#249 おまけ「お芋エピソード」

Sweet Potato Episode #1: Love It or Hate It — Sweet Potato Rice

The first letter came from Jinsei Hanchaa Meshi (人生ハンチャー飯), a listener in Kanagawa Prefecture, who wrote of his deep attachment to school-lunch sweet potato rice — big chunks of sweet potato stirred through steamed rice that he loved so much he went back for seconds every single time. As an adult he has tried to recreate the dish on several occasions, but the "just-right seasoning" has always eluded him.

Yusuke (ユースケ) was unmoved. "Sweet potato rice? I absolutely hated it," he said flatly. The sweetness clashed with plain rice, and the potato turned soft and mushy, making the whole thing a sodden mess. His partner offered a gentler read: "People who like this kind of thing seem a little more grown-up somehow." The exchange captured a dish that splits opinion cleanly in two — and a side conversation opened up about the regional culture gap between areas where plain white rice was even served at school lunch.

Sweet Potato Episode #2: The White Day Return Gift in a Plastic Bag

Moomonjii-san (モーモンじいさん) from Saitama Prefecture sent in a Valentine's-adjacent story. After giving chocolate at work, he received his White Day return the following month from a male senior colleague about a decade older — who simply walked over and handed him a plain plastic bag containing exactly what he had wanted. The casual, off-hand gesture made him laugh on the spot and left him with a warm memory he still thinks about today. Both hosts agreed: "Someone who can pull off something that effortlessly — that's genuinely cool."

Sweet Potato Episode #3: A Crush's Fart and the Body's Conditioned Reflex

Gonbei-san (ゴンベイさん) from Kyoto City delivered the episode's standout coming-of-age story. Walking a girl he liked home one evening, they stopped to buy takeaway fries at her request and strolled along eating together. Just as her house came into sight, a small but unmistakable "poot" rang out. The girl — ordinarily so confident — turned bright red with embarrassment. Seeing her flustered made him fall for her even harder. "Every year when this season comes around, I remember it and my heart skips a beat," he wrote.

That story sent the hosts on a lengthy tangent about the body's conditioned reflexes. Both agreed that the moment you near home — or catch sight of a toilet — your body immediately starts moving on its own. Yusuke shared his own close call: he had borrowed a restroom at an electronics store when things felt only mildly urgent, but the instant he stepped into the stall everything became violently urgent. He barely managed to get the door shut, bag still in hand, before it was almost too late. The audience laughed.

Advice #1: The Colleague Who Refuses to Answer the Office Phone

Naporitaan-san (ナポリタンさん) from Osaka Prefecture described a male coworker who flatly refuses to pick up the office landline. After a rotation system was introduced and he was told "please answer on your days," he began faking mobile calls the moment the phone rang — screen dark, no ringtone, conversation obviously stilted. He is staging entirely fictitious phone calls.

The hosts suspected anxiety: he is probably nervous about answering, unsure of the right phrasing, and simply afraid of the landline. Their proposed fix was direct — have everyone in the office call the company's landline from their own mobile phones simultaneously, leaving him as the only person visibly not on a call, then walk over and ask, "Could you get that?" Seeing how he responds in that unambiguous situation would give a clear answer.

Advice #2: A Married Male Friend Kissed Her at the Station

Hamukin-san (ハムキンさん), a 42-year-old housewife from Fukuoka Prefecture, wrote about a male friend she had known since school. Even after both married they continued to socialise — drinks, trips, family gatherings — for over twenty years. Recently, after the two of them went out for drinks alone, he kissed her on the platform on the walk home. Shocked, she brushed it off, and he kissed her a second time. She deflected a next-day karaoke invitation by suggesting a group outing instead. She mourned what felt like the end of a twenty-plus-year friendship and asked: can men and women ever really be just friends?

The hosts' answer was blunt. "Going out for drinks alone with a married person of the opposite sex is the problem to begin with." Both kisses could have been avoided; they also noted that she accepted the second one. If she wants any version of this friendship to continue, it must take place in a group — no exceptions.

Mani-Mount Corner

The episode closed with the regular segment in which listener brags are read aloud and met with a collective "Mauntoтoru na! (Stop bragging!)." This week's entries: "Octopus is only worth eating if you make noise doing it" (Osaka Prefecture); "I went to watch a bodybuilding competition"; "My room has a water door"; "The hair salon called me" (Hiroshima Prefecture); and "It's really hard to help girls with their problems" (Kanagawa Prefecture). Each entry drew the ritual verdict — "That's a brag!" — and closed the show on a laugh.