Mitsu Mangrove Recounts Near-Collision With a Smartphone-Distracted Child

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The story

Appearing live on TOKYO MX’s talk show “5-ji ni Muchuu!” (“Into It At 5”), Mitsu Mangrove revealed that she nearly hit a child who was walking while staring at a smartphone as she turned left at an intersection. Mitsu reportedly turned to co-host Mie Nakao and the rest of the panel and asked, “Phone-walking wasn’t okay, right?”, recounting how startled she’d been. On a thread on 5ch’s Entertainment & Sports News+ board, opinion split over a basic question — was the fault with the careless kid glued to their phone, or with the driver who failed to spot the pedestrian — and the debate kept going.

9/18 (Fri) 17:52

TV personality Mitsu Mangrove appeared live as an MC on TOKYO MX’s “5-ji ni Muchuu!” (weekdays, 5:00 p.m.) on the 18th, where she shared a startling experience from behind the wheel.

Tying into that day’s live viewer poll theme, “Is there something you’re firmly against?”, Mitsu turned to co-star Mie Nakao and the others and asked, “Phone-walking isn’t allowed, right? I’m pretty sure.”

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

What people said

2AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:06
Watching Showa-era nostalgia videos on YouTube beats watching Peace-kun from Omiya Park (a local peacock/mascot) any day.
5AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:08
Giving a kid a smartphone is fine,

but phone-walking is just stupid.
Shows you how many idiots this country has.
6AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:09
Guess the phone matters more than their life.
7AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:09
Phone or no phone, the kid's height doesn't change —
if you're gonna hit them, you're gonna hit them.
9AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:10
The phone's got nothing to do with it —
this is just a situation where you're supposed to yield to the pedestrian.
15AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:12
Re: #9
Isn't it because she did check that there was no accident?
10AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:10
Missing the pedestrian is dangerous regardless of the phone, no?
Does that mean it was a red light?
11AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:10
Could've been the mom, you know.
56AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:46
Re: #11
Could be, yeah.
If she had the kid past 40, she'd already be grandma-age by the time the kid's old enough to be phone-walking.

But if it really was the grandma, she's not responsible for raising the grandkid properly, so it'd be harsh to blame her.
She should be lamenting that her own kid turned out to be a bad parent — but when it comes to (the grandchild's) discipline, no one listens to grandma's advice anyway.
12AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:11
Re: #1
Mitsu's the one in the wrong here —
check properly.
17AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:13
Re: #12
Isn't it that there was no accident precisely because she did check?
13AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:11
If you miss a kid crossing on a green light and hit them, the driver is 100% at fault regardless of whether the kid was phone-walking or not.
20AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:14
Re: #13
People this dumb are nothing but a menace.
14AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:11
Kids enslaved to their phones from that young an age — it's the end of the world.
16AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:13
As long as it's not a signal violation, the phone's irrelevant —
hitting a pedestrian just means the car didn't check carefully enough.
21AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:15
Grandma to a kid that young would be, what, her 50s at most?
If she were a frail little old lady that'd be one thing, but at that age grandma needs to be on her game.
22AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:17
Maybe the point is that without a phone the kid would notice the car and dodge it, but
kids are dumb and dart out suddenly anyway — honestly a kid shuffling along slowly while staring at a phone might even be safer. It's a tough call.
Adults, though, just don't — you're just a phone addict.
24AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:19
Phone or not, you're supposed to actually look, driver. That said,
phone-walking is genuinely a nuisance — at the station, on the street, everywhere.
25AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:19
Still, if Mitsu took one glance and thought "grandma!", the woman must've genuinely looked elderly —
you wouldn't think "grandma!" looking at someone your own age.
26AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:20
The phone's beside the point —
in this case the pedestrian has no obligation to dodge.
27AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:23
Re: #26
Well, dodging would improve your odds of surviving.
28AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:24
No, you're just not supposed to miss them in the first place.
What is this guy even saying, lol.
30AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:25
Back before smartphones, a famous actor's son died after crossing a railway crossing while talking on his cell phone and getting hit by a train. Once your brain shuts off like that, warning them does no good.
34AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:27
Even in the worst case where the pedestrian's phone-walking and not looking around at all, they're still crossing on a green light — the car's the one that has to stop…
35AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:27
Sure, say you've got no duty to dodge and stroll along anyway — if you get hit, you're the one who loses out.
48AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:33
This is when you lay on the horn as hard as you can.
57AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:47
Re: #48
If you've already noticed them, just stop — that's all it takes.
51AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:39
Even if you make the excuse "the kid was on their phone so I didn't see them and hit them,"
when it turns into an accident, it's the driver who gets arrested.
53AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:41
Re: #51
That's not really what we're talking about here…
59AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:52
I once faked like I was starting to walk next to someone who was staring at their phone at a red light, and they actually started walking and jaywalked right through the red.
63AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:53
Re: #59
I've indirectly almost gotten someone killed doing that.
65AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:55
Re: #59
Oh, so that's the trick!
67AnonymousSep 18, 2026 18:57
There's an old guy in my area who goes running near the edge of the road in all-black sportswear in the middle of the night — driving past him is terrifying since I nearly hit him; he really needs to put on some reflective tape or something.
72AnonymousSep 18, 2026 19:01
Re: #67
When you say "near the edge of the road," do you mean on the road itself, or the sidewalk?
78AnonymousSep 18, 2026 19:11
Wait, isn't this Mitsu's fault?
86AnonymousSep 18, 2026 19:21
Re: #78
Care to explain what exactly she did wrong?

Background and Key Points of This Debate

Under Japan’s Road Traffic Act, pedestrians crossing on a green light have the right of way, and drivers turning left or right are obligated to check for pedestrians before proceeding. There’s no nationwide law that penalizes phone-walking itself — it’s regulated only through some local ordinances and manner-awareness campaigns. The thread’s split between the “the kid was careless” camp and the “the driver should have checked” camp likely stems from the debate blurring the line between a “manners violation” and “legal negligence,” which are two separate things. It’s also worth noting that this wasn’t an actual accident — it’s an anecdote Mitsu herself described as “a close call,” and details like the other person’s age never went beyond speculation on the show. Likewise, the back-and-forth over whether it was a grandmother or a mother isn’t based on any confirmed information about the people involved — it’s purely viewer speculation.

※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “Mitsu Mangrove: “I was turning left at an intersection when a kid walked by staring at their phone… it was dangerous” / “Why are you giving kids phones at intersections anyway”.”

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