A-san (24), is a woman living in Osaka who is said to resemble popular model Meru “Meruru” Nukumi. With no connections to the entertainment industry, she currently runs a beauty salon and recently confessed to FRIDAY that her current lover is Masatoshi Hamada (59) of comedy duo Downtown.
According to A-san, she and Hamada met several times in Umeda in 2018 and 2019, while she was working at a major beauty salon. When the news broke out that Hamada and his wife Ogawa Natsumi were living separately, she decided to confess the truth.
“At first I wanted to keep our relationship just between us, but when I saw the news that he and his wife were separated, I began to wonder if it was okay for me to stay silent like this… I thought it would be better for people to know what I went through because he is a public figure that everyone knows.”
Hamada and A-san allegedly met around Fall 2018, through a mutual friend and former entertainer from Osaka, S-san. One day, S-san wanted to verify whether or not A-san was of legal age, and checked her identification. Once he verified, he told her that his friend Hamada of Downtown was interested in her and wanted them to be introduced. Also that his wife would be okay with it.
A-san decided to go through with it and meet Hamada just once. The secret meeting place was at a luxury hotel that cost 100,000 yen a night. During their first meeting, it ended with just a hug. After that Hamada took a liking to A-san and the meetings became more frequent.
“We always met in the same suite room. During the first meeting, I got off the elevator alone on the designated floor, Mr. Hamada then slightly opened the door to the room and beckoned me in. I wasn’t particularly a fan of his, but at the time I thought to myself, ‘Wow, it’s really him!’”
Hamada, who is known for his tough personality on TV, showed some unexpected sides in front of A-san, such as breaking down in tears when she brought him French crullers. He told A-san that no one has ever done such a kind thing for him. She told FRIDAY that she was shocked that someone could be so famous, yet so lonely.
Since the shooting time for the show Gobu Gobu was on Mondays, A-san would get in touch with him through S-san and the two would meet on Sunday nights. Regarding their relationship, A-san described it as Sugar dating.
“We didn’t make any promises or commitments, but every time we met he would pay for my taxi fare. During our second meeting, without even counting he grabbed a wad of cash from his wallet and handed it to me. During the 4 meetings we had I received about 300,000 yen in total.”
