Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • Miki Fujimoto reveals her family of five’s weekly grocery bill: ¥27,000 — 5ch reacts: “That’s cheap! Thought it’d be ¥100,000”

    Talent Miki Fujimoto revealed a receipt for a week’s worth of groceries bought in bulk for her family of five — herself, husband Tomoharu Shoji, and their three kids — on the September 29 broadcast of “Otto ga Neta Ato ni” (Husband After He’s Asleep, TV Asahi). The haul filled three reusable shopping bags and came to about ¥27,000 in total. On 5ch’s Geinou/Sports Breaking News+ board, reactions split over whether that amount is high or low for a family of five, with many posters comparing it to their own household’s food budget. The thread also buzzed with the shared experience that food costs balloon as kids get older, plus debate over whether bulk buying or frequent trips chasing sales saves more money.

    Miki Fujimoto reveals her family of five’s “one week of grocery costs” — shows receipt for buying “all at once” to fill three reusable bags; mother of three, married to Tomoharu Shoji

    Talent Miki Fujimoto appeared on the September 29 broadcast of TV Asahi’s “Otto ga Neta Ato ni” (airs Tuesdays at 0:15 late night), where she revealed a receipt for a week’s worth of groceries bought for her family of five.

    The show is a variety program focused on housework and childcare, co-hosted by Fujimoto and comedian Natsuko Yokozawa.

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

    3AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:26
    Re: #1
    Lol, Shoji's getting the "Sawa's good at dribbling" treatment here — just a token afterthought mention (a meme about giving someone minimal, throwaway credit)
    5AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:28
    Surprisingly cheap, I thought — is that really normal?
    10AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:31
    Re: #5
    ¥27,000/week for 5 people
    That's a bit over ¥100,000 for 4 weeks/a month

    Maybe about ¥20,000 above average
    39AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:56
    Re: #5
    Once the kids get bigger it's nowhere near this
    For one, rice consumption gets insane
    Good thing rice got cheaper recently
    And they eat crazy amounts of side dishes
    Even a huge bulk buy disappears in seconds
    72AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:44
    Re: #5
    If you're good at cooking it's doable
    Especially for growing kids in the Kanto area, this is actually doing pretty well

    Even at my place in urban Kansai, with a family of 4 that has high-school and college-age boys, we easily spend ¥100,000 a month (not even counting the college kid eating out) — a bit over ¥20,000 a week is normal
    8AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:30
    Jumped over but I can't find the receipt
    Where can I see it?
    14AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:34
    I buy 10 days' worth at once
    Because if you go shopping too often you always end up buying stuff you don't need
    19AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:41
    Re: #14
    I think buying frequently to catch sales works out cheaper than bulk buying
    28AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:49
    Re: #19
    Think about the time cost
    Someone like Mikity earns tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of yen per hour
    73AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:47
    Re: #19
    If you're working and raising 3 kids, time spent shopping is the precious resource

    Also, the more trips to the supermarket, the more you end up buying stuff you don't need, so it evens out in the end

    Mikity's actually pretty smart
    She's got her feet on the ground
    16AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:35
    ¥100,000 a month, huh
    Combined, the couple probably pulls in over ¥100 million a year
    That's on the cheap side, isn't it
    17AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:38
    She's the daughter of a yakiniku (grilled-meat) restaurant owner, so beef is non-negotiable for her
    22AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:45
    Impressive, she's good at shopping
    I'm single and I bet I spend over ¥15,000 a week
    And I don't even use Uber Eats or Demae-can (food delivery apps)
    With prices up, I've stopped caring about cost as an excuse
    25AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:46
    Rich people eat out for lunch and dinner, so it's probably just the cost of bread for breakfast
    26AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:49
    Re: #25
    Depends on the household budget breakdown
    30AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:51
    Re: #28
    That person isn't even talking about Mikity
    35AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:53
    That's cheap!
    I thought it'd be around ¥100,000
    36AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:54
    You can tell she's doing it properly, so it's likeable.
    If she wanted to cut costs, she could probably get it down to half that
    37AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:55
    Celebrities
    make huge money anyway
    so they should just buy as much as they want
    38AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:55
    I'm single and I still drop about ¥5,000 a week
    40AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:56
    Same with Tsuji-chan's place — it's tough when the main breadwinner is also the one doing all the shopping and cooking
    41AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:56
    Never expected Mikity to get this popular
    46AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:03
    Re: #41
    She did become the #1 most-disliked TV personality among male viewers though lol
    Guess she went all-in on appealing to women instead
    43AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:58
    ¥104,000 over 4 weeks for a family of 5 seems cheap — maybe they get a lot of food as gifts?
    51AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:12
    Re: #43
    This is just what she bought in one supermarket run, after all — I bet eating out, sweets, and all sorts of other stuff add up separately on top of this
    52AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:13
    Re: #43
    She says something like "I think this is about a week's worth?"
    44AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:01
    Cheap for someone so in-demand
    Though that's probably the whole point of showing it off
    47AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:03
    Re: #44
    Of course it's calculated
    50AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:09
    Re: #46
    I can't believe Miki Fujimoto is popular with women
    I figured she was popular with men, former otaku types, same as Tsuji
    Not sure which demographic actually likes her
    90AnonymousOct 3, 2026 11:38
    Re: #50
    She's popular with housewives
    Otherwise she wouldn't get picked as the image character for cleaning products
    In the first place, the people who like Mikity are the generation that already has families
    70AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:37
    Isn't the real punchline that they eat out for dinner three times a week?
    78AnonymousOct 3, 2026 11:11
    Re: #70
    Yeah, probably lol
    Like Uber Eats and stuff
    71AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:41
    She's probably keeping it cheap for TV
    Tsuji does the same thing, buying Top Value (AEON's private brand) to make a good impression
    83AnonymousOct 3, 2026 11:14
    Re: #71
    Yeah, definitely
    Even the whole "always does her own shopping and cooking" thing might just be an image strategy for TV, right?
    This boosts her image, lands more mom-talent commercials, and she's laughing all the way to the bank
    Even here there are a lot of posts praising her

    Background and key points of this discussion

    What Miki Fujimoto showed was “the receipt from a single bulk-buying trip,” and posters in the thread pointed out that it doesn’t include money spent on eating out or prepared/takeout meals (#51). Because of that, the simple math of “¥100,000 over 4 weeks” (#10) may not match her family’s actual monthly food spending. Several posts also noted that celebrities revealing their household budgets on TV may be a staged, image-conscious move on the production’s part (#71, #83), making it hard to judge the real situation from the yen amount alone. Where opinions in the thread split was on the single question of whether “¥27,000 a week for a family of five” is high or low — views differed sharply depending on the age of one’s kids and regional price differences (#39, #72). The thing readers might easily misread is treating this figure as the full picture of the Fujimoto household’s food spending.

    *This article is composed as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “[Entertainment] Miki Fujimoto reveals her family of five’s “one week of grocery costs,” shows receipt; mother of three, married to Tomoharu Shoji.”

  • Hiroyuki Ariyoshi’s Flagship Shows Are Getting Cancelled One After Another — 5ch: ‘The Man Who Inherited Shinsuke’s Position’

    Several of Hiroyuki Ariyoshi’s regular TV programs have ended one after another since the start of this year, sparking talk on 5ch’s “Live Commentary” board (なんでも実況) that “an era is coming to an end.” Gendai reports that behind this lies both a drop in demand for his trademark “poison-tongued” persona — as online harassment on social media draws more scrutiny — and a tough “economic downturn” that’s squeezing ordinary people. On the thread, though, many questioned the recession narrative itself, asking “is the economy really that bad?” — pointing out that shareholders and big corporations are doing fine, and it’s really only the TV industry on the ground that’s sinking. There was also plenty of talk comparing him to comedian Shinsuke Shimada, with some speculating that his persona changed for the worse after he got married.

    Hiroyuki Ariyoshi’s “Wave of Show Cancellations” Was Caused by “Japan’s Economic Downturn”… Where Does “Poison-Tongued Comedy” Go When It Clashes With an “Unstable Society”? (Gendai)

    “With online slander and harassment becoming a serious issue, honestly, I really feel that poison-tongued humor just isn’t wanted anymore. Ordinary people’s lives are getting harder every day. In times like these, the sharp-tongued persona is the first to get weeded out. Nobody can beat the rough waves of the times.”

    That’s the quiet sigh being breathed by programming executives across Japan’s commercial networks.

