From our other sites
The story
A Japanese TV ad depicting a sixth-grader growing up in a single-mother household has stirred up discussion on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo G board (a general live-discussion forum). The line “I barely get to eat properly” set off a wide range of reactions — criticism of government policy and the welfare system, debate over the realities of child support and public assistance, and claims that boys tend to be turned away from children’s cafeterias (kodomo shokudo, community meal programs for kids). At the same time, some questioned where the donated money actually goes, and others argued that public consultation services should be publicized before running ads like this — turning the thread into a broader debate about how child-poverty measures should really work.
What people said
What is the government even doing?
Isn't that different case by case?
If it were a boy, support would probably dry up.
It's a country where boy brats get thrown under the bus, after all.
Apparently even at kids' cafeterias (kodomo shokudo), once boys hit upper-elementary age, they often start getting turned away for some reason.
Beyond that too, society's reaction clearly shifts when it's a girl instead.
They're both equally powerless kids, but man, that's messed up.
You can't legally work until high school, you know.
Apparently paper routes are the one exception, for some reason.
Two meals a day during their growth years, though…
Wasn't she the one who kept going to idol or anime events buying up tons of merch?
And then NHK, to save face, rolled out that nonsensical concept of "relative poverty."
That "poor girl" was Urara, right?
Welfare groups just want to keep sucking up public funds.
Advertising really is the easiest way to inflate a budget, isn't it.
Apparently some low-ranked high schools in Osaka started teaching classes on how to use government offices, and it actually stabilized the school atmosphere.
In this society, if even the parents don't know how the system works, you can easily end up stuck.
It's propaganda trying to shift the burden onto private citizens.
If she's not getting it, that's the ex-husband's problem, not society's.
Don't force this into an attack on the government.
So you think it's fine if the kid starves to death?
Tell that to the ex-husband.
Child poverty rates are seriously bad in this country of ours.
Urara's case was legit though — NHK was the one at fault, filming a room cluttered with stuff and doing a close-up on her face.
She just got used and dumped by a so-called "high-status man" (the mocking parentheses are sarcastic emphasis).
And the woman wanted to sleep with a "high-status man who treats women like objects" in the first place, so this is on her.
I get what you're saying.
But even if the single mom's at fault, the kid isn't, right?
Go ahead and throw all the stones you want at the single mom.
But anyone who throws stones at the kid — I won't forgive that.
It's not like she can't turn things around and go back.
If she's not getting welfare (seikatsu hogo), then she's either a criminal, hasn't gone through the proper legal process, or is here illegally.
Why don't you just take her in yourself.
Then how about remarrying me instead — single guy, own a 4-bedroom house outright!
I'll cover the entire mortgage myself and handle food for the 2-3 people including a wife and kid!
And even then, this single mom would still say "No low-status men! I want a high-status man to take care of me! I'd rather leech off the state than remarry a low-status man!" right?
Way too much nerve.
Pretty pitiful too, right? 😭
If you've got free time, get a side job.
This group's even been flagged as a problem in the Diet (Japan's parliament).
Wait, seriously?
Isn't it messed up that a scam outfit like that hasn't been busted?
Are you kidding me?
Background and key points of this discussion
Behind this story is the 2019 controversy in which NHK featured a high school girl as an example of “poverty,” only for it to later emerge that she’d been buying up merchandise at idol events — a scandal that blew up at the time. Threads keep citing this incident, showing how deep the distrust of the concept of “relative poverty” itself still runs. On child-poverty measures, many argued that public systems like welfare and child support should be publicized before resorting to ad campaigns like this one, and some questioned where donated funds actually end up. It’s worth noting that claims about boys being turned away from children’s cafeterias remain anecdotal and aren’t backed by official statistics.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Recent Japanese TV ad: “I’m a sixth-grader. At my single mother’s house, I barely get to eat properly”.”
Leave a Reply