カメとキリギリスcurrently outside the Japan top 100
#68 平成キリギリスのカメとフラミンゴ？
Riho (リホ) of Heisei Flamingo (平成フラミンゴ) opens the episode buzzing with news: after months of rehearsing a tongue-twisting self-introduction at every gate, she can now walk into TBS on face recognition alone. Kocchinoknto (こっちのけんと) reveals he has stockpiled enough unreleased songs to keep dropping tracks every few months through the year after next. Riho also recounts getting looped on the venue monitors at rapper Gadro's (ガドロ) Osaka-jo Hall concert, and watching her Shinkansen glide away without her during Silver Week.
What this episode answers
What recent change happened at the TBS entrance for Riho?
Guards now spot Riho on sight and say 'Are you from Heisei Flamingo?' before she can speak, letting her walk straight in—a change from when she had to rehearse her full introduction ('I'm Riho from Heisei Flamingo, on the show Kame to Kirigirisu') silently from three traffic lights away.
How much music has Kocchinoknto been stockpiling?
He described having enough stockpiled songs to release something every few months all the way through the year after next, the result not of album planning but of several projects converging at once—more tracks than he has ever accumulated at one time.
What happened to Riho at Gadro's Osaka-jo Hall concert?
She had a fan-club early-access seat in row 10 and was repeatedly captured on the tall vertical side monitors that filmed the crowd; she didn't notice until the second half, and after the show a follower's DM told her she was also all over the concert DVD footage.
What was the purpose of Riho's homecoming trip, and what was the weather like?
Two events overlapped: her grandfather's memorial service (the final annual observance) and an early celebration of her grandmother's beiju (88th birthday); despite Tokyo already feeling chilly, her hometown was still over 30°C, and she regretted packing long sleeves.
What mishap occurred with the Shinkansen during Silver Week?
Riho, her mother, and her younger sister waited on the platform 30 minutes early with Green Car tickets, but mistook the people lined up in front of them for passengers boarding the same train—they were waiting for the next one—and the doors closed and the Shinkansen departed before she could react; a station employee told her she could board the Green Car of the following train only if seats happened to be open, with no guarantee.
Finally: Face-Pass Entry at TBS
Riho opened the episode barely able to contain herself: 'Something incredible just happened.' She explained that every previous visit to TBS had required a verbal introduction at the security gate—'I'm Riho from Heisei Flamingo, on the show Kame to Kirigirisu'—a sentence so packed with creature names and overlapping group-and-show titles that she would begin rehearsing it mentally from three traffic lights away, never quite sure which order to give them in. Recently, a guard spotted her and spoke first: 'Are you from Heisei Flamingo?' She walked straight in.
Kocchinoknto related immediately. He recalled how early on, even naming the show earned him a puzzled look from security, though the reception gradually warmed. He admitted that when arriving by taxi he still sometimes reflexively starts with 'I'm here for work—it's a radio…' before catching himself, and laughed at how hard it is to shake the habit.
Kocchinoknto's Song Stockpile: Enough to Last Through the Year After Next
Kocchinoknto revealed that his songwriting output has reached an unprecedented level. 'I have the feeling I could keep releasing something every few months all the way through the year after next, without writing another note,' he said. The buildup wasn't the result of album planning—several projects he wanted to pursue simply converged at once. He hedged on the exact count ('maybe not quite in the tens, but close to it') while emphasising that the total is more than he has ever accumulated at any single point in his career.
Riho added context from her own schedule: because her Heisei Flamingo partner is performing in a stage play throughout October, she shot three to four weeks' worth of YouTube content—one video per week—by early September so that her partner could devote full attention to the production from mid-September onward.
Looped on the Monitor at Gadro's Osaka-jo Hall Concert
Armed with a fan-club early-access ticket, Riho secured a seat in row 10 at rapper Gadro's concert at Osaka-jo Hall. In addition to the central main screen, the venue featured two tall, narrow vertical monitors on either side of the stage that broadcast live crowd footage. Riho appeared on those monitors repeatedly—but didn't realise it until the second half of the show. The moment she became aware, her face broke into a grin, which was also broadcast to the entire hall. 'It would have been better to just stay blank and play it cool,' she laughed. After the show, a follower messaged her to say she was heavily featured in the concert DVD footage as well.
She also mentioned that on the same homecoming trip, Nobody Knows performed at her hometown's summer festival on Tokunoshima (徳之島). On the return flight she found herself on the same plane as the group's members and couldn't resist telling them, 'Yesterday's show was amazing'—though she suspects they had no idea who she was.
Homecoming: Memorial Service, Beiju Celebration, and 30°C Heat
The trip home served a dual purpose. Her grandfather's memorial service fell this year—the final annual observance in the cycle—and the family decided to hold an early celebration of her grandmother's beiju (米寿), the 88th-birthday milestone, whose actual birthday falls the following month. Her mother's siblings and cousins all gathered, making it feel 'like New Year's,' she said. The stay lasted three to four days. Tokyo had already turned cool enough for long sleeves, but her hometown was still pushing past 30°C; she arrived overdressed and suffered for it. The temperature gap on returning to the capital felt, she said, like landing in a foreign country.
Silver Week: Watching Their Shinkansen Leave Without Them
After the Gadro concert, Riho, her mother, and her younger sister needed to travel home from Osaka. Silver Week demand had filled nearly every Shinkansen seat, and the only available option was the Green Car. They bought tickets, reached the platform 30 minutes before departure, and waited as the train pulled in. The passengers ahead of them in line didn't move, so Riho assumed boarding hadn't started. Those people, it turned out, were waiting for the next train entirely. By the time she grasped the situation, the doors had shut and their Shinkansen was already pulling away.
She approached a station employee, who explained that if the Green Car on the following train had open seats, they were welcome to take them—but there was no guarantee. Riho pushed back: she was willing to pay a little extra, but needed a confirmed seat for all three of them. They worked out an arrangement involving an additional limited-express ticket to secure reserved seating for the journey home.
Takeaways
- Riho's face-pass at TBS came after months of quietly rehearsing a creature-filled self-introduction at every gate, and now a guard greets her by name before she can say a word.
- Kocchinoknto has stockpiled enough songs to release on a rolling basis every few months through the year after next, driven by overlapping projects rather than a planned album.
- Riho's Osaka trip produced two travel mishaps back-to-back: getting repeatedly broadcast on the concert monitors at Gadro's Osaka-jo Hall show, and watching her Green Car Shinkansen depart in front of her during Silver Week.
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.