#9 「私とそのブスどっちが大事なの???!!!」

Disputing Blue Period — The Reality of Art School Admissions

Miyako started attending an art prep school (gajuku) from the first year of high school and spent roughly two years in the foundation course — from Year 10 through the end of Year 11 — before sitting entrance exams for Tama Art University and Musashino Art University (Musabi). She had been reading Blue Period (ブルーピリオド) when it first began serialization, but stopped after hearing a spoiler: the protagonist passes Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo Geidai, 東京藝術大学) on his very first attempt.

"I thought that was a lie," she says flatly. Geidai sits at the top of Japan's art-school pyramid, and even the students in the dedicated Geidai course at her prep school — the ones everyone said were "certain to pass" — all had to repeat a year. Exam results can even hinge on where you happen to be seated on the day of the drawing test. She later discovered the storyline was modeled on a real person who began drawing partway through Year 12, and delivered a dry "thank you very much" in response.

Miyako also mentions that narucha-san (なるちゃん), a working art-world figure, made a video expressing similar views. On the manga's colorful cast of prep-school characters, she laughs it off as fiction: in reality, she says, it was just "ordinary high-school girls sitting quietly doing drawings for three hours."

Conveyor-Belt Sushi's Stealth Price Hike — Why Miyako Broke Four Months of X Silence

Miyako hadn't posted on X for four months until a conveyor-belt sushi chain's pricing made her snap. One location was advertising that a ¥125 item had been cut to ¥115 — but on closer inspection, a separate item that used to cost ¥120 had climbed to ¥130–¥140, meaning the overall bill was higher than before. Her post warning followers not to be fooled drew pushback in the comments from someone who said a different chain had genuinely lowered prices; Miyako countered that the example given was just a juice going from ¥120 to ¥115 while everything else went up. She also makes clear: "This is not a political statement."

Podcast Top 50 and a Flood of Dating Applications

Miyako happily reports that the show has broken into the top 50 of the podcast charts, sitting alongside established programs including Haraichi no Turn (ハライチのターン). Acknowledging she hasn't kept up with YouTube, she tells listeners: "Right now I'm a podcaster — this is all I've got left." She's aiming for the top 10 and has promised staff a penalty game — currently considering an Ice Bucket Challenge-style forfeit — if they get there.

Miyako's announcement that she was looking for a partner brought in a surge of responses from listeners who are legally too young. An 18-year-old, 175 cm listener going by the handle Nyakka-chan (にゃっかちゃん) sent a self-introduction; a female listener from Ibaraki tried to set her up with her friend, an 18-year-old, 187 cm volleyball player. A 28-year-old named Haruto (春人) sent a serious confession letter praising her "truly beautiful E-line profile" and proposing a pool date on the strength of his swimming-club background. Miyako told him to send a photo via GigaFile.

Listener Mail — Five Stories

**Lost Wallet (Iwate, age 19, Ichigo Kurenaise-san):** Writing in from a police station after losing their wallet, this listener got Miyako's blunt advice: "You get used to it." She has lost her own wallet multiple times in Shinjuku Ni-chome, and it has come back every time — though she notes that being found there makes it instantly obvious to the lost-property desk that you were at a gay bar.

**Idol's Chest Hair (Tokyo, age 19, Saki-san):** Saki spotted what looked like chest hair on the No. 1 member of a glittery idol group in a two-shot from a fan-meet photo. She confesses to "feeling excited because I like him in a sexual way." Miyako's verdict: "Just go to the fan meet." She also reveals her own type is crystallizing around guys who are "quiet, muscular, and easygoing."

**Toilet Knock (Tottori, age 26, Genkai Bird-san):** At a station restroom, Genkai Bird knocked on a stall that had been occupied a long time. The response: "I'm fine! (angry)." Miyako's read: probably just someone mid-bowel-movement.

**Awkward Summer (Hiroshima, age 16):** This listener hooked up with someone from the same soccer club over summer break and is now living with the fallout. Miyako's response, laughing: "Not my problem. You little minx."

**Korean Ex-Boyfriend (Aichi, age 21):** After meeting on a dating app, this listener flew to Busan to meet a 25-year-old Korean man who had come to Japan on a working-holiday visa, and they dated for three months before breaking up. Cultural clashes accumulated — including him opening and eating supermarket food at a self-checkout before paying — and a fight in a cramped Tokyo studio apartment ended it. Miyako echoed the frustration with stories of an American ex using a student ID to pay adult prices, and a favorite American influencer putting their feet on a Shinkansen seat and smoking on the street in Shibuya. Her conclusion: "If you come to Japan, please adapt to Japan."

Buchikire Daiko Corner — "You Talk Too Much"

In the Buchikire Daiko (ブチ切れ大光) segment, a letter from 21-year-old Adehade-san was being read — her ex-boyfriend told her she "talks too much and comes across as childish" and asked her to match his level of conversation — when the transcribed portion of this episode ends.