【地方住みの孤独】近くにあるからこそ行かない心理／井口のキテレツ愛 #51

Two Exhausted Hosts, Behind the Curtain of Stages and Live Shows

Yoshizumi had just wrapped a 20-show theatrical run. She went so far off-script mid-run that things "stopped making sense by the middle," yet she reached the final night without a single difficult co-star. The cast included Seto-san (瀬戸さん) of the former twin-tails act (元ツインテール) and other stage veterans. The night before the finale Seto-san tried to get everyone to form a circle — and was universally ignored. "It's just not that kind of show," Yoshizumi laughed. Iguchi, meanwhile, had finished a manzai kobo (漫才工房) netatami and arrived at the recording having barely slept.

Ghost Stories and Aging Venues

The theater where Yoshizumi performed sits near a former execution site and has a reputation for hauntings. Veteran staff all confirmed "this place is famous for it," and one story had a blond middle-aged man appearing in the monitor feed of the stage. "Ghosts are usually faint and far away — this one was right there. Total attention-seeker," she said. Her own run went ghost-free; she chalked that up to the cast being "too lighthearted to get picked."

At Shinjuku Fu (新宿フー), the lights cut out mid-show during a Manzai Kobo event — old wiring, but terrifying in the moment. The venue is a long-running house that Jinrikisha (人力車) has used since its early days; panels for Jinrikisha and Baka Boso (バカ爆走) monthly shows apparently still hang in the upper floors of the same building.

Young Comedians Without a Stage

With Narugeki gone, Manzai Kobo rotates among Shinjuku Fu, Batios (バティオス), V1, and other spots. Non-Yoshimoto young acts are in even worse shape, performing at venues in Nishiboku, Ginza, and Yoyogi-Uehara — places no one had heard of before — or renting halls owned by magicians and staging shows at impersonator pubs.

In Nakano, one comedian's wife opened a small venue called Sacchie (サッチー) because her husband had nowhere to perform. Yoshimoto acts began appearing there too. "A little like getting cuckolded," Iguchi said, though he acknowledged that Yoshimoto draws audiences and pays well. "At this rate the only option is to get bought out by Yoshimoto" — a grim laugh from an M-1 champion.

Iguchi Makes the Case for Kiteretsu Daihyakka

October 22nd is Anime Day — marking the 1958 theatrical release of Hakujaden (白蛇伝), Japan's first full-length color animated film — which surfaced the fact that Iguchi has become completely obsessed with Kiteretsu Daihyakka. The series streams on the official YouTube channel one episode per week before being taken down, and the comments overflow with earnest character analysis: "Butagorira (ブタゴリラ) is awful," "Mio-chan is unbearably cute."

Iguchi laid out why it outshines Doraemon: "Nobita fails and Doraemon fixes things — Kiteretsu is smart, invents solutions himself, and is genuinely a good kid. Colosuke has the sweetness of a kindergartner and fits right into family life, tagging along for shopping and helping mom. Butagorira is always loyal to his friends, like movie-version Gian." The original manga is short; the anime extended the story with original arcs, and Fujiko F. Fujio reportedly approved of the animated version.

In the finale, Kiteretsu time-travels to the era of his ancestor Kiteretsu-sai (キテレツ斎), and Colosuke — honoring a samurai's pledge — chooses to stay in the past rather than return to the present. "He never forgot his roots. He's a samurai," Iguchi said, clearly moved. Yoshizumi then admitted she had always believed Kiteretsu was a completely different anime called "Kite A1."

"Too Close to Go" — The Loneliness of Living in the Countryside

A listener named Maarimimmari (まーりみんまり), a 30-year-old woman, spent her student years in Tokyo and now lives in a rural area. Whenever she visits Tokyo she packs in live shows and musicals; her Tokyo friends respond with "I've always wanted to go" — but never actually go. That gap leaves her feeling like she can't truly connect with them.

Both hosts immediately identified with it: it's exactly the feeling of living next to the Tokyo Skytree and never visiting. Too many options means "I want to do this, I want to do that... forget it, I'll just do nothing." They held up Fagiano Okayama (ファジアーノ岡山) as the flip side: with fewer entertainment alternatives, the club's tickets sell out every match and everyone faces the same direction — like the era when a drama with 20% ratings was something the whole nation watched together.

Iguchi added an anecdote about watching the Japan national soccer team with Lucifer-san, Ikeda-san, and Tateno-san (縦野さん), who brought a baby. His passionate commentary landed with no one, infant included. He closed with a run of universal examples: Grand Canyon locals selling keychains with blank expressions, Mario Kart experiences that only tourists bother with, and a shop crammed with Japanese novelty in Dallas that foreign visitors swarm. The conclusion: "Once something is nearby the novelty disappears — and that's true everywhere. The best thing you can do is enjoy wherever you actually end up going."