Japan Reacts

Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • Giants Edge Swallows 8-6 as Dalbec’s Go-Ahead 3-Run Homer Leads the Way — 3rd Through 6th Place Bunched Within 2.5 Games

    The Giants edged out the Yakult Swallows 8-6 in a game that got the thread talking, with the lineup racking up 8 runs behind Dalbec’s go-ahead 3-run homer. Comments described Tetsuto Yamada’s hit as “the flare of a candle right before it goes out,” while others worried about the Giants’ bullpen after they burned through seven pitchers, and attention also turned to just how tight the Central League standings are, with only 2.5 games separating 3rd from 6th place.

    Giants　　　 3 0 2　 2 0 0　 0 0 1 | 8

    Swallows　 1 1 2　 0 2 0　 0 0 0 | 6

    [Battery]

    Source: nikkansports.com / original article here

    3AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:56
    The Giants win again today, and Joa tastes so good (o^∀^o) (Joa is a Yakult-brand dairy drink — a running joke here celebrating Giants wins with Yakult products)
    53AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:23
    Re: #3, 4, 11
    Hey, quit copying!
    66AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:51
    Re: #3, 4, 11
    Thanks for your continued patronage
    thanks to you all buying, the sales go straight into Yamada's salary
    4AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:56
    The Giants win again today, and Yakult 1000 tastes so good (o^∀^o) (another Yakult probiotic drink)
    5AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:56
    Whoever went to watch this game live got their money's worth with all that scoring.
    8AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:57
    Can't believe Ikeyama's throwing games at this point in the season. ("敗退行為" — NPB's term for intentionally losing/tanking, a serious accusation)
    9AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:57
    Strikeout, strikeout… "What happened to Munetaka Murakami?"
    Chicago fans' despair, and their dreams
    Fans do an about-face after his "2-for-24, 11 K" slump
    8/25 (Tue) 17:43
    10AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:57
    Yakult totally threw that game on purpose lol
    11AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:57
    The Giants win again today, and Pirukuru Miracle Care tastes so good (o^∀^o) (yet another Yakult dairy drink)
    12AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:57
    Yakult suddenly started bunting like crazy, lol
    13AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:57
    Re: #10
    How, exactly? lol
    20AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:59
    Re: #13
    Huh?
    It was obviously intentional
    as punishment for Yoshimura
    22AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:59
    Re: #20
    Yakult's still fighting for a Climax Series spot too, lol
    47AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:15
    Re: #20
    Nah, when you get torched for 5 runs right at the start of game one of a 3-game set, of course you stick with your starter even while losing — you've got the next two games to think about.
    And unlike Norimoto, who's basically a sacrificial start for the Giants after Iori Yamazaki's last-minute injury, Yoshimura is (nominally) their Opening Day starter, so he's expected to at least do a starter's job.
    Though the half-hearted comeback ended up burning through their bullpen anyway.
    15AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:58
    50-60 DeNA (Yokohama)
    50-61 Yakult
    50-65 Chunichi
    45-60 Hiroshima
    16AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:58
    1st and 2nd place probably won't budge, but 3rd place is up for grabs for anyone!
    17AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:58
    Dalbec: "Dog, shake."

    Dog: "Woof."

    Dalbec: "Hey dog, that's not it.
    It's three. Three times."

    Dog: "Woof woof woof."

    Dalbec: "Awww~ good boy, good boy."
    18AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:58
    Apparently there's a team out there that got 16 hits and still lost to a team with only 9.
    19AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:58
    You get 16 hits and still manage to lose? Come on.
    23AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:59
    Re: #1

    Pitcher decisions
    Win: Giants' Akaboshi (6-2, 0 SV)
    Loss: Yakult's Yoshimura (4-9, 0 SV)
    Save: Giants' Martinez (3-3, 35 SV)
    31AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:03
    Re: #23
    Didn't realize Akaboshi already had 6 wins.
    24AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:00
    Katsuya Nomura: "As expected, Hashigami's sticking well to my teachings. Ikeyama? He's managing now? No good, that won't do." (Nomura, a legendary manager who passed away in 2020, is being imagined here weighing in)
    25AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:01
    Dalbec's 3-run homer that somehow flew completely under the radar
    32AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:04
    Re: #25
    Without that 3-run homer, they lose this game.
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:03
    If Norimoto can't get Yakult's batters out, there's no team he could possibly pitch against.
    34AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:05
    Re: #29
    He was getting hit even in the minors — he only got called up this time to fill out the bullpen.
    He just ended up starting on short notice because Iori landed on the injured list.
    33AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:05
    Sure, a win's a win, but burning through 7 pitchers on a Tuesday game against Yakult of all teams…
    is the staff gonna hold up until Sunday?
    35AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:06
    Re: #33
    No time to worry about that this late in the season.
    The Giants are the ones chasing, so their pitching staff has no choice but to go full throttle.
    46AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:14
    That was a really sloppy, low-quality game.
    78AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:16
    Re: #46
    Agreed.
    Can't believe a team playing like that is sitting in 2nd place.
    54AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:25
    And here Yamada finally got a hit too, for nothing.
    57AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:30
    Re: #54
    Saw the flare of a candle right before it goes out.
    61AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:40
    I'm a Giants fan, but…
    the Giants are running on fumes.
    Come September, they could end up like Hiroshima did last year.
    Still, credit where it's due for building up a cushion with this roster.
    62AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:43
    Re: #61
    They're just aiming for a Climax Series spot at this point.
    As long as they can win it all in the end, that's fine.
    63AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:43
    Re: #61
    Just when it seemed like the rotation was coming together, it's a mess again.
    They're scraping by rotating position players too, but it's rough.
    64AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:44
    Doing well considering they're missing Togo, Iori, and Taisei.
    67AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:54
    Re: #64
    The rotation from when they won it all two years ago:
    Sugano → MLB
    Togo → injured
    Iori → injured
    Griffin → MLB
    Inoue → the lone survivor, now the ace
    Yokogawa → surgery
    Okamoto's gone to MLB too
    Taisei, Yoshikawa, and Kishida are all out hurt
    That's honestly too much to overcome.
    This is basically a rebuilding team that's had to pivot to the young guys.
    Hashigami's doing a great job.
    70AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:58
    Re: #64
    Whitley's hurt too, and there's no timetable for Nishidate's return.
    Thank god they picked up Ogasawara when they did.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] Central League S 6-8 G [8/25] Giants score 8 runs including Dalbec’s go-ahead 3-run homer, Yakult strands 11 runners, Central League tightens to 2.5 games between 3rd and 6th.”

  • Leap Seconds Effectively Abolished from 2027 — Earth’s Rotation Drift Tolerated Up to ‘One Hour’

    A resolution to effectively abolish leap seconds from May 2027, tolerating a drift from Earth’s rotation of up to one hour, is reportedly set to be reviewed at the General Conference on Weights and Measures in France this October.

    In the thread, rather than the “one-hour drift” itself — which isn’t expected to occur for hundreds or even thousands of years — commenters focused more on the real-world struggles engineers have faced dealing with leap seconds, worries about the impact on GPS and missile-defense systems, and pointed remarks that this is ultimately just kicking the problem down the road.

    Leap Seconds Effectively Abolished from 2027 — Rotation Drift Tolerated Up to “One Hour,” Vote at International Conference in October

    A proposal to effectively abolish the “leap second,” which adjusts world standard time in one-second increments, will be reviewed at the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), to be held in France October 13–15.

    Under the resolution from the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), if adopted, the world will shift to a “continuous UTC” — one that makes no leap-second adjustments — starting May 20, 2027.

