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The story
On August 28, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced that it has selected three people as this year’s candidates for Honorary Tokyo Citizen: children’s author Eiko Kadono (91), TV personality Tamori (81), and Mitsunori Torihara (83), honorary advisor of Tokyo Gas. The selections will become official after approval at the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly’s regular session, set to convene in September. Honorary Tokyo Citizen is a title Tokyo awards each year to individuals who have contributed to social and cultural development, and 135 people have been honored so far. On 5ch, the thread sparked debate, with users questioning why residency rather than birthplace determines the selection, and others suggesting alternative candidates such as Beat Takeshi.
Yomiuri Shimbun
On the 28th, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced that it has selected three people as this year’s candidates for Honorary Tokyo Citizen: children’s author Eiko Kadono (91, resident of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture), TV personality Tamori (81, resident of Meguro Ward), and Mitsunori Torihara (83), honorary advisor of Tokyo Gas (resident of Fujisawa, also in Kanagawa Prefecture).
The selections will become official after approval at the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly’s regular session, set to convene in September. Honorary Tokyo Citizen is a title through which Tokyo honors the achievements of individuals who have contributed to social and cultural development. It is awarded each year, and 135 people have been honored so far.
Source: yomiuri.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Sounds like something Tetsuya Takeda would say
If being from the countryside counts, then anything goes.
Guess that means Kansai-born Yoshimoto comedians could qualify too (though they'll probably never get the chance)
I'll never forgive this old man.
Lmao it even has its own Wikipedia page
"Ebifurya" (a mocking parody of the Nagoya dialect pronunciation of "ebi furai," fried shrimp)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E3%82%A8%E3%83%93%E3%83%95%E3%83%AA%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BC
He's from right in the heart of Fukuoka City.
A total city slicker.
I've been to Hakata! Even the "heart of the city" was total countryside lol
Back then Fukuoka was considered just a backwater part of Kyushu, right?
She's currently one of the top artists in the world.
Her international name recognition beats Sadaharu Oh, Miho Takagi, Naoko Takahashi, and Saori Yoshida.
Seriously, why is it always athletes?
The National Honor Award was originally created to honor Sadaharu Oh.
Every world news outlet gave her extensive coverage.
Seems like she's got a passionate following in places like Spain and France.
This guy from the island of Kyushu has no right to mock Nagoya!
Actually Kitakyushu City was more prosperous than Fukuoka City back then.
Though Kitakyushu City didn't exist yet at that point.
He's a has-been at this point.
Just being a painter's kid from Adachi got him mocked.
His mother just poured money into her kids, that's all.
Actually, Takeshi has said that as a child he was teased by people around him for being "the paint shop's son," and it stung.
And despite his mother being so education-obsessed, all her kids ended up at private universities lol
Back then, way more than today, national/public universities were considered supreme and private ones looked down on.
In Takeshi's generation, even Waseda and Keio were fairly easy to get into and looked down on.
Takeshi's older brother got into a national university too, but since it was the literature department, their mother wouldn't let him enroll.
Her educational policy was: a private university's science department beats a national university's humanities department.
Apparently one of Takeshi's older sisters had the best grades in the family, good enough to aim for Tokyo University, so her high school homeroom teacher even came to the house to plead with the family to let her go to college.
But the mother's policy was that women don't need higher education, so she didn't let her go.
He just happens to live in Meguro lol
Calling it an "honor" and all…
If that's the standard, they don't even need Tokyo to host it — just leave it to the national government.
It's totally normal for Olympic medalists too — they get honored by both their current city and their hometown.
All I know him for is "Waratte Iitomo!" and "Vocabulary Tengoku."
"Tamori Club" was a pioneer of subculture-style TV shows.
He was the first person to do impressions of Chinese and Korean people.
The "Tokyo Citizen Honor Award" and "Honorary Tokyo Citizen" are different things.
The former is just a plain commendation, but the latter comes with perks like residence tax exemption — basically "live here until you die" in exchange.
What happens if you move away?
Is there some kind of penalty?
Lmao that lineup is way too weak
Honestly this generation's funnier than Tamori, no contest.
Probably even he doesn't think of himself that way.
If you live in Tokyo, you're a Tokyoite, aren't you?
Background and Points of Debate
Honorary Tokyo Citizen is a title Tokyo awards each year to people who have contributed to social and cultural development, and selection doesn’t hinge on whether someone is originally from Tokyo or currently lives there — plenty of notable figures have been honored by both their hometown and their current municipality. Commenters in the thread pointed to Yayoi Kusama as an example, who received honors from both Matsumoto City (her hometown) and Tokyo, and this year’s selection of Tamori fits that same pattern. Where opinions in the thread split was over whether residency alone is enough to call someone a “source of pride for Tokyoites,” with a divide between those who prioritize birthplace and those who prioritize actual residency. It’s worth noting that some unconfirmed claims about specific perks tied to the honor, such as exemption from residence tax, appeared in the thread, but these are not part of the officially explained benefits of the program.
※This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Tamori Among Honorary Tokyo Citizen Candidates, Governor Yuriko Koike Says “It’s a Source of Pride for Tokyoites”… Children’s Author Eiko Kadono Also Named.”
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