Yahoo News broke the story on the night of September 19, 2026 that Botan, one half of the comedy duo Nakata Kaus-Botan, had died at age 78. According to reports, he had been fighting lung cancer and had effectively been retired since 2023. On 5ch, alongside shock at the news, posters reminisced about Botan’s 1988 arrest on gambling charges in Fujiidera, Osaka Prefecture, the “debt jokes” that defined his act for decades, and stories about his relationship with comedy legend Akashiya Sanma.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:08
Nakata Kaus-Botan's Botan (78) Passes Away
3AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:09
Well, that's it then ("panpan" — slang for "done for/finished")
4AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:09
Just got the notification from Yahoo right now
5AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:10
Whoa, wait, is he the one who got arrested?
8AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:11
Wasn't he still doing manzai until pretty recently?
9AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:11
Which one was he again?
13AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:12
Re: #9
The one who's NOT the yakuza guy ⬅
10AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:12
Ugh, another light of Kansai comedy goes out
11AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:12
That's art 🎨
15AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:13
Oh, so it's the debt guy, not the yakuza guy
17AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:14
The only guy who could ever roast Kaus…
18AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:14
Nakata Botan Dies — Fought Lung Cancer to the End… Had Effectively Retired in 2023
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/5c980db4426896de7f40d3d7966818b621a63eaf
20AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:15
I heard Hamada actually studied his tsukkomi (straight-man) technique
23AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:17
Guess Sanma's going to pay tribute on Yantan again next week (long-running Kansai radio show)
30AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:20
Feels like way too many young celebrities have been dying lately, doesn't it?
32AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:22
The story goes that Botan once told Jimmy-chan to tie his own privates to the stair railing as punishment — and when Sanma found Jimmy actually doing it and rescued him, that's how Sanma and Jimmy Onishi first became close.
35AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:22
Botan! I've got a kid on the way!
You'd better take responsibility!
36AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:23
Guess this was the last one
"How Are You, Botan-san?" Part (3-1) [Kobunshi's Chat Café]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gk3HwyJHFY
37AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:23
The guy Sanma always talks about
who'd rack up debt just to treat his juniors to meals
42AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:27
These guys taught me that kids who are always smiling often grow up to be shady
43AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:28
You always hear that Kaus is seriously tied to the yakuza (893, slang for gangster), but who knows what's actually true
44AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:29
On April 23, 1988, Botan took part as a customer in an illegal gambling session run by a Yamaguchi-gumi-affiliated crime group in Fujiidera, Osaka Prefecture, and was arrested on gambling charges that October 27.
46AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:30
Back in that era, hanging around gambling dens wasn't that unusual
Kind of like drunk driving used to be
48AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:32
Kaus-Botan's Botan-san, huh…
49AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:33
Like an ordinary person would ever go to a gambling den
71AnonymousSep 19, 2026 21:05
Re: #49
Comedians aren't exactly ordinary people
Especially not back then
53AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:35
It really hits different when someone younger than your own parents passes away
56AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:36
The kind of people who do online gambling today would've gone back then too
57AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:38
Wasn't he the one known for being in debt, not for yakuza ties?
61AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:45
Whenever a guy like this dies, it always turns into a whole "Morimoto Leo" kind of moment (Leo Morimoto — veteran actor famed for narration/commercial work, whose death sparked a huge wave of nostalgic tributes)
62AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:49
Why is it "Kaus" and not "Cuffs"? (a pun — カウス vs. カフス, close-sounding katakana)
66AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:58
Kaus-Botan used to be idol-level popular back on Young Oh! Oh! (classic Kansai variety show)
69AnonymousSep 19, 2026 21:04
For better or worse, he really was a comedian of that era
70AnonymousSep 19, 2026 21:04
This guy had been doing debt jokes for like 50 years straight
72AnonymousSep 19, 2026 21:06
I only know the name
Which basically means I know nothing else about him
I don't even know why he's treated like such a big deal
73AnonymousSep 19, 2026 21:10
With Yoshimoto comedians, I guess the longer you've been around, the bigger a deal you're treated as
75AnonymousSep 19, 2026 21:15
Taihei Shiro died young too, didn't he? 55
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Nakata Kaus-Botan was a Kamigata (Osaka-style) manzai duo formed in 1966, with Botan serving for decades as the tsukkomi (straight man) of the pair in Osaka’s comedy world. He had a past arrest on gambling charges from 1988, which some have linked to a “yakuza” image, but the actual charge was for participating as a customer in a gambling session run by an organized crime group — he was never a gang member himself. The thread was split between the view that “back then it wasn’t unusual to frequent gambling dens” and the view that “ordinary people just didn’t do that,” reflecting differing perceptions of how close the entertainment world and the underworld once were. His decades of debt-themed comedy and the stories about his relationship with Akashiya Sanma were widely known parts of his public image, and his death prompted many posters to revisit that persona.
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