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The story
On the September 10, 2026 broadcast of “Ninety-Nine’s All Night Nippon,” Ryuji Okamura expressed sympathy over Tomomi Itano’s “changing-room livestream” controversy, saying things like “that’s genuinely scary” and “poor thing.” Itano had been criticized for streaming video from the changing room of the hotel where she was staying, and the show noted that Okamura had also defended her during a separate controversy 13 years ago, calling her “a sharp kid.” On 5ch forums, reactions to his comments split between users pointing out that Okamura may not be aware the hotel has denied giving permission to film, and broader disagreement over whether defending her was warranted in the first place.
9/11 (Fri) 17:25
On the September 10 broadcast of “Ninety-Nine’s All Night Nippon” (Nippon Broadcasting System), Ryuji Okamura (56) commented on the ongoing controversy surrounding former AKB48 member Tomomi Itano (35).
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Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
He's just in too deep having sided with her — can't back down now.
but she's had haters since her AKB days.
Okamura's just way out of the loop.
Well, coming from the guy who once said hot girls come flooding in during a pandemic, that checks out.
She did something that violates public decency, didn't she?
It's an image-based business — high risk, high reward, nothing new about that.
The world's a mess because netizens are slinging abuse everywhere.
They need to regulate the internet soon or it's only going to get worse.
He once said, "Once COVID is over, something fun is definitely going to happen." He went on: "once COVID ends, pretty good-looking women, real beauties, are going to become 'ojou' [a euphemism for sex workers]" and "because if you can't make money fast, times get tough."
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO58566610Y0A420C2000000/
What I can't get over is how he papered over this with his marriage.
Treating women like objects, celebrating COVID's damage,
and then using a woman to smooth over the backlash — that's awful.
So he just doesn't get it, then.
The Ritz: "We did not give permission for the changing room. Filming in a changing room is inappropriate regardless of whether it's outside business hours."
would know to stay completely out of this,
but he's an out-of-touch old man, so he has no clue.
They never said that.
Okamura's just being an idiot.
They never made clear whether permission was given.
Okamura, sure, but Yabe too?
Celebrities pulling this kind of self-serving stunt is bound to draw some criticism — that's just how it is.
"amateurs shouldn't nitpick what celebrities do,"
right? He's always been like that.
But this wouldn't have blown up like this if people around her didn't go along with it.
From the public's perspective, streaming from a changing room used by other guests and then lying about having the hotel's permission just isn't acceptable.
Last year's video didn't blow up, so I don't think there are that many people that fixated on her. Though once something does blow up like this, it does seem like a lot of people who already disliked her pile on.
Background and Key Points of This Story
The “changing-room controversy” surrounding Tomomi Itano began when she streamed video from the changing room of the hotel where she was staying, and the core of the dispute is that the hotel later denied ever giving permission to film there. On air, Ryuji Okamura repeated an explanation along the lines of “they filmed with permission, outside business hours” — but this simply relayed Itano’s side of the story as-is, and differs from the hotel’s own account. What split the thread was whether Okamura’s sympathetic “poor thing” take was grounded in the actual facts: supporters praised him for being consistent since he defended her 13 years ago, while critics took issue with him defending her without confirming the key question of whether permission was actually given. As far as the article shows, the debate centers less on whether the controversy itself is justified and more on the mismatch over whose account to believe.
*This article is compiled and summarized from excerpts of the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread ““Poor thing” — Ryuji Okamura sympathizes with Tomomi Itano’s “changing-room controversy,” saying “genuinely scary”; also defended her 13 years ago during an earlier controversy, calling her “a sharp kid”.”
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