    Source: gendai.media / Read the original article here

    10AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:56
    Is Japan actually in a recession right now?
    19AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:59
    Re: #10
    Top-tier companies are doing great.
    TV isn't a top-tier industry anymore, that's why it's in a slump.
    Shows have looked cheap for ages, haven't they?
    25AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:02
    Re: #10
    Shareholders and landlords are definitely living the good life.
    Even people at big companies have seen real wages rise lately, so I don't think you can call it a recession.
    18AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:59
    The man who inherited Shinsuke's position
    21AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:01
    Re: #18
    He used to rip on Shinsuke so hard, and now he's turned into Shinsuke himself.
    27AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:03
    How did he end up becoming Shinsuke…
    Complacency, arrogance, and not keeping up his craft.
    37AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:05
    Re: #27
    Once he got married, turning into Shinsuke was unavoidable.
    He even tweaked his act a bit, trying to go for an "actually he's really polite" persona.
    29AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:03
    Prices have risen faster than wages, so people have stopped buying more than they need — which means fewer companies are running TV commercials too.
    36AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:05
    Re: #29
    Ad budgets have just diversified across more platforms.
    Total ad spending in Japan has actually increased.
    33AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:04
    Food prices are up, so people are cutting travel and cutting luxuries too.
    Everyone's just desperate to get by.
    40AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:06
    Re: #33
    Prices outside of groceries are only rising gradually, so it'd be a waste not to enjoy some fun while you still can.
    45AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:09
    Re: #40
    I went on two trips this year, and hotels are expensive.
    47AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:10
    Re: #45
    Yeah, demand from foreign tourists is insane.
    Well, it's a trip, so I just figure "eh, whatever" and pay up.
    52AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:11
    He could just keep doing Sandori (his "Sunday Night Dreamer" radio show) and that'd be fine.
    54AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:13
    Re: #52
    He feels at home on a show that's just coasting on momentum?
    59AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:14
    79AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:26
    Didn't he say himself that he's spending more time with his family?
    84AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:33
    Re: #79
    Who's gonna believe that excuse?
    83AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:32
    As I've gotten older his radio show just started feeling unpleasant to listen to, so I stopped.
    90AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:37
    Re: #83
    Yeah, there's this unfunny snideness that just seeps through.
    94AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:39
    Ariyoshi's in the position he's in because he's valued for being the loyal dog who's first to jump in and defend legacy media whenever it comes under fire online.
    I think it's less that he's genuinely popular with regular people and more that he's just good at getting in good with the TV networks.
    103AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:45
    Re: #94
    TV personalities get airtime based on what the networks want and find convenient, not what viewers actually want.
    That gap just got too big, and that's why TV has declined.
    95AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:39
    Just keep Shoujiki Sanpo, Karisome Tengoku, and Ariyoshi eeee! going, that's all I need.
    He himself says he'd be fine with just Sandori surviving anyway.
    96AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:41
    Re: #95
    If he's fine with just Sandori surviving, then he should raise the quality of it.
    98AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:42
    I genuinely don't get how he suddenly blew up that huge and ended up in this big-shot veteran position.
    102AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:44
    Re: #98
    What's scarier is that he announced his engagement to his now-wife, had it get buried in the dark once, and then later announced the marriage again like nothing ever happened.
    125AnonymousOct 3, 2026 11:00
    A lot of comedians can't show their real talent anymore because of compliance restrictions (コンプラ, broadcast content standards).
    Ariyoshi's no exception.
    127AnonymousOct 3, 2026 11:01
    Re: #125
    If your act only works by crossing compliance lines, that's not real comedy.
    128AnonymousOct 3, 2026 11:02

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Hiroyuki Ariyoshi built his career on a sharp-tongued “poison-tongue” persona, cutting into fellow celebrities, but in recent years he’s increasingly been compared to comedian Shinsuke Shimada. Gendai’s article pointed to two factors behind the show cancellations: that online harassment concerns have made poison-tongued humor harder to tolerate, and that the economic downturn is squeezing ordinary people’s lives. But on the thread, that second “recession” theory itself drew pushback. Commenters pointed out that real wages and stock prices haven’t necessarily worsened, and that the split between those doing well and those struggling gets obscured by a single phrase like “recession.” The thread also featured plenty of observations not covered in the article — like his performance hosting the Kohaku Uta Gassen (the New Year’s Eve song contest) and his skill at managing relationships with TV networks — pointing to changes in his own persona. So alongside the simple “changing times” narrative, there’s also a view that this reflects a real shift in his own comedic style.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Live Commentary board) thread “[Sad News] Media King Hiroyuki Ariyoshi’s Regular Shows Are Ending One After Another. An Era Comes to a Close lmaooooo“.

  • Morning Musume Reportedly Second Only to Juice=Juice in Audience Size — 5ch: “That’s Like Two Tiers Above, Actually”

    Morning Musume’s 2026 fall tour holding roughly the same scale as the fast-rising Juice=Juice became a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. Posters initially pushed back with positive takes like “the venues are filling up decently,” but then data was posted showing an actual decline — from 66,336 total seats on the 2025 fall tour down to 57,541 for 2026, including a drop in per-show venue capacity — fueling a harsher view that the group is just coasting on past glory. When independent audience-count estimates were posted for comparison, the discussion flipped even further: far from being “the same scale,” Morning Musume was pegged as roughly two tiers above Juice=Juice, calling the entire premise of the thread title into question.

    1AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:48
    Every venue's filling up decently,
    and that's honestly despite the fact that Morning Musume isn't exactly on an upswing right now.
    3AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:51
    Re: #1
    There are signs of a comeback, though.
    4AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:51
    Re: #3
    Nope. Turns out a 1,200-capacity venue is apparently the "right size" for their fan club events now.
    52AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:25
    Feels like they could make a comeback once Oda graduates.
    57AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:26
    Re: #52
    The very first event after she leaves is the one in Re: #4, so no chance.
    6AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:54
    Their baseline "group-oshi" vote (fans who support the whole group rather than one member) is huge. Hope Juice gets there too.
    7AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:55
    Re: #6
    Another thread was saying Juice=Juice's bar events only fill up because there are a lot of group-oshi fans running a "mutual aid circle" (互助会 — fans buying tickets to prop up each other's favorite members), not because the members are individually popular.
    8AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:55
    They played the "Oda's graduating" card for fall,
    so I think next year's going to be rough.
    10AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:57
    Re: #8
    This spring ended up being Makino's graduation tour, but since it was originally planned as a "no graduations" tour, the scale got slashed hard compared to last spring.
    106AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:52
    Re: #8
    Gen 17, 18, and 19 are about to blow up, just you wait.
    9AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:56
    Outside of Morning Musume, barely anyone even knows these groups.
    11AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:57
    Re: #9
    These days even legacy groups can't hold onto name recognition without going viral on TikTok.
    16AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:07
    Watching stuff like the singing contest, Musume. has looked pretty good lately.
    Their singing's rough, but they've got that unmistakable Musume-ness.
    Watching them is just plain fun — it really is Musume.
    18AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:08
    Re: #16
    They looked totally gassed out there.
    17AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:08
    It's not actually holding at a high level —
    if anything it's being quietly scaled down.

    Morning Musume '26
    2025 Fall Tour (Haga & Yokoyama graduation, 33 shows) *halls
    Total capacity: 66,336 seats
    Average capacity per show: 2,010 seats
    ↓
    2026 Fall Tour (Oda graduation, 29 shows) *halls
    Total capacity: 57,541 seats (down 8,795 from last year)
    Average capacity per show: 1,984 seats (down 26 from last year)
    23AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:12
    Re: #21
    Looking at Re: #17, even that nest egg seems to be steadily running out.
    21AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:11
    They're just living off past glory at this point.
    32AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:18
    Re: #21
    If you can still eat off past glory, that's all that matters, honestly.
    35AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:19
    Re: #32
    Not every show is selling out though, so they're not really "eating" off it.
    41AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:21
    Re: #32
    Question is how much longer that nest egg lasts.
    26AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:14
    Panda: "Ah, good thing I'm Morning Musume." (a jokey 5ch quote format, not an actual panda)
    30AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:16
    Re: #26
    Sapporo's not exactly selling out though.
    28AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:15
    Juice=Juice has nowhere to go but down once Danbara graduates.
    29AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:16
    Re: #28
    By then Okamura, Yamazaki, and Sakurai will probably have left too.
    34AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:19
    Musume's got a mountain of upbeat, crowd-pleasing songs to draw on, after all.
    36AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:19
    Re: #34
    But their lives are boring, which is why the Blu-rays don't sell?
    42AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:21
    Danbara's in the "Oda position," so she'll probably stick around until just before 30.
    43AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:21
    Re: #35
    Someone who thinks you can't turn a profit without selling out?
    44AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:22
    Re: #43
    Juice=Juice has been hearing that line for a while now.
    48AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:24
    Re: #1 "Same scale"????? The group that's actually the same scale as Juice is Angerme.


    Nogizaka46 2026 draw → 500,000

    NiziU 2026 draw → 240,000

    =LOVE 2026 draw → 220,000

    FRUITS ZIPPER 2026 draw → 200,000

    CUTIE STREET 2026 draw → 180,000

    AKB48 2026 draw → 170,000

    Morning Musume 2026 draw → 150,000 ←←←←← this one

    Juice=Juice 2026 draw → 100,000 ←←←←← this one

    Angerme 2026 draw → 90,000

    Momoiro Clover Z 2026 draw → 80,000
    50AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:25
    Re: #48
    Morning Musume's like two tiers above, then.
    OP's a liar.
    54AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:25
    Re: #48
    There's that much of a gap, huh…
    You'd need to fill Yokohama Arena three times over to catch up.
    68AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:33
    Re: #48
    Same tier as Angerme lol
    53AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:25
    Morning Musume's in "nostalgia hit" territory at this point — same class as Hiroshi Itsuki or Southern All Stars.
    58AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:26
    Re: #53
    That's an insult to Southern All Stars.
    59AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:27
    Re: #53
    Nobody goes to a Morning Musume show for the nostalgia hits anyway — the old classics aren't even in the fall tour setlist.
    73AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:37
    Since they tour year-round, a group with a deep song catalog like Musume ends up winning out in the long run. The younger the group, the more their setlists repeat and the more limited their hype songs are. Hello! Project doesn't play the "double the venue size every tour" game, and I bet even new fans drawn in by flattering photos ("盛れ") will get bored of the same routine.
    74AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:38
    Re: #73
    Then why don't Johnny's, Kawaii Lab (the agency behind groups like FRUITS ZIPPER), or Sashihara-produced idols ever get boring?
    77AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:40
    Re: #73
    If anything, "gets boring unless they change the songs" just proves it's only old-guard otaku left and there's no popularity with new fans. Truly popular idols draw people who just want to "go see the popular thing" — nobody's fussing over setlist variety.
    83AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:42
    Re: #1
    Guess "Juice-scum" (汁カス, a mocking nickname for Juice=Juice fans) doesn't realize they're starting to get stale.
    86AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:44
    Re: #83
    Compare this↓
    [Sad News] Juice=Juice Room Tour 2026 "5ROOMS" Mikuni Kiryu Cultural Hall Silk Hall (Gunma) — general ticket sales sold out in 2 minutes lolololol
    https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1790989482/

