Anna Nakagawa’s FRIDAYReport] Talking with Aika Kanda, a senior whom she admires, about “announcers of the future

Anna Nakagawa (32), a first-year freelance announcer
Anna Nakagawa, 32, a first-year freelance announcer, will be asking celebrities from various fields to teach her a thing or two.
The first guest is Aika Kanda, who is entering her fourth year as a regular contributor to this magazine.
What is there to learn from a former NHK employee with so much in common?

The first installment of Anna Nakagawa’s FRIDAYReport: Part 1] We are from NHK and have a lot in common! Learning from Aika Kanda, a senior whom I admire

Matchmaking, Love, and the Sense of Marriage

Nakagawa: In your series of articles, you wrote that you “used to go to a lot of blind dates,” but may I ask you about that?

Kanda: Gokon was a place where I could really train myself. But Anna, you are not of the generation that goes to them, are you?

Nakagawa: No, there was a time when I went too. Like a year before I went freelance.

Kanda: That’s right. What about matching apps?

Nakagawa: I haven’t. I don’t like it when people write bad things about me without going out with me even after meeting someone. Also, I’ve never been to a blind date with someone from NHK.

Kanda: Really?　The safest thing to do is to talk about a blind date with someone who is introduced to you by a senior staff member.

Nakagawa: I often went out to dinner with friends from school or friends from other stations. But as you go on a number of blind dates, don’t you start to have a fixed ideal image of what you are looking for in a man?

Kanda: Believe it or not, I didn’t go there to meet men in the first place, because NHK has nationwide transfers, and I thought I might get tired of being transferred if I tried to fall in love.

Nakagawa: All the nine years you were at NHK?　But did you have a boyfriend during that time?

Kanda: I had a relationship for the first few years with someone I had been dating since college, but no one since then.

Nakagawa: Is that so?

Kanda: Because it interferes with your work.

Nakagawa: It does!

Kanda: Right?　On the other hand, what about you, Anna?

Nakagawa: Not at all. I’m the type who had a boyfriend.

Kanda: Who?　What kind of person?

Nakagawa: I am not good at long-distance relationships because I want to cherish the time we spend together. …… When I think back, every time I was transferred to a new place, I had to say goodbye and meet someone new.

Kanda: That’s aggressive and cool. Do you have marriage in mind from the very beginning of your encounters?

Nakagawa: No, I did not. It is easier for me to work hard on my own. I am 32 now, and I hope to be married by my late 30s. I just became a freelance worker, so my sense of stability is completely different from before.

What I think about being freelance

Kanda: Anna-chan, don’t you feel anxious when you have so much work from the start?

Nakagawa: Of course I am anxious. I think I am being approached now largely because I am a rarity. I admire the one and only Kanda-san, who has been freelancing for more than 10 years and still has a variety of ways of working.

Kanda: I appreciate that you say that, but what I would like to say to all female announcers who are thinking about quitting NHK, for example, is that you should not only look at the present of the person you admire. I have been working for NHK for a while now, but there was a time when I really didn’t get any calls for 8 years or so.

Nakagawa: I see, so it may not be limited to announcers that we should not look only at the shining parts.

Kanda: When I was able to express my individuality in the work I received, someone fortunately saw it and called me for another opportunity. It was the accumulation of such experiences that brought me to where I am today. I was never able to work so hard from the beginning.

Nakagawa: By the way, do you ever regret going freelance?

Kanda: Not at all. Because I spent a year worrying about it. I thought I couldn’t quit while I was still feeling regret.

Nakagawa: Then is there anything that you think was better when you belonged to an organization?

Kanda: I think it’s the fact that even if you fail ……, there is always the next time.

Nakagawa: Ah, that!　That’s true, isn’t it?

Kanda: Someone will protect you, and there are people you can talk to when you are in trouble. There are people to go out for drinks, and friends who have the same problems are very close by. I sometimes think that was fun.

Nakagawa: Indeed. I felt like I could be with my workmates without thinking too much about interests.

Kanda: I could ask my seniors who had experienced the same failures, “How did you overcome them? Kanda: I could ask them, “How did you overcome it? I think it is really lonely in that sense when you go freelance.

We can’t catch up with people who are too amazing.

Nakagawa: What do you think will happen to announcers in the future, not only freelance?

Kanda: To be honest, I haven’t been able to do announcer-like work for many years. But I think the only thing that will be replaced by AI is news reading. For example, I don’t think program assistants will change. I think that the main person and I have to be compatible with each other, and I am hired based on my personality as to how short I can say my reply in. I think it is impossible for AI to do that.

Nakagawa：As for you personally, you mentioned several times today that you would like to do news reporting. Is that exactly what you want to do in the future?

Kanda: Yes, that’s right. However, I can’t catch up with someone like Yuko Ando, who has traveled to war zones and disaster-stricken areas to gain experience.

I am now 45 years old. However, I think it would be good if there were newscasters who could gain trust by taking a humanistic approach. I know it is not easy, but I think there are things I can do in my own way. The other day, I had the opportunity to interview former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba over drinks. I think it would be good to be a newscaster in that way.

Nakagawa: You could start from a softer point and draw out their true feelings.

Kanda: Yes. I have a science background, so when I ask people questions, I can’t use my rich vocabulary or expressions to get to the point. This sometimes makes me sound harsh, but when I am talking to a politician, it is sometimes a good thing to do so. I hope to take advantage of such strengths.

Nakagawa: I look forward to meeting newscaster Aika Kanda.

Kanda: Hopefully a brave producer will appear (laughs).

Nakagawa: “After the interview: Anna Nakagawa.

When we were meeting for the series, Aika Kanda was the first guest that came to mind as the first guest. We were from the same station, NHK, and had worked together for the same number of years. This would be my chance to ask Kanda about the ins and outs of being a freelance announcer, as well as anything else I had wanted to ask her!

The day of the long-awaited interview. I had to make sure not to be rude …… but I had to ask him what I wanted to ask him …… What should I do, I’m so nervous!　I was so nervous!” With my head full of thoughts, the first thing that started was the photo shoot. When I stood next to her, Kanda-san was slender and her face was small and shiny. ……I was overwhelmed and my expression became awkward, then the photographer said to me, “You both have a little bit of a jawline,

The photographer said to me, “Both of you, pull back your chins a little bit!

I was so overwhelmed that my facial expression became awkward. The photographer said, “Both of you pull your chins back a little bit! and the place was filled with laughter. The tension was quickly dissipated, and thanks to this, I was able to approach the interview with a relaxed mind.

Her choice of words and thoughtfulness made the people I was with feel relaxed. I felt as if I had learned something important as an interviewer from my seniors.

Anna Nakagawa’s FRIDAYReport Vol. 1, Part 1] We are both from NHK! Learning from Aika Kanda, a senior whom I admire

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture. After graduating from Gakushuin University with a degree in mathematics, she joined NHK as an announcer in 2003. After working at the Fukuoka Broadcasting Station, she moved to the Tokyo Announcing Office in 2007. She left NHK in 2012 and joined the entertainment agency St. Force. Currently, she appears regularly as the main MC of the daytime TV program “Poka Poka” (Fuji Television).

Born in Tokyo. Spent her childhood in Finland and Puerto Rico. She joined NHK as an announcer in 2004 and worked on “Sunday Sports” and as a local anchor for the Paris Olympics. After leaving NHK in the spring of 2013, she joined the entertainment agency Horipro and worked as a freelance announcer and TV personality.

FRIDAY,” March 27 and April 3, 2026, combined issue