Tama­kawa Toru Absent from Morning Show During Split Winter Break

Regular commentator Tatsuru Tamakawa was absent from TV Asahi's "Hatori Shinichi Morning Show" on June 24, as announced in advance. The program airs weekdays at 8:00 AM and features a rotating panel of commentators providing analysis on current events. Host Hatori Shinichi explained at the program's opening that Tamakawa had entered the second half of his winter break. Tamakawa, a former TV Asahi employee and journalist, had previously taken a one-week break in late May before returning on June 1. At that time, he mentioned plans to take additional time off, and the network later clarified that his two-week winter break would be split into two separate periods. Another regular Wednesday commentator, Toshiki Abe, also did not appear on June 24. Replacement commentators included Masayoshi Ota, an editorial committee member from Kyodo News, and Takako Hamada, a freelance journalist who regularly appears on Wednesdays. Tamakawa's absence had been previewed two days earlier on June 22, when Hatori announced the split break arrangement to viewers.