    To this↓
    [Sad News] Morning Musume '25 fall tour: tickets for today's on-sale in Fukuoka and Hiroshima — and even Gunma, Mie, and Aichi — are sitting completely unsold lol
    https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1758938433/1

    1 Anonymous Wanted… 2025/09/27 (Sat) 11:00:33.57 0
    Gunma

    89AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:46
    Re: #86
    The biggest profit move would be handing Morning Musume's venues over to Juice.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    The “audience numbers” ranking quoted in the thread isn’t an official figure — it’s an independent estimate compiled by a 5ch user from each group’s number of tour dates and venue capacities, so the numbers would shift depending on the year or methodology used. With that in mind, the list in >>48, which compares groups like Nogizaka46 and NiziU, is probably best read as a rough "ballpark guide" rather than hard data. The venue-capacity comparison in >>17 (66,336 seats in fall 2025 → 57,541 in fall 2026, a drop of 8,795), on the other hand, is based on actual figures with show counts and hall names cited, making it considerably more reliable. The thread title’s claim of being “the same scale as Juice” left it ambiguous whether it meant the gut feeling of how full the venues look or the hard audience-count numbers, and that ambiguity is likely what drove pushback like >>50 and >>68 arguing that Morning Musume is actually above, not equal to, Juice=Juice. The upcoming graduations of Oda and Danbara — each group’s flagship member — also underlie the shared anxiety over how long either group can keep up its current scale.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Say what you will, but isn’t it actually impressive that Morning Musume can still pull off a tour the same size as today’s Juice=Juice?“.

  • Tips for Getting Your Welfare Application Approved — 5ch Says: “Don’t Budge From the Counter”

    A thread on 5ch’s general live-commentary board, titled “Tell me a surefire way to get welfare approved,” blew up. Welfare applications are frequently turned down at the counter — caseworkers treat them as mere “consultations” and send applicants away, a tactic known as the “water’s-edge operation” (mizugiwa sakusen) that technically violates the Public Assistance Act — and reports say this is still happening at welfare offices nationwide. The thread filled with practical tips like “don’t leave the counter until they let you file” and “bring a lawyer and you’ll get through in one shot,” though some pushed back, calling the stubborn sit-in approach “customer harassment.” Opinions split between fighting it out on the spot or taking it to court.

    1AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:54
    I just can't work anymore.
    5AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:57
    So if I just sit myself down outside the ward office, that'll work?
    22AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:10
    Re: #5
    Not outside the building — park yourself at the counter.
    Once you actually get to apply, it usually goes through, which is exactly why they fight so hard to stop you from applying.
    No matter what they tell you, don't move from that counter until you've filed.
    That's the whole trick.
    Most people just quietly leave when they're turned down, which is exactly why they never get to apply in the first place.
    97AnonymousOct 3, 2026 11:00
    Re: #5
    Just state flatly that you're applying for welfare.
    Not "consulting" — applying.
    19AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:08
    If you lost an arm and a leg, even the caseworker would pity you enough to approve your welfare (lol) ("namapo" is slang for welfare benefits)
    23AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:10
    Re: #19
    One side isn't enough — you need both.
    24AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:11
    You can get welfare even with debt, but if you put the benefit money toward paying it off, that can count as fraudulent receipt, which raises the bar for approval.
    First pay back 200,000 yen, then go talk to a poverty-support NPO or the Communist Party's livelihood consultation service.
    27AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:12
    Re: #24
    That's good info too.
    Thanks.
    25AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:11
    Re: #22
    Damn, that's useful to know.
    I've got plenty of grit, so I think I can pull it off.
    29AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:15
    Re: #25
    Don't go bothering other people.
    33AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:23
    Say this at the counter: "I'm not here to consult, I'm here to apply. Please give me an application form. If you won't give me one, I'm applying verbally right now. I just clearly stated my application, correct? Please begin processing it immediately." Say that and you'll get to apply.
    What happens in the screening after that depends on your own situation.
    36AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:27
    Re: #33
    No matter how many times you apply, we can't approve it.
    Please leave.
    38AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:28
    Re: #36
    That's an illegal tactic called the "water's-edge operation."
    Say you'll contact a lawyer through the Communist Party and they'll do a complete 180.
    42AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:30
    Re: #36
    If the applicant brings a lawyer along, they can't pull the water's-edge tactic at all.
    40AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:30
    Re: #38
    Isn't it just that if you meet the requirements it goes through, and if you don't, no amount of sticking around will make it go through?
    45AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:32
    Re: #36
    Unlike a "consultation," they can't legally refuse to accept an application.
    And once they accept it, they're required to screen it.
    50AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:33
    Re: #45
    They're probably doing some kind of snap, rubber-stamp screening.
    48AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:33
    Re: #44
    Got a source for "there are tons of them"?
    51AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:34
    Re: #49
    You're the one who brought it up, so common sense says you provide the source.
    54AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:34
    Re: #51
    Just Google "welfare" + "water's-edge operation."
    52AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:34
    Re: #50
    They're required to screen it through a properly fixed process.
    55AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:34
    Re: #52
    Did that.
    Rejected.
    61AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:36
    Re: #55
    There are set standards for who qualifies for welfare.
    If your income and assets fall below that line, they are "absolutely" required to pay out.
    63AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:37
    Re: #61
    If that were true, offices would have lost in court by now and the water's-edge tactic would've been stamped out.
    The fact that it hasn't means it's just people who don't meet the criteria making a fuss.
    That's customer harassment.
    64AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:38
    Re: #63
    That's exactly why it's become a social problem —
    people who genuinely should qualify are being turned away by the water's-edge tactic and can't get help.
    66AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:39
    Re: #64
    So just sue and win, that's all it takes.
    Hurry up and do it already.
    70AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:40
    Re: #66
    Welfare claimants win in court all the time, don't they?
    71AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:40
    Re: #70
    Then go do it.
    72AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:41
    Re: #71
    They already are —
    problems caused by incompetent caseworkers keep happening all over Japan,
    so the Japan Federation of Bar Associations and others are filing suit after suit.
    75AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:43
    Re: #72
    Then why not skip the sit-in and just go straight to court?
    Why are there people camping out at the counter instead?
    79AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:45
    A lot of caseworkers are clueless about the constitution or the law, so
    saying "Oh, the water's-edge operation is banned under the Public Assistance Act" and "I'll be telling my lawyer" knocks them out in one punch.
    80AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:45
    Re: #79
    If you're going to do something as pointless as camping out and arguing, just do that instead.
    81AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:46
    Re: #80
    There's no need to even file a lawsuit.
    The water's-edge operation is flat-out illegal, so just pointing that out is enough to leave the caseworker nearly in tears.
    83AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:47
    Re: #81
    Then why do people still end up arguing it out?
    Just land the first blow and sail straight through.
    84AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:48
    Actually, going after welfare in this age of inflation feels like swimming against the current.
    Wasn't welfare at its strongest back in the strong-yen era?
    87AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:49
    Re: #84
    There was never an era when welfare made you a "winner."
    Seriously, you only get just barely enough to scrape by.
    90AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:53
    Once I FIRE, I'll just go on welfare.
    I'll be unemployed, so that should work, right?
    93AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:56
    Re: #90
    No way that works.
    You can't own a car, you can't move your investment funds around — there's no point even trying.
    95AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:59
    Re: #90
    If you've got assets, it's a non-starter.

    Background and Key Points of This Debate

    The “water’s-edge operation” around welfare applications refers to the practice of local government counters treating applications that should be formally accepted as mere “consultations” and turning them away. This has long been criticized by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations and regional bar associations as a violation of the “right to apply” guaranteed under the Public Assistance Act, and courts have issued rulings recognizing it as illegal. The thread’s advice that “the counter can’t refuse you if you clearly state you’re applying” is correct as a matter of procedure, but even once an application is accepted, benefits are only paid if the applicant meets standards covering income, assets, and ability to work. The pushback against the comment about FIREing and then trying to claim welfare while still holding assets was based on exactly this standard. Within the thread, opinions split between viewing “camping out” at the counter as a nuisance and viewing it as a countermeasure against illegal practices — but both sides shared a blind spot: they conflated the “duty to accept an application” with the “criteria used to decide whether to grant benefits,” which are two separate matters. It’s also worth noting the practical point raised in the thread that while having debts doesn’t disqualify someone from applying for welfare, using benefit payments to repay debt can be treated as fraudulent receipt — hence the advice to consult on debt relief before applying.

