Masahiro Nakai Leave of Absence Due to Sickness Left His Fans Crying at His Last TV Appearance

Fuji Television Network has released a recent image of TV personality Masahiro Nakai, who has announced that he will take a leave of absence before the end of the year.

On the December 11 broadcast of “Masahiro Nakai’s Professional Baseball Rare Play Good Play Award” (Fuji TV), Nakai appeared on the VTR and made a comment.

“Please enjoy the rare plays and professional baseball for the year end broadcast.”

Nakai, wearing a hat and light-colored sunglasses, said this with a big smile on his face. However, his eyes are sunken and his neck is wrinkled, indicating that he has lost a lot of weight.

The message was recorded on November 4, just before Nakai took a leave of absence, more than a month before, but we are very concerned about his health. In November, it was announced that Nakai would take a one-month hiatus, but he was unable to return in December, and it was announced again that he would take an extended leave of absence until the end of the year.

Women’s Seven reported that he underwent another surgery in November, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the surgery, which was supposed to take only a few dozen minutes, lasted several hours. If the surgery had gone well, it was expected that he would be able to return to work in December, but his health did not recover as expected, and it is possible that his leave was extended.

Fans who saw the image of Nakai that Fuji Television put out for publicity purposes screamed on the Internet.

“Nakai-kun, haven’t you lost weight?”
“Please rest well and come back with a healthy appearance.”
“I’m so anxious and upset when I see the pictures. I can’t stop crying.”

It is not only fans who are worried. Hitoshi Matsumoto of “Downtown” took to Twitter on November 4, the day after Nakai announced he was taking a leave of absence.

I promised Nakai-kun a year-end party. I’m looking forward to it.

 

Matsumoto-san and Nakai-kun are good friends that they go out to eat and travel together in private, and sometimes Nakai-kun even buys him drinks. Believing that Nakai would return to work after taking a leave of absence, Matsumoto promised Nakai a year-end party, and he also encouraged Nakai by publicly announcing it on Twitter.

“He and his fans were looking forward to Nakai’s return, but his health did not return as expected and the event was postponed. It would be nice if we could at least have a New Year’s party,” said a TV station official.

On the 2nd, Nakai posted a comment on his official website announcing that he would be taking a leave of absence during the year.

Step by step, half-step by half-step depending on the day, but we are making progress. One step at a time. Sometimes I have to stop a little.

He also wrote that his energy is several times higher than before. I hope he will rest well and make a comeback soon.