Offers are pouring in.”⁉ The “appearance teasing” fiasco is a thing of the past… Fuji’s announcer, Uegaki, is steadily on the “road to success.

She will be the MC for a new program starting on November 14

On November 14, Fuji Television started a new late-night broadcast program, “Lady Go,” which airs once a month on Thursdays at midnight. Announcers Yui Suzuki (30) and Koutaro Uegaki (23), who joined the company in April of this year, serve as MCs for this program.

Uegaki joined Fuji after graduating from Nara’s prestigious Todaiji Gakuen School and then from the Humanities Department of Osaka University’s Faculty of Letters in March of this year. One week after joining Fuji, as part of her training, she observed the studio recording of “FNS Akashiya Sanma’s Recommended Announcer GP,” a Saturday premium program broadcast on April 20. During the training, she caught the attention of the host, Akashiya Sanma (69), and the other contestants for her unassuming appearance, and she was chosen for the “Grand Prix” as the “Most Recommended Announcer” and quickly made her presence felt.

Since July, she has been working as a weathercaster for the information program “Mezamashi Saturday. He is the first male announcer to anchor the weather for this program in nine years, since Takuya Kimura (34), a senior announcer. However, his selection has caused an unexpected uproar.

It all started with a video that was released on July 12 on the official YouTube channel of Mezamashi TV. In an exchange during a commercial for Uegaki’s debut as a weathercaster, she was wearing a T-shirt from “27 Hours TV,” which was about to air, when Kikue Nishiyama (55), Ryusei Ikuta (36), and others who were watching in the studio said, “The T-shirt doesn’t look good on you. I’m 23 years old, aren’t I? The video was uploaded three months later, but for some reason, it was never seen by the public.

Somehow, the video spread three months later, in late October, and criticism poured in, resulting in a firestorm. Fuji commented, “We take your comments seriously and will pay even more attention to content production in the future. Despite being in her first year with the company, Uegaki has the air of a seasoned veteran, but the fact that she caused such an uproar through no fault of her own shows a glimpse of the bigwig she is.

Despite the controversy, Uegaki’s “rapid progress” continues: she is now the sole MC of “Chara Biz Journal,” a TV program specializing in the character business, which started in October. This is Uegaki’s first regular terrestrial TV program, and although it will be broadcast on early Sunday mornings, it will be Fuji Television’s first program focusing on the character business, which is booming around the world.