The Clear Divide in Masahiro Nakai and Kimura Takuya’s Responses to Women’s Scandals

Regular TV programs are being terminated or dropped one after another

On January 20, following reports about a “900 million yen settlement” involving a woman and talent Masahiro Nakai (52), TBS announced that his regular show “Nakai Masahiro’s Friday Smile (KinSuma)” would be canceled, and he would also be leaving “THE MC3.” This marks the first cancellation of a regular program for Nakai after the trouble was reported.

TBS had already postponed the airing of both shows since the beginning of the year, replacing them with movies and variety programs. The reason for the cancellation and Nakai’s departure was explained as a result of comprehensive consideration of the situation.

On the 17th, Fujitv’s Koichi Minato, the president of the company, held a press conference and apologized after reports emerged that an employee had been involved in the issue with Nakai. Despite the apology, the content of the press conference received criticism, and from the following day, CM sponsors such as Toyota, NTT East Japan, and Kao began announcing their cancellation of commercial ads. As a result, TBS also realized it could no longer remain on the sidelines and made the decision to end the shows.

Meanwhile, Nakai’s former SMAP colleague, Takuya Kimura (52), has been receiving attention for his career as a result of the huge success of his movie “Grand Maison Paris,” which was released on December 30. The film grossed 2.34 billion yen in its first 16 days. Additionally, due to Kimura’s lack of major female-related scandals, there has been a resurgence of fans re-evaluating him online.

While Nakai and Kimura have now clearly diverged, recent revelations about their past relationships with women have been highlighted, and these stories have sparked discussions regarding their current public images.

“It was a way of playing like a king.”

The person who made the revelation was Yoshikazu Higashitani (53), also known as GaaSyy, a former member of the House of Councillors and a popular YouTuber at the time, who had shocked the entertainment world with his exposés about various celebrities.

The video uploaded on June 11, 2022, featured Higashitani being filmed while getting a haircut from Isao Kikuchi, a former stylist of SMAP and the ex-husband of talent Yuko Ogura. In the video, Higashitani shared a story involving Kikuchi, which was related to Kimura. He explained that someone from Kimura’s entourage, while Kimura was in Hawaii, had requested a woman through Kikuchi, and she was sent to Kimura’s hotel to spend time with him. According to Higashitani, the woman reported that she and Kimura, along with his manager, had a two-hour conversation while drinking, and Kimura had been very gentlemanly throughout the encounter.

It is likely that this occurred after Kimura had married singer Shizuka Kudo (54). Regardless, the story did not appear to harm Kimura’s image.

On the other hand, while the timing was not revealed, Higashitani also exposed an incident with Nakai, describing it as a king-like way of playing.

At the time, Higashitani owned a bar in Susukino, Sapporo, and after SMAP’s Sapporo performance, Nakai and his hair and makeup crew visited the bar. Nakai reportedly requested five women to be cycled through, and Higashitani agreed. He shared that Nakai met 25 women in a VIP room before briefly leaving. Later, a male from the hair and makeup team contacted him, asking for one of the women who had been seated next to Nakai to be sent over.

This story is solely based on Higashitani’s revelation and cannot be taken as completely reliable. However, online discussions have drawn parallels between this story and the current situation of Kimura and Nakai, with some suggesting that it feels like a plot twist unfolding. As a result, Kimura’s awareness of risk avoidance has been praised once again.

Just a month ago, Nakai was considered the top winner among the former SMAP members, holding five regular television shows. Now, it is uncertain whether he will be able to appear on TV in the future, leaving one to wonder what he thinks about his current situation.