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The story
In a thread on 5ch’s Hello! Project board “Morning Coffee,” discussion heated up over which members are “soccer people” versus “baseball people.” Posters piled on examples one after another — Asami Konno and Rika Ishikawa both married pro baseball players, and Yuuri Sato’s and Reon Inoue’s families are said to be baseball fans too — while others argued that “openly liking soccer hurts your popularity,” sparking debate over why Hello! Project skews toward baseball. The second half of the thread also included a promo for a talk event bringing together idols who support J.League clubs.
What people said
what is this…
Manager Kuroda's gonna blow a fuse
Zelvia: "Et tu?"
She wrote a passionate blog post three years ago when Samurai Japan won the WBC.
Apparently her nephew loves Ohtani and Nootbaar, so the whole family cheered together.
Zelvia? Never heard of it
But ever since Mai Satoda married pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, it's tilted toward baseball… unfortunately.
and the final blow is Marika Makino, a die-hard Nippon-Ham Fighters fan.
Hello! Project's been completely contaminated by baseball
but there's not a single Hello! Project member who gets it
Get into that and Sanma will drag you for it —
better not say that out loud at this agency
Shima-shima, of course lol (wordplay on a member's nickname)
Wait, it's the Giants and not the Fighters?
2026/27 Season Kickoff
"J.League Love Club — Everyone's J, Right Before Kickoff"
Date: August 1, 2026
Details:
Idols who support J1 clubs gather together for a talk stage,
passionately discussing the new season's highlights and their love of soccer.
Main performers (club they support):
Aki Toyonaga (HKT48 / Avispa Fukuoka)
Yumi Hayase (Maneki Kecha / Urawa Reds)
Fu Nagisaki (Maneki Kecha / Vissel Kobe) Nanase Hirokawa (WASTA / FC Tokyo)
Fuuna Sasaki (Rough×Rough / FC Machida Zelvia)
Ai Shinjo (Maybe ME / Kawasaki Frontale)
MC: Moka Tada (title undecided)
With a name like Ai Shinjo, she'd probably be more popular cheering for the Fighters (same surname as former Fighters manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo)
Sanma: "Whaaaat?! lol"
June 26 (Fri), 08:00 (Japan time): Japan vs. Sweden
That same day's Yantan recording (the radio show "Young Town")
Sanma: "It kicked off at 8am, a perfectly easy time to watch — what were you all doing?"
Yumiketa Sakurai: "Sleeping"
Both Kobushi and Inoue just got used — all they got out of it was DM harassment from players and baseless rumors, nothing but trouble.
Kasumi Mori also let slip that she gets a ton of DMs from soccer players
Now 34 and at Kashima Antlers… can he bloom one more time from here?
In the recent J.League season opener against Marinos, he set up the winning goal with a great pass
they're running wild on our tax money lol
I—I only watch European soccer and the national team, okay
I don't think she's interested at all — feel bad for the new single
Background and Key Points
Hello! Project’s ties to baseball are said to have deepened after Mai Satoda married pitcher Masahiro Tanaka (then with the Rakuten Eagles) in 2012, and both Asami Konno and Rika Ishikawa have also married former pro baseball players. Soccer, by contrast, has a much thinner connection — Morning Musume once ran a futsal team called “Gatas,” but these days it’s members like Yuuri Sato and Reon Inoue who openly identify as baseball fans. Several posters in the thread claimed that “openly liking soccer hurts your popularity,” but it’s worth noting this isn’t based on any survey or data — it’s an anecdotal impression from the board. The thread also included posts disparaging specific members’ looks or conduct by name; since these couldn’t be verified, they’ve been left out of this article.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “⚽ The Soccer-Loving Hello! Project Members Strike Back 🦶💥.”
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