"Detective! Night Scoop" (ABC TV, Fridays at 11:17 PM) is a popular variety show where "detectives" tackle bizarre requests and worries submitted by viewers. On May 29th, Detective Katsura Niha investigated a "giant barrel that couldn't be removed from a storage room." Actor Kazuki Kitamura made his first appearance on the show as the special director, with Takanori Takeyama as assistant director and Saori Masuda as secretary.
The request came from a 70-year-old man from Nara Prefecture. He runs a vinegar manufacturing company in Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture. He has been making vinegar since the early Edo period and still produces it using traditional methods, fermenting it in wooden barrels.
There is a storehouse on the company's premises that is currently being used as a storage shed. Currently, there is talk of converting this storehouse into a vinegar sales outlet, but there is one problem. A large wooden barrel inside the storehouse! This barrel has been unused for quite some time and has been left stored in the storehouse.
Eighteen years ago, due to the aging of the storehouse, it was decided to renovate it, and the entrance was also rebuilt at that time. However, after the work was completed, the entrance was found to be just too small for the tubs to pass through. At the time, I gave up and decided to use the storehouse as a storage room, but I would really like to make good use of it as a sales outlet. I was wondering if it would be possible to get the large wooden tubs out through the small entrance.
When Detective Futaba visited the storehouse, he discovered it was a "Registered Tangible Cultural Property" built in 1892. The barrel in question was intended to be used as an art object, but it weighed 130-140 kg, was 196 cm tall, and 173 cm wide. However, the entrance to the storehouse was 190 cm high and 150 cm wide, making it clearly impossible to get it out even if it were placed on its side.
With everyone pitching in and using hammers and other tools, they finally managed to remove the door, but it was still about 10 centimeters too narrow. So they asked comedian and math expert Mr. Takata, who said, "It looks like the wall will collapse by about 5 centimeters." Will they be able to get the barrels out safely, or will the storehouse wall collapse?