    Source: itmedia.co.jp / Original article here

    2AnonymousAug 25, 2026 00:18
    Bet this'll make some people go 'gyaaah!!' lol
    3AnonymousAug 25, 2026 02:52
    If it drifts a whole hour, that's basically daylight saving time territory.
    Saying 'I'll be dead by then anyway' feels pretty irresponsible though.
    4AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:05
    How has everyone even been handling this adjustment up until now?
    That's kind of terrifying.
    5AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:05
    If they're not careful, it could mess up computer systems.
    6AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:18
    Late to work, late delivery, late loan repayment, late settlement — any time-related delay up to an hour is now excusable by blaming Earth's rotation drift.
    Long live the slow life!
    7AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:24
    If noon shifts by a whole hour, wouldn't that seriously mess up weather statistics?
    Should've capped it at a minute, at most.
    8AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:27
    Re: #1
    I could never get along with people who're fine with daylight saving time.
    9AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:35
    Honestly, inserting it right at the date rollover — 23:59:60 — seems like a bad idea, doesn't it?
    If it were 10:10:60 instead, you could fudge things a lot more easily.
    47AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:35
    Re: #9
    Nah, doesn't really change anything fundamental.
    10AnonymousAug 25, 2026 03:56
    Feels like they'll end up just setting Christ's birth as second zero and calling now '63 billion seconds.'
    11AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:15
    Wouldn't this throw GPS off too?
    Car nav is one thing, but if military or mountaineering units get thrown off, isn't that dangerous?
    Or is this kept separate from that, and it's purely about the time humans use?

    Either way, that sounds like it'd get messy too.
    12AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:27
    Re: #11
    It won't drift.
    If anything, since every system implements leap-second insertion differently,
    engineers have been coughing up blood trying to prevent drift caused by that — and now that's gone, so three cheers.
    13AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:27
    Flip the thinking around — just artificially correct the Earth's rotation speed itself so no time adjustment is ever needed.
    15AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:29
    Re: #13
    Marry me.
    14AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:29
    'If the rotation's gotten slower, then just speed it back up!'
    17AnonymousAug 25, 2026 09:07
    Just adjust it once, at noon on leap day — that'd be enough.
    19AnonymousAug 25, 2026 09:20
    Re: #17
    Leap years aren't adjusted case-by-case — under the Gregorian calendar, whether Feb 29 gets inserted in any given year is fixed far into the future.
    It's a completely different concept.
    18AnonymousAug 25, 2026 09:15
    Guess this is, in a way, a decision driven by 'outside pressure' too…
    if you count the fact that, for the first time on record, Earth's days have been shorter than 24 hours these past few years as 'outside pressure.'

    But honestly, isn't this a good outcome? Better that only the industries that actually need to care about the UTC/UT1 gap have to deal with it,
    rather than making everyone who touches a system clock worry about it.
    20AnonymousAug 25, 2026 11:17
    If it drifts a whole hour, sunlight and temperature would shift quite a bit.
    Correcting it back would be rough too.
    21AnonymousAug 25, 2026 11:20
    How many thousands of years would it even take to drift a full hour?
    22AnonymousAug 25, 2026 11:45
    Honestly, feels like the current setup was fine as it was.
    23AnonymousAug 25, 2026 11:48
    Re: #22
    Can't be helped — the downsides outweighed the benefits.
    Nobody wants system clocks getting fiddled with constantly these days,
    let alone attempting, for the first time ever, a leap second adjustment in the reverse direction!
    24AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:07
    An hour's drift is at least centuries away,
    so by then old systems might have nobody left who can touch them — that could cause even bigger chaos.
    If it were capped around a minute, you'd only adjust once every few decades, which still seems manageable.
    26AnonymousAug 25, 2026 15:18
    Re: #12
    How many systems even implement leap seconds these days?
    Most just smear the drift via NTP now, don't they?
    40AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:27
    Re: #26
    No such thing exists.
    It's not something you can just work out with a simple calculation —
    they just sync time based on announcements from international bodies.
    27AnonymousAug 25, 2026 15:34
    Society can cope with something like a 'leap second' since it's routine, but decades or centuries from now, inserting a 'leap hour' is going to be a bigger mess than the Y2K/Showa-100 bug.
    Can system engineers really not foresee that?
    28AnonymousAug 25, 2026 15:44
    Re: #27
    Thousands of years from now, today's systems won't exist in any recognizable form.
    There's no need to keep the current rule in place until the full one-hour drift actually shows up —
    realistically this'll only ever amount to a difference of a few dozen seconds.
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:17
    If one particular day ends up with an extra hour, whether that hour counts toward work time seems like it could become a real social issue.
    30AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:20
    They're just bundling the problem up and punting it to the future.
    31AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:30
    Re: #30
    Fine to punt on this one.
    Even after hundreds of years, it might only add up to a few minutes of drift,
    and by then the timekeeping system will probably look totally different anyway.

    Basically, the real question is what to do over just the next few decades —
    and making every system scramble to handle unknown fallout over a UTC/UT1 gap that maxes out at a few dozen seconds is ridiculous.
    32AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:35
    And on top of that, this 'days shorter than 24 hours' phenomenon has only been observed these past few years in all of recorded history — there's a good chance it reverses within a few decades and days go back to being longer than 24 hours again.
    Making every system implement negative leap seconds just for a few years' worth of a phenomenon is just terrible cost-benefit thinking.
    I'd get chewed out by my boss for that.
    34AnonymousAug 25, 2026 17:10
    The one-hour figure is just the maximum tolerance —
    it's not like they'll actually let the gap grow to a full hour before doing anything.
    And the underlying definition of the 'second' itself will probably be replaced by some more precise method before too long anyway.
    35AnonymousAug 25, 2026 17:55
    No way they'd actually let it drift a whole hour lol.
    The world's clocks run on NTP these days —
    this barely matters outside of stuff like rocket guidance systems.
    37AnonymousAug 25, 2026 18:52
    I guess as long as the gap between UTC and astronomical time is clearly published, there's no real problem.
    Though the world will keep running on UTC regardless…
    41AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:35
    Isn't GPS time just a raw second count since around 1980, meaning leap seconds are really a calendar-processing issue on the receiver's end?
    42AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:44
    Guess we won't get overtime pay for the leap second anymore.
    43AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:53
    Re: #1
    In a military context, lots of a nation's people could die, so think about missile interception here.
    A junk system whose intercept timing is off by a whole hour is garbage.
    Keep corrections down to one second — do your best.
    That's the state's duty.
    Protect human lives.
    45AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:19
    Leaving it alone for centuries sounds like it'll cause total chaos whenever it finally happens.
    Wouldn't it be better if it happened at least once during a given engineer's working career?
    46AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:26
    Re: #45
    Nobody said it's being left alone.

    All that's been decided is that correction happens once the drift exceeds one hour.
    In practice, 'correcting because it drifted an hour' will basically never occur —
    by the time it drifts an hour, the systems involved will be fundamentally different anyway.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Science News+) thread “Leap Seconds Effectively Abolished from 2027 — Rotation Drift Tolerated Up to “One Hour,” Vote at International Conference in October.”

  • Osaka’s ‘Brutal Location-Shoot Comedian’ Confesses: 7,500 Yen for a 15-Hour Shoot

    On Nippon TV’s “Daigo’s Comedian Receipts,” Osaka-based comedy duo Smile revealed they were paid just 7,500 yen for a 15-hour location shoot. Daigo was reportedly left speechless on learning this has been going on for 13 years.

    On 5ch, discussion centered on how much Yoshimoto Kogyo (the talent agency) takes as its cut and the pay gap between Kansai local shows and Tokyo key-network programs — though plenty of harsh comments like “that’s fair, they’re just not funny” also piled up.

