What's going on
A 26-year-old man from Osaka has spent his whole life on the pitcher's mound — school teams, adult leagues, weekend rec ball. He never made it to the pros, but he has one dream left: strike out an actual professional baseball player. Just once. He knows a fair fight isn't an option, so he came up with a different plan. What if the batter was desperate to use the bathroom? His theory: even the greatest athlete can't focus on a fastball when their bladder is about to explode.
The show arranged a real matchup at a stadium in Osaka — an amateur pitcher versus Yoshio Itoi, a retired outfielder who spent nearly two decades in Japan's top professional league and was one of the most feared hitters of his era. *(Itoi is perhaps best known for his massive physique, his cannon of a throwing arm, and a career batting average that made opposing pitchers lose sleep.)* To make the challenge "fair," a medical device was used to measure Itoi's bladder fullness in real time — the numbers climbing on screen as he drank glass after glass of water before the at-bat. A fanfare sound effect played every time the meter ticked up. The pitcher waited. The crowd waited. Then, at peak desperation, the ball was thrown.
Comments
How is he hitting it that far with THAT swing lmaooo
なんであの振り方であんな飛ぶんだよwwwwwww
The bladder meter totally flipping between Punch and Itoi was comedy gold lol
パンチと糸井尿意逆転だったのほんと草
This is the stupidest premise and I love it so much
このバカすぎる企画がやっぱ好き
This is an absolutely unhinged way to market their company’s bladder measurement device, and it works perfectly
自社の「尿意測る機械」の宣伝にめちゃくちゃなってるな
Right? And the wild thing is it actually works as entertainment lol
たしかにw それがちゃんとエンタメになってるのが、なんか良いね！
“I want to face a pro baseball player who really needs to pee” — what a sentence to exist
尿意MAXのプロ野球選手と戦いたい依頼者ってなんだよ
Starting to read a love letter out loud while the man is desperately holding it in… that’s genuinely evil lmao
人が小便我慢してる時にラブレターを読み始めるのは流石に草
I noticed it before on sports variety shows too — Itoi is just naturally hilarious on camera. Love him
スポーツ王の時も思ったけど糸井さんのバラエティ適性が凄い、好きすぎる
At a certain angle it kind of looks like an Ichiro stance, and then the ball just rockets out of there lmao
見ようによってはイチローみたいなフォームでしかもエグい飛び方して草
If you hit a rubber softball (Japanese recreational leagues use a rubber ball rather than a hardball) with full force it squishes and dies on contact, so ironically the bladder-induced power reduction gave him the perfect swing weight
糸井のパワーで軟式打つと潰れて飛ばないはずなのに、尿意でいい感じにパワーダウンしたおかげでめっちゃ飛んでる。
Right! So unlike a regular guy, being superhuman actually let him convert the desperation into something useful lmao
なるほど！糸井選手は、人間（パンチさん）とは真逆で、超人ゆえに尿意を好結果につなげたんですね（笑）
The inside pitch near his feet almost causing an emergency bladder situation had me dying
足元のブラッシュボールで糸井の膀胱が決壊しかけるの腹捩れる
They rented out a whole stadium for this absolute nonsense of a segment lol
このふざけた企画でこの球場貸切は草
The little fanfare that plays every time the bladder meter goes up omg
尿意上がる度にファンファーレなるの草
The letter to his wife that read like a 10-year-old wrote it, and Itoi’s “do this at your own house” response — I lost it lol
小学生みたいな嫁への手紙と糸井の家でやってーに爆笑したｗ
And so, Itoi discovered a batting technique that doesn’t rely on muscle power. A legend is born
こうして糸井は筋力に頼らないバッティング法を開眼したのであった
