Ikuta Erina and Fukumura Mizuki, who were fellow Morning Musume 9th-generation members, have uploaded a YouTube chat video in which they eat lunch together at the staff cafeteria of Yoshimoto Kogyo, the talent agency Ikuta now belongs to. The conversation reportedly got so lively that the video had to be split into a first and second half. On 5ch’s Hello! Project board, some posters welcomed it as a “dream collab,” while others focused more on the circumstances behind Ikuta’s move to Yoshimoto, her relationship with Up-Front, and—bringing up names like Kitagawa Riou and Makino Maria—speculated about who should be invited onto the show next.
Had a chat with my fellow 9th-gen member Fukumura Mizuki over food at Yoshimoto’s head office cafeteria!
We got so into it that it ended up split into two parts lol
We talk about all sorts of things, so please watch all the way through!
Say what you want, but it's actually a pretty lenient agency
You'd have to pull a Kago-level scandal to actually get banned (a reference to Kago Ai's drug bust)
5AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:05
6AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:06
Ikuta didn't leave Up-Front over some scandal or anything
But teaming up with Fukumura doesn't really move the needle
Now if it were Sayashi or TamagoEgg, that'd be a different story
7AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:07
Well, it was an amicable graduation after all
9AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:08
Kind of looks like she ended up with no choice but to lean on Morning Musume after all
11AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:08
Wait, why does Fukumura get to eat there when she's not even a Yoshimoto employee?
13AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:09
She still hasn't patched things up with Kitagawa, though
25AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:18
Re: #13
If she does a surprise, no-appointment ambush at TV Tokyo, a million views is basically a lock
14AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:11
At first she was being so careful about it—not even posting about going to Disney with Fukumura—
Guess she changed her approach since it wasn't getting traction?
16AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:12
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZS9g6yVcAADviI.jpg
17AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:12
So it's finally come down to leaning on her fellow 9th-gen members… Sayashi's next, I bet
19AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:14
Wondered who this pretty lady was—oh, it's Fuku-chan
20AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:16
Eripon! Go talk with Ma-chan too! (fan nicknames for Ikuta Erina and Makino Maria)
28AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:19
Fuku-chan can get along with literally anyone
32AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:20
Bringing out Kitagawa is gonna be the last-resort trump card for whenever the view counts finally dry up
33AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:20
Go ambush announcer Kitagawa while she's eating in TV Tokyo's staff cafeteria
And make sure to actually say hi properly
34AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:20
Why not call up TamagoEgg?
She's freelance now, so it'd be easy to arrange
35AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:21
Re: #34
People would just go "wait, who?"
36AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:21
I mean, Ikuta and Kitagawa's relationship isn't even bad anymore lol
50AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:26
Re: #36
The way you say that makes it sound like things are still bad with Makino
37AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:21
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EcQLoTmVcAIG7H5.jpg
39AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:22
I think Eripon actually wants to go back to Up-Front
43AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:23
Re: #39
Up-Front, though…
It'd help if they were better at pitching their talent out to all kinds of outlets
40AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:22
Just splice TamagoEgg in with editing
48AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:25
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GVlm_KSbgAIZd4a.jpg
51AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:26
Thought they should do a segment watching the Pacific League playoffs on TV together with Makino
But is Makino actually out at the ballpark in person?
52AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:26
What even was that segment where they sang in Rakuten's cafeteria?
53AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:26
True, if they can actually land TamagoEgg, maybe there's a shot at something for the 30th anniversary
54AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:26
So the food at Pacific League Hub was 600 yen, huh (a baseball-themed restaurant chain)
56AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:27
Get results by riding a senior comedian's coattails
Isn't that Yoshimoto's whole strength? (pairing junior talent with a senior for exposure, a practice known as "bater")
57AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:27
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPqPWnEbwAAa5Q3.jpg
63AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:30
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GvVrsXlWYAA3_yD.jpg
64AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:31
Let's get Sayashi on too—she's starting to blow up after that lesbian drama she was in
66AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:32
The same-generation lunch hangout thing is actually fun
Even if she's not from the same generation, I'd watch again if Ai-chan showed up too
68AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:32
An Ikuta-Makino combo ("Ikuma") video would pull the most views, hands down
69AnonymousOct 13, 2026 19:33
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gqv7GeUWAAA6mQi.jpg
Background and talking points
Ikuta Erina graduated from Morning Musume in 2022 and has continued her entertainment career after joining Yoshimoto Kogyo. Fukumura Mizuki, a fellow 9th-generation member, graduated from the group at the same time. Kitagawa Riou, whose name came up in the thread, left Morning Musume back in 2021, and while some posts touch on the state of her relationship with Ikuta since then, it’s worth noting there’s no confirmed information about how things currently stand between them. Also, this isn’t the first time the two have gone out together outside of work—posts reference past instances of them accompanying each other on private outings. Within the thread, reactions split between people simply enjoying the video and those framing Ikuta’s agency move in strategic terms, with interest skewing more toward surrounding agency circumstances than toward the video’s actual content.
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