On June 17th, musician Tamio Okuda and singer and actor Koji Kikkawa's unit "Ooochie Koochie" attended the "OK!! Hiroshima (Oishii Kee, Hiroshima)" launch event in Tokyo. The two, both from Hiroshima and of the same age, had a light-hearted conversation in the Hiroshima dialect.
"Ooochie Koochie" is a limited-time unit formed in February this year by Okuda and Yoshikawa, who were born in Hiroshima in 1965 and turned 60 this year, to give back to their hometown Hiroshima and liven up the whole of Japan. On the same day, it was announced that they would serve as cheering leaders for "OK!! Hiroshima," a project to promote the appeal of Hiroshima's food.
When he received the "Cheerleader Appointment Letter" from Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki, the topic turned to the fact that Governor Yuzaki is the same age as him, and Okuda retorted, "I think the Governor should come too." Yoshikawa immediately retorted, "Don't say 'come' (lol)!" and corrected the reporter, "Sorry, that's not OK," but Okuda seemed unconcerned, saying, "If we're the same age, it's fine."
Turning to the topic of the Hiroshima dialect, Yoshikawa said, "It's a warm dialect, but when I was talking with a friend in Hiroshima dialect at a restaurant in Tokyo, the waiter said to me, 'Can we please take our fight outside?' (laughs). I told him, 'No, we were just having fun.'" He then retorted, "I think that's what you mean," to which Yoshikawa laughed and said, "So I was the cause of it."
Yoshikawa said that Okuda was "shy" and shared an episode from their first meeting in high school. When Yoshikawa recalled, "When we first met, (the distance) was far," Okuda spread his arms and pointed out, "It's scary, with shoulders like this." Yoshikawa was flustered and said, "Don't get the wrong idea, I'm a refreshing athlete!"
Also appearing at the presentation were Ikeda Shinobu, Director of Hiroshima Prefecture's Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Brand Strategy Division, and Murakami Shohei, Manager of Hiroshima Brand Shop TAU in Ginza, Tokyo.