The tension leaving his body actually resulted in cleaner hip rotation — the centrifugal force did the work. In a weird way it’s textbook form
逆に力が抜けて力感なく綺麗に腰が回転して遠心力で打ててる。ある意味理想の打ち方や
Itoi doing that weird little sprint to first and Punch chasing after him waving a towel — the image alone is priceless
11:44 糸井の走り方と後を追いかけるパンチ佐藤の絵面おもろすぎる
Can’t believe they actually pulled this off lol. Also wild that the bladder sensor works from the outside
とんでもない企画実現しちゃってて草 外側から尿意計れるってすごいなー！
His resume is genuinely insane — calling him in for something like this is kind of disrespectful on paper, but he made it work as entertainment AND hit the ball far. Respect
糸井さんって経歴めちゃくちゃすごいしこんな企画に呼ぶの本来は失礼なはずなのにちゃんとバライティとして成立させた上で結果出すのマジですごいな。
Hitting that far with that form… pros really are something else
あんな変な打ち方であれだけ飛ぶんだからやっぱりプロってすごいね！
Even with a rubber ball, that swing and that distance — ridiculous
糸井軟式とはいえあの打ち方であそこまで飛ばすんはエグい
Not tensing up probably helped — with a rubber softball you actually lose distance if you muscle it
力入ってない状態で打ったのがかえって良かった可能性ある（軟式は力むと飛ばないので）
Still drinking protein shakes in retirement… the commitment is real
糸井さんは引退してもプロテイン飲んでるの凄い
This absolute lunacy of a segment has such a Kansai TV energy (Osaka’s local TV culture is famous for leaning into absurd, physical comedy) and I’m here for it
馬鹿過ぎる企画が関西の番組感あってめっちゃ好き
Why are they spending this much money on something this ridiculous lmaooo
なんでこんな企画にめちゃコストかけてんねんwww
Going all out on the dumbest requests possible — that’s exactly what this show is
バカバカしい依頼に全力で応えるのがナイトスクープやで。
Classic Knight Scoop energy
これぞナイトスクープという企画
On TV the bladder meter used the Dragon Quest level-up jingle — the YouTube version had to swap it out, and that’s somehow funnier
テレビではドラクエのレベルアップの音だったのにYouTubeだと音吹き替えられてんのおもろい
Barely any retired pro baseball players can make it in TV variety, but Itoi seems like he could build a whole second career out of it
バラエティーで食べていける元プロ野球選手はほとんどないけど糸井さんなら食っていけそう。
Behold: the true “Pee Swing” batting style
これがホントのションベン打法
First time seeing Punch in about 20 years and he looked well — got a little emotional honestly 😂
パンチさん20年ぶりくらいに見て、お元気そうで嬉しくてちょっと泣いてしまった😂
Tuned in for the Aimyon segment (Aimyon is a popular Japanese singer-songwriter) and this ended up being the best part of the episode by far
この回あいみょん目当てで見たけど、これが1番おもろかった
This is giving major “Mizu Dau” vibes (a well-known variety show famous for extreme human experiment segments)
水ダウみたいなことやってて草
Knight Scoop is basically the show that invented that format lol
むしろ水ダウの元祖的番組やで
PSA for any kids watching: don’t hold it in. Even once can cause a bladder infection, and if it becomes a habit it’s genuinely miserable to deal with
よいこのみんなは我慢しちゃダメだぞ。たった一回のおしがまでも膀胱炎なるし泌尿器科で治さないと癖付いてつらい。
Setting aside the comedy, that bladder monitor actually seems like a legitimately useful medical device
医療目的で素晴らしい機械だわ
Punch sets the stage and then superhuman Itoi just walks in and steals the whole show 🤣
パンチさんを前座に笑いをかっさらっていく超人糸井さん最高🤣
My take
That he could still connect under those conditions is a reminder of just how deep athletic instinct runs. The body remembers even when the mind is... elsewhere. Probably not a situation he'll find himself in again, which almost makes the hit more impressive.
Source & translation note
Comments loosely translated for tone. Reactions collected from Togetter and X threads.
View original thread →