Japan’s ‘weather queen’ goes viral after a bizarre gaffe during her evening bulletin – and her reaction is priceless
A Japanese news anchor has gone viral after an on-air blunder.
Saya Hiyama was about to read her 8pm bulletin on Japan’s 24-hour weather-focused news station Weathernews when she accidentally said ‘morning’.
She looked very embarrassed after realising her mistake, as the show cut to an exterior shot of the city skyline swathed in darkness.
Whoops! Japan’s ‘weather queen’ Saya Hiyama has gone viral again after a bizarre gaffe during her evening bulletin
‘Good evening,’ the 28-year-old journalist began. ‘The time is around 20:00, November 12th, Weathernews Live… Morn-‘
Saya suddenly paused then raised her hands to her mouth in disbelief.
‘It’s not morning, is it? I don’t know why…’ she said, blushing.
‘I think it might be because I met Yui-Chan today. I am sorry,’ she continued, referring to her colleague Yui-Chan who hosts the morning program for Weathernews.
‘It’s not morning, is it?’ Saya was about to read her 8pm bulletin on Japan’s 24-hour weather channel Weathernews when she accidentally said ‘morning’. She looked embarrassed after realising her error, as the show cut to an exterior shot of the city skyline swathed in darkness
Saya paused again and lowered her face to the desk as she laughed off the blunder.
‘I made a mistake at the beginning of the program. I apologise,’ the meteorologist told viewers.
The broadcast then cut to a shot of the Weathernews Inc. station building in Chiba, Japan, to show it was night-time.
‘Yes, it is. It’s night-time now,’ Saya added.
The amusing on-air moment was uploaded to YouTube and has since gone viral, racking up more than 2.1 million views and 47,000 likes.
Fan favourite: Saya has a cult following online due to her reactions to news stories, which have earned her the nickname ‘Japan’s weather queen’
Saya has a cult following online due to her reactions to news stories, which have earned her the nickname ‘Japan’s weather queen’.
She first went viral in late February after she abruptly changed her tone from playful to serious when a breaking news story about an earthquake interrupted a light-hearted discussion about Shogi, also known as Japanese chess.
There has been some debate as to why Saya is so popular, with internet sleuths speculating it’s due to a quirk in YouTube’s algorithm that promotes her videos.
Numbers game: There has been some debate as to why Saya is so popular, with some internet sleuths speculating it’s due to a quirk in YouTube’s algorithm that promotes her videos