You’re welcome! Actually I took a bit of my time and translated the three letters. Hope you enjoy! ![:)]( "Smile")
[i:26mt439u]Tanaka’s letter:[/i:26mt439u]
To Housei-san. I am sure you are surprised by my letter, but please listen without saying anything. Right after our combi started playing for Gaki no Tsukai, you looked at me and told me this: "hey you, you’re really skinny! Do you even eat properly?". Which I replied to: "yes! I’m fine!", though in truth, I was in debt at that time to the point it was hard even living properly. Of course, I could not eat properly, and the Bento box we got during recordings was my best lunch I could get in the whole week. However, I did not want you to notice it, and made it look as though I did not have any problems with money. But you saw through it all. "Come with me since you haven’t got anyone to talk to!", you invited me to eat like you usually do, in a sweet way that would not make me feel bad about it. After having a meal that I could not even dream of having at that time, you pulled out your cigarettes, wanting to smoke a bit after eating. And so you said: "Huh? It’s not there… I don’t have any lighter". I said: "please use this!", while I gave you a 100 yen lighter, you said: "I’m a heavy smoker so I can’t live without fire! So sell me that lighter!". You put the 100 yen lighter in your pocket, and instead gave me 10,000 yen. I said: "oh, no, I cannot take this…", which you replied to me with: "You know, I’m a star and all so I don’t care about how I use my money!", forcing me to accept the 10,000 yen. It was a really welcomed gift, as I really did not have any money back then. From then on, every time we went to eat together, you would say you don’t have any lighter, and would every time give me money. I was really, really happy about those gifts. But the truth is, I used 100 yen to buy back my lighter, and saved the 9,900 other. I thought of all that money as the price of your kindness, and so I am still saving that money you gave me back then. You, who have found a beautiful job called Rakugo. I think your kindness is flowing through your Rakugo, and I absolutely love it. Cocorico Tanaka Naoki.
[i:26mt439u]Endo’s letter:[/i:26mt439u]
To Housei-san. It’s been 19 years since we’ve met. I think this is the first time I express my gratitude to you like this. I am indebted to you for a lot of things, but I would like to tell you the thing I’m the most grateful for. This is a secret between us, and something I’m forbidden to speak of… but the truth is, Housei-san was deeply involved in my relationship with Chiaki, my old wife. At first, Chiaki was in love with not me, but you. While you seemed absolutely not interested in her, Chiaki, who was wanting to get close to you, would show up during your dinners every week and approach you. I was also there every week, and before I knew it, I fell in love with Chiaki. One day, while expecting to be yelled at, I told you how I felt about Chiaki. "gotcha" was the single word you said, and you arranged a dinner between me and Chiaki a few days later. Thanks to your efforts, I could marry Chiaki and, while for a limited time, enjoy true happiness. I deeply thank you for considering my love back then. And one more thing, when I talked to you about my worries as a comedian, you told me "you’re really funny with your body, so wouldn’t it be better for you to do a gag half naked?". "Wouldn’t something like "Hohhohoi" be good?" you continued, giving me advices. And then was created the gag you are all aware of, "Hohohoi". The truth is that "Hohohoi"'s real father is Housei-san. But you wouldn’t say anything about Hohohoi nor Chiaki, and made me into a man. And that I am grateful for. You, who have found a great job called Rakugo. I really love your light and fun Rakugo.
[i:26mt439u]Hamada’s letter:[/i:26mt439u]
To Yama-chan. While we absolutely have no relationship outside of work, the truth is I’m very grateful about one thing. We go back to before we moved to Tokyo as Downtown while we were experiencing popularity in Osaka, when Suga-chan and the others approached us, roughly 27 years ago. We were told "don’t you want to have your own program in Tokyo?". Needless to say, we were really happy as it would become our first lead to becoming superstars. However, there was one thing that was bothering me. That is… contraband ivory. This is something Matsumoto does not even know of, but at that time, I was smuggling ivory from Africa and was selling it at a high price. I was doing big money with black labour. "If I go to Tokyo, I won’t be about to smuggle ivory anymore! What to do!" I thought. I spent days and days hesitating over and over. While I was feeling depressed over that, one day, I went like always to Kobe’s harbor during the night to check the ivory. However, the person who waited for me there was not some information breaker, but Yama-chan. You looked at me with a different look from usual, that of a beast, and told me this: "Ivory or Downtown! Which one is more important for you?!". I was able to make my mind up thanks to those words, and stopped doing business with ivory. We then moved to Tokyo as Downtown, and started this show, "Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende". If you hadn’t told me those words that came from your heart back then, I would maybe still doing ivory smuggling even now. It’s all thanks to you that Gaki no Tsukai and Downtown exists now. You who found a superb job called Rakugo. One day, as the Hamada family, we will go to see our beloved Yama-chan’s Rakugo. Thanks.
It’s a literal translation, meaning it’s almost translated word-to-word. As such, there might be "fishy" sentences (things like the lunch they get during recordings outside of HQ actually has a word for it, ロケ弁). If the next episode is funny too, I might translate again. ![:bow:]( "Bow")
Editing for bad spelling, haven’t re-read myself too much before posting. ![:lol:]( "Laughing")
