<figure id="attachment_369445" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-369445" style="width: 3961px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="0bae1cc8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/04/a04911657df6401b04b8b2ede7a77f45.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-369445" class="wp-caption-text">Daichi attended an event in Tokyo on March 8, &#8217;04. After this, he responded to a direct interview with this magazine. &#8230;&#8230; (April 2, &#8217;04 issue)</figcaption></figure>
<p> What did &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; report 10, 20, or 30 years ago? Playback Friday&#8221; looks back at the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we bring you &#8221; <span class="strongInContent">Mao Daichi &amp; Akira Akasaka: Late-night secret meeting at a hotel, photos from the scene</span>,&#8221; which appeared in the April 2, 2004 issue 20 years ago. This time, we bring you &#8220;Mao Daichi &amp; Akira Akasaka: A Late-Night Hotel Tryst!</p>
<p> The previous week, in the March 26 issue, this magazine reported on a &#8220;secret hotel meeting&#8221; between Mao Daichi (then 48), an actress, and Akira Akasaka (then 30), an actor formerly of Hikaru Genji. The following is a &#8220;rebuttal&#8221; to Mao Daichi&#8217;s response to the report. (The statements in parentheses are quoted from past articles.)</p>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent"> Four people were in Daichi&#8217;s room on the night in question.</span></h3>
<p> What this magazine reported was the &#8220;adulterous love&#8221; between Daichi and Akasaka. From January 31 to February 25 of that year, Daichi and Akasaka performed together in the play &#8220;La Traviata&#8221; at the Shochikuza Theater in Osaka. During the play, they embraced passionately and whispered words of love to each other many times, but it was not only on stage.</p>
<p> Not only did they always go out to dinner together after performances, but Akasaka would also secretly visit Daichi&#8217;s room late at night at the hotel. The year before this Daichi had divorced Ken Matsudaira (then 50), and Akasaka had a common-law wife and child. Their comments on the magazine&#8217;s article were as follows.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> When this magazine directly asked Daichi whether he had met Akasaka late at night on March 8, he replied, &#8220;What? What? He was at a loss and said, &#8220;That&#8217;s &#8230;&#8230; not true &#8230;&#8230;. Just 15 minutes later, however, he made a complete turnaround, explaining over the phone through his manager, &#8220;I had called a masseuse in my room, introduced by Mr. Akasaka, for treatment of my back pain, and Mr. Akasaka came to my room and we had a massage together.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Furthermore, in response to an interview by a sports newspaper, the office said, &#8220;(Adultery) is not at all possible. When I received the massage, there were four people in Daichi&#8217;s room: Daichi, Akasaka, Daichi&#8217;s office staff, and the masseuse.</span></p>
<p> Akasaka, on the other hand, denied the affair, <span class="strongInContent">saying, &#8220;We are not in the relationship that everyone thinks</span> we are.</p>
<p> However, this magazine had witnessed the secret meeting. The article reported the following &#8220;live&#8221; account of the entire evening in question. Daichi was staying in a suite on the 28th floor of a hotel in Osaka City where the stage performers were staying, and Akasaka was staying on the 27th floor. After having dinner together as usual, they returned to each other&#8217;s rooms around 10:30 PM. After that, no one visited Daichi&#8217;s room. &#8230;&#8230;</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" On the &quot;night in question,&quot; Daichi&#39;s room was visited by ......"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent">Just before 1:00 a.m., Akasaka appeared on the 28th floor. He was dressed casually in a white T-shirt, a vest, and well-worn jeans, and was wearing his favorite black hat with a white border and a line around the edge. A black tote bag was slung over his right shoulder, and his right hand was in the pocket of his jeans.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> As Akasaka approached Daichi&#8217;s room, the door suddenly popped open from the inside, indicating that the two had communicated in advance and had arranged for Akasaka to enter the room immediately so that he would not be seen.</span></p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> Two hours passed. There were no new visitors. Of course, no one who looked like a masseuse could be seen at &#8230;&#8230;. Akasaka then left Daichi&#8217;s room, and a few minutes later the lights in the suite went out.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The room remained unoccupied until 10:30 the next morning, when a staff member from Daichi&#8217;s office came to the room to pick him up and the group left for the Osaka Shochikuza theater&#8211;</span></p>
<p> At the very least, Daichi&#8217;s counterargument that <span class="strongInContent">there were four people in his room</span> on the night in question&#8211;Daichi <span class="strongInContent">, Akasaka, Daichi&#8217;s office staff, and a masseuse&#8211;could</span> not be proven.</p>