    ※This article is an excerpt and summary based on the 5ch (general live-commentary board) thread “Tell me a surefire way to get welfare approved.”

  • More Workers Calling Their Boss “-San” Instead of Job Title — 5ch: “Using Titles Sounds Like a Cabaret Club Tout”

    A national survey on the Japanese language released by the Agency for Cultural Affairs on October 2 found that more people are addressing their workplace superiors by attaching “san” (the all-purpose honorific, like Mr./Ms.) to their name rather than using their job title. On 5ch, some asked “What else would you call them — surely not with no honorific at all?”, while others took a favorable view, saying it reflects “a society aiming to downplay hierarchy.” Still others were puzzled, arguing that “using the title shows more respect” or asking “what do you even call a boss who’s been demoted?” With no single correct answer, opinions clashed.

    More People Calling Their Boss “San” Instead of a Title; Only 13.1% Knew the Original Meaning of “Himotoku” — National Language Survey (Yomiuri Shimbun Online) – Yahoo! News

    Published 10/3 (Sat) 5:00 AM JST

    A growing number of subordinates are addressing their workplace superiors by attaching “san” to their surname rather than using their job title, according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ fiscal 2025 survey on the Japanese language, released on October 2. (By Keito Ehara)

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

    4AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:47
    What else are you supposed to call them? Surely not with no honorific at all?
    22AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:53
    Re: #4
    Section Chief So-and-so
    Department Manager So-and-so
    Supervisor So-and-so
    Team Leader So-and-so
    29AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:55
    Re: #4
    Like, say there's a company president named Tanaka — even a brand-new hire would call him "Tanaka-san" instead of "President." Japan is aiming for a society that doesn't make people conscious of hierarchy.
    74AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:03
    Re: #4
    Like in Gundam, where everyone just calls each other by first name.
    8AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:48
    So what are you even supposed to call a boss who got demoted?
    11AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:49
    Re: #8
    "San" works fine for that.
    24AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:53
    Re: #8
    I've seen plenty of cases at big companies — not my own employer — where a change of president got department heads, section chiefs, team leaders, even executives fired or busted down to regular/non-regular staff. So at the big-company subsidiary I moved to, I just use "san" on everyone from day one. (´・ω・`)
    41AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:57
    Re: #8
    That's exactly why "san" is the easy option.

    There weren't many demoted people around me, but if you're at the level where you'd get demoted, you probably can't stick around anyway.
    21AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:52
    Please, just call me "-kun"… (a more casual, junior-sounding honorific)
    142AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:18
    Re: #21
    You should be the one calling yourself "-kun" then.
    144AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:18
    Re: #21
    Can't do that to a guy.
    25AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:53
    I stay unemployed specifically so I never get dragged into pointless debates like this.
    27AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:54
    Re: #25
    Must be exhausting, constantly digging up lame excuses for your own life.
    30AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:55
    Calling someone by their title really does sound like a cabaret club tout hollering for customers.
    120AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:13
    Re: #30
    At a cabaret club it's more like "Oh, Mr. President~!"
    45AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:58
    Overseas reaction: "Japanese has way too many self-referring pronouns!"
    55AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:00
    Re: #45
    Apparently for foreigners it's easier this way — no titles to memorize, just slap "san" on everyone and you're done.
    62AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:01
    Thing is, I can't remember people's names, so this is a real problem for me.
    69AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:02
    Re: #62
    Couldn't you just go with "Mister" or something?
    163AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:23
    Re: #62
    "Department Manager-san" works fine, no?
    73AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:02
    "Section Chief!" "President!" "Department Manager!" — barking out just the title like that is basically the same as calling someone by their bare surname with zero honorific.
    90AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:06
    Re: #73
    So what, are we supposed to say "Section Chief-sama," "President-dono," "Department Manager-sensei"?
    93AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:07
    I use "san" for everyone below section-chief rank. For section chief and above, though, I only ever use the title. It's a pain being a permanent rank-and-filer when both your boss and their title keep changing on you.
    97AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:08
    Re: #93
    Calling everyone by first name only is just standard practice when dealing with American companies. (´・ω・`)
    122AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:13
    For what it's worth, I use titles because it's more respectful. If someone tells me "just call me so-and-so," I'll switch to that. But I've never once seen someone use "san" on every rank from the start. Though I guess it'd fly at some small startup where people work in T-shirts.
    145AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:19
    Re: #122
    Respectful? Reducing someone to a label counts as respect?
    154AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:20
    Re: #145
    It's about keeping things proper — drawing a clean line between work and personal.
    126AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:14
    A board director might suddenly spring "Say the president's name!" on you. Stammer out a "(;-ω-) uhh…" in that moment and you can kiss any promotion goodbye forever.
    129AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:14
    Re: #126
    So is "director" basically code for "enforcer"? Sounds like something Jagi would do. (Wordplay: 取締役/"director" shares kanji with 取り締まり, "crackdown/enforcement"; Jagi is a brutal enforcer-type villain from Fist of the North Star.)
    130AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:15
    Re: #126
    "Director" (torishimariyaku) is just a Companies Act legal term — nobody uses it internally. Internally it'd be "senior managing director" or "department manager" or whatever.
    128AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:14
    At a factory I used to work at, everyone except the plant manager just got called "san."
    136AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:16
    Re: #128
    Well sure, that's what happens when there's no section-chief or supervisor position to begin with.
    138AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:16
    Re: #128
    At small factories out in the countryside, the "president" is sometimes just the boss's wife — gets confusing.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    This survey is part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ annual “Public Opinion Survey on the Japanese Language.” The same release also covered other shifts in word usage — for instance, only 13.1% of respondents gave the original meaning of “himotoku” (to explain by tracing something back to its source). What actually divided opinion on the thread wasn’t whether using “san” is right or wrong, but whether there’s a workable alternative. Those sticking with titles cited practical reasons — “it gets awkward when someone’s title changes after a demotion or transfer,” “‘director’ (torishimariyaku) isn’t even a title used internally.” Those fine with “san” cited benefits like “it avoids emphasizing hierarchy” and “it’s easier to remember people’s names.” Easy to overlook: the survey itself only shows an “increasing trend” — it doesn’t claim “san” has become the mainstream norm.

    *This article excerpts and summarizes the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “More People Calling Their Boss “San”… National Language Survey.”

  • Runners Threatening Pedestrians Around the Imperial Palace? Ward Launches Probe — 5ch: ‘He Screamed “Move It!” at Me Like Some Samurai-Drama Tyrant’

    Following a string of collisions and intimidation incidents between runners and pedestrians on the sidewalk circling the Imperial Palace, Chiyoda Ward has announced plans to conduct a fact-finding survey on runners’ manners, revealed during a ward assembly session. The survey will be carried out within this fiscal year, with the results informing possible measures such as additional warning signs and security cameras. On 5ch, one commenter recalled being screamed at with a “Move it, move it!” straight out of a samurai period drama, while calls for dedicated runner lanes drew pushback from users asking, “Don’t you get the difference between someone walking to work and someone training?” — splitting opinion over whether it’s the runners or the pedestrians who need to show more understanding.

    Chiyoda Ward to Investigate “Imperial Palace Running” Etiquette Violations Amid Wave of Complaints Over Intimidation and Collisions — Security Cameras Among Measures Considered

    Citing a continuing stream of reports of trouble between runners and pedestrians on the sidewalk around the Imperial Palace, Chiyoda Ward announced at a ward assembly session on the 1st that it plans to investigate manner violations by runners.

    According to the ward, the survey will be conducted within this fiscal year, and based on the results, measures such as additional warning signs and the installation of security cameras will be considered.

    Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here

    2AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:03
    Wait, people are actually threatening others out there?
    28AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:13
    Re: #2
    I've had someone yell at me like a tyrannical lord from a period drama — 'Heyyy! Move! Move it!'
    3AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:03
    That's genuinely the worst.
    How is this any different from a biker gang terrorizing the streets?
    5AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:04
    The Imperial Guard should just patrol the place while they're out on their walks.
    7AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:04
    Apparently groups even come in from far away just for this.
    It's basically a form of overtourism.
    8AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:04
    >'Because of a few people who don't follow the rules'
    Every hobby gets ruined by that handful of people.
    Though for some hobbies, the rule-breakers are actually the majority.
    9AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:05
    There are just way too many runners there to begin with.
    10AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:05
    Runners are basically just an obstacle.
    Go run down the middle of the road instead.
    11AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:07
    Going out of your way to run in air that polluted, then blocking pedestrians and threatening them on top of it — give me a break.
    12AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:07
    Isn't the air quality bad for running there anyway?
    15AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:08
    Re: #12
    Maybe all the trees around the Imperial Palace soak up the bad air or something?
    13AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:08
    Meanwhile, the Sumida River waterfront has seen a surge of runners too, turning it into the most lawless running spot in Tokyo.
    81AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:30
    Re: #13
    That's a nuisance too.
    They should just split it into separate lanes for pedestrians, runners, and cyclists.
    14AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:08
    They could just build a dedicated facility with a 5km loop for this.
    18AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:09
    It's basically a hookup spot for the 'self-improvement' crowd.
    Security cameras actually sound like they'd help.
    19AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:10
    Wait, there weren't already security cameras around the Imperial Palace?
    54AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:21
    Re: #19
    Even ordinary residential neighborhoods have them these days, so it's hard to believe there are none there at all.
    I'm reading this as them adding new, more visible cameras specifically to deter runners.
    20AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:10
    Just another example of sports facilities built for the Tokyo Olympics going completely unused.
    21AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:10
    I once got told I was 'in the way' at Yoyogi Park, but honestly they need to stop those corporate-league runners from doing their high-speed training drills there.
    22AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:10
    Re: #1
    Running there means sucking exhaust fumes into your lungs nonstop — I don't know how they do it.
    78AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:29
    Re: #22
    Diesel trucks don't run through there anymore, so the air's actually pretty clean these days.
    24AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:12
    They could just go run loops around Odaiba instead — it's practically empty.
    25AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:12
    Some of these guys are already running before they even reach the Imperial Palace, starting as far back as Hanzomon.
    At least wait until you actually get there to start running.
    It's genuinely dangerous when a runner suddenly pops out around a blind corner.
    29AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:14
    Re: #25
    I run the sidewalk from Yotsuya.
    There's a public bathhouse near Yotsuya you can use as a 'run station' (a shower/changing spot for runners), if that counts for anything.
    26AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:12
    There's also a jogging course inside Hibiya Park, right next to the Imperial Palace.
    https://sportsone.jp/running/course/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/002.jpg
    27AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:13
    There's a big marathon event happening in my area this month, so there are people around here doing training runs for it too.
    The ones with bad manners won't move aside even when there are pedestrians, and they run at scary speeds.
    32AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:15
    A lot of people grow up watching marathon broadcasts and shows like the 24-Hour TV charity marathon, where runners are shown getting priority over regular pedestrians.

