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The story
Hiroshima Carp player Kaito Kozono (26) announced on Instagram on August 31 that he has divorced his wife, Lisa Watanabe (24). The couple married in 2021; her identity was initially kept private but was later revealed to be influencer Lisa Watanabe. Bunshun reported obtaining “close-up photos” of him with a beer-vendor girl, and speculation about the cause flew thick and fast on the thread. Rumors of an affair on Watanabe’s side also surfaced, leading to a back-and-forth where neither side’s story lined up. The discussion branched out further into trade speculation, the shortstop situations at other teams, and comparisons to other players’ infidelity scandals.
“I have an announcement. I have divorced Lisa Watanabe. I will refrain from discussing the details of the divorce.”
Hiroshima Carp’s Kaito Kozono (26) announced his divorce on Instagram on August 31. What’s behind this unusual mid-season divorce announcement?
Kozono got married in January 2021. His partner’s identity was initially withheld, but was later revealed to be influencer Lisa Watanabe (24).
Source: bunshun.jp / Original article here
What people said
Kozono's wife is a model, and yet she got outdone by a mere beer-vendor girl — kinda sad, lol
Same with Nozomi Sasaki and Watabe —
unless it actually turned into a 'homewrecker marriage' (an affair that ends in the two getting married),
just getting cheated on by some random fling
doesn't really mean she 'lost' as a woman, does it
They call her a 'model,' but she's got no more name recognition than Kozono's wife anyway —
she's just an influencer (lol) at the end of the day
He was talking big in the off-season about not knowing his place and going to the majors, so are they shipping him off to America?
Yano's getting shipped off to another team in a trade,
while Kozono looks headed to America via the posting system
Who exactly do you think is gonna take Yano…
Even Kikuchi couldn't find a team willing to take him, so there's no way anyone picks up Kozono either
That one was just a fling (a 'sex friend,' nothing serious), so the wife forgave him
Huh?
The wife cheated first?
Wait, the ex-wife cheated too?
Another athlete — don't tell me it's someone on the Carp too?
Athlete in what sport?
He was born and raised in Hiroshima though
This team hasn't changed its ways since the Showa era —
brutal training, flashy nightlife, low pay.
From a player's view, if the pay's low and the training's brutal, the one thing that makes it worth staying is basically how easy it is to play around off the field.
But these days everything gets found out no matter what you do, so Hiroshima's only real selling point for players is gone now
Apparently she'd been showing up to athletes' drinking parties for a while, and after 'consulting' with someone about Kozono, it turned into a half-live-in thing
Damn, that's wild lol
Gave birth as a teenager, married Kozono, and now she's already moving on to the next guy — what kind of woman is this?
Fresh start
He's dragged the Carp's name through so much mud there's no fixing it here anymore
The Carp already got burned once at shortstop with Kokubo — they don't need that headache again
Lotte's already got Tomosugi though —
he's a genuinely top-tier shortstop,
Tomosugi's a good deal better than Kozono as a player
Kozono was the Central League batting champion last year, you know
Probably a Sanfrecce Hiroshima player this time, right? (the local J-League soccer club)
She was going to watch soccer all the time, huh…
Apparently she said she had a favorite player on the Dragonflies (Hiroshima's pro basketball team), so I figured maybe that's it
I thought the same thing
Wasn't it like 4 or 5 marriages and divorces?
Four divorces, yeah.
A soccer player, Kid Yamamoto, a soccer player, another soccer player
Ah, I see
That's some serious energy
What is this, some 'Gondo, Gondo, rain, Gondo' situation? (an old baseball catchphrase about a pitcher worked nonstop — used here to mean 'the same thing on repeat')
Genda's wife is a former idol, so she probably knows how to grit her teeth and endure.
This one seems like she just runs on raw emotion
Genda makes like hundreds of millions of yen a year — no way she's divorcing him over an affair
He's normally exactly the type of Carp player who doesn't get put in limbo over his contract, but he haggled right down to the wire this time and ended up like this — the owner and the GM must be furious
Maybe he's just as eager about his 'batting practice' on that side of things too?
Background and Key Points of This Story
Kaito Kozono is a key shortstop for the Hiroshima Carp who won the Central League batting title in 2023. He married in 2021 to a woman whose identity was initially withheld, later revealed to be influencer Lisa Watanabe. This mid-season divorce announcement is unusual, and the facts are tangled — from the “close-up photos” Bunshun reported involving another woman, to counter-allegations of an affair on Watanabe’s side. Reactions in the thread mixed criticism of and sympathy for Kozono with suspicion toward Watanabe, resisting any simple “perpetrator vs. victim” framing. The discussion also branched into topics unrelated to the divorce itself — rumors of a posting-system move or trade next season, and grumbling about the team’s treatment of players — showing that his on-field reputation (as a former batting champion) and his personal-life reputation are being judged on separate tracks. It’s worth noting that Bunshun’s report may reflect only one side’s account, and with no official comment yet from either party, much of this remains speculation.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[Bunshun] “At a Hotel After the Game…” The Truth Behind Hiroshima Carp’s Kaito Kozono “Divorcing His Model Wife” 《Close-Up Photos With a Beer-Vendor Girl Obtained》 [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★].”
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