37-Year-Old Halaichi Iwai’s Marriage with 19-Year-Old Okumori Causes “Behind the Scenes” at His Office to Become Very Tense

Yuki Iwai (37) of the comedy duo “Halaichi” announced his surprise marriage to Satsuki Okumori (19), and the “18-year age difference” between the two has caused a stir. The announcement was supposed to be a happy one, but the office of Iwai’s partner is said to have been in a tense mood from the beginning.

“The marriage was abruptly announced on November 13 through both of their affiliated offices. According to a report in Bunshun Online on the same day, Shukan Bunshun (Weekly Bunshun) had caught wind of their relationship, and directly interviewed Iwai on November 12. The next day, they announced their marriage. Iwai is the “face of daytime” as the MC of Fuji Television’s “Poka Poka” since January, so the sudden “super age difference goal in marriage” came as a surprise to many.”

 

The two met through “Ohasuta” (TV Tokyo), a morning program for children in which Iwai is a regular. They met in October 2017, when Okumori was 13, when she became a member of “Oha Girl,” a female assistant on the program.

In her comment on the marriage report, Iwai casually stated that their relationship began “at the beginning of this year” and that Okumori had turned 18. However, since they had met when Okumori was in junior high school, the Internet began to speculate that they had been in a relationship since she was a minor.

“In addition, the name of Mika Mifune, who married 40-year-old singer George Takahashi in 1998 when she was 16 years old, suddenly became a trending word on social networking sites. The name was linked to Mifune, who divorced in 2016 after a long dispute, and a string of critical comments followed. The word “grooming,” which refers to the practice of taming boys by Johnny’s founder Johnny Kitagawa, also became a trending topic. It was an unexpected halo effect.”

 

Okumori began her entertainment career as a model and child actress at an early age. After becoming an “Oha Girl,” she became very popular. Her hobbies include watching comedy and listening to late-night radio, and it is said that she originally had strong feelings for Iwai. The “suspicions” grew stronger when Iwai was believed to have taken a liking to Okumori. However, late on the night of the 16th, Iwai was seen on his regular radio show “Haraiichi’s Turn!” (TBS Radio), Iwai revealed the circumstances of their relationship and explained that he had kept his distance from Okumori when she was under 18 years old.

“Iwai revealed on the same program that he had told her at the time that he would not go out to dinner with a minor. Then, when Okumori turned 18, he received a line from her saying that she had “come of age,” and at the beginning of this year, they greeted Okumori’s parents and began dating. Iwai was conflicted by the age difference and was thinking of breaking up with Okumori, but last month Okumori asked Iwai if he would marry her, and the two proposed in reverse. Last month, however, Okumori made a counter-proposal to Iwai, asking him to marry her.”

 

If this were true, there would be no problem, but Iwai’s agency was very nervous about the marriage announcement.

“The office made an unusual request privately to TV stations and other media with which they have a relationship, asking them not to emphasize the “age difference” between the two. Perhaps they wanted to avoid being linked to the Mika Mifune marriage and divorce scandal and the problems with Mr. Johnny. However, what he seemed to be more concerned about than anything else was Ike Nuwara of the comedy group “Cho Shinjuku:. Ike, who was a regular on “Oha Suta” with Iwai, was reported in August by “Bunshun Online” to have taken an underage Girl to his home, and suddenly dropped out of the program at the end of that month.”

 

Ike is also a comedian, and there are many strange “coincidences” between him and Iwai, such as their involvement in “Oha Suta” and “Oha Girl”. What is even more sensitive is the fact that Iwai and Ike work for the same agency.

“Ike has denied any inappropriate relationship with the “Oha Girl” report. However, the situation overlaps with the fact that Iwai, a fellow comedian from the same office, is getting married to an “Oha Girl” he met on “Oha Star,” so it is understandable that the office would be upset. The reason why they decided to announce the marriage immediately after the Bunshun article was published may have been to avoid the situation in which they would be exposed to the suspicion that would be heaped on Ike, which would only lead to more suspicions.”

Perhaps due to these circumstances, there were few outspoken congratulatory comments on Iwai’s marriage from fellow comedians. The couple’s life as a couple has suddenly started from an “adverse situation,” but continuing their good relationship for a long time is likely to be the biggest point in blowing away the confusion.

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