<figure id="attachment_431727" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-431727" style="width: 1263px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ffaf6f00"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/07/c7ae9ba5feb43caa80a864904de78c5b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-431727" class="wp-caption-text">Takaaki Ishibashi of &#8220;Tunnels,&#8221; a close friend of former President Koichi Minato (left), who appeared on Fuji Television&#8217;s &#8220;Verification Program.</figcaption></figure>
<h2> A meeting where appearances counted.</h2>
 The abnormal corporate culture of Fuji Television Network was brought to light.
 On July 6, a special program on a series of Fuji Television problems, &#8220;Verification: Fuji Television&#8217;s Problems: Reflection, Rehabilitation, and Reform,&#8221; was broadcast. It all started with the trouble between former TV personality Masahiro Nakai (52) and former female Fuji TV announcer Ms. A. The management at the time handled it wrongly. The management at the time made a mistake in handling the situation, causing great damage to the company.
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 What became clear through the program was the unipolar focus of former Executive Advisor Hisashi Hieda (87), who controlled personnel affairs, and a corporate culture that had retained the &#8220;If it ain&#8217;t fun, it ain&#8217;t TV&#8221; spirit of the bubble era and had a remarkably low awareness of the human rights of female employees.
 The most surprising aspect of the company&#8217;s culture was the behavior of former president Koichi Minato and former senior managing director Ryo Ohta, who were at the top of the organization. Since around 1998, when Mr. Minato was in charge of the variety division, he had formed a group of beautiful women within the company and used them for external entertainment. According to a female employee who testified to the incident, &#8220;The meetings were focused on appearance,
 &#8220;The meetings were focused on appearance.
 The existence of the group was tacitly understood. The existence of the group was tacitly understood, and no one was allowed to speak about it. A female employee said,
 When a female employee testified, &#8220;I think it is unusual to have a group of only good-looking women who are used to going out drinking.
 When a female employee testified, &#8220;I think it&#8217;s an unusual meeting to have only good-looking women who are used to drinking together.
 Mr. Minato apologized and said, &#8220;I am sorry.
 Mr. Minato apologized. Mr. Ota was no different. Mr. Minato treated female announcers as &#8220;entertainment staff&#8221; and told those around him
 Female announcers are like cabarets of the highest quality. A good announcer is an announcer who can sell at hostesses.
 The woman who testified to this was a woman who was a &#8220;hostess&#8221; and a &#8220;good announcer&#8221;. The woman who testified said
 I&#8217;ll never forget those words.
 I can&#8217;t forget those words,&#8221; she said, biting her lip. Mr. Ota replied, &#8220;I don&#8217;t remember that.
 I don&#8217;t remember it,&#8221; he said.
 I don&#8217;t think of it that way.&#8221;
 He stated, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think of it that way. The Internet has been a source of criticism of Fuji&#8217;s corporate culture,
 &#8220;Impossible!
 The management team is like hell.
 The Internet has been flooded with criticism of Fuji&#8217;s corporate culture, such as &#8220;unbelievable&#8221; and &#8220;hellish management. In the entertainment industry, there is a lot of talk that
 &#8220;It&#8217;s inevitable that the big-name duo will be affected,&#8221; said a source close to the TV station.
 Some people in the entertainment industry are saying, &#8220;It will inevitably have an impact on the big-name duo. It is the comedy duo &#8220;Tunnels,&#8221; who worked together with Mr. Minato and Mr. Ohta during Fuji&#8217;s &#8220;golden era.
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The &quot;New Year&#39;s&quot; show that showed signs of change"></div>
In &#8220;Tunnels no minasan no okagedesu desu,&#8221; which aired from 1988 to 1997, the two had a well-known honeymoon. The two had a famous honeymoon, with a character modeled after Mr. Minato, played by Noritake Kinashi (63), appearing in the series. An entertainment industry insider who knew the show at the time said
 Fuji and Tunnels. Fuji is Tonneruzu. Fuji is Tunnels, and Tunnels is Fuji. It was an unusual time when you could claim expenses even if you spent several million yen in one day.
 It was an unusual time. In addition, Takaaki Ishibashi, 63, was reported by Fuji&#8217;s third-party committee to have &#8220;exposed his nether regions&#8221; in front of female employees. He was anonymous in the document, but the Weekly Bunshun reported it with his real name, and later he also said, &#8220;The women who were present were not aware of the fact that I had exposed my nether regions.
