Challenges for Lully Miura Despite Current Affairs Posts, Return to Terrestrial Broadcasting Proves Difficult

On January 19th, international political scholar Miura Lully appeared on the video series “Bungei Shunju Webinar” by Bungei Shunju, engaging in a discussion titled “Was Matsumoto Hitori the ‘Naked Emperor’?” with author Suzuki Ryomi. At the beginning, Miura described her impression of Matsumoto as someone who can “relate quite well when discussing international politics or the female perspective.”

 

When Suzuki asked, “Regarding this matter (Matsumoto’s sexual misconduct issue), have you exchanged any words or thoughts?” Miura responded, 

“That’s something I can’t really say, or rather, I don’t think it’s something I should say too much about.”

She chuckled meaningfully. Regarding Matsumoto and his relationships with others, Miura remarked, 

“It seems that there are considerably fewer people he can talk to on a personal level.”

She began to speak, prefacing with, “I’ll speak from my complete bias,” and continued, 

“Japanese comedy is predominantly male. It inherently contains a sense of authority where men say, ‘Laugh at my jokes.'”

She spoke about such topics, and even in just the opening segment of the 90-minute video, the content is quite substantial.

In the comments section, there are references to Miura’s husband, Kiyoshi, who is currently on trial for embezzlement in a solar power generation project:

“If we consider the theme of ‘What was solar power generation all about.?’ it would be even more enjoyable.”

“Thinking that Lully-san might have been involved, and then rewatching it would be twice as enjoyable, wouldn’t it?”

While there were comments mocking the situation, there were even more opinions such as:

“Touches on the essence with a fair perspective.”

“Easy to understand. Wonderful.”

These opinions were quite prevalent, and the majority of comments expressed agreement. Even a director of a commercial television information program evaluated it in this way.

“Since her husband’s arrest last July, Miura herself has lost all her television work and has been out of the spotlight for a while. In the video, she engages in discussions leveraging the advantage of being an acquaintance of Matsumoto Hitori, and the content is reminiscent of her former prowess as a commentator, providing a compelling discussion.”

On February 6th, Miura updated her X (formerly Twitter), addressing the affair reported by “Weekly Bunshun” regarding Shiino Karolina, who was “Miss Japan Grand Prix,” stating, “Let’s oppose the discriminatory attitude of Weekly Bunshun.” In response, Ryuichi Yoneyama, a member of the House of Representatives from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (56), criticized her, sparking a battle between the two. Miura responded to Yoneyama:

“Politicians aren’t commentators, so it would be better to focus on real-world work rather than on social media.”

Miura’s comment seemed to stir up netizens:

“Miura Lully and Suginami Mizuho are the top two people I dislike. I am a woman myself, but ‘a woman’s enemy is a woman’ applies to these two.”

“I think international political scholars should focus on real-world work rather than on social media, as they are not commentators.”

It seems that Miura has found herself in a situation where her comments are coming back to haunt her. However, overall, her remarks themselves don’t seem to be garnering much attention.

“It seems she has resumed her activities in earnest, considering a return to television following the Matsumoto incident. If that’s the case, she should carefully gauge public reactions and speak cautiously. However, it seems she couldn’t quite restrain her inherently outspoken nature.”

That’s according to a female director from a variety show.

 

“Since her husband’s arrest, she has faced the media with a smile every day, asserting her innocence, but now she finds herself being scrutinized again. While Miura herself has not been charged with any crime, there are opinions suggesting lingering doubts, such as ‘It’s hard to believe that she lived together and worked in the same office without knowing anything,’ as well as quite harsh comments like ‘Just like Kinoshita Yukina. Just an attention seeker. She was never asked in the first place.’

Even before this, she continued to post glamorous updates on her Instagram as if her husband’s arrest never happened, but with her recent appearance in the video, she may start sharing more topical content. However, the public’s response has been lukewarm. Moreover, I doubt any TV station would hire her until her husband’s verdict is announced, and the difficulty of returning to terrestrial broadcasting has become even more apparent.”

Even if YouTube and video distribution are acceptable to some extent, a return to terrestrial broadcasting seems to be difficult.

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