    Osaka’s “brutal location-shoot comedian” makes a desperate plea — the shocking reality of 7,500 yen for a 15-hour shoot, going on for 13 years already… Daigo left speechless

    On the July 24 episode of Nippon TV’s “Daigo’s Comedian Receipts,” titled “Naniwa Comedians Invasion SP: An SOS From Friends Who Knew Daigo Back Then,” comedians who work mainly in Osaka and go way back with Daigo gathered in the studio to air their harsh realities.

    One of them was comedy duo Smile. Yosuke Seto introduced himself by saying, “Do you know what we’re called in Kansai? The brutal location-shoot comedians nobody looks up to.”

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

    3AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:37
    Quitting comedy for a part-time job would pay better.
    6AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:38
    Then just quit.
    It's that simple — just make it big.
    7AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:39
    Go walk all the way to some mountain hut in the rainforest
    and watch tigers instead.
    8AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:40
    Smile's manzai (comedy duo routine) just isn't funny, so it can't be helped.
    9AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:40
    When Yoshitaka first showed up, I honestly thought he was seriously off in the head.
    64AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:12
    Re: #9
    Even if that's an act, it reads as scarier than funny.
    10AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:40
    Nothing improves because there are idiots out there who actually laugh at that.
    12AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:41
    They give them a boxed lunch too — did they subtract the break time from the 15 hours?
    13AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:41
    I thought Woo-Yeah Yoshitaka (his catchphrase nickname) was some dangerous guy.
    17AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:43
    Well, Yoshimoto (the agency) skims a big chunk off the top.
    18AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:43
    Tajin, the location-shoot comedian from Namba, used to show up a lot on Nagoya shows for a while,
    but I haven't seen him around lately.
    19AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:43
    There's also a comedian named Smile, plus multiple bands with that name — it gets confusing.
    21AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:44
    They're not even funny enough to justify 7,500 yen, so it's only fitting.
    22AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:44
    The agency's skimming off the top, so that's just how it goes.
    Talent agencies can't run for free either.
    24AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:46
    That's way too cheap lol
    I don't hate that renovation segment though
    it's a long-running feature that's lasted 13 years lol
    that's rough even so lol
    26AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:46
    And apparently, in between those shoots, Yoshitaka gets hassled hard by delinquents too.
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:48
    Funny or not aside, that looks brutal, so 7,500 yen is just sad.
    30AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:48
    Honestly, it's exhausting how comedians keep popping up on every single Kansai show.
    No matter the channel, it's comedian after comedian trying to push their own bit,
    all giving off that eager, pouncing "Koyabu" vibe (after comedian Koyabu, known for hogging the spotlight) — really annoying to watch.
    33AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:50
    No matter what kind of contract this is, wouldn't it run afoul of minimum wage law, the Subcontract Act, or the new Freelance Act?
    35AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:52
    But then again, if you make it big, we're talking a world where you can pull in 50 million yen a month.
    37AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:52
    Oh, it's these guys.
    Their free talk is hopelessly unfunny,
    and on location shoots they're just loud — seems like fair treatment.
    It's not like they're irreplaceable.
    38AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:53
    So Kansai station pay really is a whole order of magnitude below the key (Tokyo) networks.
    39AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:53
    Meanwhile their juniors are pulling in millions of yen just from manzai live shows.
    40AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:54
    This is the only show where I ever even see Smile.
    41AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:54
    The market's small, so it can't be helped.
    43AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:55
    And yet they kept getting huge sums from the Cool Japan Fund.
    45AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:59
    "Smile Construction Co."? Yep, thought so.
    They really milk that bit.
    46AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:00
    It's Tomi-Masa's fault for allowing that pay rate —
    Higashino's as sharp as ever, teasing him about it on air.
    47AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:01
    Do people not realize pay varies person to person?
    49AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:01
    Well, it probably comes down to how much Yoshimoto skims off the top.
    Basically like being a technical intern dispatched by a Chinese labor broker.
    51AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:02
    Doesn't "Smile Construction" use pretty lavish materials for the renovation every time?
    Is the viewer who applied for the segment the one footing that construction bill?
    53AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:03
    I wonder how much Chidori got paid for that long-running "mooch a boxed lunch" location segment on the same show.
    54AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:03
    At this point, quitting comedy and starting a renovation company would probably
    make more money.
    56AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:04
    If you actually meet Yoshitaka in person, he's nothing like that — just a normal guy.
    71AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:17
    I see —
    so they use this as their signature bit to cash in elsewhere, meaning overall it's actually a pretty sweet deal.
    74AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:20
    Re: #71
    There's also a variation where, during the downtime waiting for paint to dry, they got sent off to do promotional work for the Expo.

    *This article is an excerpt and summary compiled from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Osaka’s “brutal location-shoot comedian” makes a desperate plea — the shocking reality of 7,500 yen for a 15-hour shoot! Already going on for 13 years… Daigo left speechless.”

  • Government to Give Science Grad Students ¥2.8 Million a Year — 5ch Split Over ‘Does 2 Years of Research Even Matter?’

    The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has decided to give graduate students in science and engineering master’s programs studying the government’s “17 strategic fields” — such as AI and semiconductors — up to ¥2.8 million per year, starting next fiscal year and continuing for seven years. The program targets roughly 11,000 students annually, with graduate schools employing them as research assistants. On 5ch, opinions split over whether master’s programs are even necessary in the first place, and over the fairness of favoring science students.

    MEXT has decided to provide financial support of up to ¥2.8 million per student per year to students enrolled in master’s programs at science and engineering graduate schools who are researching the “17 strategic fields” — such as artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors — that the government is prioritizing in its growth strategy. The support will cover around 11,000 students a year for seven years starting next fiscal year. Payments will be made by having graduate schools employ the students as research assistants, with the goal of cultivating highly specialized talent.

    When it comes to financial support for master’s students, systems already exist such as deferred tuition payment — where no tuition is charged during enrollment and repayment is based on post-graduation income — and tuition waivers, but support has been thinner than what’s available to undergraduate or doctoral students. The new support for master’s students can also be put toward living expenses, making it easier for students to focus on their studies and research.

    Support for master’s students will be delivered through a “network” framework in which multiple graduate schools jointly run education and research tied to the 17 strategic fields. MEXT plans to designate 20 such networks in total. To qualify, a student must be enrolled at a graduate school participating in one of these networks and aiming to advance to a doctoral program, with final selection made by the graduate school itself.

