Ai Hashimoto’s Rift with Jiro Sato Hits 3 Months — Fuji TV’s Apology Rejected, Standoff Continues — 5ch Asks: ‘Wait, Who’s Actually in the Wrong Here?’

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The story

Three months have passed since the “harassment” controversy surrounding Fuji TV’s drama Different Surnames Detective, which starred actress Ai Hashimoto and actor Jiro Sato — yet Hashimoto’s side still hasn’t accepted Fuji TV’s apology, and the two camps remain effectively estranged. It was also reported that on October 18, Hashimoto made a guest appearance on actress Non’s nationwide tour stop in Kuji City, Iwate Prefecture, performing “Shiosai no Memory” for the first time in 13 years. On the thread, opinions split over who was really to blame, with debate centering on how much Fuji TV and Hashimoto’s agency had actually signed off on the decision not to tell Sato’s side what was happening.

“It felt like a dream come true. To everyone who came out to see me — thank you so much!”

On October 18, Ai Hashimoto appeared as a special guest on Non’s nationwide tour stop in Kuji City, Iwate Prefecture. She posted a photo of the two of them together along with the message above on her Instagram.

“The two of them played members of the idol unit Shiosai no Memories in NHK’s 2013 morning drama Amachan. Kuji City is the setting of Amachan, and it seems Non specifically requested Hashimoto as a guest. During the show, they performed ‘Shiosai no Memory,’ the song from the drama, for the first time in 13 years” (sports-paper reporter, same hereafter)

Source: jprime.jp / Original article here

What people said

2AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:30
Honestly, watching an Osaka night-view channel on YouTube beats watching Peace-kun at Omiya Park any day (Peace-kun is a raccoon dog livestreamed from a zoo in Saitama).
3AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:31
"Acting isn't my first priority, y'know!"
8AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:34
This is the price for repeatedly using Fuji TV's compliance committee to suit your own convenience.
9AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:34
Re: #1
Seething inside over "mood harassment" while…
    /⌒Y⌒\    MM MM MM MM MM 
   /       \ MM MM UH  HUH
  /     ∧    ∧  MM MM MM MM MM 
  |  从(( ))从  | MM MM MM MM MM 
  V /  ノ  ヽ  V / THERE THERE THERE THERE OK OK
 (^Y  ´ ̄ |  ̄`  Y^) MM MM MM MM MM 
  V   ノ ヽ_ノ ヽ   V
  |  (/ ̄\)  | HOLD IT IN! HOLD IT IN!
  |  ꓽꓽ.    .ꓽꓽ  |
  >ーヽꓽꓽꓽꓽꓽ:ノー<
  |    |  ̄ |    |
  | |  |  ̄ ̄.|  | | Harassment Geezer Sato
10AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:35
And it's not just Fuji — she's basically cut off from the entertainment industry at large.
11AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:36
Ugh! Hold it in, hold it in!!
17AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:38
Re: #11
This is exactly what I came here for lol
21AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:40
Re: #11
We already knew that from the start, didn't we?
12AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:37
She'd be better off not doing dramas for anyone except NHK.
19AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:39
An apology over the controversy?
So does that mean they tried to hush it up and it leaked anyway?
20AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:40
Keep fighting, lol
May everyone involved end up miserable, lol
I'll gladly keep piling on the flames, lololol
27AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:41
Re: #20
Seems like the only one who ends up miserable is her, lol
22AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:40
Huh?
She's the one refusing Fuji?
After dragging everyone around her through the mud, what position does she think she's in?

Well, go ahead and tear each other apart then.
23AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:40
Fuji TV probably isn't apologizing sincerely anyway, and they'll never offer her work again, so a bitter breakup is probably for the best.
24AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:41
From Fuji TV's perspective, banning her outright would be fine at this point.
28AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:42
Fuji TV brought this on themselves —

they were way too deferential to Sato,
all because he's in Bayside Shakedown.
33AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:44
Re: #28
Didn't they also promise Nagisa Watanabe a pension for life?
Seriously, what an infuriating company.
A trash company that rewards the thief with extra cash on top.
30AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:43
Shouldn't she be cutting ties with her own manager too?
Wasn't the decision not to tell Sato made jointly with Fuji?
54AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:51
Re: #30
It was Sato's manager who said there was no need to tell him —
probably didn't want to be the one to break the news and get harassed over it himself.

Burning Production types — actors and managers alike — are nothing but trash.
65AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:55
Re: #54
Wasn't it reported that Fuji and Hashimoto's manager both signed off on that proposal?
84AnonymousOct 29, 2026 19:03
Re: #54
Sato's side manager isn't responsible.
This was Hashimoto's side's business, so it should've been Hashimoto's side making that call from the start.
It's basically dumping the blame onto a subcontractor.
31AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:43
Well, it's not like the world would miss her if she just disappeared.
36AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:45
We're done with difficult people.
37AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:45
Nobody wants anything to do with Ai Hashimoto anymore.
40AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:46
Troublesome people just stop getting cast.
45AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:47
Wait, who was actually in the wrong again?
Did we land on Fuji TV being the bad guy?
93AnonymousOct 29, 2026 19:06
Re: #45
Fuji.
Plus Hashimoto's agency, for leaving the "off-limits" boundaries vague.
And it looks like Fuji tried to pin everything on Sato to cover up its own responsibility.
Then that lawyer everyone's been talking about really "delivered."
52AnonymousOct 29, 2026 18:50
>It seems Non specifically requested Hashimoto as a guest.
Come to think of it, so she's teaming up with Non now?
I might end up hating Non too, hanging around someone like this.
86AnonymousOct 29, 2026 19:03
Re: #52
Talent bookings like this don't get locked in a month or two out — logically this must have been arranged long before the whole controversy.
This year is a double anniversary for Non: 20 years since her debut and 10 years since she became "Non," so she's been prepping hard for it since last year.
87AnonymousOct 29, 2026 19:05
What did Fuji actually do?
If they didn't really do anything,
then there shouldn't be any need to apologize,
but they're trying to apologize because they did do something, right?
Shouldn't Fuji be apologizing to Sato instead?
95AnonymousOct 29, 2026 19:07
Re: #87
It's precisely because they did nothing that it turned into this mess — they abandoned any mediation, brought in a lawyer, tried to unilaterally take him down, and failed.

Background and Points of Debate

Different Surnames Detective is a drama that aired on Fuji TV starring Ai Hashimoto and Jiro Sato, and the specific details of the “harassment” controversy itself still haven’t been disclosed even in this latest report. Where the thread split was over where responsibility actually lies: depending on how much Fuji TV and Hashimoto’s agency are seen as having signed off on Sato’s manager’s proposal that “there’s no need to tell Sato himself,” opinions diverged over whether this was Sato’s own problem or a mishandling on the production side. It’s also worth noting — since readers can easily conflate the two — that the event which sparked this article, Hashimoto’s guest appearance on Non’s nationwide tour in Kuji City, Iwate Prefecture, is a separate matter from the controversy and has no direct bearing on the apology dispute itself.

*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geisoku Sokuho+) thread “Ai Hashimoto: Three Months After the “Harassment” Controversy with Jiro Sato Over the Drama Different Surnames Detective, Still Won’t Accept Fuji TV’s Apology, Remains in an “Estranged” Standoff [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★].”

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