    They probably just end up carrying that mental image into everyday sidewalks.
    34AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:15
    Is it really that bad out there?
    These people have zero patience.
    35AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:15
    Having some marathon jerk huff and puff right past you from the side is just gross — I wish they'd stop.
    36AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:15
    >Setting up a dedicated zone for runners might be one way to avoid trouble

    Huh? Why would the ward need to do that?
    And if it's built with tax money, that's just ridiculous.
    38AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:16
    Re: #36
    Pedestrian-only, bike-only, runner-only, and the regular road — the streets just keep getting carved up more and more.
    60AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:24
    The area around Takebashi is seriously annoying.
    There's a spot where trashy runners hang around, and they swarm in at a crawling pace, just getting in everyone's way.
    69AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:26
    Re: #60
    The main hotspot is by the clock at Sakuradamon, but there are also plazas and parks right outside the subway exits at Hanzomon and Takebashi where people tend to gather — that's probably part of why crowds build up there too.
    65AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:25
    It's not just idiot runners — there's also those road cyclists on the riverbank.
    They blow past you from behind at insane speeds.
    74AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:28
    Re: #65
    You should report that to the police.
    A bicycle is legally a vehicle, after all.
    77AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:29
    You're all bashing runners, but have none of you ever screamed abuse at a fellow pedestrian while walking?
    Only people who've never once screamed at another pedestrian get to criticize runners.
    Idiots.
    82AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:30
    Re: #77
    You don't even get the difference between running to get somewhere and running to train?
    You're the idiot here.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    The loop around the Imperial Palace is roughly 5km with no traffic lights, making it easy to run — which has cemented its status as one of central Tokyo’s most popular running spots, drawing office workers and amateur runners from early morning onward. In response to the wave of complaints, Chiyoda Ward says it’s considering additional warning signs and security cameras, but these measures aren’t meant to restrict runners’ access itself — they’re aimed at deterring specific incidents like intimidation and collisions. The thread ranged from firsthand accounts of runners threatening pedestrians, to the theory that people are simply projecting the imagery from televised marathons onto everyday sidewalks, to debates over whether dedicated runner lanes should be built. This report alone doesn’t reveal the actual number of complaints or exactly how the survey will be conducted, so until the ward releases its findings, it’s worth remembering that a handful of anecdotes may not represent the full picture.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread ‘“Imperial Palace Running”: Ward to Investigate Runner Etiquette Violations Amid Wave of Complaints Over Intimidation and Collisions — Security Camera Installation Among Measures Considered‘.

  • Ayumi Hamasaki Announces Her 48th Birthday: “I’ve Reached Lv48” — 5ch Reacts: “She Was Still Lv16 When I First Saw Her”

    Singer Ayumi Hamasaki announced on Instagram on September 30 that she had turned 48. “I’ve reached Lv48! Sorry for being such an immature adult,” she wrote, striking her usual defiantly quirky pose. On 5ch’s Entertainment/Sports News+ board, the thread filled with nostalgic comments grouping her together with Hikaru Utada, Ringo Shiina, and aiko — all of whom made their major-label debut that same year, 1998, a lineup often called a “miracle year” — alongside reflections on time passing like “She was still Lv16 when I first saw her.” But plenty of posters also brought up her lack of recent hits, where her career stands now, and changes in her appearance, leaving her standing as a reigning diva up for debate.

    Ayumi Hamasaki: “I’ve Reached Lv48!” — Birthday Announcement Sparks a Wave of Well-Wishes: “My Eternal Idol,” “Grateful to Be Alive in the Same Era as Her”

    Singer Ayumi Hamasaki (48) updated her Instagram on the 30th to announce her birthday.

    “I’ve reached Lv48! Sorry for being such an immature adult (lol),” Hamasaki began. “Please forgive me for continuing to live as this oddly quirky, fun-loving weirdo,” she wrote.

    Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here

    3AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:34
    Could you please level down by like 20 or 30
    4AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:36
    Ayu doesn't seem like she'd be popular with gloomy nerds like you 5ch guys (inkya = slang for socially awkward "dark personality" types)
    6AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:38
    Re: #4
    Well I'm not even a 5ch regular myself, so there, lol
    17AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:47
    Re: #4
    She's never really been that big a hit with guys anyway
    5AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:36
    Can't believe the girl who sang those songs is now a 48-year-old lady
    Life really is short
    45AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:21
    Re: #5
    Makes you wish you could live, like, 100,000 years (´・ω・`)
    7AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:38
    Ayumi Hamasaki, Hikaru Utada, Ringo Shiina, and aiko
    All made their major-label debut in that same year, 1998
    A miracle year
    8AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:38
    Her face has really changed into something else. Though honestly, you could've seen that coming
    9AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:39
    She doesn't need the Westernized stage production, simple is fine — I just wish she'd sing good songs like she did in her early days
    11AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:43
    She was still LV16 when I first saw her
    12AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:43
    She's so cute, looks just like Suzu Hirose

    18AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:48
    Re: #12
    If you covered up the name, I wouldn't even guess that was Hama-san
    32AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:04
    Re: #12
    She deserves credit for basically driving the tanned "gal" look to near-extinction
    19AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:49
    Guess we won't get to see Hama-san's flying stage shows anymore?
    (´・ω・`)
    20AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:50
    Hama-san, you've really changed since the custard snack-cake commercial days
    21AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:52
    Must be nice to get to live doing what you love
    22AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:52
    Getting older and older, tough fighting against aging, huh Hamasaki-san
    23AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:52
    I wonder when and who first started calling their own age a "level"
    27AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:00
    Wait, she's younger than me now somehow
    29AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:02
    She hasn't had a hit in like 20 years now, right?
    At that point she's basically an enka singer (enka = traditional Japanese ballads, a genre associated with veteran singers who tour without chart hits)
    30AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:02
    Wait, Ayu is now 2 years older than Kozo Murashita ever got to be (singer-songwriter who died at 46)
    31AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:03
    The cap is 25, so I'm 23 limit-breaks past that (joke using gacha-game terms — women often joke their age "caps out" at 25, then just tally repeat upgrades beyond it)
    33AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:07
    Is her face's "version number" higher than 48, or about the same?
    35AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:09
    Every time the fans hype her up saying she's gorgeous and doesn't look 48 at all,
    she takes it to heart and keeps right on with her
    endless remodeling maintenance routine
    36AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:09
    Both Hikaru Utada and Hamasaki have had way too much drama in their lives, it's fascinating — unlike the tens of thousands of washed-up idols out there with nothing going on, totally hollow, just money, money, money
    43AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:17
    Re: #36
    Same goes for Namie Amuro. Probably gets less spotlight these days because she's just seen as one member among idol groups now
    37AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:10
    59AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:33
    Re: #37
    Is that Megumi Okina on the left?
    68AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:52
    Re: #37
    Wait, is this seriously the same person? That's a different person, right?
    74AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:14
    Re: #37
    Would facial recognition even still work on her?
    46AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:21
    I'm from the Hamasaki generation but neither her as a person nor her music ever did anything for me
    I genuinely don't get why she was so popular
    Sure, her face is flashy and well put together, and she's not a bad singer
    If we're just talking "different strokes for different folks" and she sold decently, fine, I could understand that much
    But to the public she's treated as a "diva," basically an artist who supposedly hit the peak and defined an era
    If that's the case, I feel like there should be some universal appeal that makes people feel that way, but I just don't get it at all
    If I had to pick one, I guess "SEASONS" is a song I can at least listen to
    79AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:28
    Re: #46
    I'm from the same generation and never really got what was so great about her either, but her very first album, from back when she was dating that avex "rat guy" (nickname for her former producer/boyfriend, said to resemble a mouse), seemed to be the good one
    That's the impression I got listening on YouTube
    Her face has also started looking more like that avex "rat guy," with that stretched philtrum look
    Guess it's true that couples end up resembling each other
    54AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:30
    Ayu "scooped" me up and saved me (pun: sukuu means both "to save" and "to scoop," setting up the goldfish joke below)
    57AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:31
    Re: #54
    A goldfish scooped up at a festival stall, maybe?
    61AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:33
    https://static.mercdn.net/item/detail/orig/photos/m69301517720_1.jpg
    81AnonymousOct 3, 2026 10:29
    Re: #61
    Full-on delinquent gyaru energy

    Background and Key Points of the Discussion

    Ayumi Hamasaki made her major-label debut in 1998 with “poker FACE,” and is often discussed as part of the “miracle year” generation alongside fellow 1998 debutantes Hikaru Utada, Ringo Shiina, and aiko. In the thread, opinions split along lines of comparison with these peers and whether she’s still landing hits, with posters disagreeing on where her career currently stands. Her choice to describe her birthday as reaching “Lv48” is a self-deprecating way of framing her age like a video-game level — a style of self-expression Hamasaki has used before. The comments about cosmetic surgery and changes in her appearance that stood out in the thread weren’t really reactions to the content of her post itself, but appearance judgments drawn from comparisons with old photos — worth noting there’s some distance between the “birthday announcement” the article reports and the points readers are actually reacting to.

