The Surprising Background of Taichi Masu’s “Sudden Retirement” Causing a Stir at Nippon TV

“Personnel Announcement: As of April 1, 2022, Masu Taichi will retire by request as of March 31.”

It was 10:00 a.m. on January 24 when this order was posted on the bulletin board on each floor of Nippon Television Network Corporation. Due to the effects of the sixth wave of the new coronavirus, the area is usually sparsely populated, but on that day, there was a large crowd of people in front of the bulletin board.

Announcer Taichi Masu (40), who has been called “the absolute ace of Nippon TV,” will be leaving the company at the end of March, it was announced in the “Truth Report: Bankisha! （From April, he will become an assistant professor at Harris Institute of Physical and Chemical Research at Doshisha University, where he will work on research in the academic field of science communication. She will also continue to appear on “Bankisha! She also announced that she would continue to appear on “Bankisha!

Masu’s colleagues and junior announcers in the announcements department, as well as the producers and directors of the production staff, were all upset and could not hide their shock at this news. The reason is that only a few people, including the head of the announcing department, Yoshinobu Kosugi, Vice Chairman of NTV Holdings, and Mikuni Sugiyama, President of NTV, knew about Masu’s departure in advance, and most of them didn’t know.

Preparing for Three Years

Masu Anna is a brilliant science major who studied agricultural and life sciences at the University of Tokyo. When she was a student, it is well known that she wanted to be a reporter for nature. Masu Anna, who has long had a yearning to become a science researcher, began preparing to enter the academic world about three years ago.

She says, “Since that time, I’ve been visiting research labs at various universities and making connections. In April last year, she handed over the job of general manager of “ZIP!” to her junior colleague, Asami Mizuto. In the fall, I heard that she had received offers from several universities. The one that was the best match was Doshisha University. She has already rented an apartment in Kyoto City and will be living by herself for a while.

If we compare only the annual income, it seems that he would have a more blessed working life at Nippon TV. …… Masu Ana has decided to leave Nippon TV without being caught up in the immediate good fortune. The difficult situation that the TV industry is facing is probably not unrelated.

The TV industry continues to struggle, pushed by the Internet. Even if she doesn’t feel that way, people around her say that now is the best time to take a break from the TV industry. Masu’s departure has caused a stir among production and station analysts because they share a renewed sense of crisis. There may be a second or third Masu analyst in the future.

Nippon TV is said to have an image of Masu as a science-oriented version of Akira Ikegami. However, it is still undecided whether she will return to the TV world in earnest.