Comedian Kayoko Okubo (55) appeared on Nippon TV’s special “Otona ga Kaidan Noboru 2-Hour SP” (“Adults Climbing the Stairs”) on September 17 and tried a dating app for the first time in her life. Her last relationship was eight years ago, and on the show she spoke with enthusiasm, saying, “If there’s a good person waiting down that road, I’d like to try dating again.” Following the report, a 5ch thread buzzed with a range of opinions — from the difficulty a financially independent single woman faces finding a partner who isn’t after her money, to views on TV using romance as entertainment fodder.
Last boyfriend was 8 years ago… 55-year-old Kayoko Okubo: “I haven’t given up on love entirely” — signs up for a dating app for the first time, results revealed
Comedian Kayoko Okubo (55) appeared on Nippon TV’s special “Otona ga Kaidan Noboru 2-Hour SP” (airing at 8:54 p.m.) on the 17th, taking on dating-app life for the first time.
Asked by the show’s staff what she wanted to try for the first time, Okubo named “a dating app.” She continued firmly, “If there’s a good person waiting down that road, I’d like to try dating again.”
Okubo seems like the type with pride in the bad sense, you know?
8AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:32
She's gotten too financially successful — there's no man on her level anymore.
11AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:33
With money there are endless chances, but marrying someone who's completely not after your money is basically impossible.
12AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:33
I've actually started thinking Okubo looks pretty cute lately.
And apparently she's still into younger guys, even now~
15AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:34
Back in the Showa era, being single past 50 got you branded a real oddball or problem case, but I think it's fine now since this isn't an era where you have to force yourself into marriage.
If I write that, I'll probably get replies like "you're just telling yourself that," but I'm married with kids, so…
Even so, isn't it fine to live in a world where being single is okay too?
22AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:39
At least she's had the experience of being loved — that's something.
There are plenty of 55-year-old virgins out there who've never dated at all.
41AnonymousSep 18, 2026 00:03
Re: #22
There aren't, lol. That's just you, lol.
24AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:43
Like Aya Sugimoto or Ayako Fuji, she could easily buy herself a younger, good-looking boyfriend or husband who does the housework — but the fact that she doesn't have one means that kind of thing already feels like a hassle to her. It just gradually goes that way.
25AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:43
There are people who get married inside nursing homes too, you know.
26AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:44
Is romance really all there is to life? Older, wealthy single women I know get on just fine without a man. If it's just fodder for her show business, sure, I get it, lol.
28AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:47
Wealthy women who aren't popular with men don't need to depend desperately on a man, so they end up like Okubo.
29AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:48
Okubo's smile is cute.
She probably has plenty of friends to hang out with as it is.
I'd bet a bunch of gold-digging guys who took her "pitiable, unpopular older woman" TV persona seriously and got the wrong idea keep swarming her — probably pretty annoying.
30AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:49
Isn't that true for plenty of men too? Even an older, wealthy guy who says "I don't want a woman who's just after my money" is basically stuck with money-chasers only.
31AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:49
If she were just an ordinary fan favorite, she'd have her pick, though.
33AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:50
A blatant tie-up promotion with a dating app.
Commercial TV has really hit rock bottom.
34AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:51
Okubo's loaded, so I'd recommend her.
36AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:56
Re: #11
If Okubo wants someone who's not after her money, the only way is to quit the app and date someone she already knows personally.
40AnonymousSep 18, 2026 00:01
Re: #36
Even among people she already knows outside the app, finding someone who's completely not after her money is basically impossible.
43AnonymousSep 18, 2026 00:05
Re: #40
Aren't all the men around Okubo already well-off themselves?
38AnonymousSep 17, 2026 23:57
I love the story where Okubo, fed up with always paying for dinner, snapped at her boyfriend, "Don't you have any pride?" — and he shot back, "The moment I started dating you, I already had no pride left."
42AnonymousSep 18, 2026 00:05
I like Okubo, but I like Tomochika even more — is that weird of me? (Tomochika is another Japanese comedian)
45AnonymousSep 18, 2026 00:08
Re: #43
Even a guy with a normal income of his own might not act like a gold-digger right now, but if he's thinking "marrying Okubo means a comfortable retirement," that's still being after her money.
46AnonymousSep 18, 2026 00:10
Since she's got money, I guess all she can do is keep a gold-digger as a pet.
47AnonymousSep 18, 2026 00:12
Come on, she's clearly not really into it — she's just desperate to land more work.
48AnonymousSep 18, 2026 00:16
She should just accept her earning power as part of her own charm and be okay with a guy who's after her money — but the fact that she couldn't do that is exactly how she ended up where she is now.
50AnonymousSep 18, 2026 00:19
People who can earn a lot of money are good at their jobs, so they often also have strong opinions, pride, and ego. If two people like that click, great, but there are plenty of cases where it doesn't work out. So it's also fine for a woman to choose a partner who says "I don't have money, but I'll devote myself to you." Plenty of female celebrities and female CEOs go that route too.
54AnonymousSep 18, 2026 00:23
Not giving up on romance — so she still wants to date even at 55, huh.
68AnonymousSep 18, 2026 00:38
If Okubo were just an ordinary person, marrying her would honestly be a great catch. She's smart, funny, reliable, and healthy.
But in reality she's a wealthy celebrity, so a normal marriage just isn't in the cards for her.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Kayoko Okubo has long played the role of an “entertainer who’s kept romance at arm’s length” on TV, and her dating-app attempt this time was partly seen as an extension of that persona. The thread split mainly over how hard it is for a financially independent woman to find a partner who isn’t after her money — the view that “anyone other than a money-chaser is basically impossible” came up repeatedly, while a number of comments framed this not as Okubo’s own peculiar situation but as a structural issue shared by older, high-earning singles in general. It’s also worth noting that the specific “results of signing up for the app” mentioned in the headline aren’t spelled out anywhere in the show’s information, the source article, or the 5ch discussion, so what actually came of it remains unknown.
Leave a Reply