    *This article is composed as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Ayumi Hamasaki Announces Her 48th Birthday: “I’ve Reached Lv48!” — Wave of Well-Wishes: “My Eternal Idol,” “Grateful to Live in the Same Era as Her”.”

  • FX Warrior Kurumi-chan: Why Did Mom Burn Through a Fortune? 5ch Reacts: “More profit… just a bit more…”

    In the live-reaction thread for the anime “FX Warrior Kurumi-chan,” fans buzzed over the storyline where the protagonist’s mother loses a fortune trading FX (leveraged foreign exchange margin trading). Viewers repeatedly questioned her motive — “why would she pour 20 million yen in seed money into risky FX trading?” — and some posters cited the real-world crash of the Australian dollar against the yen, which plunged from 104 yen to 55 yen in 2008, to explain how forced liquidations and margin calls work. Meanwhile, when amateur posters pointed out “she should have just sold while she was still in the black,” others countered with a psychological explanation: she simply couldn’t suppress the greed of “more profit… just a little more…” The thread debated just how terrifying leveraged trading can be.

    ↑ When starting the next thread, copy and paste this with two or more lines stacked together

    ――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

    ・Trolls and flame-baiters are to be completely ignored. Deletion requests: http://qb5.5ch.io/saku/

    Source: fxkurumi-info.com / original article here

    13AnonymousOct 2, 2026 23:16
    The reasons the market moves can be explained by economics, politics, or chart theory,
    so it feels like you could win if you just studied that stuff.
    FX is the kind of thing that sucks in studious, ambitious people.
    14AnonymousOct 2, 2026 23:17
    Re: #13
    That's just stuff you can explain after the fact — it doesn't mean you can actually see what's coming.
    15AnonymousOct 2, 2026 23:23
    Re: #13
    Please, enlighten me — I got wrecked by Tr()mp!!
    24AnonymousOct 2, 2026 23:44
    In the first place, why did Mom want to make so much money so badly?

    If you're the kind of person with 20 million yen in seed money to throw around, why on earth would you walk the dangerous tightrope of FX of all things?
    The daughter's narration did paint her as not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but even so —
    couldn't margin trading on individual stocks have worked instead, at least (though that's plenty risky too)?
    Did she want money so badly that leisurely trading stocks outright just wasn't going to cut it?

    Is the reasoning behind all this ever going to get explained?
    26AnonymousOct 2, 2026 23:53
    Re: #24
    Just from how panicked she'd get whenever the chart didn't move the way she wanted, you can tell she'd put in money she was never supposed to touch.
    49AnonymousOct 3, 2026 02:48
    Re: #24
    The 20 million yen she burned through wasn't all seed money —
    a lot of it was actually poured in later to cover margin calls and dodge forced liquidation.
    She was trading AUD/JPY, which went from 104 yen in July 2008 to 55 yen by October 2008.
    To rescue her position she raided the household savings and borrowed from her grandmother and relatives too.
    Probably maxed out loans from consumer finance companies as well.
    There were envelopes stacked up like a mountain.

    As for the original seed money, wasn't it more like 2 or 3 million yen?
    If she ran that at 10x leverage long, a move from 100 yen to 55 yen would trigger forced liquidation and wipe out a 20-million-yen margin call — that's the math.
    Probably around 15 million of it was household money and 5 million was debt.
    The reason they moved from the condo to the apartment was that she couldn't keep up with paying back relatives and the loan anymore.
    63AnonymousOct 3, 2026 06:08
    Re: #24
    You sometimes see news stories about investment fraud victims, and the damages per person run into the tens of millions of yen,
    which just makes you think "wow, people really do have money."
    And on top of that, they're paying that much in cash within three months of signing up for some LINE investment (scam) community.
    28AnonymousOct 3, 2026 00:00
    That's roughly what it looked like back then

    35AnonymousOct 3, 2026 00:40
    Re: #1
    Might as well post this one too, I'd say
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HTm_IGcbUAEzd0n.jpg
    39AnonymousOct 3, 2026 01:06
    Hard to believe, but apparently there were people who saw the nicotine-stained cat scene and felt like lighting up a cigarette themselves.
    81AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:39
    Re: #39
    That's really not that hard to believe.
    42AnonymousOct 3, 2026 01:32
    I trade stocks but I don't know much about forex.
    100x leverage is brutal.
    Stocks basically trend upward over time so you've got decent odds,
    but forex is a seesaw — one currency only goes up because the other goes down, so it's basically 50/50.
    Feels like a bad deal to me.
    50AnonymousOct 3, 2026 02:53
    Re: #42
    Before the Lehman Shock, stocks required 1 million yen just to get in,
    but you could start FX with as little as 100 yen, so the barrier to entry was low.
    In the serialization currently running, there's a scene where
    a "rotten woman" (slang for a fujoshi, a BL-manga fan) wants to buy stock in the company she works for, but can't afford it — a single unit costs 700,000 yen against her entire net worth of 800,000.
    54AnonymousOct 3, 2026 04:51
    Re: #42
    Leverage itself isn't a bad thing.
    It lets you trade even with a small amount of capital.
    That is, if you've got money management, discipline, and experience…
    57AnonymousOct 3, 2026 05:00
    Re: #42
    Isn't FX leverage capped at 25x in Japan?
    43AnonymousOct 3, 2026 02:10
    In the anime it felt like a waste of Noto-san's talent (the voice actress), since the mom just goes and kills herself right away (´-ω-`)
    So Kurumi-chan = Jashin-chan, huh
    Anyway, I wonder if it'll just proceed exactly like the original manga
    48AnonymousOct 3, 2026 02:34
    Re: #43
    She shows up now and then in flashbacks.
    This series has very few characters —
    aside from the 4 main cast members plus the parents, everyone else is just nameless background extras.
    45AnonymousOct 3, 2026 02:14
    I'm an amateur, but does that mean she should've sold once she was up 24,000?
    If so, why didn't she?
    47AnonymousOct 3, 2026 02:21
    Re: #45
    "More profit… just a bit more…"

    That's why.
    62AnonymousOct 3, 2026 06:08
    Re: #45
    Because you never know if that's the peak or if it's still got room to climb.
    If you could nail the exact timing for taking profits and cutting losses, FX would be easy.
    It's not knowing that which makes everyone struggle.
    52AnonymousOct 3, 2026 03:24
    So the manga adaptation is censoring the fall into sex work, huh.
    Guess I can't expect any of the racy stuff then…
    If you're going to depict FX realistically, you shouldn't go soft on that part.
    68AnonymousOct 3, 2026 06:38
    Pink hair and a cutesy, unrealistic art style, but the content is nothing like that at all.
    72AnonymousOct 3, 2026 06:46
    Re: #68
    Late-night anime with fancy, cute art styles
    tend to be the ones that turn out merciless and brutal.
    71AnonymousOct 3, 2026 06:45
    This season it's this show and
    "I Became the Strongest Witch — Living Freely in a World Where Only I Can See the 'Walkthrough Site'"
    that are my top two.
    That other one you can watch totally brain-dead without thinking about anything,
    but there's no way you can watch this one like that!

    I've personally been holding FX positions myself for the past several years.
    Since the show's running for 3 months straight,
    surely some huge market swing is bound to happen at some point, right?
    I'm looking forward to that.
    The "near-foolproof method" mentioned in the show
    is such a boringly unexciting approach that it holds zero fear for me.
    75AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:05
    I trade stocks but haven't touched FX myself, but what I thought after watching episode 1 was:
    long-term, the yen's probably just going to keep weakening, so
    if you leverage within your total net worth and just hold tight, wouldn't you basically win?