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

    4AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:17
    At the very least, limit it to people who hold Japanese citizenship themselves and whose parents did too.
    114AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:00
    Re: #4
    The policy of "welcoming talented international students to Japan, with a bit of financial support" has been running for about 50 years, and it got beefed up roughly 20 years ago. Only about 3% of the total get the generous treatment, and there are GPA requirements and the like too. Japan's been doing this kind of thing all along — why get hung up on such a trivial point now? As long as they contribute to Japanese scholarship and research, who cares about that condition?
    10AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:18
    Do we really need that many master's students? I think they should cut the number. For most science master's grads who go straight into a job, a measly 2 years of research doesn't mean much, does it? Says the guy who got his own master's degree.
    39AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:27
    Re: #10
    For me it went the other way — if I hadn't done a master's, university would've just been for goofing off. What I did during those two master's years directly connects to my job now.
    83AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:48
    Re: #10
    These days Japan has fewer PhD students than South Korea does, even though Japan's population is more than double. That's way too few.
    122AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:07
    Re: #10
    Isn't it tough to get into a company's R&D department without at least a master's degree?
    17AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:21
    The reason China's ratio of science students is so high is that science pays double what humanities does. In Japan's current state, where humanities majors earn more, students aren't going to choose science.
    236AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:58
    Re: #17
    I don't get why humanities grads get called "elite" trading-house men or "elite" bankers and pull high salaries. They're just people who went into humanities by process of elimination because they couldn't hack math and science.
    20AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:21
    Can someone living off a pension become a master's student?
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:24
    Re: #20
    Hadn't thought of that angle. Sounds good.
    36AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:27
    Re: #20
    Though unless your research topic gets fast results and you publish something genuinely groundbreaking, you might not be able to compete with the younger crowd headed straight into jobs afterward.
    27AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:23
    I don't get why people are so eager to get a master's. It's mostly Japanese manufacturers that want one — foreign consulting firms often hire straight out of a bachelor's. Two measly years of research doesn't give you real expertise. I think the downside of delaying your job start outweighs the benefit.
    42AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:29
    What about literature majors? I'm majoring in Japanese literature (kokubungaku) — as you all know, it's a pretty unglamorous field. Still, I want to become a scholar in this area and produce my own new research results someday. I'm a woman, and I think the government policy in Re: #1 is clearly sex discrimination.
    50AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:31
    Re: #42
    Just do your best out in the real world — it's a field where you don't need a fancy title anyway.
    57AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:36
    Re: #42
    Everything's starting to run on natural language now, so being fast at reading and writing, and good at putting things into words and structuring them, is actually an advantage.
    124AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:09
    Re: #27
    People with hands-on lab experience are well liked. Transfer in from a technical college (kosen) and go all the way through to grad school, and you're hugely popular.
    132AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:14
    Re: #124
    Even hearing that, I still think "six years of education and that's all you get?" You could take an 18-year-old, put them to work, and train them up in a year. A corporate foot soldier doesn't need the kind of broad knowledge you learn at university. Doesn't need two measly years of master's research either.
    139AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:16
    Re: #132
    "You could take an 18-year-old, put them to work, and train them up in a year" — no way, that's absolutely impossible.
    151AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:24
    Re: #132
    If you've actually got people capable of training them like that, that's impressive.
    130AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:12
    Yeah, this one's pointless. By the time students starting now graduate, something totally different will be trendy. Ten years ago "big data" and "deep learning" were the ones being called cutting-edge lol.
    136AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:16
    Re: #130
    That's an IT/CS thing, right? I used to think it's best to avoid that field since the tech goes obsolete too fast — but then AI showed up and now even other fields are getting unpredictable too. Still think it'll be fine for now though.
    201AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:44
    Re: #130
    That IS the core technology behind AI, though.
    135AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:15
    Re: #130
    This is exactly why "selective concentration" (pouring all resources into a few chosen areas) usually ends in failure.
    140AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:17
    By the way, I majored in AI myself, but that was back when deep learning basically only existed inside Google. AI itself has turned into a completely different thing since then 😂
    164AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:31
    Re: #140
    Matsuo Lab? [a well-known AI research lab at the University of Tokyo]
    Re: #148
    That just delays them entering the workforce even more. Just have them work with a high school diploma.
    156AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:27
    For Japan to survive, it has no choice but to become a technological powerhouse again. Strengthening the sciences is essential for that. Relying on inbound tourism that even a monkey could handle will only accelerate the decline.
    166AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:32
    There's no way a scholarship like this comes free. Unless it comes with strings attached — like being forced into the Maritime Self-Defense Force or other military work, the way it happened to me.
    193AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:43
    Re: #166
    Oh, that's rare — so there really are people out there who got that scholarship.
    214AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:49
    I think it's fine. Though even among science students, the low performers don't need it. Also, it feels like a bit much for students still living with their parents (except for the ones with huge commuting costs). China is already lapping Japan in IT, and on top of that they've announced a new five-year plan to gut the humanities and replace them with science and engineering. Catching up won't be easy.
    218AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:51
    Re: #214
    And yet a university degree is worth zero these days (´・ω・`)
    "Credentials are becoming worthless" — top US engineer reveals what the people who "blow up" in the AI era have in common
    "The era of the résumé is over" — as AI spreads, the rules for corporate hiring and talent evaluation are starting to change dramatically.
    [Tsuruaki Yukawa, Editor-in-Chief, ExaWizards AI Shimbun]
    Mobile view / Related info / Share / Post / LINE / Hatena / ExaWizards
    "The era of the résumé is over" — as AI spreads, the rules for corporate hiring and talent evaluation are starting to change dramatically.
    Aditya Agarwal — a partner at the US startup community South Park Commons, a former early Facebook engineer, and former CTO of Dropbox — shared the results of an interesting hiring experiment on X (formerly Twitter).
    https://www.itmedia.co.jp/business/spv/2605/07/news031.html
    221AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:52
    Re: #214
    It's up to ¥2.8 million a year at most, and once you pay tuition and buy materials, there probably isn't much room left.
    222AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:52
    Re: #214
    It says it can also be used for living expenses, so it's presumably meant as research funding. That could let people do short-term stints at universities abroad. But then there's probably going to be a gap in research life between students who live away from their parents and are broke — forced to spend it all on living costs — and everyone else.
    233AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:56
    Re: #222
    American universities are worth zero too, you know?
    December 2, 2025, 20:00 — Education
    Most Americans think a four-year college degree is "no longer worth the tuition"
    A poll by major US outlet NBC found that two-thirds of Americans believe a four-year college degree "isn't worth what it costs."
    https://gigazine.net/news/20251202-4-year-collage-degrees-worth/
    239AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:59
    Re: #233
    Apparently the current US college enrollment rate is only in the 30% range.
    241AnonymousAug 26, 2026 00:01
    Re: #233
    Nobody's talking about getting a full degree. There's stuff like joining a summer program too, you know.

    *This article is composed of excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread: “MEXT to give science master’s students ¥2.8 million a year — targeting 11,000 students in the “17 strategic fields,” starting next fiscal year for 7 years…“

  • Wants a Girlfriend but His Only Contact With Girls Is Driving School — 5ch: ‘Is It Okay to Hit On Her?’

    A college student who wants a girlfriend but has no way to meet girls during summer break except at driving school posted on 5ch. Amid a barrage of jabs like “What are you even trying to do with no income?” and “Not gonna happen unless you’re good-looking,” he pondered aloud whether it would be okay to talk to someone at the driving school — and the thread unexpectedly blew up.

