Playback ’03] NHK’s Watermelon Cup Announcer’s Exit Raises Hopes for Nationwide Debut

What did “FRIDAY” report 10, 20, and 30 years ago? In “Playback Friday,” we take a look back at the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we bring you the article from the December 12, 2003 issue, which was published 20 years ago, “NHK’s Suikap Announcer to Leave the Company in March and Make a Change! This time, we bring you “NHK’s Suikyup Anna: Resigns in March and Moves On!

The July 18 issue of this year’s magazine reported an affair between NHK Yamagata’s Eri Furuse, then 26, and Koichi Hashiratani, then manager of Montedio Yamagata, which caused a huge sensation. Here is what happened to Furuse.

Love Calls from Famous Entertainment Firms

I can’t tell you now, but I’ve recently made a decision.

Anyone would be interested in her if she were to say something like this. If it were Eri Furuse, 26, NHK Yamagata’s caster, who is known as the “watermelon cup analyst,” …… would be the first to say something like this. In fact, before her contract with NHK expires next March, she is said to have said to a friend, “I’m not going to be a watermelon announcer anymore.

Furuse, a native of Obanazawa City in Yamagata Prefecture, known for its watermelons, was known in some circles as “NHK’s big-breasted announcer” even though she only appeared on local programs. In an online poll of female announcer popularity, she was said to be as popular as “Ayapan” Aya Takashima and “Uchi” Kyoko Uchida, who were popular announcers at the time.

However, after the affair was reported in this magazine, the name “Suikup” quickly became a nationwide phenomenon. The attention she attracted was so great that Yoshiharu Noda, president of “Yellow Cab,” which is famous for its gravure talent with big breasts, sent a love call to her, saying, “We would love to have you join us. It was reported that other famous entertainment agencies were also working on acquiring her, and the media also made a fuss about her, causing quite a commotion around her. She herself was worried about her future.

Subsequently, an article appeared in a sports newspaper dated November 25, stating that Furuse Anna had tendered her resignation to NHK. The article in this magazine at that time introduced the voices around Furuse announcer, who was once again in a flurry of activity.

“Even in Yamagata, her departure is attracting a lot of attention. She appears on TV with the same smile on her face as before,” said an office worker living in Yamagata.

“Mr. Furuse only wants to be a newscaster, not a TV personality. Discussions are underway with several production companies in Tokyo to which freelance TV announcers and freelance newscasters belong, as well as local TV stations, and it seems that she has told them that she wants to go in that direction.

On the other hand, however, there was also this testimony.

“Her mother is a strict educator, even serving as principal of a local elementary school, and she is very opposed to her going to Tokyo. She said, ‘You should stay in your hometown and become a civil servant. I don’t think she has much of an interest in becoming a civil servant, but she seems to be having a hard time deciding whether to go to Tokyo.

What does she think about it herself? This magazine attempted to interview Furuse directly, but she got into her car and drove away without saying a word. The realization of “Suicup’s national debut” was still uncertain.

After her contract with NHK expired in March 2004, Furuse signed a contract with “Office Two One,” to which Hiroshi Kume and others belong. On May 30, she made her “commercial TV debut” by appearing as a reporter on the variety show “Sekai Urugurun Jyutsu Hoki” (TBS). At a press conference after the program, she was called a “swiss cup,” and a little miffed, she said, “I think I’m done with that name. When asked if she would do gravure work, she did not seem very enthusiastic.

However, in 2006, she made her gravure debut in “Shukan Gendai. After that, she began to actively talk about her “watermelon cups” on variety shows. She married a man in 1999 and had a child the following year, and although her exposure has decreased, she is still loved by many fans.