Playback ‘04 Announcer Minako Nakano Finds New Role as Commuter Wife in Young Actor’s Home

What did “FRIDAY” report 10, 20, and 30 years ago? In “Playback Friday,” we take a look back at the topics that were popular at the time. This time, we bring you “Minako Nakano ♡ Hideaki Ito’s ‘commuter wife’ passionate love” from the March 5, 2004 issue, which was published 20 years ago.

In 2004, Minako Nakano, then 24, was in charge of the “Genki no Minamoto” corner of “Mezamashi TV. Nicknamed “Nakamie,” she was said to be the most powerful female announcer in the world, despite the fact that she had only been with Fuji Television for two years. Her first love affair was with a handsome actor.

Happily smiling face lit up on the street

Let’s look back at the article that this magazine reported in 2004.

A man and a woman were standing in front of an elegant condominium in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, when a taxi pulled up in front of it. It was a little past 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon in early February when Nakamy got out of a cab parked in front of the building. Dressed in a black coat, bright red scarf, and pleated navy blue check mini-skirt, she was dressed in her “game clothes” and hurriedly disappeared into the entrance.

About five hours later, Nakamee reappeared with a tall, slender man. She followed behind Calle, looking like a dutiful new wife. They run across the street, shoulder to shoulder, smiling at each other. Their faces, lit by the street lamps, are full of happiness, like a scene out of a movie. The man in the knit cap with the cell phone on is actor Hideaki Ito (28 at the time). In fact, this apartment was not Nakamee’s home, but her boyfriend’s. The two, who appeared to be on good terms with each other, signaled for a cab to come and they got in, shoulder to shoulder, and went out.

Nakano was so popular that his popularity had been booming on the Internet immediately after he was offered a job at Fuji Television. At the time, Fuji Television was crowded with popular female TV announcers such as Kyoko Uchida, then 28, known as “Uchi,” and Aya Takashima, then 25, known as “Ayapan. However, both of them had been involved in a love affair by the previous year, making Nakano a rare “scandal virgin.

Ito, on the other hand, was a young actor who was emerging at the time. Three years earlier, right after this magazine reported his love affair with actress Miki Mizuno, he was hospitalized for hallucinations after eating magic mushrooms, and his acting career was once in jeopardy. However, he later appeared in the historical drama “Toshiie to Matsumatsu” and the drama “Shiroi Kyotou” (Fuji Television Network), and the movie “Umizaru,” which would later become his masterpiece, was scheduled for release in the summer of that year.

After going out, they returned home after 11:30 p.m., accompanied by a male friend. This friend returned alone the next morning, but Ito and Nakano did not appear until 4:00 pm.

In the article, an acquaintance of Ito’s testified that the two were already officially acquainted with each other as follows.

It seems that Ito, who was originally a big fan of hers, asked a female announcer he knew to introduce them to each other. Late last year, he suddenly brought her to the launch of a TV show he was on. They seemed to get along very well and jabbed at each other. Since then, they have often been seen drinking together. Now when I have dinner with the members of “Shiroi Kyotou,” she sometimes accompanies me. It seems that Ito finds her cute and adorable and can’t help it.

Nakano, however, was not to be outdone. This magazine also witnessed her visiting Ito’s apartment on a weekend in late January and returning home the next morning with a sleepy, spruced-up face, as well as her rushing to “go to work” at around 3:00 a.m. on a weekday to appear on “Mezamashi. It was truly a “commuter love” that spared no time for sleep.

This is all I have to say about the situation at the time. The two were so excited and passionate about each other, but they broke up after about a year. After the breakup, a heartbroken Nakano considered quitting Fuji Television for a time.

According to what Nakano later said in an interview with a magazine, when he first joined Fuji Television, he had no self-confidence in himself, and his days were “hell. He was viewed as a rival to Uchi, Ayapan, and others around him, and his days were quite stressful.

The time spent with Ito may have been a source of support for her during those days.