Who was the surprising person who turned up from the audience during the borrowing competition at the NGK alumni special performance?

Koshiba Fuka (小芝風華) herself walked onto the stage — the performers had gone into the crowd to find someone who shared a celebrity's name, and the person they found was the actual celebrity. Daikiichi was so shaken he said: "That was shocking — what incredible luck."

What unexpected side of Ninety-Nine's Okamura did the performance reveal?

Rather than staying in an MC role, Okamura wove naturally into the comedy and landed solid punchlines, and he also drove the planning of the borrowing-competition segment. Daikiichi, who had seen reports about Okamura looking unenthusiastic on recent variety shows, was moved enough to declare "Ninety-Nine is formidable."

How did TBS announcer Nagao Tsubasa end up becoming a TBS announcer?

After being rejected by every TV network he applied to for general-track positions, Nagao applied on a whim to TBS's announcer hiring — the only announcer application he made — and it was the only offer he received. Had TBS also turned him down, he had planned to try NHK next.

How demanding were the activities of the University of Tokyo cheering squad?

The uniformed cheering team numbered only around 10 members across all four years, and they supported over 20 sports clubs throughout the year, including ice hockey matches that began at 11 PM due to rink availability. The three captains immediately before Nagao had all taken extra years to graduate; he became the first in four or five years to finish on schedule.

Why did announcer Nagao grow up watching only broadcast TV with almost no subscriptions or SNS, despite being from the same generation as heavy digital users?

His family had no streaming subscriptions and his father's love of NHK documentaries meant the household relied entirely on broadcast TV. Self-imposed smartphone restrictions during exam prep, compounded by COVID-era isolation during his rōnin year, meant he simply never developed habits of going out or using social media.

大吉ポッドキャスト　いったん、ここにいます！currently outside the Japan top 100

#180 【ナイナイ恐るべし・・・】ゲストにTBSアナウンサー長尾翼さん

2026-10-14 · 35 min · 3 min read

Daikiichi (博多大吉) reports on a chaotic and moving NSC class reunion at Namba Grand Kagetsu — where a borrowing-competition stunt accidentally produced the real Koshiba Fuka (小芝風華) from the audience, and where an unexpectedly switched-on Okamura (岡村) left him declaring "Ninety-Nine is formidable." In the second half, guest TBS announcer Nagao Tsubasa (長尾翼) reveals one of the stranger career arcs in broadcasting: rōnin year, University of Tokyo, cheer team captain, rejected by every TV network's general track, and then hired as a TBS announcer almost by accident.

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What this episode answers

Who was the surprising person who turned up from the audience during the borrowing competition at the NGK alumni special performance?
Koshiba Fuka (小芝風華) herself walked onto the stage — the performers had gone into the crowd to find someone who shared a celebrity's name, and the person they found was the actual celebrity. Daikiichi was so shaken he said: "That was shocking — what incredible luck."
What unexpected side of Ninety-Nine's Okamura did the performance reveal?
Rather than staying in an MC role, Okamura wove naturally into the comedy and landed solid punchlines, and he also drove the planning of the borrowing-competition segment. Daikiichi, who had seen reports about Okamura looking unenthusiastic on recent variety shows, was moved enough to declare "Ninety-Nine is formidable."
How did TBS announcer Nagao Tsubasa end up becoming a TBS announcer?
After being rejected by every TV network he applied to for general-track positions, Nagao applied on a whim to TBS's announcer hiring — the only announcer application he made — and it was the only offer he received. Had TBS also turned him down, he had planned to try NHK next.
How demanding were the activities of the University of Tokyo cheering squad?
The uniformed cheering team numbered only around 10 members across all four years, and they supported over 20 sports clubs throughout the year, including ice hockey matches that began at 11 PM due to rink availability. The three captains immediately before Nagao had all taken extra years to graduate; he became the first in four or five years to finish on schedule.
Why did announcer Nagao grow up watching only broadcast TV with almost no subscriptions or SNS, despite being from the same generation as heavy digital users?
His family had no streaming subscriptions and his father's love of NHK documentaries meant the household relied entirely on broadcast TV. Self-imposed smartphone restrictions during exam prep, compounded by COVID-era isolation during his rōnin year, meant he simply never developed habits of going out or using social media.

A Split-Second Standoff at the TBS Entrance

On the recording day, October 13, Daikiichi arrived at TBS by taxi from NHK. Standing at the entrance was a figure in all black — cap, nearly shaved head, just a small tuft of hair left at the crown. "Is that Nishimura from Viking?" briefly crossed his mind. It wasn't. The moment the figure removed the cap and delivered a greeting with the full-throttle energy of a first-year baseball club member, Daikiichi realized he was looking at Katsura Miyaji (桂宮治), a panelist on the long-running comedy show Shoten. He reflected that a rakugo performer out of kimono is the hardest person in the world to recognize, and looked back warmly on "that split-second — it gave me a real thrill."

