#105 （2026年10月3日放送分）真誠presents 大久保佳代子・森本しんたろうのどうぞご自由に

Hōtō and Rice Balls — The Psychology of a Man Who Throws Things

A listener email from Ganguro Banana (Sapporo, 30, female) kicked off a deeper look at boyfriends and exes who throw objects. Ganguro Banana wrote that she had finally tried hōtō noodle soup after recalling Ōkubo Kayoko's old story about dodging a chunk of cold, solidified hōtō hurled by a former boyfriend — and dodging it successfully. Her own experience was blunter: a boyfriend threw an onigiri at her one morning as she was heading out the door, and it hit her square in the forehead.

Ōkubo explained that hōtō, packed with sticky vegetables like kabocha squash, congeals into a single dense lump when it cools — a particularly unwelcome projectile. In her case she had come home after drinking with friends until morning, only to be confronted with 'You said we'd eat together.' She suspects the hōtō had been placed within arm's reach in advance, ready to throw. Morimoto Shintarō declared himself firmly in the never-throw camp and was baffled that anyone could fling something as warm and comforting as an onigiri or hōtō.

Ōkubo offered her own theory: 'I fire back so precisely with words that the person runs out of vocabulary and has nothing left but to throw something.' On the question of timing a breakup, she was unequivocal: 'The moment the onigiri is in the air is the moment to end it. Dragging things out never leads anywhere good.'

The One-of-a-Kind Priest at a 49th-Day Memorial

Morimoto shared a story from a 49th-day memorial service (四十九日法要) for a relative's aunt. He prefaced it by noting that memorial services have been coming up more frequently lately — and that this particular presiding priest was, in his words, 'nothing like your standard Buddhist monk.'

The moment the priest spotted Ōkubo — who had attended with Morimoto — he rushed straight over and announced, 'I knew you'd come!' He then presented her with a custom pink bath towel printed with his own original mascot character, and asked whether he could patch in a phone call from a junior monk who was a devoted fan of her radio show. His energy stayed sky-high throughout. He also confessed that during his training years in his twenties he was forbidden from interacting with women, and as a result, when he now sees women in their forties or fifties, his excitement surges — 'Sorry about that, Kayoko-san — you're one of them,' he added.

For the sutra chanting he played three different-sized rin bells in a drum-like performance that Ōkubo described as the most accomplished she had ever heard at a memorial. All twenty or so family members ended up laughing. The pair speculated that as temple finances grow more precarious, the priest may be deliberately turning himself into a mascot to draw people in.

Losing a Dog Mid-Surgery — Coping with Pet Loss

Listener Natsukoro (Kamakura, 26, female) wrote in about losing her 4-year-old dog during a bladder-stone operation due to a surgical error. The dog had come through two successful procedures at the same clinic before, so she had fully expected him to come home healthy. The combination of grief and frustration has left her with no appetite and noticeably thinner. Yet she also wrote that she feels she has to keep moving forward so the dog in heaven does not worry about her.

Ōkubo drew on her experience of losing her own father last year: 'When I stopped forcing myself to think about him, I gradually noticed longer stretches were passing without him coming to mind.' At the same time, she said, she makes a point of thinking of him briefly when she wakes up, because forgetting him entirely doesn't feel right either. The pair's shared conclusion: don't force yourself to get over it. There is no need to throw away toys or the leash if you don't want to. Time will do the work. Their one worry was the listener's lost appetite — they urged her to try to get that back. The episode's prize — a Shinsei no Shōhin gift assortment — was sent to Natsukoro.

The First Date Wasn't Fun — A 24-Year-Old's Dilemma

Listener Kaifuku Teishoku (Tokyo, 24, male, no dating experience) followed a friend's advice — 'just go on a date and decide from there' — and asked out a woman he met at a social gathering. The first date left him flat. The woman is enthusiastic and they already have a second date planned, but he wrote in feeling reluctant to go.

Ōkubo pushed back: 'Did you actually try to make it fun? Weren't you just being passive?' Rather than concluding they are incompatible after one outing, she urged him to treat the second date as practice in planning and creating an enjoyable experience. She was also clear that going on two dates and then calling it off is not dishonest. Since the woman is keen right now, canceling with a short message would sting; the more considerate move is to go on the second date and tell her honestly at the end of the evening that he doesn't think they are a match.

The episode closed with a digression on movie dates. Ōkubo admitted she finds them unsettling: 'Your breathing, what makes you laugh — it's all completely exposed. I'd almost want to sit in a different row.' A movie date can be a useful gauge of compatibility, she said, but it carries the risk of revealing too much of your unguarded self — which fed naturally into a suggestion that it might be worth considering for Kaifuku Teishoku's second outing.