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The story
Former Japan national team player Yoichiro Kashitani has drawn attention after serving as TV commentator across multiple networks during Japan’s recent matches — Fuji TV for the September 24 Uruguay match, Nippon TV for the September 28 Venezuela match, and TBS for the October 1 Ecuador match — with headlines dubbing it a “four-network sweep.” On the 5channel Entertainment/Sports News+ board, reactions were split: some praised how easy his commentary was to follow, while others criticized it as bland and lacking tactical insight. Comments about his hairstyle and looks were also prominent.
Yoichiro Kashitani, a former Japan national team player now active as a TV commentator, achieved an unusual “four-network sweep” across Japan’s four matches in September and October.
Kashitani appeared as a commentator on Fuji TV for the September 24 match against Uruguay, and on Nippon TV for the September 28 match against Venezuela.
He then commentated on TBS’s broadcast of the October 1 match against Ecuador.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
First half of 2026
Announcing the talents whose TV appearances surged the most!
🥇 Narumi Takahashi +107 appearances
🥈 Nana Takagi +92 appearances
🥉 Takuro +88 appearances
4th Chosokyu (Bullet Train) +75 appearances
5th Yoichiro Kashitani +72 appearances ←
6th Aぇ! group +59 appearances
7th Don Decorte +58 appearances
8th Rainbow +55 appearances
Kashitani boosted his reputation with
his World Cup commentary.
Guess nobody wants to "pay up" for Kaneda (wordplay: 金田/Kaneda contains '金,' money, echoed in 金出す/kane dasu, 'to shell out cash').
Post #914, Anonymous [] 2026/10/02 (Fri) 16:22:45.43
Yesterday's two TBS soccer commentators 📺
Masahiro Fukuda: "Unlike Tanimura, Ueda can really bring the ball under control, can't he."
Yoichiro Kashitani: "They're different types — Ueda's great at trapping long balls,
while Tanimura's strength is through balls and crosses finished within two touches. It would've been nice if they'd created more chances like that in the first half."
Kashitani's good at filling the gaps (lol)
Fukuda was clearly out to diss Tanimura from the start.
He probably figures it's fine to rip into J.League players — and fine if they rip back.
This is exactly the kind of commentary that gets Kashitani offers from every network.
I want commentators who can give harsher, more outsider-perspective takes.
Broadcasting tonight!! Live on TBS 📺
Aichi Asian Games — Men's Soccer Final
Sat 10/3, 19:30~
Japan vs South Korea
Toyota Stadium
Kirin Cup "Congrats on Takefusa Kubo's wedding! 💍"
Mon 10/5, 19:30~
Japan vs New Zealand 🇳🇿
National Stadium
📺 On TV Asahi
https://dec.2chan.net/up2/src/fu7351658.jpeg
https://dec.2chan.net/up2/src/fu7351660.jpeg
Commentators used to basically be locked to one network —
Nippon TV had Jo, Kitazawa, Tsunami
TV Asahi had Matsuki, Uchida
Fuji had Ono, Inamoto, Suzuki, that kind of thing
Guess crossing networks wasn't taboo after all.
His hair and outfit look like a host-club guy from twenty years ago, so lame — I cracked up when Fuji had him looking more modern the next day.
Then the next time I saw him, he'd gone right back to the old look (lol)
Can someone do something about that dated host-club hairstyle already?
Correction —
he looked lame on Fuji for the national team match, then the next day on TBS's Asian Games broadcast he'd been updated to a more modern look (lol)
Both of them have done guest commentary a few times already and were genuinely easy to listen to.
Among active players, the best talker by far is Takashi Usami.
That guy's mouth works better than his feet (lol)
this guy shows up —
and he doesn't even have that much of a national team record.
It's more the opposite, really — Makino became a manager, and Kashitani just slotted neatly into the spot he left behind.
Makino used to be all over pitch reports and variety shows too.
still committed to that host-club-from-twenty-years-ago hairstyle.
It's not really commentary, he's just praising the players.
He never says stuff like "they should've done this instead" or talks tactics at all.
Yeah, that does bug me too.
But I think he's just doing the kind of commentary meant for terrestrial broadcast.
Kashitani only ever says pleasant-sounding things, so it probably just sounds like he's good at commentary.
During the World Cup match against Brazil, when Japan had already been overtaken and the loss was basically certain,
he was still going "well, there's still time left~" — that floored me.
It's got that old-school commentary vibe.
That's exactly why the JFA treasures him —
inoffensive commentary that never ruffles feathers.
I'd say he's more of a replacement for Hayashi, honestly
To the general public Hayashi was kind of a "wait, who even are you" / "never heard of him" type.
His agency's actually a small one
you wouldn't recognize the name even if I told you.
Lol (草, literally "grass," is Japanese net slang for laughing)
He's even started popping up on variety shows as Makino's successor.
Pretty impressive, honestly.
Background and Key Points of This Story
Commentary for Japan national team matches has traditionally followed a network-by-network pattern, with each broadcaster sticking to its own regular ex-players (Nippon TV with Shoji Jo and Tsuyoshi Kitazawa, TV Asahi with Yasutaro Matsuki, Fuji TV with Shinji Ono and Junichi Inamoto, and so on) — commenters in the thread note that appearing across multiple networks, as Kashitani did, is unusual. According to the original article, Kashitani handled commentary for Fuji TV’s September 24 Uruguay match, Nippon TV’s September 28 Venezuela match, and TBS’s October 1 Ecuador match; the headline’s “four-network sweep” appears to include a TV Asahi appearance as well, though the excerpted article doesn’t spell out the details. The split in opinion stems from two competing views: that Kashitani’s commentary is mostly just praising players with little tactical insight, versus that it’s clear and easy to follow. The thread also floated the theory that his rise coincided with former player-turned-commentator Tomoaki Makino stepping down to become a manager, opening up a commentary slot that Kashitani then filled.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5channel (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “[TV] Former Japan National Team Player Yoichiro Kashitani Achieves Unusual “Four-Network Sweep” — Commentating for Fuji, Nippon TV, TBS, and TV Asahi!“
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