message finally arrived: 'I was asleep.' Nakatani and Sakamoto started the show drained, muttering 'gross' on repeat. When Nakano-san eventually walked in, he explained everything.
He had been on the Shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo, but had already made his first mistake before boarding: he had assumed the recording time was the same as usual and gotten the slot wrong. On the train, he set his phone on the tray table beside him — no noise-cancelling earphones in — and fell into a dead sleep precisely during the longest stretch of the journey, between Nagoya and Shin-Yokohama. Station announcements, the movement of other passengers, the vibration of incoming calls — none of it reached him. He arrived looking completely unbothered, not a drop of sweat on him, offering a string of apologies.
His wife, for her part, had texted him: 'I thought you'd gone missing.' She added that she was going to keep watching until his shirt dried — apparently he'd done laundry before leaving.
How 'Tanuki no Kintama' Got Its Name
The episode title traces back to a remark Sakamoto made after Nakano-san finally arrived. He announced that he had always thought Nakano-san had a face like a tanuki's kintama (raccoon dog's scrotum). From there, the logic — if it can be called that — snowballed: 'everything he does is like a tanuki's kintama,' and crucially, 'a double mistake equals two kintama, which means, yes, tanuki's kintama.' The title was locked in.
After a round of rock-paper-scissors that Sakamoto lost, he was made to deliver the line directly to Nakano-san's face: 'I've always thought you had a face like a tanuki's kintama, but I'm genuinely glad you're safe.'
Nakatani's Own 'Legendary Late Arrival' Gets Exposed
Late in the recording, Sakamoto turned the tables on Nakatani: 'You've got a nerve talking about being late.' Nakatani owned it. He admitted that on a past occasion when he had shown up late to work, he had deliberately switched his phone off and wandered around aimlessly while figuring out what excuse to give. In other words, Nakatani had himself pulled the unreachable-latecomer move — on purpose.
'You started calling him tanuki no kintama, but you're tanuki no kintama too,' came the verdict. Sakamoto, the one who coined the phrase, also caught some of the heat. By the end of the episode, all three had been absorbed into the tanuki's kintama: Nakano-san by double mistake, Nakatani by deliberate phone silence, and Sakamoto by starting the whole thing.
Takeaways
- Nakano-san combined a scheduling mix-up with a dead sleep on the Shinkansen to miss nearly twenty calls, prompting genuine fears — including arrest or collapse — from his co-hosts and his own wife.
- Sakamoto's long-held observation that Nakano-san had 'a face like a tanuki's kintama,' fused with a two-mistake equals two kintama argument, became the episode title through a chain of absurd but committed logic.
- Nakatani had been leading the criticism of Nakano-san until it emerged that he had once gone deliberately unreachable during his own late arrival, making all three members equally guilty — and equally tanuki no kintama.
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.