# ＃１１０「赤坂５丁目ミニマラソン」

- Show: 岩場の女（ヒコロヒー）
- Published: 2026-10-18
- Canonical: https://podc.club/en/episode/1767285829_eef1ea942e84.html
- Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/117012134/podcast/play/127573356/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-9-16%2F434304035-44100-2-c8bb66401f765.m4a
- Source: Edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. Not an official summary.

Just after turning 37, Hikorohii (ヒコロヒー) recounts her chaotic run in TBS's Akasaka Mini-Marathon on "All-Star Thanksgiving" (オールスター感謝祭), where her last-second decision to press the run button was followed by a collapsed Hanafuda Woman handoff and a lap-behind finish. She then traces how a post-race photo earned over 100,000 likes with the caption "prettier than I expected" — and how, two days later, a counter-post reading "where is she pretty, I hate her" had already accumulated 10,000 likes. She analyzes the entire arc through four social-psychology theories and the framework of gender backlash.

## What this episode answers

### Why did Hikorohii decide to press the button to run in the mini-marathon?

After a VTR recap of Shimazaki Wakako's (島崎和歌子) spring outburst — when only nine people signed up — Hikorohii spent about ten seconds torn between wanting to see Wakako blow up again with just six participants and wanting to restore her smile, before finally pressing the run button; she later learned from the broadcast that she had been the very last person to do so.

### Why did the plan to take over Seiya's Hanafuda Man role end in failure?

Seiya was absent so Hikorohii proposed to staff that she take over as "Hanafuda Woman," but the costume never arrived and she was handed only the cards; then, at the start line, Trump Man announced he would run wearing Seiya's race bib, leaving the handoff unresolved, so Hikorohii ended up simply running while holding a handful of hanafuda cards.

### How did the viral buzz and the backlash unfold in sequence after the race?

A photographer who normally shoots horse racing posted a race photo captioned "prettier than I expected," which reached over 100,000 likes; two days later an acquaintance in show business told her "don't worry about it," prompting her to check X and discover a counter-post — "where is she pretty, I hate her" — had already hit 10,000 likes, with replies piling on criticism of her material and past TV appearances.

### How does Hikorohii analyze the structure behind the concentrated online criticism?

She identified four mechanisms: social comparison theory (praise makes others feel "I could do that," generating resentment), psychological reactance (criticizing something widely praised feels like asserting independence), group polarization (agreement clusters push opinions to extremes), and SNS structure (like counts function as social reward making criticism self-reinforcing); she also noted a layer of gender backlash for succeeding visibly in a role coded as masculine.

### What was the "earring criticism" Hikorohii received at age 23, and what came of it?

Before an ōgiri (大喜利) live show, a senior male comedian told her flatly "people who wear earrings aren't funny"; she performed wearing earrings anyway and won, resolved from that night to always wear earrings at ōgiri events — a practice she maintained through her Ippon Grand Prix (一本グランプリ) appearance a decade later — and says that senior "can no longer even step in my shadow."

## Article

## Turning 37 and the Death of Van Gogh

Hikorohii turned 37 on October 15. At her birthday gathering, a friend pulled out ChatGPT and began searching for famous people who died at 37 — and Vincent van Gogh came up. Hikorohii had always assumed his self-portraits depicted an older man; learning those paintings were made when he was exactly her age stopped her cold. She found herself comparing her own 37th year to that of an artist who left behind a vast body of masterworks and died entirely without recognition, celebrated only long after his death.

## The Akasaka Mini-Marathon — Ten Seconds Before Pressing Run

The Akasaka Mini-Marathon is a beloved fixture of TBS's "All-Star Thanksgiving" (オールスター感謝祭). In spring 2026, only nine contestants signed up, prompting Shimazaki Wakako (島崎和歌子) — who has protected the segment for over twenty years — to deliver a furious speech to the assembled cast. This autumn's broadcast opened with a VTR recap of that outburst. Hikorohii sat with two impulses pulling against each other: wanting to keep the number at six so she could watch Wakako blow up again, and genuinely wanting to give Wakako her smile back. She spent about ten seconds in that conflict before pressing the run button — the last person to do so, as she learned from the actual broadcast. More than twenty people ended up signing up, and Wakako was seen wiping tears with a handkerchief. There was also a small technical mishap: the camera cut to the wrong footage at the exact moment the participants were announced.

