Mikimama Apologizes Over ‘Unauthorized Video Use’ Scandal — 5ch Fires Back: ‘Recipes Aren’t Copyrighted, Right?’

From our other sites

The story

The controversy began when culinary personality and TV talent Mikimama posted a video that used another chef’s cooking footage without permission, emphasizing that her own recipe was superior. The other chef shared her feelings on Instagram, saying, “It makes me very sad to have my precious recipe treated this way without permission,” prompting Mikimama to post an apology on October 3. On 5ch, opinions split between those pointing out that recipes themselves aren’t copyrighted and those noting that what was used without permission was the cooking “video,” which is subject to copyright — leaving the thread divided over where the real issue actually lies.

10/4 (Sun) 17:10

“I am truly sorry for the trouble I have caused this time.”

On October 3, culinary personality and TV talent Miki Fujiwara, known as “Mikimama,” apologized on her own Instagram. Mikimama has been at the center of controversy after reportedly disparaging another chef’s recipe.

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

What people said

4AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:39
Onyanko Club? (a famous 1980s Japanese idol group)
28AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:57
Re: #4
Sounds like it's just someone else with the same name.
5AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:40
My Recipe: A Delicious Dream Harmony
12AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:47
There's no copyright on recipes, right?
21AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:52
Re: #12
Nope — other chefs pass other people's dishes off as their own all the time too.
24AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:55
Re: #12
She didn't steal the recipe — she used someone else's cooking video without permission to make a video claiming her own recipe is way better. Videos ARE copyrighted. The recipe itself isn't even remotely similar.
84AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:49
Re: #12
The way the world's going, next someone's gonna say 'I patented putting oil in the pan before frying.'
13AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:47
The people crying 'unauthorized recipe use' — do you ask someone's permission every single time you cook rice and make miso soup?
14AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:48
"I borrowed the video to make a response video."




Way too petty for words.
15AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:48
What even is a 'culinary researcher,' anyway?
69AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:29
Re: #15
Kind of like a 'history researcher,' I guess.
18AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:50
The real issue here isn't recipe theft.
19AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:51
This person's pulled something like this before too, right?
Well, recipes are a gray area to begin with.
20AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:52
If it's a video that runs someone else's cooking footage the whole way through just to keep comparing it, that's a pretty gray area for permitted quotation. If you're going to heavily quote someone else's video, it's safer to get the rights holder's permission first.
26AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:56
So it's less 'unauthorized recipe use' and more that she used the video without permission, huh?
27AnonymousOct 4, 2026 22:56
Blocking everyone who criticized her, one after another, seems to have fanned the flames too.
31AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:00
Stealing it and then putting out a comparison video makes zero sense.
32AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:00
Pulled pork is called that because you slow-cook a whole piece of meat until it falls apart, then 'pull' (shred) it. If you make it with thin-sliced scrap pork, it's not even pulled pork to begin with.
34AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:04
On Instagram, denials, defenses, and apologies are all equally worthless.
35AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:05
I'm just not a fan of people who slap 'Mama,' 'Papa,' or '-chan' onto their own name.
36AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:05
I've never seen her cook any meat dish besides thin-sliced scrap pork.
Oh, except maybe gyoza.
37AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:06
Re: #24
"It makes me very sad to have my precious recipe treated this way without permission."

I only know what's in the article, but there's not a single mention of video copyright in that quote.
51AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:16
Re: #37
Japanese really is steadily going extinct, huh.
40AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:07
You see stuff like 'you can make this with cheaper ingredients' or 'this is way easier' all the time, but playing the other person's video while you say it is taking it too far.
58AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:19
Re: #40
And on top of that, right as the other chef is shown using a Staub pot, she throws in a dig like 'You don't need some fancy pot!'
63AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:24
Re: #40
So 'this is easy to make' actually meant 'the video was easy to make,' huh?
41AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:08
There are already tons of things like 'KFC copycat recipes' floating around, so…
44AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:11
Re: #41
Pulled pork itself isn't anyone's original invention to begin with. It's on the level of making miso soup with an unusual ingredient.
59AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:21
First time hearing of this person today, but she seems like she'd know all kinds of time-saving cooking tricks, so I'll check her out.
Tips that grow out of home cooking are often more useful than ones from professional chefs.
75AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:35
Re: #59
Is that you yourself?
70AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:30
Not a single mention of Koyama Keiichiro yet. (A recurring 5ch running gag that drops an unrelated celebrity's name into any thread.)
78AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:44
Re: #70
That's about the level we're dealing with here.
77AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:44
Is there even such a thing as an 'original' recipe? If that's how it works, then I invented grilled salmon.
83AnonymousOct 4, 2026 23:48
Re: #77
Cooking videos ARE copyrighted, though.
97AnonymousOct 5, 2026 00:17
So basically, she rode on someone else's recipe video, tweaked it slightly, and used it to feed her own need for validation.
Pretty cringe-worthy, honestly.
99AnonymousOct 5, 2026 00:21
Re: #97
Unless you invented a dish completely from scratch yourself, pretty much all cooking is like that, you know?
100AnonymousOct 5, 2026 00:22
Re: #97
It's less 'copied it' and more 'trashed it.'

Background and Key Points of the Debate

Because a recipe is essentially just a set of cooking steps, it’s generally considered hard to protect under Japanese copyright law. A “video” showing the cooking process, however, can be protected as a visual work under copyright law. The thread split along the lines of whether people framed this as a case of “recipe imitation” or “unauthorized use of a video.” According to reports, Mikimama posted a video that used footage from another chef’s cooking video while emphasizing that her own recipe was superior, and the other chef spoke about how her video — not her recipe — had been handled, rather than about recipe imitation. Some commenters also felt that her habit of blocking critical commenters one after another only fanned the flames further.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “Mikimama’s ‘unauthorized recipe use’ and ‘one-upping video’ stir controversy; Mikimama apologizes after the other chef posts that she is ‘very sad’.”

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *