<figure id="attachment_225105" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-225105"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="34018bf8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/01/a388739ddec1875397af3faaaf5b062c.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-225105" class="wp-caption-text">Ken Watabe of &#8220;Anjash&#8221; has yet to return to the public stage after his reported affair. His wife, Nozomi Sasaki, is doing very well, but&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
 The year has changed, so everything that has happened up to that point must be undone.
This is a phrase that has been used in Japan for a long time, meaning to reset everything to a clean slate.
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It is a phrase that has been used in Japan for a long time. It would be nice if celebrities who have been forced to suspend their activities due to scandals could reset everything and start afresh after the new year, just like this phrase, but it doesn&#8217;t seem to be that easy.
People like Hiroyuki Miyasako, Yukina Kinoshita, Nana Katase, and others who have left the agency and gone freelance have not found it easy to return to terrestrial TV, and have found their way to YouTube, SNS, and other online media, but they have not been very successful.
In such a situation, news about the &#8220;comeback&#8221; of Ken Watabe of Anjash has been spotted.
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It was June 2008 when Watabe&#8217;s &#8220;multi-purpose toilet affair&#8221; was reported. A year and a half has passed since then, but no concrete news of his return has been heard.
However, since the end of the year, there has been an active movement around Watabe to support his return. A number of celebrities, including fellow comedians, have started to &#8220;tease&#8221; Watabe by mentioning his name in the programs they appear on.
 One of the younger comedians who is close to Mr. Watabe was asked by Mr. Akashiya about him on a TV program, and he talked about his recent situation. In addition, Mr. Hiroyuki Ariyoshi and Mr. Hiroaki Ogiyahagi, who had been exposing Mr. Watabe&#8217;s backstage face before the news came out, and had taken the stance that he deserved the affair, also teased him by mentioning his name on their shows. I felt that both of them were teasing him with love,&#8221; said a producer of a key station.
The other day, I had a chance to talk with a veteran comedian.
 The other day, I had a chance to talk with a veteran comedian, and he told me, &#8220;No one among my friends has anything bad to say about him anymore, and there&#8217;s a feeling that it&#8217;s okay to let him come back to TV.
And some comedians are actually talking to the TV stations.
Some comedians are actually talking to TV stations about it. The public&#8217;s dismay over the &#8220;multi-purpose toilet&#8221; affair was certainly not half-baked, but past examples show that the public&#8217;s interest in this kind of trouble fades as time goes by. In fact, while some of the public responded by saying &#8220;That&#8217;s enough,&#8221; many others said &#8220;If anything, I don&#8217;t care.
It seems that she is close to making a comeback, but the response from the TV stations has not been so positive. One of the producers of a key TV station said.
 With the support of his friends, there are times when Watabe&#8217;s name comes up on the scene, saying that it&#8217;s about time for him to return, but it&#8217;s hard to make a move. It&#8217;s not that the sponsors are not interested or that the upper management is not willing, it&#8217;s just that we can&#8217;t read the reaction of the viewers.
It is true that there are more and more voices on the Internet that approve of Watabe&#8217;s return to TV. However, it remains to be seen how many complaints he will receive when he actually appears on TV.
 He said, &#8220;Nowadays, it&#8217;s not enough to just get the numbers (viewership ratings). Even if the numbers are good, if the program is criticized, it is quite possible that the sponsors who gave the OK for him to appear on the program will flip their hands and leave.
 Also, even if he is to appear on the program, it is difficult to decide what form it should take. There is no way he can be a gourmet critic, but it would also be difficult to make him appear as a comedian to get laughs.
In addition, it seems that the fuss over his appearance in the year-end special and the press conference that followed are still lingering.
 The procedure was wrong. If he had held an apology conference quickly and then stayed put, he could have made a gradual comeback in about a year.
 In the end, the TV station was blamed and became the bad guy because of the commotion. If that had happened, the staff would have been reluctant to take responsibility. They don&#8217;t want to be the &#8220;bad guy. In a sense, getting Mr. Watanabe to appear in the film was a gamble. It&#8217;s a gamble that we can&#8217;t afford to lose,&#8221; said a wide show staff member.
(Wide show staff) It is necessary to determine how the public will react to the TV stations. That&#8217;s why all the TV stations are waiting to see which one will have Watabe on the show first. So unless a &#8220;courageous&#8221; station comes out, it will be difficult for Watabe to return to TV, let alone within this year, no matter how much effort his friends put into it.
The only thing he can do is to take his time, build up his track record on YouTube and the stage, and gradually fill in the outer moat.

 Born in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Sasaki became a reporter for FRIDAY at the age of 31, reporting on a number of scoops during his time with FRIDAY, and has been active in weekly magazines ever since. He is currently appearing on TV and radio as a commentator.

 Hiroyuki Sasaki (Entertainment Journalist)

 Sota Shima

 Ken Watabe of "Anjash" has been out of the public eye since his apology press conference the year before last in December. He is often mentioned and teased by fellow comedians such as Hiroyuki Ariyoshi and Samma Akashiya on their shows, but there is no concrete talk of his return.

Why TV stations are hesitant about Ken Watabe’s comeback even though his comedian friends are in the mood

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