From our other sites
The story
On TV Tokyo’s “World Paycheck Files” (aired September 6), host Miki Fujimoto was shown consulting entrepreneur Ranmaru Kishidani — son of actor Goro Kishidani and singer Kaori Kishidani — about her eldest daughter’s study abroad plans. The show explained that sending a child to a top American school requires roughly 60 million yen in preparation, while Kishidani noted that in Malaysia you could live in a high-rise condo for just 50,000 yen. On 5ch’s Entertainment/Sports News+ board, opinions split — from the simple question of why celebrities’ kids so often study abroad, to whether academic pedigree or connections matter more for their future.
Miki Fujimoto seeks advice on her eldest daughter’s study abroad plans — “You’ll need about 60 million yen” for a top US school, explains Ranmaru Kishidani: “In Malaysia, 50,000 yen gets you a high-rise apartment”
TV Tokyo’s “World Paycheck Files – How Does It Compare to Japan?” aired on the 6th, hosted by Miki Fujimoto.
The variety show examines pay stubs from people around the world to explore cost of living and customs abroad. This episode’s guest was entrepreneur Ranmaru Kishidani, eldest son of actor Goro Kishidani and singer Kaori Kishidani.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Probably a complex about feeling dumb themselves.
They've got the money, so they spend it on education to give their kids more options.
Probably worried the kid gets teased for having a parent on TV.
Once you've achieved a certain level of success, you realize what you really want is academic credentials and prestige — that's probably why a lot of celebrities go to college too.
Plus their kids can become second-generation talents.
As long as they don't live flashy, they could coast comfortably through their kids' generation too.
The elite aim to be true cosmopolitans — broad-minded, global, with a wide network of connections.
Her daughter's probably Japanese, no?
Is that really a success story? He's just a nepo actor in Japan in the end, isn't he?
The Mito Kōmon's seal (pedigree) beats Sukesan and Kakusan's skills (actual ability) [reference to a classic samurai drama where flashing a shogunal crest instantly wins any argument].
Our generation's probably still fine, but I wonder if surviving in Japan will get really tough by our daughters' or their kids' generation.
These kids will definitely come crawling back to Japan and end up doing entertainment work through their parents' connections lol
Just look at Ranmaru lol
The birthrate has fallen so far it's basically a crisis for the nation's survival, yet in the end everyone just runs from reality — no fundamental reform, no real measures.
Japan's decline is already a done deal.
Boarding tuition is $69,537 (2025-26 school year).
Anyway, Professor Shinichi Mochizuki finished there in 2 years, then skipped ahead to graduate from Princeton in 3 years, second in his overall class.
He entered Princeton's graduate school at 19, got his PhD at 23, then holed himself up at Kyoto University doing research and became a professor there at 32.
Sure it costs money, but if you want your kid to become world-class, the US is still the way to go.
By the way, Professor Mochizuki is the one who proposed Inter-universal Teichmüller theory, which is controversial in the math world, but he's also the world's leading authority on anabelian geometry.
That said, top US schools are exactly where people like that gather, so even someone who got into the University of Tokyo's ultra-competitive Science III program in Japan would have a hard time keeping up.
Science III is on a different level though. If you got in straight out of high school, that's seriously impressive.
Don't waste a serious reply on an idiot lol
Going forward, the world's moving toward a society that doesn't need academic credentials anyway.
In America, a bachelor's degree basically doesn't count as an education. Even after finishing a master's, you do unpaid internships, and if you don't deliver results there, you're out.
In the end, it's a system where you can't land a good job without connections.
So America comes down to connections too, huh.
America's actually a hyper-credentialist society lol. If anything, the point is that credentials alone aren't enough.
Apparently he started some kind of study-abroad support company.
Background and Key Points of Debate
What the show revealed is just how extreme American education costs have become — at elite private schools, even a household income around $500,000 is considered the threshold for financial aid eligibility. The thread started with a simple question — why do celebrities’ kids so often study abroad — and opinion split over whether it’s genuinely about education or just about the prestige of the label. Another point of contention was whether academic credentials or personal connections matter more for one’s future: some pointed to Shinichi Mochizuki as proof of the value of credentials, while others countered that in America, too, it ultimately comes down to connections. One thing readers can easily conflate: the 60 million yen figure is a rough estimate for the total cost of attending a top US school, while Malaysia’s “50,000 yen for a high-rise apartment” refers only to rent — not a comparison of total tuition and living costs. Making a simple comparison without accounting for that difference misses the show’s actual point.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “Miki Fujimoto seeks advice on her eldest daughter’s study abroad plans — “You’ll need about 60 million yen” for a top US school, explains Ranmaru Kishidani: “In Malaysia, 50,000 yen gets you a high-rise apartment”“.
Leave a Reply