Former Fuji Announcer Ako Nagao’s Remarks Draw Sharp Criticism, Raising Questions About Treatment of Female Announcers

In the case involving interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, the mood around Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani player shifted dramatically. However, weekly magazines are still dominated by articles related to Ohtani’s wife and former basketball player, Mami Tanaka.

“Good personality and cooking skills seem to stand out in the content. Many fans express sentiments like, ‘It’s really good that Ohtani married Mami before all this happened, and she became his support after Mizuhara’s incident,’.” (Sports newspaper reporter)

Regarding Ohtani’s marriage, opinions like “It’s good that he didn’t marry a female announcer or idol” are also seen on social media.

“In 2017, Weekly Bunshun (December 14th issue) reported that Ohtani’s parents said they would not let him marry a female announcer or actress. In reality, there were several female announcers who actively pursued Ohtani, and among them, there were female announcers at broadcasters in the Tokai region who posted suggestive comments related to Ohtani (bitter smile).” (Same reporter)

In this context, former Fuji TV announcer and current freelance narrator-announcer Ako Nagao’s post on X (formerly Twitter) on March 18th has become a topic of discussion.

“I won’t say what the topic is, but lately I often see posts like ‘It’s admirable not to go for female announcers’ or ‘If the partner is a female announcer, they won’t be celebrated’ Are female announcers really that bad?”

The posts are talking about the following.