    If you started right after an intervention, it seems like nothing but an easy, guaranteed-win game.
    Now I kind of want to try it.
    84AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:43
    Re: #75
    I also trade stocks on a cash basis, but
    part of why I'm studying margin trading (FX, futures, etc.) is that I want to try it myself eventually — but also because right now it's the margin-trading crowd (especially Western and Jewish funds) that's driving the big market moves.
    It's so I can read their behavior.
    That's why people say things like currency interventions are meant to "burn" the high-leverage FX crowd,
    or how pushing stock prices up "burns" the short sellers.
    I get the theory, but honestly, if I actually tried it, I feel like I'd end up throwing myself onto the train tracks near my house.
    88AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:47
    Re: #84
    In technical analysis, margin balances are important data, but if you're going in with a long-term holding mindset, you don't need to weight it so heavily.
    Besides, that crowd can't stick around for the long haul to begin with.
    80AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:38
    This is more of a death game than SAO, lol
    82AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:39
    Re: #80
    Stop making scenes of Kirito just staring down a PC monitor.
    89AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:48
    Re: #75
    Even if the yen weakens over the long term, if there's a temporary spike toward a super-strong yen somewhere in the middle, you lose everything.
    92AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:53
    Re: #89
    Because currency is the kind of market where the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan periodically plant a bomb and force everyone out.
    98AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:02
    Re: #89
    There are temporary corrections, sure, but couldn't you just keep the leverage within your total net worth?
    Like, if your total net worth is 10 million yen, run 100,000 yen at 100x leverage.
    It dropped to 152 yen recently and then went right back to 158, didn't it?
    You put money in whenever there's an intervention or a temporary dip, it'll probably shoot back up near 160 soon after, and you sell there and switch into an all-country index fund.

    The key point is not to double down with the money you made from FX.
    As long as you don't get greedy and chase it, it seems like nothing but an easy game.
    Though this is just knowledge from watching one episode of the anime.
    99AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:04
    Re: #71
    Idiot.
    If a method like that actually worked, the FX brokers would just be doing it themselves.
    106AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:13
    Re: #99
    The "near-foolproof method"
    is literally just trading with low leverage.
    At that point it's basically no different from a foreign currency deposit.
    Her current margin maintenance ratio is over 1800%.

    She's been in the black every single year for the past several years,
    but with hindsight, she'd have made more money just putting that capital into an all-country index fund or the S&P 500.
    No wonder Kurumi-chan doesn't bother doing it that way.
    109AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:18
    Re: #106
    If it made more than foreign bonds at equal risk, brokerages would definitely already be doing it themselves.
    If it makes less than foreign bonds, you're effectively losing money in real terms. Well, if you're calling it "foolproof" just because the balance sheet shows a profit, I guess that's not technically wrong either…
    110AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:22
    Re: #106
    No… a 1-yen swing in USD/JPY in a single day is completely normal. And if we're talking long-term holding, moves of 10 or 20 yen over the long run are normal too — just look at the past few years, it went from 100 yen to 160 yen.
    "You earn interest just by holding long-term!" is a brain-rotted fantasy.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Retail FX trading in Japan is currently capped at a maximum of 25x leverage, but that rule has only been in place since the Financial Services Agency’s regulation took effect in 2011 — before that, leverage of several hundred times over was possible. The Australian dollar/yen pair mentioned in the thread was popular as a high-interest-rate currency, but it crashed from the 104-yen range down to the 55-yen range around the time of the 2008 Lehman Shock, a period that lines up with numerous real cases of individual investors on heavy leverage being hit with forced liquidations and margin calls. The thread split between an optimistic view — “leverage itself isn’t dangerous as long as you manage your money properly” — and a pessimistic one — “the market is driven by big margin-trading players, and retail traders are the ones who get burned.” Both views reflect real facets of the actual FX market. The series is reportedly based on an autobiographical manga drawn from the author’s own experiences, though exactly how much of what’s depicted is literally true was never settled within the thread.

    *This article was compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (anime board) thread “FX Warrior Kurumi-chan — Down 20,000 Yen.”

  • Lupin III 55th Anniversary ‘Best Episodes’ Picks: Fan-Voted #1 Episode Revealed for Each Series, Airing October 3

    “Lupin III,” marking 55 years since the series began airing in 1971, is getting a commemorative “Best Episodes Selection” special, airing on Nippon TV starting late night on October 3. Chosen by fan vote from all 316 episodes, the #1 pick for each series was: Episode 1 for PART1; “Farewell, My Beloved Lupin,” directed by Hayao Miyazaki, for PART2; “Gold Calls for Lupin” for PART III; “The Marriage of Lupin III” for PART4; the final episode for PART5; the episode marking voice actor Kiyoshi Kobayashi’s retirement for PART6; and Episode 1 for “The Woman Called Fujiko Mine.” In the thread, discussion split between reactions that misread the voting scope (mistaking it for one that included the theatrical film “The Castle of Cagliostro”), pushback against how Miyazaki-directed episodes tend to land near the top, and disagreement over “which series counts as the ‘real’ Lupin.”

    As a commemorative project for “Lupin III,” marking 55 years since the first TV anime episode aired in 1971, “Lupin III Best Episodes Selection,” in which fans voted to decide which episodes would air, begins broadcasting on Nippon TV every Saturday late night starting October 3. To coincide with the broadcast start, the #1-ranked episode in each series, chosen from a total of 316 episodes, has been announced.

    “Lupin III Best Episodes Selection” is set to air 13 episodes in total: the top 2 episodes from each of the TV series “PART1” through “PART6,” plus the #1 episode from the spin-off “LUPIN the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine.” The #1 spot in all 7 series went to whichever episode was already leading at the interim results announced in August, with no changes at the finish line.

    The final #1 picks were: for “PART1,” the landmark Episode 1, “Is Lupin Burning…?!”; for “PART2,” “Farewell, My Beloved Lupin,” directed by Hayao Miyazaki under the pseudonym Tsutomu Teruoka; for “PART III,” “Gold Calls for Lupin”; from “PART4,” “The Marriage of Lupin III”; from “PART5,” the final episode, “Lupin III Forever”; from “PART6,” “EPISODE 0 – The Era -,” the episode marking the retirement of Kiyoshi Kobayashi, who voiced Jigen Daisuke for roughly 50 years; and from “The Woman Called Fujiko Mine,” Episode 1, “Master Thief vs. Female Phantom Thief.” The remaining six episodes will only be revealed once they actually air.

    Source: cinematoday.jp / Original article here

    2AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:51
    Cagliostro wins no matter what, right?
    48AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:50
    Re: #2
    It's a TV anime popularity poll, though.
    90AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:40
    Re: #2
    Cagliostro lost to Mamo lol (the villain from "The Mystery of Mamo" movie)
    6AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:54
    Only the first series is real Lupin.
    Everything else, Cagliostro included, doesn't count as Lupin.
    17AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:05
    Re: #6
    By that logic the first series has its own original spin on things too, so it's not "real" Lupin either.
    Only the original manga is real Lupin.
    35AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:21
    Re: #17
    Monkey Punch himself was such a big-hearted guy, telling creators "just do it your own way," and yet lol

    Monkey Punch wanted everyone — including himself as the original author — to do their own thing, but he seems to have been frustrated that most people only make watered-down Miyazaki knockoffs, with a lot of fans refusing to accept anything outside the Miyazaki lineage
    (It's a famous story, but there was that time he tried doing it his own way as the original creator and the staff told him it wasn't "real" Lupin)

    Re: #6
    Even within the first series, Osumi's episodes and Miyazaki's episodes go in pretty different directions.
    47AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:49
    Re: #6
    Right. Osumi is supreme. Cagliostro is at the bottom. They should just make a sequel to the Lupin vs. Conan movie and THE FIRST instead.
    7AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:55
    Wasn't there an episode where the characters were basically straight out of Laputa (Castle in the Sky)?
    8AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:57
    Re: #7
    The one with Maki Koyamada.
    10AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:58
    There used to be this old guy from Arizona — an American who reviewed Japanese anime — who said he watched all of Lupin III, TV series and movies included, and in the end Cagliostro was still the most fun.
    46AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:49
    Not much different from the 50th-anniversary "Kin-Ro" (Friday Road Show) best-episodes special.

    According to the official site, they're also putting out a digitally remastered disc of the old Lupin series.
    Next year marks half a century since PART2 aired, but that doesn't seem to be connected to this.

    Re: #10
    That's one of those clips that gets recycled over and over with random subtitles slapped on.
    12AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:00
    Wild — neither the article nor the official site says what time on the 3rd it actually airs.
    51AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:52
    Re: #12
    Same here. I checked the official site after October started and there was nothing new, just the disc release and merch design reveals — no voting results — so I was wondering what was going on.
    13AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:01
    Well, but now that we're in an era where people scream "source-material rape" (fan slang for adaptations seen as betraying the original) at any liberty taken, talents like Miyazaki probably won't come along again.
    19AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:07
    Re: #13
    Like with Detective Conan — there are people who straight-up say "I made the boring source material interesting." That generation (Tomino, Dezaki) had the mindset that the source material is just raw material, and the anime is the director's own work.
    23AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:08
    Is there a thing where people insist Lupin has to be voiced by Yasuo Yamada or nobody?
    24AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:11
    Re: #23
    The impersonator-comedian who took over the role is at an age where it wouldn't be shocking if he died any day now, so they'll need to go find yet another impersonator-comedian next.
    42AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:27
    Re: #23
    That's only a tiny handful of weirdos.
    58AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:01
    Re: #23
    Re: #42
    There are actually a ton of them.
    Even I still find Kurita Kan'ichi's (nicknamed "Kurikan," the current Lupin voice actor) half-hearted impression-style voice a bit off.
    28AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:17
    Apparently Lupin is always in disguise, and even his "official" face is actually just another disguise — nobody's ever seen his real one.
    41AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:25
    Re: #28
    "Official" or not, in the original manga the setting is that "even that familiar face is a disguise, and we don't even really know his gender" (there's exactly one character who knows Lupin's true face, and there's a story where Zenigata goes to ask that character about it). Face aside, the gender thing feels like a stretch lol.
    37AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:22
    Airing just this lopsided selection doesn't seem like it accomplishes much…
    People who already know the series will find these episodes too famous already, and people who don't know it will just be totally lost if they suddenly watch the PART2 finale out of nowhere.
    65AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:11
    Re: #37
    It's faster to just dig through the character-focused episode compilations TMS Entertainment posts for free on YouTube.
    Everything except the Miyazaki episodes and "The Woman Called Fujiko Mine" shows up there.

