<figure id="attachment_203730" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 489px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-203730"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1a229f67"><img src="https://gsjebzejhjubm-res.cloudinary.com/image/private/s--4Kj0GxKh--/t_article_image/v1631001788/%E6%9D%BE%E6%9C%AC%E4%BA%BA%E5%BF%97_%E5%9D%82%E5%8F%A3%E9%9D%96%E5%AD%90_bdbcgo.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-203730" class="wp-caption-text">Downtown&#8217;s Hitoshi Matsumoto makes a statement that could be taken as a &#8220;retirement declaration&#8221; on his own TV show.</figcaption></figure>
 &#8220;I don&#8217;t mind. I&#8217;ll quit in a few more years. I&#8217;m quitting in a few more years. I&#8217;ll quit in a few years.
In the September 5th edition of &#8220;Wide Nah Show&#8221; (Fuji Television Network), Hitoshi Matsumoto of &#8220;Downtown&#8221; announced that he would be retiring in &#8220;a few more years&#8221;.
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Without a doubt, Matsumoto has created the modern world of comedy. There are countless comedians who entered the world of comedy because of his admiration, and conversely, there are so many people who admire &#8220;Downtown&#8221; that some comedians do not dare to say that they admire him.
Some comedians don&#8217;t even dare to say that they admire &#8220;Downtown. In the past, Matsumoto has hinted at retirement many times, but the hints were never made public.
However, in recent years, there have been some comments that made me think that he was thinking about where he would end up.
 &#8220;He may be thinking of retiring at the age of 60, which is only a few years away. If that should happen, the TV stations would be hit very hard because Mr. Matsumoto has many regular programs.
 According to people involved, Mr. Matsumoto is in the hundreds of millions of yen class in annual income. He has not caused any scandals, and if he were to retire, the upper management of Yoshimoto would be desperate to stop him.
In the past, on &#8220;Matsumoto Family Holiday&#8221; (Asahi Broadcasting Corporation), when Kenji Tamura asked Matsumoto, &#8220;Your highest monthly income is 1 billion yen, right? Toru Hotarubara replied, &#8220;Please deny it properly! Toru Hotarubara once retorted, &#8220;Please deny it properly!
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Of course, his partner, Masatoshi Hamada, has as many regular programs as Matsumoto, so it is likely that he earns the same amount of money. Even if Matsumoto were to retire, Hamada would still have plenty of work to do on his own, since he does a lot of hosting.
 &#8220;Hamada&#8217;s love for the duo is strong. If Matsumoto were to retire, Hamada would have plenty of work to do on his own since he does a lot of hosting.
 That&#8217;s why, if Matsumoto really retires, Hamada might say that he will retire too. Considering this, Yoshimoto will probably stop Mr. Matsumoto even more.
On the other hand, Akashiya Sanma, one of the senior members of &#8220;Downtown,&#8221; declared in the past that he would retire at the age of 60, but he is still active at the age of 66. Perhaps people want to make a break at the milestone of 60. Sanma once said to Hikaru Ota of Bakusho Mondai
 &#8220;If you quit at 60, it would be too cool. Let me see you fall further.
He revealed that he still hasn&#8217;t retired yet. I&#8217;m sure his fans will be happy to hear that he has gone back on his word.
Even though TV stations are focusing on the &#8220;core audience&#8221; of junior high school students to under 50 years old, Sanma and &#8220;Downtown&#8221; still have their signature programs, which means that they are still doing well. I can&#8217;t help but feel that it would be a shame for them to retire.
 &#8220;If Mr. Matsumoto retires, Mr. Sanma, who has declared in the past that he will retire at the age of 60, might say, &#8220;It&#8217;s time for me to go, too. But on the other hand, some of the younger and mid-career people may think that this is a chance for a generational change since the veterans are now in control of the TV industry.
Perhaps Matsumoto is also considering &#8220;activities outside of television&#8221;. On Twitter, Matsumoto has 8.22 million followers, which is one of the highest in Japan. Even if he were to retire from the TV industry, he has the potential to make even more money than he does now if he were to start his own YouTube channel. Incidentally, Mirai Asakura, a martial artist YouTube user with 1.91 million registered users, has stated publicly that she wants to earn 100 million yen a month.
Of course, it is also possible that he will quit not only television but also the entertainment business itself, like his predecessors at Yoshimoto, Shinsuke Shimada and Ryutaro Kamioka.
However, Matsumoto has written in his past books that he will never get married, hates children, doesn&#8217;t need muscles as a comedian, and won&#8217;t shoot movies, and has retracted many of his previous statements. I&#8217;m sure there are many fans who would like to see him retract his retirement announcement this time as well&#8230;

 Yasuko Sakaguchi

 The entertainment and TV industries are abuzz after Matsumoto made what could be considered a "retirement announcement" on a TV program he appears on. Will the absence of Matsumoto, who now reigns over the TV world, give a chance to the younger generation?

Matsumoto’s “Retirement Announcement” to Masatoshi Hamada and Sanma? …Will it spur a generational change?

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