 He admitted, &#8220;I am very sorry for the discomfort I caused to the women who were present.
 He admitted that he was &#8220;very sorry for the discomfort I caused to the women who were present.
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<h2> 25th anniversary brings a break</h2>
 Ishibashi is currently on a hiatus due to esophageal cancer treatment, which he announced in April. He had stated that he would like to apologize directly to the women when he returns to the show, but a source in the entertainment business mentioned above said
 He is a symbol of Fuji&#8217;s golden era, when anything was possible. For Fuji, which is starting over under a new regime, he has become &#8220;the most difficult talent to deal with.
 Fuji Television has been working with her since June and December. Fuji Television used to air &#8220;The too detailed imitation&#8221; featuring Ishibashi twice a year, in June and December, but due to his illness, the program is not scheduled to be broadcast this year. However, due to Ishibashi&#8217;s illness, the program will not be broadcast this year.
 However, some in the industry are calling for the show&#8217;s continuation, saying, &#8220;It&#8217;s hopeless to use Mr. Ishibashi. No one will accept the offer to replace him,&#8221; said a Fuji Television insider.
 The aftermath is spreading to other stations as well. The aftermath is likely to spread to other stations as well. TV Asahi&#8217;s New Year&#8217;s program &#8220;Tunnels no Sports Ou wa Ore wa Dare&#8221; (The King of Sports is Me ‼︎), which celebrated its 25th year of broadcasting this year, is also in doubt. The program features Tonneruzu taking on top-notch athletes in various sports genres. According to a source at another TV station,
 According to another source at the TV station, &#8220;The show has become a New Year&#8217;s tradition, but there are no plans for next year. There is Mr. Ishibashi&#8217;s illness, but there are also the effects of the ugly news. There are also reports that the 25th anniversary of the show will bring a break in the schedule.
 I have heard that the 25th anniversary will mark the end of the program,&#8221; he said. When we asked TV Asahi whether or not &#8220;The King of Sports&#8221; would be broadcast next year, they replied, &#8220;We will not be able to answer that question.
 I cannot give you any information about the future organization of the program.
 The answer was, &#8220;We will not be able to give you any information regarding future programming.
 The radio program &#8220;Ishibashi Takaaki&#8217;s GATE7&#8221; (TBS Radio), in which Ishibashi served as a personality, also ended at the end of last month. His partner, Kinashi, appeared on the last episode and commented on Ishibashi&#8217;s medical condition.
 He described Ishibashi&#8217;s condition as &#8220;a time when you have to work a little harder.
 He said, &#8220;It&#8217;s a time when I have to work a little harder. He also announced that he was planning to hold a live concert at the Tokyo Dome as an artist, rather than on TV, when he comes back to life. The live concert at Nippon Budokan last November drew 18,000 people in two days, so this is not unrealistic.
 What worries me more is Ishibashi&#8217;s health. It turns out that in addition to esophageal cancer, he also has pharyngeal cancer, and the treatment seems to be taking a long time. I am not sure if his voice will return to normal, since the affected area is the only part of his body that is affected. &#8230;&#8230; Kinashi&#8217;s decision to hold the Tokyo Dome concert was nothing more than a shout-out to his partner.
 The entertainment world is changing at a dizzying pace. Even the best-known Tonneruzzi is being swallowed up by the stormy waves of the entertainment industry.
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 Kojiro Yamada (Mr. Minato) and Keisuke Nishi (Ishibashi)

 Fuji Television Network, Inc. aired a verification program on July 6. Former president Koichi Minato and former senior managing director Ryo Ohta appeared on the program and testified to Fuji's surprising "corporate structure. A comedy duo who had been immersed in Fuji's corporate structure appeared on .......

Announcers are fine cabarets.&#8221; Fuji TV&#8217;s verified program is having a major impact&#8230; Tunnels will &#8220;disappear from terrestrial broadcasting the day they disappear from the airwaves.

Announcers are fine cabarets.” Fuji TV’s verified program is having a major impact… Tunnels will “disappear from terrestrial broadcasting the day they disappear from the airwaves.

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