From our other sites
The story
Comedian Kano Eikou revealed on an October 3 radio broadcast that L’Arc-en-Ciel’s hyde had invited him out to eat. Kano is known for having one of the most severe allergy profiles in Japanese show business — at its peak, he tested positive for 154 different allergens — and hyde reportedly asked him, “Is Chinese food okay?” out of concern. The confession sparked debate on 5ch over how much allergy information diners should realistically disclose to restaurants. Some argued “there’s no way you can list all of that,” while others countered that “once you factor in cross-reactivity, confirming everything verbally is basically impossible” — reactions to the number 154 varied widely.
Mon, Oct 5, 14:23
On Saturday, October 3, the radio program “Sandwichman the Radio Show Saturday” (Nippon Broadcasting, every Saturday 1-3 PM), hosted by comedy duo Sandwichman’s Date Mikio and Tomizawa Takeshi, aired as usual. With Date still out recovering, solo comedian Kano Eikou once again filled in as guest.
On the show, Kano revealed that he’d been invited out to eat by one of his idols, L’Arc-en-Ciel’s hyde. Kano, who has one of the most extreme allergy profiles in the entertainment industry — at his peak testing positive for a staggering 154 allergens — said hyde even asked him, “Is Chinese food okay for you?” out of concern.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Just superstition.
It's like how a guy named Onizuka ('oni' means demon) would yell 'Demons, come IN!' at Setsubun instead of the usual 'Demons out!' — just a pun on the name, not literal.
Fujiko Fujio A, who grew up eating shojin (Buddhist vegetarian) cuisine because his family ran a Zen temple, got a massive nosebleed the very first time he ever ate eel.
just tell them exactly what you can't have
and ask 'this doesn't have it in it, right?' That's the normal way to handle it…
There's probably just too many to list.
Though honestly, if you're that bad off, maybe don't eat out — or at least don't go somewhere you don't know.
All 154 of them?
Do you get that this is a comedian telling a story for laughs?
if you just ask 'What's in this?' the chef is obviously going to assume you're asking about flavor ingredients.
That works fine for one or two allergies, but Kano's dealing with this:
once you factor in cross-reactivity, the list gets so massive that verbal confirmation becomes basically impossible.
This is about food, don't pad the count with hay fever or house dust mites.
Just stick to the 9 mandatory + 20 recommended allergens.
Personally, high-fructose corn syrup gives me diarrhea, so Tully's syrup is a no-go for me.
Is Starbucks okay then?
Rough times when you're allergic to shrimp.
Dude's really leveled up his game.
Hit me with a story that funny and I don't know what to do with myself.
If the menu already has the ingredient list on it, what exactly is there left to ask?
Allergies aren't something you can fix with effort.
Also, not all 154 of those items are even food.
Imagine the trouble if people started doing this just to steal recipes.
and peanuts are one of those allergies that can turn severe fast —
yeah, that could genuinely cause problems for some people.
Major allergens have mandatory labeling, but minor ones don't.
There are basically as many 'food allergens' as there are people.
Sounds like he could probably actually eat it but is too scared to try?
Apparently he genuinely never eats it though.
There's an anecdote where his older brother ate an 'unagi pie' (eel-shaped pastry) and collapsed foaming at the mouth — but that's probably just comedian material, lol.
For what it's worth, apparently the wives who've married into the family over the generations eat eel just fine.
Even if you test positive for all 154, most of them probably do nothing if you actually eat them.
He should just list the ones that actually cause a reaction when he eats them.
Exactly this.
I personally test positive for almost everything except water,
but the stuff I actually can't eat isn't nearly that many.
Just use Sagami Original then (they're latex-free).
you'd lose access to most food out there.
Someone in my family has one — honestly it's a bit more manageable than a dairy or soy allergy.
Gluten-free has gotten trendy the last few years even among people without allergies,
so now you can get wheat-free frozen karaage and gyoza too. You can get by okay.
Background and Points of Debate
Under Japan’s food labeling standards, only a handful of “specified raw materials” are legally required to be labeled, and that requirement mainly applies to packaged food — it doesn’t uniformly extend to menu labeling at restaurants. That leaves it largely up to the customer to figure out how much allergy information to communicate to a restaurant and get confirmed. On the thread, opinions split between those who felt “just ask” is good enough and those who argued that with 154 items, verbal confirmation simply isn’t realistic. That said, 154 is the total count of items that tested positive — the number that actually trigger severe symptoms when eaten is likely much smaller. The fact that a big number doesn’t necessarily equal severity is an easy point to overlook given how much attention the figure itself has drawn.
*This article was compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku Sokuhou+) thread “Kano Eikou: ‘Don’t Hide the Secret Ingredient!’ — Confesses the Serious Struggles That Come With Extreme Allergies.”
Leave a Reply