Sandwichman’s Tomizawa: ‘I Visited Date Yesterday’ — Reveals Condition, ‘His Speech Is Hard to Make Out at Times’

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The story

Sandwichman’s Tomizawa Takeshi revealed on his September 5 radio show that he had visited his hospitalized comedy partner, Date Mikio, the day before. He shared how he greeted him with “You haven’t lost any weight at all!” and described Date’s condition and rehab progress, saying “it can be hard to make out what he’s saying at times.” On 5channel’s entertainment/sports news board, reactions split between posters who read that single comment as a sign of a serious condition (“not exactly mild”) and those who took an optimistic view given that visits and conversation are already possible. Many also brought up celebrities who recovered from speech impairments after similar illnesses, such as Saijo Hideki and Nasu of the duo Nasu Nakanishi.

9/5 (Sat) 13:44

Tomizawa Takeshi (52), of the comedy duo Sandwichman, appeared on the 5th on Nippon Broadcasting’s radio show “Sandwichman The Radio Show Saturday” (Saturdays, 1:00 PM), where he reported that he had visited his hospitalized partner Date Mikio (52).

Filling in for Date on the show was Kano Eiko. Tomizawa reported that he had “gone to see Date yesterday,” revealing that his very first words to him were “You haven’t lost any weight at all!”

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

What people said

3AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:31
"Hard to make out" sounds like he's got a mild speech impairment.
42AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:47
Re: #3
Well yeah, the reason he even went to get checked out in the first place was "something's off, I can't talk right today."
77AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:56
Re: #3
Honestly if he's recovering this fast I think he'll be okay. Though he might be left with some residual paralysis.
5AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:32
Literally "I can't tell what you're saying" right now.
113AnonymousSep 5, 2026 15:07
Re: #5
They should really turn that into a bit.
8AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:33
Do Osakans — who are notoriously harsh judges of comedy and manzai — actually rate Sandwichman?
9AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:33
Worse than I expected. I had a cerebral infarction too, and I figured nothing would change for me — but it did.
10AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:34
Sounds like his condition isn't too bad. ://youtu.be/vJ0Hipt9ehw
12AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:35
So it really is the stroke messing up his speech.
13AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:35
If he can't even say "Aina-chan," that's rough.
18AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:38
"I can't tell what you're saying."
19AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:39
This is scary. If it happened to a regular person, they wouldn't be able to work.
22AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:39
Is he gonna end up like Saijo Hideki? The guy couldn't speak properly after his.
63AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:53
Re: #22
He didn't rehydrate after the sauna, right? Sweating out water weight to cut like that is basically suicidal.
36AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:45
Seriously, let's all cut back on high-sodium food. One heavily seasoned restaurant meal alone can pack in something like 30g of salt. Even if you've never had a stroke or heart condition, keep your salt under the 6g/day doctors recommend (it used to be under 7g).
40AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:47
Re: #36
It's sugar that wrecks your blood vessels.
45AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:49
Re: #36
Noodles are basically all off the table then. Honestly, it's a wonder the Japanese diet produces such long lifespans.
55AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:51
Re: #36
Wasn't it under 7.5g? Even that's hard enough — under 6g is flat-out impossible, you'd barely be able to eat anything lol
38AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:46
So it's literally gotten to the point where you can't tell what he's saying…
43AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:47
The moment he says "hard to make out," that tells you it's not mild.

Re: #38
That phrase isn't funny anymore, ban it.
51AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:50
He'd already gotten to the point of noticing symptoms himself, so of course it's not going to heal overnight.
53AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:51
Re: #51
Tanaka got better though, didn't he?
59AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:52
Nasu Nakanishi's Nasu managed to come back to where there's no noticeable issue too.
73AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:54
Re: #59
Nasu said back in June this year he still had lingering speech impairment and was doing rehab.
62AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:53
That "hard to make out" part bugs me. Is he actually dealing with a speech impairment??
81AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:59
Re: #62
Probably facial paralysis — like half his mouth doesn't move right.
91AnonymousSep 5, 2026 15:01
Re: #62
"Something's off, I can't talk right."
"Idiot! Get to a hospital right now!"

That's how this whole thing started, so yes, there's a speech impairment. The question is whether he'll recover enough to speak in public.
64AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:53
Nasu of Nasu Nakanishi needed surgery too, but he managed to recover enough to get back to doing manzai.
95AnonymousSep 5, 2026 15:02
Re: #64
Re: #73
Nasu said he used to eat out 360 days a year. No wonder.
82AnonymousSep 5, 2026 14:59
I'm worried about Tomizawa. I think the stress of carrying the show solo is bigger than it would've been if it were Date left alone — Tomizawa's the one who just does bits and jokes, Date was in charge of the actual communication lol. The agency should give him a backup comedian while Date's out.
103AnonymousSep 5, 2026 15:04
Re: #82
Just bring in Kuchibue Naruo as the sub already.
87AnonymousSep 5, 2026 15:00
Date's comedy relied on quick reactions, so this has to be really rough for him.
96AnonymousSep 5, 2026 15:02
Re: #87
They already said early on they're looking at six months. That's presumably the doctor's prognosis, so yeah, it's not exactly mild.
90AnonymousSep 5, 2026 15:01
Tomizawa: "I can't tell what you're saying."
98AnonymousSep 5, 2026 15:03
Re: #90 Re: #93
Tomizawa wouldn't actually say that, right? He's clearly decided illness isn't something to joke about.
93AnonymousSep 5, 2026 15:02
Tomizawa: "Uh… I can't tell what you're saying."

Background and key points of this discussion

With cerebrovascular conditions like cerebral infarction, depending on where the damage occurs, patients can be left with not just limb paralysis but a speech difficulty known as “dysarthria.” In this thread, the single remark “hard to make out” drove a lot of speculation about how serious the condition really is, splitting posters between those who saw it as serious and those who took an optimistic view given that visits and conversation are already happening. Posters cited the aftereffects Saijo Hideki experienced and the rehab journey of Nasu Nakanishi’s Nasu, but it’s worth remembering these are entirely different people’s cases and don’t guarantee anything about how Date will recover. It’s also worth noting that this radio appearance never specified exactly what condition Date is hospitalized for — the thread’s comments remain speculation based on symptoms alone. With celebrity illness coverage, secondhand details like this tend to take on a life of their own beyond what the person involved actually intended, so waiting for further updates seems like the sensible approach.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Sandwichman’s Tomizawa: ‘I Visited Date Yesterday’ — Reveals Condition, ‘His Speech Is Hard to Make Out,’ Plus Rehab Details.”

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