“Why Was This Even Included?” The One Line in Ryoki Miyama and Maria Kano’s Apology That Has Everyone Talking

Secret meetings at his apartment and hotels

Controversy has erupted over statements issued by the agencies representing actor Ryoki Miyama, 27, and former Takarazuka Revue actress Maria Kano, 33, following reports that the two had been meeting in secret.

“Why did they include that wording?”

That is what a public-relations representative at a major entertainment agency said, shaking their head during an interview with this publication.

The two were reported to have been meeting in secret by Weekly Bunshun, released on July 23. Miyama’s wife is actress Shuri, 35; his father-in-law is actor Yutaka Mizutani, 74; and his mother-in-law is actress Ran Ito, whose age has not been disclosed.

Miyama, who had previously been at the center of a controversy involving a broken engagement with a female influencer, has been met overwhelmingly with reactions such as:

“He’s done it again.”

In September of last year, he and Shuri had a child together.

Kano, meanwhile, entered the Takarazuka Music School in 2008 and joined the Takarazuka Revue in 2010 as a member of its 96th class. She became Flower Troupe’s top musumeyaku (leading actress) and gained considerable popularity. After leaving the Revue, she has worked primarily as an actress on stage. In her private life, she married a non-celebrity man in June 2021 and gave birth to their first child, a boy, in July 2024.

According to Bunshun, the two became close after co-starring in the musical “Crash Landing on You.” They were photographed repeatedly meeting at Miyama’s apartment and at hotels in Tokyo.

In response, the two agencies issued statements in coordination. While acknowledging that the pair had met privately, they denied that the meetings involved a relationship between a man and a woman. Kano’s agency stated:

“The purpose was to deepen her understanding of her role in the production, but it is a fact that, as a result, her judgment was inappropriate.”

Miyama’s agency likewise acknowledged:

“We understand that the exchanges were intended to deepen his understanding of the production and the roles, but his awareness of the appropriateness of the method and of his own position was insufficient, making his actions inappropriate.”

She’s quite a tough woman

Amid all this, there was one sentence that appeared in both statements:

“It is true that the two of us spent time together.” (Kano)
“It is true that there were occasions when the two of us spent time together.” (Miyama)

The PR representative mentioned earlier commented:

“They went out of their way to say that they spent time alone together. Miyama’s wife, Shuri, and Kano’s husband must be shocked. I find it difficult to understand why they would include a sentence that could even come across as deliberately provocative in an apology statement. If it were our agency, even if we acknowledged that the two had met privately, we would deliberately leave that sentence out.”

It is understandable that, after being photographed by the media entering and leaving homes and hotels, there is no way to explain the situation away. Even so, finding a way to minimize the damage to their public image through an explanation is also part of an agency’s job.

For example, in last year’s reports of an alleged affair between actress Mei Nagano, 26, and actor Kei Tanaka, 42, it was claimed that a third person—Nagano’s mother—was present at the home, meaning the two were not alone together.

Likewise, in the 2021 reports of an alleged affair involving former Japanese table-tennis representative Ai Fukuhara, 37, and a non-celebrity man, the two entered a luxury hotel in Yokohama together, but they argued in their defense that they stayed in separate rooms.

“Even if you know that denying it outright would be unreasonable, there should be no need to publicly announce that the two of them spent time together. From a risk-management perspective, once you are hit by a scandal of this magnitude, there is no choice but to fight a retreat. There is no way to come away completely unscathed, so it comes down to how much you can minimize the damage and how you can reduce the number of people who are hurt, including the other person’s wife or husband.” (The same PR representative)

Miyama reportedly met up with Kano at a city hotel even on the day he was directly questioned by Bunshun. What on earth was he thinking?

Then, on the evening of July 23, Miyama and Kano appeared together onstage for an after-talk event for “Crash Landing on You.”

Without mentioning any of the reports, Kano said:

“I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to perform on stage.”

Miyama likewise expressed his determination:

“I’ll do my best to keep going until the very end.”

A sports newspaper entertainment reporter who covered the event said:

“I thought they might cancel at the last minute, or that the two of them might be absent, but they showed up without hesitation (laughs). Kano in particular would occasionally smile, and I thought, ‘She’s quite a tough woman.’”

For the time being, public sympathy appears to be focused on Miyama’s wife, Shuri.

On July 23, she appeared at an event for her starring drama “Ozorakojo ~GATE24~,” which began airing that same day on TV Asahi. Reporters’ attempts to call out questions to her were drowned out by loudly played background music, but her husband’s scandal had nevertheless overshadowed the drama itself. A television-industry insider who knows Shuri said:

“I’m sure her parents, Mizutani and Ito, are extremely worried, but ultimately, everything depends on Shuri. There are some people calling for her to divorce him, but they only recently had a child, so this is not something she can decide that easily.”

As she faces the challenges of raising her child, it seems she will be going through some unsettled days ahead.

[YouTube] On “FRIDAY Digital’s” “Entertainment Reporters Channel,” active entertainment reporters take an in-depth look behind the scenes of the messy alleged affair scandal that only reporters would know, under the title “Ryoki Miyama Double Affair Suspicion: Active Reporter Reveals the Truth and Common Ground with Past Scandals.” The program also examines similarities with Miyama’s past scandals, the unexpected reactions of Shuri and Yutaka Mizutani, and the shocking sentence that Bunshun directed at Miyama’s side.