Former TOKIO leader Shigeru Joshima (right) and Taichi Kokubun, who refused an apology from Nippon TV executives A TV network that doesn’t consider contributions at all “When the headquarters was in Kojimachi, tall buildings began to rise around it, and areas with poor reception expanded. Because of this, in 1968, Matsutaro Shoriki, then president of the Yomiuri Shimbun, tried to build a 550-meter tower in Shinjuku, commonly called the ‘Shoriki Tower.’ At that time, Tokyo Tower already existed, and other stations shared it, but perhaps due to the pride and stubbornness of being the original private broadcaster, they resisted using the Tokyo Tower, which was built mainly by the later Fuji Sankei Group. However, the year after the ‘Shoriki Tower’ plan was announced, NHK unveiled plans to build an even taller, roughly 600-meter broadcasting tower, the ‘NHK Tower,’ on the site of the current NHK Broadcasting Center, comparable to Tokyo Skytree. Ultimately, both projects fell through, but the rivalry between the two stations was a topic of conversation at the time. Eventually, the following year after Shoriki passed away, they joined Tokyo Tower anyway,” said the former private broadcaster executive. Trying to build their own tower instead of using Tokyo Tower is probably a reflection of the pride of being Japan’s first private broadcaster. Broadcasting began six months later than NHK, in August 1953. In that same month, they broadcast the Giants vs. Hanshin game, the first live telecast of its kind by a private TV station. After that, they repeatedly achieved firsts for private TV, including TV dramas, serial dramas, sumo broadcasts, central horse racing broadcasts, parliamentary openings, and imperial palace events. Furthermore, Nippon TV was the first private broadcaster in Japan to air commercials, color broadcasts, multichannel audio (world first), wide clear vision broadcasts, Japanese-dubbed foreign films, L-shaped screens, data broadcasts, one-segment TV broadcasts, original programs in one-segment, live 3D broadcasts, online video streaming services, and free streaming of all episodes of ongoing dramas. Additionally, it has set numerous records in ratings, such as annual ratings quadruple crown, fiscal year quadruple crown, and monthly quadruple crown. For Nippon TV, it’s natural that the achievements they made are deserving of praise and that they hold a sense of being the pioneer of private broadcasting. Beyond just being the first private broadcaster, they take pride in leading Japan’s television industry. That pride, however, worked against them in the case of Kokubun’s compliance issue. Legally, their handling of Kokubun may not be blameworthy, but it felt merciless. A talent agency source said: “To not consider someone’s contributions at all is unthinkable for a TV network.” And that is exactly right. Seeing many sponsors leave during the Fuji TV problem, Nippon TV panicked and cut Kokubun. And for Joshima and Matsuoka, they probably had no idea how they should respond at all. In the old days, TV stations had a strong attitude of “we let you appear, and Nippon TV was particularly strong in that mindset. Nowadays, each station has largely moved away from that attitude, but what they did to Matsuoka and Joshima in this incident shows blatant disregard for talent. It’s exactly the result of pride manifesting as its bad side. Matsuoka spoke to weekly magazines in an interview, and it was exposed to the public. However, times have changed. With broadcasting media emerging that surpass TV, talents no longer need to rely solely on television. If Nippon TV has not realized this outdated reality, it is a regrettable situation—.