Ariyoshi Hiroyuki on Yonsentoushin: ‘Might Have Been Better as a Duo’

Background and Key Points

Yonsentoushin (四千頭身, “four thousand heads tall,” a self-deprecating joke about member height) is a Yoshimoto Kogyo comedy trio — Goto Yuki, Ishibashi Ryuki, and Tsuzuki Hiroki — that broke out in the late 2010s and became regular variety-show fixtures. Ariyoshi Hiroyuki is one of Japanese television’s most powerful hosts and, crucially, a fellow Yoshimoto talent, which is why his on-air comments carry weight for the group’s fate. Tsuzuki has been referred to prosecutors (書類送検) for allegedly violating the Tokyo Metropolitan Nuisance Prevention Ordinance — the statute used for groping (chikan) cases — plus an assault allegation, and is currently suspended from work by the agency. That is a procedural step short of indictment or conviction, not an expulsion; Tsuzuki technically remains a member.

The thread didn’t split on whether Tsuzuki misbehaved — that was taken as settled — but on whether Yonsentoushin would actually be stronger as a duo. Posters traded conflicting claims about who writes the group’s material (one thread of replies credited Ishibashi, another insisted it’s Goto, with a later poster adding an origin story where Goto and Tsuzuki were paired first), which is really the crux: nobody agreed on how much creative weight Tsuzuki actually carries, only citing precedents like Sandwichman and Ostrich Club as trios-turned-duos that thrived.

What outside readers likely miss is that Ariyoshi’s remarks were delivered as banter on a comedy radio show, not a policy statement — and that groping allegations under this ordinance are a common, almost routine scandal category in Japanese entertainment, so the tone here (joking rather than grave) reflects that familiarity, not indifference.