Mino Monta Delivers a Blunt Blow in a Direct Interview to Matsumoto

‘Scandals of the world?　Come and find me some scandals about me. I haven’t heard any rumors about myself lately, and I’ve been lonely (laughs).”

The one who smiled mischievously as he said this was Mino Monta (79), a popular host. He had quietly retired from show business in 2008 after a love affair with a beautiful woman 40 years younger than himself and the discovery that he was suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

Around noon in mid-February, FRIDAY interviewed Mino in front of Nikkok, a water meter company of which he is the chairman. The interview was about “Hitoshi Matsumoto’s allegations of sexual assault,” which have caused a stir in the public.

–What are your thoughts on the recent scandals involving Hitoshi Matsumoto ……?

He said, “I’m not interested in the entertainment industry at all these days. I don’t know about Matsumoto-kun because I don’t have any relationship with him. I really don’t know the truth of this matter either.

–Why have you lost interest in the entertainment industry, which you used to be so active in?

You don’t know who is an entertainer and who is an amateur in today’s world of entertainment, do you? But in our time, each entertainer was a “professional” who carried his or her own sign. I think that going out for drinks was something you did with people in the same professional world. It was a “secret affair. If I may venture to say so, it was a mistake for Matsumoto-kun to enter into a world where such suspicions would arise. If the other party was a professional, this would not have happened.

–Was it normal for entertainers in the past to play only in the professional world?

In the old days, that was the norm,” Matsumoto said. So there was a longing that ‘people in the entertainment world are cool. ‘ ‘The entertainment world is the entertainment world. There used to be a very clear line between the two worlds, and now there is no such line. There is no way to tell if someone is a professional or not, and they don’t know how to play. In that sense, I feel sorry for Matsumoto.

–Nowadays, there is no line between the two.

It’s a shame because those boundaries have disappeared. Nowadays, you end up in court cases like this. However, I am not interested in the entertainment industry anymore. I’m not interested in women anymore, and I only go to Ginza once a week. I’ve become a lonely guy (laughs).

–How is your relationship with your younger girlfriend?

She used to be a good friend. But I’m 80 this year, and they’ve all moved on (laughs).

In the end, he left for his office with a humorous and relaxed demeanor.

In the words of Mino, a professional who has played around in the world of professionals, “Professionals are professionals.

From the March 15 , 2024 issue of FRIDAY