From our other sites
The story
News that Shigeru Shinohara, a maker of traditional “Oroku” combs living in Nagano Prefecture, had received the Medal with Yellow Ribbon sparked an unexpected reaction on 5ch — not over the award itself, but over his comment: “For Japanese people, hair is everything. It’s important to make something solid and well-made.” While the autumn medal ceremony honored 12 Nagano residents in total, the thread’s attention zeroed in almost entirely on that one line, quickly spiraling into talk of hair transplants, growth tonics, and whether thinning hair comes down to genetics or lifestyle. Posters even ran with the logic that “going bald must mean losing your citizenship,” and some pointed out that since the comb craftsman himself isn’t bald, he probably hasn’t given much thought to the struggles of thinning hair.
“For Japanese People, Hair Is Everything. It’s Important to Make Something Solid” — Medal with Yellow Ribbon Awarded to “Oroku Comb” Craftsman Shigeru Shinohara; 12 Nagano Residents Receive Autumn Medals | SBC NEWS
Monday, November 2, 2026, 13:02
The recipients of this year’s autumn medals have been announced, with 12 Nagano Prefecture residents among them.
Source: newsdig.tbs.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Hair transplant or a wig.
1. For celebrities, teeth are everything
2. For Japanese people, hair is everything
3. ???
Most of them are just laminate veneers that only look good from the front. These days some guys are even getting implants though.
Perfect for using as a cat flea comb instead.
Once the follicles are dead and it's smooth as an egg, there's no bringing that back.
Maybe there's a chance once iPS cell tech becomes practical.
If citizenship's on the line, then the government should subsidize hair-loss treatment (｀･ω･´)ᕙ
Wasn't that Native Americans? Taking the enemy's scalp as a war trophy.
But it's probably a disheveled mess though.
Maybe the old craftsman just uses his own product.
These days the trend is to grow things through praise — and that goes for hair-raising, not just child-raising.
Apparently acting early is the most effective countermeasure.
Isn't there some way to expense hair-loss treatment as a business cost…?
Come on guys, let's talk hair-loss treatment so we can come back to life.
If you become a YouTuber and document your hair-loss treatment publicly, you could write it off as an expense.
Could you maybe file it under beauty expenses or something?
There was this golf YouTuber who got hair-loss treatment and ended up with a full head of hair plus stubble, but he never reported on the treatment progress, so he probably couldn't expense it…
Crying about it won't make it grow back.
Just go file a death certificate already.
Have you even seen one with hair?
The moment you go bald, you're already dead — there's no room left to become a ghost!
Saw one in Shin Megami Tensei — the demon Tetragrammaton (he's famously bald).
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The Medal with Yellow Ribbon is awarded to people who have achieved exemplary results through their skill or technique. Oroku combs are a luxury hair tool with a long tradition in the Kiso region of Nagano Prefecture, made from minebari (a type of birch) wood and known for their fine teeth — which, as posters in the thread noted, tend not to glide through hair that isn’t dead straight. The thread split over whether thinning hair is mainly caused by genetics or lifestyle habits; some pointed out that male pattern baldness has a strong genetic component, while plenty of folk theories about the cause kept getting posted anyway. The “lose your citizenship if you go bald” bit was just wordplay riffing on a logical syllogism — a joke with no basis in any actual system or fact. Notably, the actual achievements of the 12 individual recipients of this year’s autumn medals, as reported in the original article, barely came up in the thread at all.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread ““For Japanese People, Hair Is Everything. It’s Important to Make Something Solid” — Medal with Yellow Ribbon Awarded to “Oroku Comb” Craftsman; 12 Nagano Residents Receive Autumn Medals”.
Leave a Reply