<figure id="attachment_273146" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-273146" style="width: 442px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="15f90f90"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/11/2004111000120.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-273146" class="wp-caption-text">NHK announcer Wataru Abe has been the &#8220;face of NHK&#8221; as the host of &#8220;Kohaku Uta Gassen&#8221; (Red and White Singing Contest)&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
 NHK announcer Wataru Abe is in a desperate situation due to a &#8220;report of an affair within the station.
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 On October 29, Bunshun Online reported a two-year affair between Wataru and a female NHK staff member in her 30s. According to the article, the two had been meeting secretly in the daytime at a hotel in Tokyo under strict guard.
 Bunshun not only published definitive photos of the two, but also reported on what was going on inside the hotel. The content of the article was so compelling that even Abe himself had no choice but to raise the white flag.
 Abe has worked on &#8216;NHK News Ohayo Nippon&#8217; and &#8216;NHK News 7. &#8216; From &#8217;09 to &#8217;11, she was the general host of &#8220;NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen&#8221; and also facilitated the &#8220;Tokyo 2020 Paralympics Closing Ceremony&#8221; with Mayuko Wakuda.
 His title is &#8220;Executive Announcer,&#8221; the highest position in the announcer profession. Currently, she is the morning face of NHK Radio and is in charge of &#8220;My Asa! (Monday-Friday) as the morning face of NHK Radio, but he has voluntarily asked to leave the station due to a series of news reports.
 He said, &#8220;Ostensibly, the explanation is that he is not feeling well, but if that is the case, he could have taken a leave of absence. But if he is stepping down, he must be aware that his career as an announcer has come to an end.
 I don&#8217;t know what kind of punishment will be given to him, but some people at the station are asking, &#8216;Is he going to have no choice but to quit? Some people within the station are saying, &#8220;He may have no choice but to resign,&#8221; considering his age (55).
 This kind of scandal is a headache for NHK. This kind of scandal is a headache for NHK, as it could lead to nonpayment of subscription fees, as it could be interpreted as &#8220;using the money collected from the public to pay for a hotel room.
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 NHK, a public broadcaster, is a company that is not in financial crisis. NHK, a public broadcaster, is a company that has never experienced a financial crisis. The recent high prices and costs are hitting household budgets hard, and the anger of the general public may be amplified.
 There are other points that cannot be overlooked.
 After his affair with Mr. A, Abe reportedly went to a sauna to work up a sweat before returning home to his wife. This is clearly an attempt to &#8220;destroy evidence. According to the sports newspaper reporter mentioned above
 Abe had told everyone around him that he liked saunas, but that may have been just a camouflage now,&#8221; said a sports newspaper reporter.
 The reporter said, &#8220;Abe had been a sauna lover, but that may have been a camouflage now.
 It is also reported that Abe used the alias &#8220;Saichiro Aikawa&#8221; when using the hotel. In some cases, this constitutes forgery of private documents.
 The name &#8220;Saichiro Aikawa&#8221; has also become a topic of conversation on the Internet, as it is reminiscent of NHK&#8217;s morning program &#8220;Asaichi.
 I don&#8217;t know if he really &#8220;borrowed&#8221; the name from &#8220;Asaichi&#8221; or not, but it is a nuisance for the program side. There are already some people on the Internet who are calling for the program&#8217;s name to be changed to &#8220;The Saichiro Aikawa Show.
 NHK also has to closely examine Mr. A&#8217;s working conditions. Abe is in charge of an early morning radio program and finishes his work in the afternoon.
 That is why he was able to go to the hotel in broad daylight, but it is highly likely that Mr. A was on duty. The NHK official mentioned above was quoted as saying, &#8220;I&#8217;m not sure about Ms. A&#8217;s work schedule.
 We are investigating and verifying Mr. A&#8217;s working conditions. If it turns out that she was out of the hotel because of a false explanation, that would be a big problem. At the same time, they are also investigating whether or not Mr. Abe took advantage of his higher position in the company to lure Ms. A out of the office.
 He also revealed.
 Questions are sure to be asked about this matter at the NHK chairman&#8217;s regular press conference to be held in the near future. Abe has left the program, abandoning his responsibility to explain to the viewers, but it does not look like he will be able to put the matter to rest&#8230;

 Kyodo News

 Wataru Abe, the "face" of NHK, has suddenly been the subject of reports of an affair. The affair turned out to be a double affair, as the other party was a woman in her 30s at the same station with whom she has a common-law husband...

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