    1AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:13
    So what do you guys think?
    BTW I'm a college student
    15AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:23
    What are you even trying to do?
    18AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:24
    Re: #15
    For starters, I just want to get into a one-on-one situation with a girl.
    I'll take it from there myself, ,
    22AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:25
    Re: #18
    You don't even have any income.
    What are you trying to do?
    24AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:25
    Re: #23
    Re: #18
    You don't even have any income.
    What are you trying to do?
    23AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:25
    There are a lot of cute girls sitting alone at driving school.
    The waiting room or cafeteria would be too much, but maybe I'll give it a shot tomorrow during the classroom lesson.
    26AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:26
    Re: #22
    I'm a student, so when you bring up "income" it honestly doesn't register with me
    I do get an allowance, and worst case my parents will cover something like a trip
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:27
    Re: #26
    You're basically your parents' pet, aren't you?
    You don't have any authority of your own,
    none at all
    32AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:28
    Re: #28
    I did have one, up until this spring, so…
    34AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:29
    Re: #32
    Don't front like that, it's pathetic.
    36AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:29
    Re: #32
    Did she dump you?
    33AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:28
    If it were some old guy that'd be creepy, but for a student, hitting on someone in a situation like that is pretty common.
    41AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:30
    Re: #33
    Guess that's true, huh?
    But seriously, nobody's actually talking to anybody there — it's shocking, given how many students are around
    35AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:29
    Re: #29
    I'm an only child, no curfew, nobody says a word even if I roll in the next morning — total freedom
    38AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:30
    Re: #35
    You're gonna get arrested for violating the public nuisance ordinance.
    58AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:35
    You probably won't believe me, but I actually had plans to hang out last week with a girl my age from this very board, and then she just went silent on me. Pretty shocked.
    64AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:40
    Re: #58
    Don't sweat it
    As a fellow female college student, let me apologize on her behalf
    61AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:40
    If you're a college student and you want a girlfriend, drop the shame and just act.
    63AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:40
    Re: #61
    So… is it okay if I talk to her at driving school, ,
    65AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:41
    Re: #64
    It's not THAT girl, right? That'd be scary lol
    71AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:43
    Re: #65
    What year are you in college again?
    66AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:41
    Re: #63
    Go for it
    Once you get your license you'll never see her again anyway
    70AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:42
    Re: #66
    Yeah, true — I deliberately picked a school away from my hometown, so the damage is minimal
    …so what's a natural way to open with her?
    74AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:47
    Unless you're good-looking or good at talking, hitting on her is just gonna end awkwardly.
    75AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:49
    Re: #74
    I think my face is decent enough, but that driving school seems to have a lot of good-looking guys, so I might just blend into the background
    As for talking skills, well… not really, no. Not that I'm bad at socializing exactly, but
    76AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:50
    Not gonna happen unless you're handsome. "Good-looking" (lol)
    81AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:52
    Re: #76
    I've got strong features — I've actually been mistaken for a foreigner once
    78AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:50
    If you're a college student with zero contact with girls, that's not gonna change no matter where you go.
    83AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:53
    Re: #78
    It's not that I have zero contact with girls, it's just that it never turns into anything like actually dating
    79AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:51
    Double eyelids, big round eyes
    Love-at-first-sight level
    82AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:52
    Re: #79
    Yeah, seriously double eyelids and big round eyes! People tell me my eyes are pretty all the time — my eyes are the one thing I'm genuinely confident about
    80AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:52
    It's creepy, but it's not a crime, so…
    84AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:53
    Re: #80
    The moment she thinks I'm creepy, my mental health is done for
    85AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:54
    Re: #83
    If you can't make it happen in a college environment, you're just not gonna make it happen
    87AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:55
    Re: #85
    Even as a college student, isn't it really just your department, clubs, and part-time job?
    And since I've been striking out at all of those, this is where I've ended up
    94AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:01
    Just get a part-time job
    You'll land one in no time
    97AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:03
    Re: #94
    I've worked 5 or 6 part-time jobs so far and never once seen a cute girl my age who seemed like dating material, ,
    Also, if the job's too busy, romance is the last thing on your mind
    So what kind of part-time job should I even get?
    98AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:03
    Re: #94
    I'm 34, recently got back into the workforce after being a NEET, and started a part-time job — still no girlfriend
    96AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:02
    Have you ever kept a beetle as a pet? That's the one and only answer.
    99AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:03
    Re: #96
    What's that supposed to mean? lol
    102AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:08
    Re: #99 Just take it easy, Mr. Boy

    This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (nanG) thread “I really want a girlfriend, but during summer break the only place I have any contact with girls is driving school… is it okay to talk to her?.”

  • Hiroyuki Claims Smokers Succeed More, Says It’s ‘The Same Reason People Who Go to Drinking Parties Get Promoted’

    On X, Hiroyuki argued that “the smoking-area community shouldn’t be underestimated — it’s the same reason people who attend drinking parties get promoted.” On 5channel, some voiced agreement, saying “the smoking room has become a place for exchanging information,” while others pushed back, arguing “smoking rooms themselves are becoming rarer these days” and “the point of the original article wasn’t about alcohol or tobacco — it’s that meeting a wider variety of people more often is what actually affects promotions.”

    Hiroyuki: Do Smokers Succeed More? He Argues ‘Same Reason People Who Attend Drinking Parties Get Promoted’

    Entrepreneur Hiroyuki Nishimura (49) updated his official X (formerly Twitter) account by the 25th, writing about why he thinks smokers tend to succeed.

    Hiroyuki began, “I’ve long done work that has me showing up at all kinds of companies, and the smoking-area community shouldn’t be underestimated — it’s the same reason people who attend drinking parties get promoted.”

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

    4AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:14
    Might as well drink and smoke — better than not.
    Just don't do it when you can't.
    5AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:15
    So the real winner is the guy sitting in the smoking area chatting away without actually smoking?
    11AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:17
    Re: #5
    Non-smokers are probably more stressed out than smokers are, so I don't think smoking's such a bad thing.
    31AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:22
    Re: #5
    If you're hanging around without smoking, that's actually creepy.

    Like, what reason would you even have to be in the smoking area?
    Smokers can tell something's up, so they'll give you the cold shoulder (a play on "kemutagareru" — literally "smoked out," meaning treated as an unwelcome pest).
    66AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:36
    Re: #5
    Secondhand smoke is worse for you, you know.
    10AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:16
    People who like drinking and smoking strike me as the pachinko-parlor crowd.
    12AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:17
    Re: #10
    So you're saying the pachinko crowd is the one getting promoted?
    13AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:17
    I wonder if people who can golf are the successful ones.
    16AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:18
    This country is declining precisely because promotions hinge on stuff like showing up to drinking parties.
    17AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:19
    Never once seen a smoker who was actually good at their job lol
    Being dependent on something in the first place is a red flag.
    19AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:19
    Well, even Google says they won't hire someone who lacks cooperativeness, no matter how skilled they are.
    67AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:36
    Re: #19
    Equating "cooperativeness" with "attending drinking parties" feels pretty outdated at this point.
    21AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:20
    This guy's clearly never held down a normal job lol
    Way too half-baked lol
    27AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:21
    Re: #21
    The entertainment industry is full of smokers though.
    23AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:20
    Going to drinking parties means sacrificing your private time to join the work community,
    so I get how that grows your network.
    But with smoking, some guys are just using it as an excuse to skip work.
    70AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:37
    Re: #23
    But smokers do seem to have this weird sense of community — or solidarity — that non-smokers just can't understand.
    Apparently there are relationships that only exist within the smoking area.
    25AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:21
    Even at big companies, it's not unusual to have just one smoking spot.
    Being able to talk directly not just to department heads from other divisions but even to executives is a big deal.
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:22
    I'm not sure it goes as far as actual connections,
    but it does help you become a familiar face.
    30AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:22
    Nobody at my company smokes anymore.
    34AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:23
    Re: #30
    How many years till retirement?
    You'd be better off taking early retirement.
    32AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:23
    Connections —

    that's really what it all comes down to, huh.
    35AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:24
    So going to drug parties gets you promoted, then?
    36AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:24
    Is there actually a significant gap between the smoking rate among successful people and the general smoking rate?
    Is there any data on that?
    42AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:28
    The number of people who drink and smoke has really dropped.
    Smoking especially gets you looks like "wait, you still smoke?"
    43AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:28
    There's no way someone who never shows up at the smoking area gets promoted.
    Hiroyuki's right —
    plenty of people force themselves to smoke ultra-light 1mg cigarettes just to be there.
    44AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:28
    That's an old story.
    These days more people don't smoke,
    so that kind of networking barely exists anymore.
    If anything, smoking gets your evaluation lowered as a sign you can't manage yourself.
    47AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:29
    That's a fair point.
    Back in my salaryman days, the smoking room was where people actually exchanged honest information.
    68AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:36
    Maybe check the smoking rate among successful people before saying that…
    73AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:39
    Re: #68
    Lately Hiroyuki's just stating his personal impressions with no data behind them.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Hiroyuki: Do Smokers Succeed More? His Theory — ‘Same Reason People Who Attend Drinking Parties Get Promoted’.”