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<p> It was Daichi who first spotted Akasaka and brought him in.&#8217; In 1997, he nominated Akasaka for the role of Daichi&#8217;s partner in the musical &#8220;Cleopatra,&#8221; in which he starred, and Akasaka had been Daichi&#8217;s partner ever since. However, since the report in this magazine, they no longer co-star. However, the relationship between Daichi and Akasaka seems to have continued for some time after that. In February 2005, this magazine witnessed the two watching a World Cup soccer qualifying match at Saitama Stadium.</p>
<p> In March &#8217;07, Daichi announced his engagement to an interior designer 12 years younger than him. Coincidentally, Akasaka divorced his wife of five years the same month, and was later arrested in October for violating the Stimulant Drug Control Law and fired from Johnny&#8217;s. Some media reported that Daichi may have been a factor in Akasaka&#8217;s downfall.</p>
<p> Akasaka was sentenced to prison for his second methamphetamine arrest in &#8217;09, but he has been back in the entertainment business since &#8217;15. His activities seem to be going well.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The whole &quot;adulterous secret meeting&quot; as observed by this magazine."></div>
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<figure id="attachment_369448" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-369448" style="width: 4098px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6adfb86c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/04/214276ea2cc25efa9b4097b02dd1d35f.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-369448" class="wp-caption-text">Daichi (right) and Akasaka after dinner at a fugu restaurant in Tsuruhashi, Osaka in late February &#8217;04 (March 26, &#8217;04 issue)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_369449" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-369449" style="width: 3816px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="0f476540"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/04/01c9a5f2f0626277f4b1d45188e28951.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-369449" class="wp-caption-text"> Two hours after arriving at the hotel and returning to their respective rooms, Akasaka heads for Daichi&#8217;s suite just before 1:00 a.m. (April 2, &#8217;04 issue)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_369450" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-369450" style="width: 3729px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4adc58b8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/04/1885a735dd819ab1fd40dd9a7ad5083f.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-369450" class="wp-caption-text"> Two hours after the previous photo, Akasaka returns to his room with a dull gait. No one else came in or out of Daichi&#8217;s room during this time (April 2, &#8217;04 issue).</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_369453" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-369453" style="width: 3697px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="04fc4bee"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/04/45a0b26bcea69341b71cb8d62ab60617.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-369453" class="wp-caption-text"> Daichi heading to the Shochikuza Theater the morning after the previous photo. He is in high spirits with a straight back (April 2, 2004 issue).</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_369451" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-369451" style="width: 3811px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2f0ae96a"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/04/d4c37b5af70c4bb4ff6bd2332231015e.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-369451" class="wp-caption-text"> Daichi heading to the Shochikuza Theater one morning. Akasaka had visited his room the night before.</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_369454" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-369454" style="width: 3106px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2e9648ad"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/04/8282acdf069735e571c123e95984725d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-369454" class="wp-caption-text"> In February 2005, Daichi and Akasaka were watching a national team game at Saitama Stadium (November 16, 2007 issue).</figcaption></figure>
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 Taka Nozawa (7th photo)

 In this issue of Playback, we look back at what this magazine reported 10, 20, and 30 years ago. In this issue, we introduce our "rebuttal" to Mao Daichi, who denied our report on her affair with Akira Akasaka in the April 2, 2004 issue.

[Playback &#8217;04] &#8220;Totally Unlikely,&#8221; &#8220;Refutation&#8221; to Mao Daichi &#038; Akira Akasaka, who refuted this magazine&#8217;s report on their affair.

[Playback ’04] “Totally Unlikely,” “Refutation” to Mao Daichi & Akira Akasaka, who refuted this magazine’s report on their affair.

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