Hikorohii also noted that Time Machine 3-gō's (タイムマシーン3号) Seki and Yamamoto pressed their buttons second and third. Both had been personally approached by Wakako during a commercial break in the spring broadcast — "why aren't you running?" — so their quick response this time amounted to a satisfying payoff to that setup. Because the first button was pressed by a fresh-faced young man, however, the moment passed largely unnoticed. "Time Machine really is like that," Hikorohii said.

## The Hanafuda Woman Plan, Collapsed

Every year, Seiya (せいや) of Shimofuri Myojo (霜降り明星) appears in the marathon as "Hanafuda Man" (花札マン). This time he was absent. Hikorohii proposed to staff that she step in as "Hanafuda Woman" (花札ウーマン), but the costume never arrived; she was handed only a deck of hanafuda cards. Then, at the start line, she discovered that Trump Man was wearing Seiya's race bib and claiming the role. With no resolution reached, the race began, and Hikorohii simply ran while holding the cards.

She ran three laps — including the grueling hill — on what she described as "a body that usually goes to alcohol and cigarettes." She fell behind from the opening gun, received the occasional charitable mention from the announcer ("Hikorohii is doing her best too"), and finished a full lap behind the field. The following morning she had a live TBS broadcast; for the two days after the race, she said, her body barely moved.

## The Viral Surge, the Backlash, and Four Theories

The next day, her manager messaged to say a race photo had exploded on X with over 100,000 likes. The photographer was someone who normally shoots horse racing; his caption read "prettier than I expected." Hikorohii agreed it was a flattering shot.

Two days later, an acquaintance in show business told her "don't let it bother you." When Hikorohii opened X, she found a counter-post — "where is she pretty, I hate her" — at 10,000 likes, with replies adding criticism of her material and past TV appearances.

She recalled a near-identical pattern unfolding when her Brutus column went viral the previous year. She now analyzes cascades like this through four frameworks: **social comparison theory** (praise makes others feel "I could do that," breeding resentment); **psychological reactance** (criticizing something widely praised feels like asserting independence); **group polarization** (agreement clusters and opinions become more extreme); and **SNS structure** (like counts act as social reward, making criticism self-reinforcing). She shared this analysis with two friends in the industry; both immediately said the same thing had happened to them.

## "People Who Wear Earrings Aren't Funny" — Gender Backlash

The wave of criticism also included the argument that she was "acting like a tarento when she's a female comedian" and "trying to look good with curled hair." Hikorohii connected this to something that happened when she was 23. Before an ōgiri (大喜利) live show, a senior male comedian told her flatly: "people who wear earrings aren't funny." She went on stage wearing earrings anyway — and won the show. Since that night she has made a rule of always wearing earrings at ōgiri events, a practice she kept through her Ippon Grand Prix (一本グランプリ) appearance a decade later. "That senior," she said, "can no longer even step in my shadow."

Research by Madison Heilman shows that women who succeed in roles historically coded as masculine tend to face social penalties in interpersonal contexts. Hikorohii names this gender backlash, and her response is what it has always been: for sixteen years she has cycled through writing new material in the first half of each year and performing solo shows in the second. "All I can do is keep earning recognition, in comedy and on TV alike."

## Takeaways

- Hikorohii ran the Akasaka Mini-Marathon as the last person to press the run button, finishing a lap behind the field after her Hanafuda Woman plan collapsed at the start line.
- A "prettier than expected" race photo hit 100,000 likes and flipped to a 10,000-like hate post within two days — a cycle she maps onto social comparison theory, psychological reactance, group polarization, and SNS reward structure.
- She frames the appearance-based criticism she faces as gender backlash, drawing a through-line from a senior comedian's earring jibe at age 23 to her unbroken sixteen-year cycle of writing material and staging solo shows.