The seventh episode of Fuji TV's Wednesday 10pm drama "If This World Were a Stage, Where Would the Dressing Room Be?" (Wednesdays at 10pm), written by Koki Mitani and starring Masaki Suda, aired on November 12th. The episode featured a scene in which Jesse Saiga (played by Sylvia Grab), the owner of WS Theatre, utters a phrase from a popular commercial from the 1980s, which sparked a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In episode 7, Kubo (Suda) is spending his days rehearsing with veteran actor Reizaburo Koreo (Asano Kazuyuki). A week has passed since the opening performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," but the audience numbers have not increased as expected and sales are less than half of the target. However, Kubo is excited to announce that next week they will be performing Shakespeare's masterpiece, "The Winter's Tale."
The manager, Daimon's (Nozoe Yoshihiro) wife, Fre (Nagano Satomi), tells him that "running away is winning" and invites him to take the sales money and return to the countryside. However, Daimon is swayed by Hisabe's passionate argument that "Reizaburo Koreo's revival is big news for the theater world" and decides to "take a chance on you once again."
The next morning, the owner, Jesse Saiga, comes in and Daimon hands him an envelope containing the sales quota, saying, "This week's sales."
In the episode, Daimon notices that Jesse Saiga has something in his mouth after receiving an envelope, and asks, "Um, owner... what's this?", pointing at his mouth. Jesse Saiga then holds up the little finger on his right hand and says, "This is why I quit my job." Daimon, upon hearing this, smiles and responds, "It's a smoking cessation pipe! Wow, I've never seen one like that before." Then, a caption appears on the screen: "Smoking cessation pipe... Released in 1984. In 1985, it became a catchphrase with the phrase 'This is why I quit smoking. This is why I quit my job.'"
On social media, many people responded to Jesse Saiga's lines and the explanation in the caption. Comments such as "It brings back memories," "What's a smoking cessation pipe lol," "They included an explanation of the smoking cessation pipe lol," "It's been a while since I saw this," "The smoking cessation pipe commercial definitely wouldn't get through to the younger generation," "So nostalgic!" and "So reminiscent of the Showa era" were lined up.
