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The story
A thread titled “Bipolar NEET (27), it’s been 4 days since Mom vanished” on 5ch’s Newsoku VIP board drew a wave of replies. The poster, who says they hold a disability certificate for bipolar disorder and live with their mother while chipping in for living expenses despite being a NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), explained that their mother left on a trip with the poster’s older brother and hasn’t come home in four days. The thread ranged from the state of the house — trash and dirty dishes piling up — to arguments over whether the poster had actually gone to Hello Work (Japan’s public employment office), and on to talk of calling the police and whether welfare benefits were even an option. Commenters alternated between teasing the poster for having been “abandoned” and the poster’s own deadpan pushback.
What people said
So are the dishes.
maaya777
That's sweet of you 😭 ugh…
At least do that much.
There's no such thing as a NEET who can do housework.
Facts 😭 ugh…
No one like that would show up.
Well, that's it then…
There's no way this guy actually went.
I did go!
From here on it's a one-way road to hell.
I don't want a one-way road like that.
She's never coming back. Ever.
No, she'll probably be back around next week.
I'm the one being financially exploited here…
As for cooking, are you basically just boiling water?
I cook properly, actually.
She's coming back.
It's not like I was abandoned or anything.
Well, if she really were coming back, she'd tell you exactly when.
The fact that she hasn't kind of says it all, doesn't it?
LMAOOO
Except I can't actually get welfare.
It's a 'missing person' report, technically.
And even if you file one, they just fill out paperwork — they won't actually go looking.
She's not missing.
They'll just take it over the phone and call it done lol
Background and Key Points
The “certificate” (手帳, techō) the poster refers to appears to be Japan’s Mental Disability Health and Welfare Certificate, issued to people with psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder. It grants holders things like medical-expense subsidies and tax breaks, but it’s an entirely separate system from eligibility for welfare (生活保護, seikatsu hogo — Japan’s public assistance program). Welfare eligibility is assessed on the income and assets of the whole household, so if a family member you live with earns enough, you can be disqualified even with zero income of your own — which is likely the mechanism behind the poster’s claim of “not being able to get welfare.” Reactions in the thread mixed criticism of the poster’s neglect of housework with sympathy for a situation shaped by mental illness, producing a more nuanced response than a simple “stop being lazy” pile-on. It’s also worth noting that no information beyond the poster’s own account is available about why the mother left or when she plans to return, so none of it can be verified from the thread alone.
※This article was compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Newsoku VIP) thread “Bipolar NEET (27), it’s been 4 days since Mom vanished.”
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