Actor Jun’ichi Ishida (72) appeared on a Bunka Broadcasting radio program airing on the 13th and talked about “Jun-chan,” the yakiniku restaurant he runs in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture. He touched on how his wife, Riko Higashio, was fiercely opposed to his side business, as well as the circumstances that cost him his regular TV spot amid the COVID-era dining-out controversy. On 5ch, reactions poured in from every angle — pointing out inconsistencies in his account of how he got sidelined, eyewitness reports that he’s actually at the shop almost every day, and surprise at the Funabashi location.
Jun’ichi Ishida: “Riko Was Dead Set Against It” — Side Business, Sidelined by a COVID-Era Scandal… “I Poured In Every Last Penny I Had”
Actor Jun’ichi Ishida (72) made a guest appearance on Bunka Broadcasting’s “Hiroshi Ikushima’s Sunday at 9” (Sundays, 9:00 AM), airing on the 13th, where he talked about his current “side business.”
Ishida currently runs the yakiniku restaurant “Jun-chan” in Chiba Prefecture while raising three children he’s been blessed with alongside his wife, Riko Higashio.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
Can't live off the national pension alone.
Nah, probably not —
his wife's seriously loaded to begin with.
It's probably just more convenient for Ishida to play the broke character.
I know why Hiroshi Ikushima got sidelined lol
The COVID thing was just him eating out at restaurants while everyone was told to stay home.
He suddenly announced he'd run for Tokyo governor and got cut from all his regular shows,
then focused on his business during COVID but kept making the wrong call at every turn.
Because he got a hair transplant in Turkey
As long as he keeps blaming COVID and running from reality, there's no comeback for him.
Ah lol
like embezzling his son's money lol
the scandals never end lmao
same with Miyasako.
Isn't Ishida actually at the shop almost every day though?
There was a documentary following him commuting over an hour each way and working hard running the place.
When he brought food to the table, he'd apparently agree to photos if asked.
Wonder if he's still doing that now.
and I can say for sure he's not scum like Reo Morimoto.
He poured in even his son's paycheck, but the towel shop went under over an affair and he ended up in debt, right?
haven't heard any bad reviews
seems to be doing fine
just a bit pricey though lol
Kind of sad that a guy who once took the whole country by storm ended up with a shop in Funabashi lol
People say the taste is mediocre, but at a yakiniku place you just grill the meat yourself and eat it, so the taste barely changes no matter where you go.
Feels like he's exaggerating the story.
He probably can't even cut the meat himself.
And yet it's actually going well.
Maybe it's just his personality.
There's a reason, but it's a bit awkward to say
No know-how needed —
just serve raw meat
and let the customers grill it themselves
In 2016 he held a press conference saying he'd run for Tokyo governor if the opposition parties united behind him as their candidate
but he ended up withdrawing, citing lack of preparation.
He got talked into running by the Shibaki-tai (a left-leaning anti-racism activist group), but he did it without laying any groundwork, so he got dropped from his regular shows and commercials, incurring penalty fees.
Riko apparently learned about his candidacy from the news.
After all that happened, it's honestly impressive Riko never divorced him and stuck around.
Maybe he's targeting customers coming back from golf?
Probably because there are a lot of yakiniku places there, so he could get a cheap move-in-ready space (taking over an existing restaurant's fixtures/equipment)
He never actually ran
He held a press conference saying "If the opposition unites behind me, I'll run!" and withdrew it three days later.
He backed out that fast?
What he lost over it was huge though.
Background and Key Points of This Story
Two separate incidents from different time periods came up in the thread as reasons Ishida got “sidelined”: eating out during the state of emergency in the COVID pandemic, and his 2016 announcement — later withdrawn — that he’d run for Tokyo governor. The show cancellations and penalty fees were mainly tied to the gubernatorial bid, and it’s reported that his wife, Riko Higashio, learned of his candidacy from the news without being consulted beforehand. Opinions in the thread were split over whether he actually had savings and over his choice of Funabashi as a location, with some posters reporting they’d actually seen him at the shop almost every day. The “reason he got sidelined” tends to get boiled down to a single incident, but it’s easy to overlook that it was really the result of multiple scandals piling up.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Jun’ichi Ishida: “Riko Was Dead Set Against It” — Sidelined by a COVID-Era Scandal… “I Poured In Every Last Penny I Had”“
