A photo of a tuna pack sold at AEON was posted on the 5ch forum. In the “Made in China” label, only the character for “China” was printed faintly, making it easy to misread as “Domestic” (Made in Japan) at a glance — sparking debate over whether this was a deliberate trick to mislead shoppers. Opinions in the thread were split: some argued it was just an accidental smudge from a dirty print head, while others pointed to the different font as evidence of intentional tampering. The discussion also touched on how tuna origin labeling works in general, and frustration over high prices.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:10
＠
[Sad News] AEON invents shocking new method to trick shoppers into buying Chinese tuna thinking it's Japanese 😱🦁
There are probably people buying it thinking it's domestic at a glance… 😅🦁
2AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:11
That's so cheap it's hilarious
4AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:12
Re: #1
What an outrageous way to trick middle-aged and elderly people with poor eyesight.
There's a limit to how low you can go.
5AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:12
Isn't this just fraud?
6AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:12
If your eyesight's bad, you wouldn't even see the 'China' character
7AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:12
Japan, what a shameless country
8AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:13
I've been seeing this 'fade out the China character' trick a lot lately
11AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:16
It's probably just a dirty print head causing the fade, nothing more
60AnonymousSep 20, 2026 20:04
Re: #11
If that were the case, everything would be faded.
The font is clearly different.
12AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:17
Typical AEON for you
14AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:19
They're starting to act just like China
15AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:21
Bigeye tuna is ¥598 per 100g
Can't afford that
16AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:21
Rice: rice labeled '国産' (domestic) might actually be '米国産' (i.e. Made in USA — miss the '米' character and it reads as domestic)
18AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:23
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HSpFjScaUAAn_3y.jpg
24AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:31
Re: #18
This has gotta be intentional, no doubt about it
19AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:25
Tuna doesn't really have a 'country of origin' anyway
They should just label the sea it was caught in
21AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:29
Since they use weird preservative solutions, the country that processed it matters most
25AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:32
I've never seen Chinese tuna at my local supermarket
Though I have seen Taiwanese tuna
26AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:33
It's from the ocean, so 'country of origin' doesn't really matter
49AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:47
Re: #26
If it's farmed, it matters a lot
28AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:33
Unlike eel, this doesn't really bother me
36AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:37
Not sure about now, but in the past there were Chinese frozen tuna fillets treated with carbon monoxide to make them look redder, sold in stores
37AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:37
Is there even a printer that can print just the vertical stroke of '中' faintly?
39AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:41
And it's overpriced for bigeye tuna too, damn AEON
40AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:42
Other characters in the same vertical line are faded too, so it's hard to tell if it's a machine malfunction or deliberate tampering
41AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:43
I don't trust 'domestic' (Made in Japan) labels either, so it doesn't matter to me
43AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:44
My local AEON writes it with parentheses like (Domestic) or (China)
With that format, you'd notice right away if the 'China' part looked faded
47AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:46
How skillfully you can exploit gaps in customer perception to make money
That's what determines whether you get promoted or not
50AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:48
It's Chinese-made and still ¥598 per 100g?
53AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:50
They pull the same trick with '50% off' signs that are really just ¥50 off
54AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:50
They'll probably just claim it was a label printer loading error and dodge it
Background and Key Points of Debate
In Japan, the Food Labeling Act (formerly the JAS Law) requires country-of-origin labeling on fresh food. For fish species like tuna, where farmed and imported products are mixed in with the rest, labels like “Domestic” or “Made in China” directly affect price and purchasing decisions, making legibility of these labels important information for consumers. The thread was split on whether the faint printing of just the “China” character was a deliberate attempt to mislead, or simply a printing glitch. If it were caused by a dirty print head, the whole character should have faded evenly, but as pointed out in reply #60, some commenters noted that the font itself looked different, so no conclusion has been reached. It’s worth noting that this case originated from a single photo posted on social media, and AEON has not issued any explanation or official statement. There have been past controversies about processing imported tuna to make its color look better, but that is a separate issue from this labeling mistake, and the two should not be confused.
Leave a Reply