The comedy duo "Rocchi" appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on April 2nd. Kentaro Kokado (46), nicknamed "the Sewing Prince of the Comedy World," talked about the appeal of sewing machines and his missing father.
When Kokado was in the second or third grade of elementary school, his father left home saying, "I'm going to the bathhouse." He has never returned.
"One day my father suddenly stopped coming home. But my mother and sister didn't mention it and just went about their daily lives as if nothing had happened. So I never asked him, 'What about your father?' until now."
He said that his mother and his older sister, who is two years older than him, supported his lifestyle. "My older sister would buy me games and bring home chicken for Christmas. She even paid for my driver's license," he recalled.
Kokado, who had no hobbies until she was 40, thought, "People who are passionate about something have richer days," and so she started sewing without much thought.
"I wasn't sure if I would like it, so I bought a used sewing machine. I also bought some thread and scraps of fabric. The moment I started, I thought, 'This might be what I've been looking for!' and got goosebumps."
Kokado became obsessed with sewing machines, and when her partner Soichi Nakaoka broke his leg, she made a plaster cast cover for him. When Nakaoka got married last year, she gave him a wedding ring case. Nakaoka expressed her gratitude, saying, "This is useful, and I attach it to my bag and use it."
Kokado says she wants to make sewing her lifelong hobby. She explains the appeal of sewing: "It's fun when I use the machine, it's fun when I give it as a gift and someone uses it, and it's fun when I make clothes and wear them. There are so many fun moments."
