Akiko Hinagata: “I Have No Friends at All” — Actress Opens Up About Her Current Ties to Her Old Mecha-Ike Co-Stars

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The story

Actress Akiko Hinagata (48) appeared on ABEMA’s “Ai no Hyena 6” (Love Hyena), streamed on September 29, and revealed that she has “no friends at all” left among the members of “Mecha²Iketeru!” (“Mecha-Mecha Iketeru!”), the long-running variety show she was a regular on for years. With years having passed since the show ended, many of her former co-stars have gotten married and had children, changing their lives — a point that came up in discussion. On 5channel’s Entertainment/Sports News+ board, opinions were split: some said “that’s normal if it’s purely a work relationship,” others noted “it’d be hard to invite married people out,” and the thread expanded into talk about which members had married and anecdotes from the show’s heyday.

Akiko Hinagata: “I have no friends at all” — she reveals her current relationship with her “Mecha²Iketeru!” co-stars! Studio stunned

Actress Akiko Hinagata (48) made a guest appearance on ABEMA’s “Ai no Hyena 6” (Tuesdays, 11:00 PM), streamed on the 29th. During the show, she revealed her current relationship with the members of “Mecha²Iketeru!” (“Mecha-Mecha Iketeru!”), the long-running regular program she had appeared on for years.

During the studio talk, New York’s Hiromasa Yashiki asked, “Do you drink, Hinagata-san?” Hinagata replied, “Not that much — mostly just at work after-parties and things like that.”

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here

What people said

12AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:30
Sarina seems like she'd be easy to stay friends with, though
78AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:32
Re: #12
No joke, seriously (looks like a typo for 洒落にならない, "that's not funny")
13AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:31
I wonder if any of the Mecha-Ike members ever dated each other?
24AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:38
Re: #13
There's the comedian who dated Hamaguchi — Mizuho Honda
16AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:33
The closer you get, the more you fight.
It probably lasted as long as it did because they didn't get too chummy
17AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:33
Is she married?
You wouldn't normally invite a married person out to eat privately.
Not if you have any sense, anyway.
Though who knows about TV producers
63AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:15
Re: #17
I don't think you should expect common sense from celebrities
19AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:33
Guess Kayoko Okubo browses 5channel too
20AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:35
Just taking it all in ( ´ー`)y-~~ (emoticon of someone thoughtfully smoking)
51AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:01
Re: #20
This isn't a thread about Mei Nagano or Maya Imamori, you know?
21AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:35
You barely ever invite married people out to eat in the first place lol
25AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:39
Re: #21
I feel like Michopa gets invited out all the time, though (Michopa = TV personality Momoka Fukuda)
22AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:36
If her husband tagged along everywhere, no one would invite her out
23AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:37
Isn't that just how it goes? They probably don't even have much in common to talk about anymore
27AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:41
I guess it's like regular people — you hang out all the time with coworkers while you're at a job, then drift apart once you quit
34AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:45
Re: #27
Celebrities probably meet so many new people day to day, too
28AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:42
That's normal if she's married. Besides, Mecha-Ike was probably just a work relationship anyway
29AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:43
When I think of Akiko Hinagata, it's still "Shuji-san!" (a famous line of hers from a old drama)
30AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:43
Is it really that surprising that they don't see each other anymore?
32AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:43
Her signature role is "Purple Eyes," but with an average rating of 9.6%, it wasn't that memorable for its time
A lot of people would put "Seija no Koushin" (The Saints' March) first instead, since that averaged over 20%
37AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:48
Re: #25
If someone's newly married or has kids, you'd normally be considerate and not invite them out
38AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:48
Wait, did all the original Mecha-Ike members end up married with kids?
41AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:51
Re: #38
Except for Oasys (the comedy duo)
45AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:54
Re: #38
Don't talk trash about Auntie Okubo
48AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:58
Re: #38
That's a gentle dig at the middle-aged women right here in this thread, huh
47AnonymousSep 30, 2026 21:56
She's gorgeous, but she never quite made it to the top somehow
58AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:07
Re: #47
Her acting was never quite there
She did land a lead role once, but it was tough going
59AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:11
"Hinagata Akiko": a mock-dictionary term for the weary feeling of typing the same data into a fixed Excel template's input fields, day after day (a pun — her name 雛形/"hinagata" means "template," and "akiko" echoes 飽き/"aki," meaning "fed up")
77AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:31
Re: #59
Nice one
Though, well, that's actually her real name, so…

Background and key points of this discussion

“Mecha²Iketeru!” was a long-running variety show that aired from 1996 to 2018, and Akiko Hinagata was a regular cast member from early on. Since the show ended, many of her co-stars have married and had children, and their changed circumstances are seen as one reason personal ties have faded. In the thread, many took the view that “it’s hard to casually invite married people out” and “work relationships are separate from private life,” with some comparing the distance between entertainers to that between former coworkers after leaving a job. Few responses linked Hinagata’s comment to loneliness — most treated it as a natural change, a nuance that doesn’t come through in the headline alone.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Akiko Hinagata: “I have no friends at all” — reveals current relationship with Mecha-Ike members! Studio stunned.”

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