Singer Ayaka Hirahara (42) Says She Tells People She’s ’28’ When Asked Her Age — Her Reasoning Wins Admiration

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Singer Ayaka Hirahara (42) revealed on her Instagram that whenever someone asks her age, she answers “28.” Her post explaining that she lost 7 kilograms by “convincing her brain” drew a mix of shock and cool skepticism on 5channel, while also sparking a wider debate: “Why does anyone ask your age in the first place?”

Mon 8/24, 11:40 AM

Singer Ayaka Hirahara updated her Instagram on the 24th, writing about why she answers “28” when asked her age. Fans responded with comments like “Amazing!” and “You look so beautiful!”

Sharing a recent photo of herself, Hirahara wrote, “Since the start of this year, whenever someone asks my age, I’ve made a point of answering ’28.’” She continued, “Most people who hear that scoff at me at first — she literally wrote ‘laughed at with my nose,’ oddly using the English word ‘nose’ instead of the normal Japanese phrase. But that’s fine, that’s fine, because it’s helped me lose 7 kilograms. It’s all about convincing your brain — making yourself become who you want to be.” She went on: “I’m grateful every day to this heart and body that keep working to keep me alive. There are days I get hurt or feel pathetic and hate myself, but life is far too short to spend it grieving. That’s exactly why I want to say I like what I like, and why I want to take whatever hurts me, hold it close, and burn away its rotten roots with my own flame. I want to live with kindness and love toward others.”

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

5Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:05:49.60ID:Uz9Tx/g10
She's actually 52.
82Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:28:50.21ID:hh6RGMsG0
>>5
And Misia, who took over as the theme singer for 'Darwin' after Hirahara, is 48.
7Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:05:54.18ID:bwNbXMxe0
Come to think of it, Kaori Momoi once said, "Once you're past 40, everyone's the same age."
107Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:47:15.71ID:46Q2WSQ90
>>7
Classic Kaori Momoi.
140Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 22:26:12.48ID:32+eXnsP0
>>7
I bet she'd say it in that drawn-out voice of hers — "onnnce you're pahhhst fooortyyy~" (mimicking Momoi's famously affected speaking style).
11Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:06:36.59ID:ZIXB5ek00
"Laughed at with a nozzle" — what a wild world we live in (riffing on her odd 'nose' wording, twisted even further).
14Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:07:23.36ID:eJcWJb//0
Once you start saying stuff like this, you're basically "auntie" territory.
17Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:08:32.00ID:o1ZW7Dba0
There's a "17-year-old" out there who's over 60, so this is nothing.
19Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:08:51.28ID:BMyOIB910
Isn't she the one who said she'd wear an old-school school swimsuit if the Japan men's soccer team became world champions?
20Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:08:58.41ID:6S2x0UGO0
Holst doesn't see a single penny from any of this (her hit "Jupiter" is built on Holst's classical piece).
54Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:19:46.50ID:sBr8cdTx0
>>20
Yeah, they used the piece without any regard for the wishes of his surviving family.
21Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:09:07.33ID:iAkQmP1S0
>"People laugh at me with my nose"

Didn't know there were still people out there speaking "Lou-go" (comedian Lou Oshiba's trademark habit of randomly sprinkling English words into Japanese sentences).
26Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:10:01.37ID:cooS3euR0
I did like the ending theme for Okami.
29Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:11:21.19ID:RD/4xo/g0
Setting aside how heavily the photo's been retouched —
mindset really does matter, though.
If you eat high-calorie food thinking "this'll make me fat," it will.
But if you eat it thinking "this'll make me thin," you actually do lose weight.
124Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:59:43.87ID:80rt4xWx0
>>29
Apparently phrasing it in the negative, like "I won't get fat," doesn't work.
You have to actually believe "I'll get thin," or it means nothing.
Tricky, huh.
31Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:13:28.90ID:kDch2urN0
Looked up photos of Ayaka Hirahara from 2012 and it made me sad.
32Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:13:35.05ID:lrIaTo/J0
Got "nose-laughed" at — even the word for laughing gets the Konglish treatment now.
34Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:13:41.36ID:7I0dJrY20
Nah, if you actually heard her reasoning, any normal person would laugh even harder "with their nose."
38Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:14:42.87ID:5/t9oBnt0
You're
not~ 28~ (´・ω・`)
40Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:15:13.30ID:QxWMxJJf0
Not gonna hijack classical music again?
46Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:16:54.94ID:jcqt8IeA0
Big Sis Mimiko from "Fantane!" on Okaiitsu (NHK's long-running kids' show "Okaasan to Issho").
47Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:17:01.06ID:d+da/Jp40
Wasn't she the music college student who didn't even know the song "Jupiter"? lol
49Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:18:28.17ID:CLb0qjZh0
"Laughed at with my nose"

Guess she looks up to Lou Oshiba (the comedian famous for randomly mixing English into his Japanese).
56Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:20:08.16ID:PFhY4RXh0
Does anyone even ask her age? She's at that in-between stage where you can't tell if she looks old or young — surely people can just tell.
58Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:21:22.31ID:cpMX06Cn0
I thought she was going to say something about 28 being a "perfect number," but nope, totally unrelated.
59Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:22:01.29ID:QxWMxJJf0
You guys are mad she slapped lyrics onto "Jupiter," but
personally, what I can't forgive is how the morning drama "Ohisama" suddenly had it sung with lyrics near the end.
66Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:23:09.06ID:QAssg5ZA0
What's the actual point of asking someone's age?
Is there really anyone who enjoys talking about age?
Must be an unimaginative idiot, or someone trying to flex on you.
Either way, they're the enemy.
71Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:25:20.47ID:eWPtGjK60
>>66
That's because Japanese people judge others by age and title.
72Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:26:11.84ID:RbIaBtPU0
>>66
It's either the "How many years have you lived? Amazing you can still do that at your age!" pattern,
or the "How many years have you lived? Pathetic you still can't do that at your age" pattern.
People who don't want to be asked feel that way because they're embarrassed they haven't accomplished anything.
81Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:28:18.90ID:VX569o9c0
>>66
There are old men out there who are weirdly obsessed with other people's ages.
100Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:41:40.92ID:BHkKmjEh0
>>1
If that's the reasoning, 18 would've worked just as well.
Picking 28 — an age that could still plausibly pass — is kind of a cheap move.
111Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 21:50:10.26ID:TDX/MCq40
>>100
There's no way that would pass, period.
A 42-year-old passing as 28 is absolutely impossible.
Even the most youthful beauty can only shave off about 10 years, tops.

※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5channel (Entertainment/Sports News+ board) thread「Singer Ayaka Hirahara (42) Says She Tells People She’s ’28’ When Asked Her Age — Her Reasoning Wins Admiration」.

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