<figure id="attachment_279885" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-279885" style="width: 1000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6a4ea7af"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/12/ea0741eca169f33b4dcd503b8b7cf8ae.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-279885" class="wp-caption-text">Un-jash&#8221; actor Ken Watabe has yet to appear on a key station despite his return to show business.</figcaption></figure>
 The announcement that his wife, Nozomi Sasaki, is pregnant with their second child was met with a mood of celebration, but at the same time her husband, Ken Watabe, also began to move energetically.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 Following the publication of a business book titled &#8220;Superlative Conversation Skills,&#8221; Watanabe has been in the spotlight with a series of appearances on Internet TV programs. Moreover, many viewers are re-evaluating Watabe.
 In February of this year, one year and seven months after the affair, Watabe made his return to television on Chiba TV&#8217;s &#8220;B&#038;W Un-jash,&#8221; but he has yet to appear on a key terrestrial station since then.
 Last month, a new program &#8220;Teppei Arita&#8217;s Retirement TV&#8221; began on the Internet TV program &#8220;ABEMA&#8221; with Teppei Arita of &#8220;Kurimu-Chu&#8221; as the MC, and Watabe was the first guest. The concept of the program is a slightly different variety show in which Arita recommends retirement to a person in the middle of a whirlwind as he plans to retire in the near future.
 It is well known that the two were such good friends that they even lived together when they were just starting out. It is well known that they were such good friends that they even lived together when they were just starting out. I think that Ms. Arita&#8217;s decision to invite Mr. Watanabe as a guest was out of warmth, as she was concerned about his plight and wanted to help him somehow. The production side must have thought it would be a hot topic and get good numbers.
 Recently, interview programs such as &#8220;Tetsuko&#8217;s Interview&#8221; (TV Asahi) have been on the rise, and &#8220;Arita&#8221; is no exception, as the program progresses with the guests sharing their private episodes and back stories. What makes &#8220;Arita~&#8221; different from other programs is that it encourages guests to &#8220;retire. As Arita listens to the guests&#8217; stories, she presses Watabe to retire, but of course Watabe refuses.
 Indeed, the battle between the two over retirement was a &#8220;talk show&#8221; unlike anything seen before, and viewers said, &#8220;That was fun! The audience said, &#8220;That was fun!
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 Later, they appeared on ABEMA&#8217;s &#8220;Chance no Jikan (Time of Opportunity),&#8221; which is also hosted by Chidori. Watabe, who used to be the &#8220;king of gourmets,&#8221; was asked to do a food report, and Chidori was amusingly teasing him about the &#8220;infidelity report.
 The show was indeed entertaining and recorded the &#8220;highest number of viewers in the history of ABEMA variety shows. The viewers were very positive about the show, saying, &#8220;He&#8217;s sorry for what he did.
 He&#8217;s too good at food lipo even though he&#8217;s sorry about it. 
 &#8220;But he&#8217;s so good at food reportage.
 The fact that both programs were well-received by the viewers made them think that Watabe was the best gourmet food reporter in the history of the TV show.
 The fact that both programs were well-received proved that Watabe could get good numbers, but was he really one step closer to a return to terrestrial broadcasting on key stations?
 However, the comments on the Internet for both programs were not all praise for Watabe. In &#8220;Arita
 I haven&#8217;t seen Watabe in a long time. I was taken aback by his tragic appearance.
 The viewers who watched &#8220;Chance&#8221; were not impressed with Watabe&#8217;s appearance.
 Some of the viewers who watched &#8220;Chance&#8221; also commented
 I felt that she was trying to get people to sympathize with her by deliberately making her look sad. He apologized for everything, and his eyes were too much like &#8220;Utsuro, I&#8217;m sorry.
 The producer of the key station said, &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry. A producer at a key station said that ABEMA&#8217;s program was successful in that the comedians were able to get a laugh through the skillful teasing of their fellow comedians.
 However, Watabe himself was all sadness, and he could not give a witty reply, only a remorseful speech. I wonder how long such a pattern will last. It must be hard for his wife, Ms. Sasaki, to see him like this. On the other hand, if Mr. Watabe were to reopen the situation and make fun of the fuss, he is sure to receive a backlash. At this stage, it is too hard on terrestrial TV to tease Mr. Watabe about that fiasco and get a laugh out of him.
 Even if he did get a laugh for a moment, I am sure he would receive many times that number of complaints. Many TV people know that while there have been many infidelity scandals in the entertainment industry, Mr. Watanabe&#8217;s infidelity is definitely not something that can be turned into a laugh. When Mr. Watabe appears on a show, it is difficult to not mention the fiasco at all.&#8221;
 Another person who says that Watabe may not have a good brain around him is a senior executive at a well-established entertainment agency.
 He said, &#8220;I think he is not good at reading the situation, or perhaps he does not have a good grasp of timing, and there is no one around to give him accurate advice. I feel that from the time the news came out to the time he held an emergency press conference after his top-secret TV appearance was discovered, he didn&#8217;t handle the situation well. The same is true this time; even if it is okay to publish a business book at 100 paces, it is not the time.
 I understand the feeling of &#8220;I&#8217;ve put up with it for two years,&#8221; but on the other hand, since you were able to put up with it for two years, I think it&#8217;s okay to be a little more patient and not be in a hurry. I would like to see him go back to his roots and come back with comedy material.
 Many of his fans would like to see him perform his material as Un-jash and bring laughter to the audience, rather than being teased about his infidelity. I am sure Watanabe knows that.

Born in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Hiroyuki Sasaki became a reporter for FRIDAY at the age of 31, reporting numerous scoops during his time at FRIDAY and later working mainly for the weekly magazine. Currently he also appears on TV and radio as a commentator .

 Hiroyuki Sasaki (Entertainment Journalist)

 Sota Shima

 Despite his return to show business, comedy duo Un-jash's Ken Watabe has yet to appear on a key station. He has performed with Teppei Arita and Chidori on network TV and received high ratings, but...

Un-jash’s Ken Watabe Sets a Record for Highest Viewership on Internet TV, but Why “Returning to a Key Station” is Still a Tough Call

Access Ranking