On September 14th, taxi driver Shingo Sakakibara, who is said to resemble actor Mackenyu, appeared on the variety show "Nanani Chika ABEMA" (ABEMA, Sundays at 8pm), hosted by Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Shingo Katori .
Sakakibara posted a four-second video of himself walking down the street, and it became a hot topic on social media, with people saying, "He looks like Mackenyu!" His colleagues shared some surprising stories, such as, "Customers have sent fan mail to the company," "They've asked me to sit in the passenger seat and see my face," and "Some customers have even touched my thighs."
He further confessed, "Once, a passenger I gave a ride from Shinjuku (in Tokyo) to Ayase asked me, 'This is my house. Do you want to stop by?' I naturally declined," causing an uproar in the studio.
When asked by Kusanagi, "If you're that popular, don't you get scouted (by talent agencies)?", he revealed, "I was scouted by about 20 companies in total in Aichi and Tokyo."
On the other hand, he said that he was "not popular at all" during his school days, and shared a photo from that time. Seeing his dramatic transformation, Katori asked, "How did you end up like this?" to which Sakakibara replied, "When I graduated from high school and went on to beauty school, everyone around me was "first-string" and I was completely "fifth-string." After someone said to me, 'Don't your eyes look like Mackenyu's,' I started to imitate him, and within a month I had a girlfriend." Kusanagi responded, "A person's appearance is more important than their savings!", causing a frenzy in the studio.