  • Delivery Drivers Cursed Out as “Useless” and “Idiots” — Over 40% of Industry Workers Report Customer Harassment

    In Japan’s first-ever survey focused specifically on delivery workers, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare found that more than 40% of respondents had experienced “customer harassment” (kasuhara) on the job. On 5channel (Japan’s largest anonymous forum), users compared how courteous different carriers are — Yamato, Sagawa, Amazon — and swapped horror stories about misdeliveries and redelivery mix-ups, with some calling for a blacklist system for abusive customers.

    Published Aug 25 (Tue), 1:03 PM JST

    Yomiuri Shimbun Online

    As demand for home delivery keeps climbing, so does “customer harassment” directed at the people who deliver it. In the health ministry’s first survey targeting the delivery industry specifically, more than 40% of respondents said they had experienced such harassment — far higher than the rate found in surveys spanning all industries. Some observers argue that Japan’s famously meticulous delivery standards may themselves be inviting the abuse, and a number of companies have begun taking a firmer stance in response. (By Kai Nishimura and Ryowa Kashiwabara)

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

    3AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:24
    Even when it's late, all I've ever said is thank you lol
    13AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:26
    Re: #3
    Customers are just as much hostages to their own packages, you know.
    28AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:30
    Re: #3
    If you act arrogant, they might handle your package roughly, so I stay humble too.
    50AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:37
    Re: #3
    I only ever say thanks, but don't make them force a delivery through when it's not needed.
    If there's an unavoidable reason, fine — but shipping something out ON the scheduled delivery date and taking two more days to arrive is just taking the mick.
    And being late on top of that? Unforgivable.
    Actually — I once figured a package wouldn't make it in time, so I ordered the same item again with paid express shipping, and the second one arrived first. Total 'konozama' moment (a pun on Amazon's name meaning roughly 'this sorry state' — a well-worn meme for Amazon delivery fails).
    14AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:26
    Japanese people's intelligence has clearly been dropping, hasn't it.
    83AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:43
    Re: #14
    Was it really that much higher before?
    17AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:27
    Bad customers should get a three-strikes rule — no more home delivery, and they have to go pick up their own parcels for a year.
    221AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:45
    Re: #17
    A blacklist that just refuses to accept deliveries to them at all would work too.
    35AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:31
    It IS annoying when you request an afternoon slot and they show up in the morning.
    56AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:37
    Re: #35
    There's also the one where you specify the parcel locker, it's open and free, but they take the package back anyway and it just sits for days.
    Still never cursed anyone out over it though.
    63AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:38
    Takers. They're broke, they've got no slack in life, so all they can do is take it out on shop staff and delivery drivers.
    74AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:40
    Re: #63
    Exactly. People who look down on others for no reason and lash out are basically animals — uneducated scum at rock bottom.
    79AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:42
    The only legitimate delivery complaints are 'the contents were broken' or 'it never arrived.'
    Do people really fight that much over timing?
    84AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:43
    Re: #79
    Sometimes you're home waiting and they still drop a 'you weren't home' notice in your mailbox without even ringing, so you never get the package.
    85AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:43
    Brrring… brrring
    Me: 'Hello, yes?'
    Seino [Transportation, a major trucking/freight company]: 'You there??'
    Me: 'Uh… who is this…?'
    Seino: 'Great, you're home! Be right up!'
    Me: 'Wait, what?!'

    *Ding-dong*, door opens

    Seino: 'Right here, tap tap' (tapping the signature box with his finger)
    89AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:45
    Re: #85
    Honestly that's thoughtful of them. No problem at all.
    91AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:46
    Yamato [Transport] is the most polite.
    Sagawa [Express] occasionally has a bad apple.
    The self-employed contractor types, like Amazon's drivers, have a lot of rough ones.
    136AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:06
    Re: #91
    You've got to be careful filing complaints with Sagawa.
    I once sent an inquiry through their site along the lines of 'isn't this running late?' and got a direct callback from the branch office chewing me out — 'don't send us garbage complaints like 'it's slow,' cut it out' — really let me have it.
    Haven't filed a single complaint since. Complain and you're the one who gets yelled at on the phone.
    162AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:16
    Re: #91
    For Yamato's 'Takkyubin' parcel service, uniformed company employees deliver politely.
    With Amazon too, the ones who show up in a gray Hiace van — official contracted agents, I guess — are clean-cut, normal people.
    The ones everyone complains about are the solo independent operators who show up in a kei-van [small box truck]; maybe 10% of those are actually decent.
    94AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:48
    I've never said it out loud, but I get the urge.
    I specifically order because next-day delivery is available, and then they deliver it to the wrong address — and I'm told 'we'll retrieve it and redeliver, please wait one more day,' over and over, multiple times.

    I eventually contacted customer service and told them to get their act together already, but when it kept happening anyway, I just stopped ordering from them.
    98AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:50
    Re: #94
    If the residential map data is wrong, you'll get misdelivered again and again. Worth double-checking.
    116AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:56
    Re: #94
    Have you considered that maybe you live somewhere that's just easy to misdeliver to?

    Wasn't a courier, but this was mail — I once had a postal carrier who kept misdelivering for a while, stuffing other people's mail in my box. Ended up delivering it to the right people myself.
    96AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:48
    Yamato and Sagawa wear uniforms, so they hold themselves in check, but Amazon has people working without uniforms and no real training, so there are more sketchy characters in the mix.
    125AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:59
    Re: #96
    I've never had a dispute with Yamato or Sagawa where we just couldn't communicate. You explain the issue and it's 'ah, I see — let's handle it this way.'

    Amazon's contract 'DeliPro' drivers are awful though.

    I was waiting for a delivery promised by 9pm. It never came, but it got marked as delivered.
    Called the next day — they said they ran into 'my husband' out front and left the package there.
    Even if they did run into someone who looked like a family member out front, you'd hand it to them directly — what's with 'leaving it at the door'?
    On top of that it was right after a typhoon with strong winds, and the item was in a light little box — leave it at the entrance and it's guaranteed to blow away.
    I told them, I'm not even angry, just tell me the truth — you never actually delivered it, right? They just kept insisting they'd left it at the door.
    The next day or so, I get a call saying someone found the box after it blew away and brought it to their branch office, and they'd deliver it to me.
    No, hold on — if the box had my address on it and someone in the neighborhood found it after it blew away, they'd take it to a police box or straight to my house, not drive it thirty minutes to your branch office. Stop lying to me!

    This is the kind of exhausting mess you only get into with Amazon.
    101AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:51
    In a Takeshi Kitano movie, the delivery guy would just grin and shove a gun barrel in the customer's mouth.
    107AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:53
    Re: #101
    There's a line from a delivery driver in the film 'Last Mile':

    'If I killed every customer who annoyed me, I'd have a hundred prior convictions by now.'
    109AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:53
    If you've got some room in your heart, you hand them a can of juice.
    113AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:55
    Re: #109
    I've given a can of coffee to a driver who had to redeliver to me a few times.
    126AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:59
    Re: #116
    What kind of logic is that?
    It's a specific carrier making the mistake, so it can only be their own failure to double-check.
    139AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:06
    Re: #126
    Long-established carriers hand-correct their maps and share the fixes with staff, so they can handle odd address numbering. But with subcontracted drivers who don't have that continuity, it's plausible they're seeing the address for the first time, or haven't been there in a while and forgot.
    149AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:10
    They should make drivers wear body cameras like in America — that way you can keep tabs on both the harassers and the slacker drivers.
    151AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:13
    Re: #149
    That would be good. Also make it so you can tell who's driving each vehicle — that should cut down on traffic incidents too. Mutual monitoring is what matters.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (News速報+, “Breaking News+”) thread “Delivery Workers Cursed Out as ‘Useless,’ ‘Idiots,’ ‘Get It Here Now’ — Over 40% of Industry Reports Customer Harassment, ‘Hard to Speak Up About the Abuse’.”

