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The story
Gentosha editor Kosuke Minowa posted on X on the 23rd about people who ride crowded trains and leave their bag on the seat next to them, refusing to let anyone sit down, saying he “wonders what’s going on in their head.” On 5ch, the post drew plenty of “I get it” reactions, while other users piled on with their own train-manners stories — from the bag-placers’ side of the argument to gripes about elderly riders who take the aisle seat and won’t give up the window seat.
8/24 (Mon) 17:16
Gentosha editor Kosuke Minowa updated his X account on the 23rd, sharing his take on people who leave their own bag on the seat next to them on crowded trains.
Minowa opened with: “I wonder what’s going on in the head of someone who puts their bag on the seat next to them when there’s someone standing.” He continued, “Isn’t it way more uncomfortable to have someone obviously eyeing that seat? I seriously don’t get it.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Scary to think guys like this probably put on a good-guy act around people who know them.
They're definitely not fooling anyone.
The worst part is how they play dumb about it — "I'm not trying to keep anyone from sitting here" — while obviously doing exactly that.
Just sit in the window seat anyway, who cares.
I'd love to know what kind of upbringing produces that.
But… an affair? That's a bit beyond understanding.
he's just Ike-chan (his nickname) —
might as well give up.
He'd probably say "everyone does it!" the moment it's his own behavior in question.
Can't you get home without taking the local bus?
"(I'll be getting off soon anyway, might as well take the aisle seat.)"
I see it a lot on weekday afternoons.
Rarely in the mornings — when it happens I just ignore it and sit on top of the bag, or pick it up and toss it aside.
I see it fairly often in the evenings too, but there are usually empty seats around, so it never turns into a confrontation.
Just say "I'd like to sit, could you move that?"
…oh right, you can't say that. Too scary lol
Most normal people move their bag beforehand, figuring someone's going to want that seat.
The point is, it's unbelievable that some people won't move it until they're actually told to.
Back in the Showa era you could've just punched them out of the way.
The police would show up within ten minutes, followed by a bill for several hundred thousand yen.
Re: #85
Background and Key Points
Kosuke Minowa is an editor at Gentosha, a mainstream Tokyo publishing house, and by August 2026 he was already a minor tabloid fixture after reports surfaced of an affair with a YouTuber, allegedly conducted near the home he shares with his family — the “Switch” and “Ike-chan” references in the thread point back to that scandal, not the train post. On Japanese commuter trains, ordinary cars have unassigned bench seating rather than reservations, so “securing” a seat with a bag or body during rush hour is a live daily friction point, distinct from the reserved yūsenseki (priority seats) reserved by law-adjacent custom for elderly, disabled, and pregnant riders.
The thread barely argues about bag etiquette itself — nearly everyone agrees leaving a bag on an empty seat while someone stands is rude. What it actually splits on is whether Minowa has any standing to lecture anyone, given his own scandal; repliers use the train post as a pretext to needle him about the affair, calling that “the real thing I can’t understand,” while a smaller side-thread pivots to a different, genuinely debated behavior: elderly riders who take the aisle seat on a two-seat bench and refuse to let anyone into the window seat, which some excuse as “getting off soon” and others call equally selfish.
What outsiders will likely miss is why nobody in the thread just confronts these people directly. Post 93’s joke about a “several hundred thousand yen” bill after a Shōwa-style shove reflects a real norm: in Japan, physically moving a stranger’s belongings or body risks being treated as assault or property interference, so avoidance and social-media grumbling substitute for direct confrontation.
*This article is an excerpt and summary compiled from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread「Kosuke Minowa shares his opinion: “I wonder what’s going on in the head of someone who puts their bag on the seat next to them when there’s someone standing… I seriously don’t get it”」.
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