Akiko Wada Celebrates “Akko ni Omakase!” Turnaround with New Announcer Junna Yamagata

She is loved by the program staff.

In recent years, there have been constant rumors about the cancellation of the show “Akko ni Omakase!” (TBS), but on January 5th, the show announced its broadcasting schedule for the second half of 2025. It was reported by TBS announcer Junna Yamagata (30), who mentioned that the show will celebrate its 40th anniversary on October 5th. In response, the main MC, Akiko Wada (74), said,

“We will be celebrating our 40th anniversary. Thank you very much, it’s all thanks to everyone. I appreciate it.”

In recent years, the show has consistently ranked 1st or 2nd in the shows that should end the list by weekly magazines and web media. The main reason for this has been the continuous controversies surrounding Wada’s outrageous comments and her lack of knowledge and understanding of the topics, which led to constant backlash.

“A recent example is Wada’s comment about Haruka Kitaguchi (26), who won a gold medal in women’s javelin at the Paris Olympics, when she said, ‘She looks like a walrus.’ Additionally, during the Tokyo governor’s election, when announcer Risa Unai (33) made a mistake in explaining how to fill out a ballot paper, neither Wada nor her co-hosts corrected her. This led to online criticism, with comments like, ‘Have these people never been to a polling station?’

Wada has a habit of preemptively stating that she doesn’t have enough knowledge when making comments. Moreover, due to her age, she sometimes struggles to find the right words. On the other hand, there are also moments when she makes comments that cannot be aired, which has led to viewers calling for the show to end.”

While other networks have been ending long-running shows, there were reports that the show might end by the end of March this year, but TBS denied this. However, there was frequent talk among younger staff about who would put the bell on Akko. Regarding the decision to continue the show, a TBS executive explained,

“Wada-san always has breakfast with her co-stars and staff before ‘Akko ni Omakase!’ to strengthen the bond between the cast members. Even the cast of ‘Sanjapo,’ which airs right before the show, always makes a point to visit her after the show ends. She is beloved among the veteran staff members of the show. Some staff members even say, ‘As long as Akko-san wants to continue, our desire to keep the show going hasn’t changed.'” (TBS veteran staff)

This is how the decision was made. This year, the new member joining the show as the host is announcer Junna Yamagata, who replaced Risa Unai after she left the program at the end of last year and will depart from TBS by the end of March. Yamagata has joined the “Akko family.”

 

Why did TBS appoint Ms. Yamagata?

“Announcer Yamagata is famous as one of TBS’s top beauties, having been a finalist in the Miss International World competition and also crowned Miss of Miss in the Miss Campus contest. She also has a very strong reputation as a news announcer. However, TBS has been using announcers from other networks, such as Ayaka Ogawa (39) and Takako Zenba (49), as main anchors for news programs, so Yamagata’s opportunities have been limited.

In the past year, she appeared as part of the ‘journalist’ team when covering political and economic topics on ‘Sunjapo,’ and now she’s been promoted to ‘Akko ni Omakase!’ Her analysis and responses to Akko’s comments have been very confident, and inside the station, there’s talk that ‘TBS hired Yamagata to keep the show going.’” (TV show writer)

There are also urgent reasons for TBS not wanting to end ‘Akko ni Omakase!’

“It’s related to the ongoing issues with Masahiro Nakai (52). If things continue this way, programs like ‘Nakai Masahiro’s Friday Smile’ and ‘THE MC3’ are in danger of being canceled. In other words, ending ‘Akko ni Omakase!’ or moving it to BS is no longer an option. Akko was down when she had to apologize for the walrus remark, but once she knew the show would continue for its 40th anniversary, she was overjoyed. Now, she’s renewed her motivation.” (Information program producer)

As a singer, Akko’s collaboration with the Red-and-White Song Contest group “Da-iCE” was announced, and she’s working hard in her primary profession. The “Akko ni Omakase!” call will likely be heard for a long time to come.