  • From 5ch: VIP Board Regulars Flock to an ‘Info Broker’ Who Answers Every Question With One Word on Paper

    An "Info Broker" who showed up on the News VIP board answers any question thrown at it by silently holding up a scrap of paper with a single word scrawled on it. Trolling questions get shut down with lines like "Cut it out" or "Fakes, begone" — but it also patiently handled a genuinely practical question about how to store mentsuyu (noodle dipping sauce), advising "Use extra-bonito-flavored tsuyu."

    1AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:19
    (´･ω･`) The only piece of information you can't get in this town… is my true identity.
    2AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:20
    (´・ω・`) Ye do love a bath, don'tcha ♨♨ (spoken in old-fashioned Satsuma dialect)
    4AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:21
    Re: #2
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【Cut it out.】
    6AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:21
    Manbou-kun ⁽⁽ ᡣ( ･᷄ὢ・᷅ )੭ ⁾⁾ (a fish-themed nickname riffing on the trembling emoticon)
    8AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:22
    Re: #6
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【Go to sleep.】
    10AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:23
    ಠ⁠ᴥ⁠ಠ
    *holds out* 🧾
    11AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:25
    Re: #10
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【That's a receipt.】
    12AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:25
    Re: #11
    ಠ⁠ᴥ⁠ಠ　Maybe this one?
    *holds out* 📜
    14AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:26
    (´･ω･`) I heard there's a hardened crook around here — you know anything about that?
    22AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:29
    Re: #14
    (´▼ω▼`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【He's already skipped town.】
    20AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:28
    (´;ω;`)👌(´・ω・｀) You seen a face like this anywhere?
    27AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:30
    Re: #20
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【He's at the pachinko parlor.】
    26AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:30
    Re: #22
    (´･ω･`) O-oh, I see, thanks.
    *takes the paper*　　　(Those glasses… no, it couldn't be…)
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:31
    Re: #26
    (´▼ω▼`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【Digging deeper is dangerous.】
    30AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:33
    Re: #29
    (´･ω･`) Got it, I'll try elsewhere. Much obliged.
    *takes paper* ▼▼
    31AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:34
    Re: #30
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【Give back the shades.】
    32AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:35
    ( ･᷄ὢ・᷅ )【Good evening.】
    *holds out* 💩
    34AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:36
    Re: #32
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【Take that home with you.】
    36AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:37
    Give me some amazing info or whatever (´・ω・)
    40AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:40
    Re: #36
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【The culprit is Yasu.】 (a famous meme spoiler line from a mystery anime reveal)
    37AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:38
    ( `･Δ・´) That right there
    is unmistakably
    a mambo~♪
    41AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:40
    Re: #37
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【Misinformation's not cool.】
    39AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:40
    (´▼∀▼｀) Whoops, here come the goons chasing me.
    44AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:41
    Re: #39
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【Fakes, begone.】
    43AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:41
    Re: #40
    And here I thought that was common knowledge already (´・ω・)
    45AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:41
    Re: #43
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【I wonder about that…】
    46AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:41
    Re: #44
    ⁽⁽ ᡣ(´・∀・｀)੭ ⁾⁾ ahyuk ahyuk ahyuck
    48AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:42
    Re: #46
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【Go home.】
    47AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:41
    Teach me how to win at Zenigata ʕ⌯᷄ω⌯᷅ʔ (a pachinko slot machine)
    50AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:42
    Re: #47
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【Beginner's luck.】
    49AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:42
    Re: #45
    LOL, writing it out on paper every single time
    what a waste of paper (´・ω・)
    51AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:42
    Re: #49
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【It's recycled paper.】
    57AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:45
    Oh, it's just a mambo, huh
    60AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:45
    Re: #57
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【I said cut it out.】
    61AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:46
    Re: #57
    (´･ω･`) *holds out paper* Fwip…
    【A mysterious info broker, shrouded in mystery.】
    128AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:52
    You'd think mentsuyu (noodle dipping sauce) would come in one of those soy-sauce-style pour bottles, right? Seriously, 'use within 3 days of opening' is way too hardcore a challenge.
    Feel like I've brought this up before, but it's important, so here goes again!!
    133AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:54
    Re: #128
    (´･ω･`) The canned kind?
    138AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:56
    Re: #133
    That kind ends up with awkward leftovers too.
    There are these little single-serve packets, but you only ever see them online, and it's not like I'm craving soba 24/7, so it's a pain.
    143AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:57
    Re: #138
    (´･ω･`) Use extra-bonito-flavored tsuyu.
    152AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:00
    Re: #138
    　 __,.,,_
    ./ *・ω・ヽ If it's the concentrated type, it keeps in the fridge for a year.
    199AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:17
    __,.,,_
    ./ *・ω・ヽ This is also jūwari soba (100% buckwheat), but
    it's my first time buying it
    205AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:19
    Re: #199
    (´･ω･`) Haven't had jūwari soba in a while.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News VIP) thread “(´･ω･`) I’m the town’s info broker, codename ‘Leak’.”

  • Delivery Driver Abuse Sparks Fierce Debate on 5ch: “Customers Have Zero Manners”

    A news story about worsening “customer harassment” (kasu-hara) toward delivery drivers has been picked up on 5ch’s Newsspeed VIP board. The thread split between posters defending drivers with “delivery customers have terrible manners” and others pushing back with “they’re professionals, they should just handle it” — while drivers themselves shared raw, firsthand accounts, from being forced to deliver in the middle of a sudden torrential downpour to having a car crash straight into their house.

    A Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare survey found that more than 40% of people working in the delivery industry have experienced customer harassment — a figure far above the cross-industry average, and the starting point for the discussion.

    As demand for home delivery keeps growing, “customer harassment” toward the people who do that work is becoming a serious problem. In the first-ever survey targeting delivery-industry workers, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare found that more than 40% reported experiencing customer harassment — far higher than in surveys covering workers across all industries. Some point out that Japan’s famously attentive delivery service is itself inviting this harassment, and a number of companies have begun taking a firmer stance in response.

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

    4AnonymousAug 25, 2026 20:58
    I hate the term "kasu-hara" (customer harassment) — just call it coercion or obstruction of business, plain and simple
    145AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:23
    Re: #4
    Figures — it's always people in inherently strong positions, like civil servants or train station staff, who get protected.
    7AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:00
    Wow, people actually say that?
    10AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:02
    Re: #7
    Isn't that normal? You say it too, don't you?
    13AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:03
    Re: #10
    I don't, actually — every delivery driver in my area is competent.
    8AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:00
    You'd think people wouldn't want to make an enemy of someone who already knows where they live.
    11AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:03
    Re: #8
    That's what doorbell cameras are for, lol!
    9AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:02
    Well of course — I'm paying for the service.
    12AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:03
    Re: #9
    And where do you think their paycheck comes from?
    14AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:04
    Re: #9
    Same as taxes — people who barely pay anything act so entitled. Literally paying about the price of a can of juice and still being that shameless.
    15AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:05
    Weird how you guys are always so aggressive toward delivery drivers specifically.
    19AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:06
    Re: #15
    I've worked all kinds of jobs, and delivery customers are by far the worst. With a convenience store or supermarket there's at least some concept of "customer base" — but with delivery, whether it's ritzy Minato Ward or the old downtown, the manners are exactly the same.
    17AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:06
    I've had it happen to me a few times too — do this job for a while and you're bound to run into that level of harassment.
    22AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:07
    Re: #17
    Yeah, that's just normal, lol.
    23AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:07
    Re: #17
    90% of them are harassment-prone customers anyway. Plus, going by the address, there's someone sharing a name with some self-important "expert" — and it's obviously that exact guy placing the most absurd, garbage orders.
    20AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:06
    You're a pro, right? Then you should just do what you're supposed to do.
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:09
    Re: #20
    People who say stuff like that — even when a driver's just been in an accident — are trash. Go look at the job listings, "pro" my ass, don't make me laugh.
    25AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:08
    Me: "Uh, hold on, you said morning delivery — why is it 12:50?"

