The 21st episode of the NHK Asadora"Bakebake " (Monday to Saturday, 8:00 AM and other times), starring Akari Takaishi as the heroine, was broadcast on October 27th. The episode saw the first appearance of the owners of the Hanada Inn, Hanada Heita (played by Katsuhisa Namase) and his wife Tsuru (played by Nobue Iketani), which became a hot topic among viewers.
In the 21st episode, four years have passed since Toki (Takaishi) broke up with Ginjiro ( Kanichiro), and now 22 years old, she is still struggling to escape from her life of poverty and debt. Toki, who makes a living by selling clams, goes to sell them to her regular customer, Hanada Inn.
Tsuru is impressed by Toki's hard work, saying, "You work hard, Toki-chan." Toki confides, "No matter how hard I work, my debts don't go down, and I'm divorced, so I can't expect any new marriage proposals, so I'm at my wit's end..." Tsuru mutters, "I guess if I had stayed in Tokyo..." but immediately apologizes, saying, "I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Just then, Heita appears with a newspaper in hand and says, "It's going to be a rough day starting tomorrow." Toki doesn't have time to get the newspaper, so Heita tells her, "A foreigner is coming to Matsue tomorrow," and Tsuru adds, "He's an English teacher at Matsue Junior High School."
When Heita said, "No matter how great they are, Westerners are scary. After all, they have high noses, red faces, and can fly," Toki chimed in, "That's a tengu." When Tsuru continued, "I've heard they have green bodies and plates on their heads," Toki replied, "That's a kappa."
Comments on social media included, "A husband-and-wife comedy act by the couple from Hanada Ryokan lol," "They're the best," "I want to watch the banter between Heita and Tsuru forever. They're so in sync and it's hilarious," "There's no way Namase and Iketani are a married couple that can't be funny lol," "Isn't it just too extravagant to cast Namase Katsuhisa and Iketani Nobue as a married couple...," "They're exactly the kind of rakugo couple the couple from Hanada Ryokan would imagine lol. It's heartwarming," and "This couple fits so well, yet somehow it's refreshing."