    Search "TMS official Lupin III" on YouTube and you'll get a whole lineup of official Lupin III uploads.
    38AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:23
    Give the Fuma Clan arc some love.
    It's well put together and I really like it.
    52AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:53
    Re: #38
    The Fuma arc has decent voice acting too, and the treasure is just plain old gold-and-silver treasure, which I like.
    43AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:35
    What about "Albatross, Wings of Death"?
    75AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:18
    Re: #43
    Isn't that the #2 pick?
    56AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:59
    "Farewell, My Beloved Lupin" barely even has Lupin in it, though.
    59AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:02
    Re: #56
    Go watch it again.
    Lupin's on screen non-stop from the very start.
    57AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:59
    Lupin has no connection whatsoever to Arsène Lupin — he's just an ordinary Japanese guy, you know.
    70AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:12
    Re: #57
    In the original early setting: there's Edogawa Ranpo's novel "The Golden Mask" (whose true identity is Arsène Lupin), and Lupin III is the grandson of Arsène Lupin — the son of a child Arsène had with a Japanese woman.
    61AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:05
    Re: #1
    If we're talking about the first series, it should be Episode 2, "The Man Called a Magician."
    91AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:41
    Re: #61
    Right?
    Well, in polls like this Episode 1 always has an edge.
    64AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:07
    "Farewell, My Beloved Lupin" is already too famous — for PART2 I wanted to discover some other hidden gems instead.
    71AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:12
    Re: #64
    There's kind of a "just default to Miyazaki" vibe to it, yeah.
    81AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:30
    Is Miyazaki's Lupin really that good?
    He seems to win #1 every single time.
    82AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:31
    Re: #81
    It's just people who haven't actually watched it properly voting for it purely because it's Miyazaki.
    87AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:36
    If they'd done one single combined vote across every series, PART4 through 6 would probably get shut out entirely, but they have to include them to push the newer voice cast.
    89AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:39
    Re: #87
    Even PART III is shaky.
    PART4 onward, people don't even know it exists.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    This vote covered only the TV series (PART1 through 6) and the spin-off, not the theatrical films — “The Castle of Cagliostro” was never part of the tally to begin with. The thread’s “Cagliostro lost” reactions stem from that mismatched premise, and it’s worth flagging that this isn’t made clear in the article itself: it’s a separate count from any theatrical-film popularity contest. The tendency for Hayao Miyazaki-directed episodes like “Farewell, My Beloved Lupin” to rank at the top across multiple series also appears to reflect the director’s fame and later critical reappraisal, which is what drove the thread’s pushback against a “just default to Miyazaki” mood. The fact that the episode marking Kiyoshi Kobayashi’s retirement — after voicing Jigen for nearly 50 years — was chosen to represent PART6 also lines up with a genuine production-side milestone: a cast change within the series. The final results simply locked in whatever was leading at the August interim announcement, with no reversals in the final rankings.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geisokuho+) thread ““Lupin III” 55th Anniversary Best Episodes Selection: Final #1 Picks by Series Announced, Airing from October 3.”

  • New Juice=Juice Fan Laments ‘My Favorite Member Left’ — Veteran Fans Pile On

    When a new Juice=Juice fan posted that they were sad because the member they’d come to love had “left the group” (脱退, dattai), veteran fans piled on with corrections insisting it should be called “graduating” (卒業, sotsugyō) instead — prompting the poster to apologize. The exchange sparked a wider discussion on 5ch’s Hello! Project board about the distinction between the two terms. Many pointed out that early Morning Musume departures were actually described as “leaving the group” (脱退) at the time, and reminisced about just when “graduating” became the standard term.

    11AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:11
    If it weren't for the whole Takagi thing, nobody would've gotten chewed out over this.
    13AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:14
    Even accounting for the Takagi situation, that's way too touchy.
    14AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:15
    This is exactly why people say it's hard for newcomers to get into the fandom.
    15AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:16
    Re: #14
    In Juice=Juice's case, new fans just flow in while completely ignoring the annoying old-timers anyway.
    16AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:17
    It's not actually wrong, though. The idol industry just arbitrarily assigned meaning to the word — "left the group" works fine too.
    19AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:19
    When did people start saying "graduate"? Didn't everyone just say "left the group" before that?
    23AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:24
    Re: #19
    Back in Morning Musume's early days, Fukuda Asuka and Ishiguro Aya were both treated as having "left the group." It was only after that when "graduating" took on its special meaning.
    21AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:20
    Why is Ichioka treated as a "graduation"? That one was clearly a departure.
    22AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:24
    Feels like male idol groups don't really use "graduate" much.
    24AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:26
    SMAP's Mori really did feel like an actual "graduation," but the term that got used at the time was still "leaving the group."
    44AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:50
    Re: #24
    It was called "leaving the group" back then too.
    25AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:28
    Thought they were a real veteran fan, but turns out they're not at all, lol. Thread title's false advertising.
    26AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:28
    I only got into Hello! Project after 2020, so to me "graduate" feels like an AKB thing.
    28AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:30
    This is exactly the kind of thing I hate about Hello! Project fans.
    29AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:31
    My prediction: Yafuzou graduates before Reiruru does.
    32AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:35
    Wait, they're new — so how do they even know about Miyazaki?
    Did they find out by digging through old videos?
    I don't really get it.
    34AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:37
    Plenty of new fans get hooked on Kanatomo or Yamanakan, but getting into Yukanya is rare.
    42AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:48
    I'd get it if it were "fired" or "dismissed," but I never had that kind of image of "leaving the group."
    45AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:51
    Miyazaki left the group due to "musical differences."
    46AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:53
    Under 25: dropped out
    25: graduated
    26 and up: held back a year
    61AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:54
    Re: #46
    Reiruru's a grad-school graduate.
    47AnonymousOct 3, 2026 07:54
    JP Room members, ranked by change
    *,*71,458 *,*72,034 +*576 *4 Miyazaki Yuka
    *,*53,307 *,*53,648 +*341 *1 Sato Masaki
    *,103,278 *,103,524 +*246 *4 Uemura Akari
    *,137,450 *,137,625 +*175 *8 Ishida Ayumi
    *,*45,290 *,*45,380 +**90 *8 Asakura Kiki
    *,136,308 *,136,357 +**49 *9 Inaba Manaka
    *,*32,178 *,*32,212 +**34 *5 Ozeki Mai
    *,108,270 *,108,293 +**23 *1 Sasaki Rikako
    *,114,262 *,114,172 -**90 *1 Miyamoto Karin
    *,*81,484 *,*81,370 -*114 *2 Takeuchi Akari
    *,121,121 *,120,982 -*139 18 Morito Chisaki
    *,141,769 *,141,542 -*227 11 Fukumura Mizuki
    84AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:32
    Re: #47
    Yukanya's on fire right now.
    49AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:21
    They exited and left the group, so "leaving the group" (脱退) is the grammatically correct term in Japanese. If you want to call it "graduating" (卒業), the "業" in there implies quitting the entertainment business itself — which doesn't apply here, so "graduating" doesn't really work either.
    50AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:23
    Juice=Juice fans are a pain whether they're new or veteran.
    52AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:33
    I've never taken part in the "220" event (likely fan shorthand for a specific show) — am I still allowed to call myself a veteran?
    53AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:34
    Kitagawa can just be "left the group," that's fine.
    55AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:37
    Re: #53
    They held an event and it really was a proper "graduation" though 🤭
    58AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:52
    Re: #55
    It was an "end of activities," though.
    62AnonymousOct 3, 2026 08:55
    Re: #58
    This right here is exactly the kind of annoying fan we're talking about.
    67AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:03
    I've only been a "Moremi" fan (a Hello! Project fan nickname) since March this year, and I only just found out from this thread that there was someone named Miyamoto — I had no idea about Miyazaki.
    68AnonymousOct 3, 2026 09:05
    Re: #67
    She was the original leader!
    You don't have the right to call yourself a Juice=Juice fan.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    In idol culture, including Hello! Project, the term “dattai” (脱退, “leaving the group”) was long the standard way to describe a member’s departure, but since the 2000s the term “sotsugyō” (卒業, “graduating”) has become the norm. As pointed out in the thread, the departures of early Morning Musume members like Fukuda Asuka and Ishiguro Aya were in fact reported as “leaving the group” at the time, and the now-common practice of calling it “graduating” is a relatively recent convention. The gap in how new and veteran fans perceive these terms largely comes down to how much they know about this shift in terminology. At the same time, it’s a common misconception that there’s a strict official rule distinguishing “leaving” from “graduating” — in truth, which term applies isn’t rigidly defined.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “New Juice=Juice Fan: ‘Sad That the Member I Came to Love Left the Group’ → Veteran Fans Pile On: ‘Say Graduated!’ → Apology“.