NSC Classmates Reunite at Namba Grand Kagetsu — A Special Performance Report

On October 4, Daikiichi took part in a special reunion show at Namba Grand Kagetsu (NGK) with his NSC graduating class. The lineup was a roll call of the 1990 Yoshimoto intake: Ninety-Nine (ナインティナイン), Miyakawa Daisuke (宮川大輔), Hoshida Shunsuke (星田秀俊, formerly of the duo Chuppa Chups, now acting under the name Hoshida Eiri/星田英利), the manzai duo Yano & Hyodo (矢野・兵動), New Comedy troupe leader Kawabata Koji (川端康志), Sugioka Midori (杉岡みどり), and Hakata Hanamaru (博多花丸). It should have been their 35th anniversary, but having missed a year, the show carried the slightly awkward subtitle "36 Years — But Let's Do It." Advance tickets sold out instantly, and even standing-room tickets at ¥5,000 were released to meet demand.

The headline segment was a "borrowing competition" (借り人競争) — a game in which performers dash into the audience to find someone matching a given description. The prompt: find someone who shares a name with a celebrity. When the performers swept the crowd, the person they brought onstage was none other than Koshiba Fuka (小芝風華) herself. "That really shook me," Daikiichi said. "What incredible luck." His own prompt was "someone with something to brag about." He chose a woman in the crowd who met his eye with a direct gaze. She revealed she owns a sumo wrestling promotional banner (懸賞幕) made to commemorate the release of a Doraemon film — one she received while working at the Japan Sumo Association, when the banner was due to be discarded. It still hangs in her home today.

What moved Daikiichi most, though, was Okamura's (岡村) performance. He admitted frankly that he had seen online reports suggesting Okamura had been looking unenthusiastic on recent variety programs, then immediately said: "Not a bit of it — he was absolutely brilliant." Instead of anchoring in an MC role, Okamura slipped naturally into the comedy, landed solid punchlines, and was the central force behind planning the borrowing-competition segment. "I was genuinely moved by the depth of experience Okamura has been quietly building up without anyone noticing," Daikiichi said, capping it with: "Ninety-Nine is formidable." With Kawabata turning 60 next year, an even larger follow-up performance is already being planned.

Guest: TBS Announcer Nagao Tsubasa

The in-studio guest was TBS announcer Nagao Tsubasa (長尾翼). His first words prompted Daikiichi to say: "Great voice — he's completely an announcer." Intensive training in specialized pronunciation — including voiced consonant variations (bi-dakuon) — transformed Nagao's speech so thoroughly that childhood friends told him "you've changed."

A Student Career Like No Other: Rōnin, Tokyo University, Cheer Team Captain

Nagao was born on July 6, 2001, in Kawaguchi City, Saitama. He played baseball for 11 years, from elementary school through high school. At Saitama Prefectural Urawa High School — a prestigious public college-prep school — his team reached the best 16 in the autumn prefectural tournament. He didn't pass the university entrance exams on his first try and spent a rōnin year at a prep school in Ochanomizu before passing the University of Tokyo entrance exam. His COVID-era rōnin life ran on a strict triangle of prep school, home, and Maruzen bookstore — nothing else.

At Tokyo University he enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences (Komaba campus), one of the university's smallest colleges, with only around 100 students per year out of the roughly 3,000-strong cohort. The college produces a disproportionate number of diplomats and government officials, and it is the only college that does not move to the Hongo campus for upper-division study. Nagao joined the cheering squad (応援部) and became its 77th captain. The squad spans over 100 members across the cheer team, brass band, and cheerleaders, but the uniformed cheering team itself has only around 10 members across all four years. They supported over 20 sports clubs throughout the year; ice hockey practice and matches started at 11 PM due to rink availability, so cheering ran deep into the night. The three captains immediately before Nagao had all taken extra years to graduate — he became the first in four or five years to finish on schedule.

Rejected by Every TV Network's General Track — Then Hired as a TBS Announcer

In job hunting, Nagao applied to every TV network for general-track positions, targeting news and sports reporting, and was turned down by all of them. He didn't even clear the document-screening stage at TV Asahi. "I assumed there was no way they'd screen out my documents, given I was the University of Tokyo cheer captain — and then they did," he said with a wry laugh. Shortly after, TBS opened an announcer hiring round; Nagao applied on a whim. It was the only announcer application he made, and it was the only position he was offered. Had TBS turned him down too, he had planned to try NHK next. Daikiichi's verdict: "By temperament, he's completely an NHK person."

The reason Nagao barely used subscriptions or SNS despite being from the same generation as heavy digital users comes down to his upbringing. His family had no Amazon Prime or similar services; his father's preference for NHK documentaries made theirs a broadcast-TV-only household. He had a smartphone but voluntarily limited his use during exam preparation, and with COVID amplifying the isolation of his rōnin year, he simply never developed habits of going out or scrolling social media.

Takeaways

At the NGK alumni special performance, Koshiba Fuka herself emerged from the audience during the borrowing competition, and Okamura's quiet mastery in planning and performing the segment left Daikiichi declaring "Ninety-Nine is formidable."
Nagao Tsubasa took a rōnin year to enter the University of Tokyo, served as the 77th cheer team captain, was rejected by every TV network's general-track hiring, and was ultimately hired only as a TBS announcer — one of broadcasting's more unusual career paths.
Despite belonging to the same generation as heavy digital users, Nagao grew up almost entirely without subscriptions or SNS, and Daikiichi summed him up as "by temperament, completely an NHK person."

ナインティナインなんばグランド花月長尾翼東大応援団TBSアナウンサー

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.