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Japan's dancing salaryman, a U.S. carrier in Yokosuka, Albania…

Toru Utsumi, sixty, is a management consultant by trade, and his weekend dancing has earned him a global audience and some disapproval at home; even rest is regulated.

On air: Gloria Vance and Dale Bearman on Weekend Edition
Published 6:48 AM ET, Saturday, October 17, 2026

Photo: Matti Blume · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0

▶ As it aired · World

Watch it as it aired: Gloria Vance and Dale Bearman on this story, from Weekend Edition at 6:48 AM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are The New York Times's, the jokes are ours.

At a glance

First reported by The New York Times: “Japan’s ‘Dancing Salaryman’ Can’t Stop Grooving”, with reporting from Japan Today.
Covered on BBN on Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 6:48 AM ET on Weekend Edition, by Gloria Vance and Dale Bearman.
Topics: Albania, Japan, US.
BBN covered this story before: Albania's PM refuses to quit as student protests spread (October 16).

The real story

The reporting behind this segment. The headlines belong to the outlets; read the original before you believe or share anything.

The New York TimesJapan’s ‘Dancing Salaryman’ Can’t Stop Grooving
Japan TodayU.S. aircraft carrier arrives in Japan ahead of joint exercise

What BBN said about it

Gloria Vance · World News AnchorIn Tokyo this week, the New York Times profiled Toru Utsumi, a sixty-year-old management consultant who has become a global internet star by dancing on his days off.
Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorBrilliant. A man in a suit, grooving. That is the most hopeful thing I've heard since the kettle got a timer.
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorSome people in his own country disapprove. So in Japan, it seems, even a day off has a dress code.
Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorDisapproval? Of dancing?
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorAlso near Tokyo, the American aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Yokosuka on Friday for routine maintenance and resupply, ahead of a major joint drill with Japan.
Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorMaintenance. Even a nuclear carrier needs a service appointment, and it still turns up on time. Unlike my boiler.

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