<figure id="attachment_411366" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-411366" style="width: 672px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ee16c0a2"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/7d6be09735129bc3fcdec323f59f537b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-411366" class="wp-caption-text">Masahiro Nakai (left), who announced his retirement from show business, and his &#8220;friend&#8221; Hitoshi Matsumoto of &#8220;Downtown&#8221; fame.</figcaption></figure>
<h2> There are expectations that the program will be aired one week later than usual.</h2>
<p> On January 23, &#8220;Downtown DX&#8221; (NTV, produced by Yomiuri TV) will air &#8220;Downtown DX Tonight,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Tonight&#8217;s Downtown DX will be a rerun of the May 9, 2024 episode due to a change in the broadcast schedule.</span></p>
<p> The announcement was made on the official X (formerly Twitter) approximately three hours before the broadcast, and was replaced by the rebroadcast. The scheduled performers that day were Umezawa Tomio (74), Izukawa Tetsuro (60), Chihara Jr. (50), Kawai Ikuto (37), and the comedy duo &#8220;Diane&#8221;. The sudden change in the program&#8217;s content was greeted with a number of questions from the general public,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> What happened?</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;Why?</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I wanted to watch it. I wanted to watch it.</span></p>
<p> I wanted to watch it.</p>
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<p> Doubts deepened further. Some viewers expected that the program originally scheduled to air on January 30 would be moved back one week, but in fact, Yuya Tegoshi (37), Shigeru Matsuzaki (75), Tetsuya Morita (43) and Kayo Noro (41) from &#8220;Saraba Seishun no Hikari&#8221; and others appeared on the program. In the end, the episode scheduled to air on the 23rd was not aired, and the reason why it was replaced by a rerun was not revealed.</p>
<p> This situation led to speculation on the Internet and other media,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;Did Ikuto Kawai do an impersonation of Nakai?</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;Is it just going to be left in storage?</span></p>
<p> Some people on social networking sites were asking such questions as, &#8220;Did Ikuto Kawai do an impersonation of Nakai? A source close to the show revealed the following.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" When we put the question to Yomiuri TV: ......"></div>
<h2>A &#8220;trial balloon&#8221; in anticipation of his return in the spring.</h2>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In fact, the episode on the 23rd was a prelude to the return of &#8220;Downtown&#8221; Hitoshi Matsumoto (61), and they were preparing to show footage of Matsumoto&#8217;s past hilarious talks. The purpose was to see how the public would react by airing many of Mr. Matsumoto&#8217;s funny talk scenes. The &#8220;Downtown DX&#8221; staff sincerely hoped for Matsumoto&#8217;s return, and they were planning to raise a &#8220;weather balloon&#8221; in anticipation of his return to the show in the spring.</span></p>
<p> However, there was an &#8220;unexpected event.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> On the 23rd, the day DX went on the air, Masahiro Nakai (52) announced his sudden retirement. There was a discussion within the station, and it was decided that even though Mr. Nakai had retired after getting into trouble with a woman, it would not be a good idea to release a video of Mr. Matsumoto on his way back to work.</span></p>
<p> In an ill-timed move, on January 11, Bunshun Online published an article titled &#8220;Masahiro Nakai Attended Hitoshi Matsumoto&#8217;s &#8216;Suite of Fear&#8217; Drinking Party! &#8216;. It reported on an incident that occurred in 2003 at a drinking party attended by Nakai and Matsumoto. The closeness between the two was brought to light once again.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The article was considered to be re-edited to cut out only Matsumoto&#8217;s performance, but there were too many scenes in which he appeared, and it was too late, so the entire article was &#8220;kept&#8221;. However, there were too many scenes in which Mr. Matsumoto appeared, and they couldn&#8217;t make it in time, so they decided to keep the entire episode. However, it seems that he had a hard time explaining the situation to the talent agencies that had appeared on the show. We&#8217;ll have to wait and see how things go, and then we&#8217;ll probably play the footage of Mr. Matsumoto again to find out how the public reacts.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> We then asked Yomiuri TV, which produces &#8220;Downtown DX,&#8221; about the reason for the January 23rd replacement, including whether or not Matsumoto would appear on the program and the impact of Nakai&#8217;s retirement,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> We do not answer questions about the content of the program.</span></p>
<p> The answer was, &#8220;We do not answer about the content of the program. When will Matsumoto return to terrestrial broadcasting?</p>
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 Yasuko Sakaguchi (Matsumoto)

 Masahiro Nakai, a former member of "SMAP," retired from the entertainment world "suddenly" due to a trouble with a woman. It seems that his "ally" Downtown's Matsumoto Hitoshi has also been affected.

Why “Downtown DX” was suddenly replaced three hours before the broadcast.

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