    Them: "That's customer harassment, sir."

    Me: "…"
    39AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:11
    Re: #25
    Scheduled time-slot delivery is fundamentally broken to begin with — unless you're paying enough for your one household alone to cover that day's entire revenue, don't expect it to work.
    38AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:10
    Take that up with your employer. You agreed to the job, didn't you?
    42AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:11
    Re: #38
    Of course they haven't agreed to it — that's why everyone quits, Co-op, Yamato, all of them. Ever notice how your regular driver keeps changing? That's exactly why.
    40AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:11
    So this is basically rock-bottom of the job ladder, right?
    45AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:12
    Re: #40
    Not rock-bottom.
    122AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:04
    Re: #40
    Rock-bottom is being a regular salaryman, honestly.
    46AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:12
    Re: #39
    Then just get rid of scheduled time slots. People use it because it exists (charge extra for it!).
    53AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:15
    Re: #46
    Use it if you want, but don't complain if it doesn't show up on time — be grateful it arrives at all. Though if the item's actually damaged, sure, complain about that.
    49AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:13
    Huh, threads like this actually blow up on VIP.
    50AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:14
    Re: #49
    That earlier illegal-parking-in-Shibuya thread blew up too, lol.
    71AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:21
    From what I've seen, a guy who hit a cyclist and caused an injury accident just kept working afterward, probably because they're short-staffed. Seriously messed-up industry.
    74AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:22
    Re: #71
    A driver crashed their whole car into my house once.
    101AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:31
    Re: #71
    As long as they still have a license, I guess they can keep working.
    106AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:41
    Personally I always bow and thank them profusely — having someone haul stuff up to the 4th floor with no elevator makes delivery drivers basically gods.
    109AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:45
    Re: #106
    That's just how it should be. Though there are a ton of people who can't even manage that much.
    115AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:01
    Re: #106
    Well, I wouldn't go as far as saying you need to bow and scrape, though.
    126AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:08
    A delivery driver told me: he hauled two cases of drinks over, got the silent "pretend not to be home" treatment, left a delivery notice, and the moment he got back to his van, the guy who'd been ignoring the door called him after seeing the notice — said he wanted to kill him right then.
    128AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:09
    Re: #126
    Maybe they were just in the bathroom.
    129AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:12
    Re: #126
    The time I wanted to kill someone the most was during a sudden torrential downpour — I called to say deliveries had to be paused, but the customer just steamrolled me with "never mind that, bring it now," and the call center wouldn't back me up either. So I had no choice but to reroute and rush that one house ahead of everyone else, and because of that, everyone else's deliveries got massively delayed. I still can't forget that one.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Newsspeed VIP) thread “Abuse Hurled at Delivery Drivers: “Useless,” “Idiot,” “Bring It Now” WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.”

  • One Piece: Ace’s Death Still Sparks Controversy — 5ch: “Take It Back…”

    A thread on 5ch’s Live/Anime Board (なんでも実況G) about how Ace from One Piece died sparked heated discussion. Posters debated the plot point where he dies after falling for a provocation, the later-revealed backstory behind Whitebeard’s famous “no wounds on his back” detail, and whether a more satisfying death could have been written.

    Opinions were also divided on why a character with main-character-tier bloodline ended up meeting this fate.

    1AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:24
    Doesn't look like this is ever getting reevaluated…
    3AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:25
    Take it back…
    4AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:26
    Re: #3
    Absolutely not taking it back!
    14AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:37
    I actually like that you can see Oda agonizing over whether to kill Ace or not there.
    And it's hilarious that he picked the worse of the two big options and that's where the decline started.
    17AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:40
    Re: #14
    If they'd kept him alive, they wouldn't have needed to bring in Sabo.
    15AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:37
    "Luffy-Nika" (a nod to Luffy's Gear 5 "Nika" form): "I heal by binge-eating! Boing boing!"
    Is Ace the only one getting bullied by the plot?
    47AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:57
    Re: #15
    Compared to Kuma ("Higuma," i.e. brown bear), whose reputation keeps climbing as an ever-stronger character,
    everyone else's survivability has gotten so absurd that dying just makes you look like a weakling by comparison.
    22AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:44
    Wait, how exactly did Ace get captured, and by whom again?
    24AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:47
    Re: #22
    Wasn't he beaten by Blackbeard and captured on the spot?
    I think that's the feat that got Blackbeard into the Warlords (Shichibukai).
    32AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:49
    Compared to Rengoku, another fire-themed character (from Demon Slayer), Ace's death is just pathetic.
    Ace: goes berserk, gets the Whitebeard Pirates half-wiped out, then dies after falling for a cheap provocation, throwing it all away for nothing.

    Rengoku: dies protecting the protagonist and everyone else to the very end.
    35AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:49
    Re: #32
    If the Stone Hashira had shown up nobody would've died though.
    Demon Slayer has way too big a power gap between individual Hashira.
    38AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:51
    Re: #35
    You think so? That seems like a pretty normal gap to me.
    43AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:54
    Re: #35
    Even the Stone Hashira couldn't handle Akaza.
    He hasn't awakened his Demon Mark yet, so he'd probably just die.
    44AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:54
    Re: #11
    After all that talk about being "family," he just took the Navy's word at face value — really exposed how shallow those bonds actually were, lol.
    93AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:22
    Re: #44
    Exactly this.

    The whole setup where he gets fooled that easily in the moment is just too sloppy ("osomatsu"-level, a pun on 粗末/"shoddy"). If it had been set up carefully well in advance, sure, but this…
    45AnonymousAug 25, 2026 21:55
    Honestly the writing itself is just weak.
    Every single character just stands around doing nothing until it's their turn, then introduces themselves, does a little something, and that's it.
    Handling a big cast is just not his strong suit.
    51AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:00
    Re: #45
    It's like they're all just reading lines off a script.
    54AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:02
    This is around where the writing started getting noticeably weird.
    Luffy not even recognizing his crewmates' faces after the two-year timeskip.
    Sanji nearly dying for real from a nosebleed on Fish-Man Island.
    Effortlessly dodging everything with Observation Haki.
    55AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:04
    Re: #54
    Yeah, it really feels like things started going off the rails right around when he started writing Ace's death scene like it was meant to be moving.
    59AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:06
    Roger wiped out an entire country's army just because someone bad-mouthed his crew,
    so it makes sense that Ace, with that same blood running through him, couldn't stand it either when his crew got mocked.
    63AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:07
    Re: #59
    It's genuinely sad that he ends up doing the exact same thing as the father he hated so much, except unlike his dad he's not strong enough to pull it off, so he just dies like an idiot.
    62AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:06
    Whitebeard, whose one point of pride was never once taking a wound on his back from running away, ends up turning tail and fleeing from some random creepy retconned character, making a total spectacle of himself 😅
    73AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:09
    Re: #62
    Honestly it was pretty shocking to learn the real reason he had zero scars on his back was just that he ran too fast to ever get hit.
    74AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:09
    Luffy had been forcing his body to keep moving on Iva's hormone doping ever since the prison break —
    why didn't they use that perfect piece of bait?
    76AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:11
    Re: #74
    Editor: "Let's have the doping backlash hit Luffy right here, and have Ace die protecting him."
    Oda: "…" *lights up with inspiration*
    82AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:16
    But if you ask me what death would've actually been better, I honestly struggle to answer.
    It pretty much had to be a tearjerker death right in front of Luffy.
    84AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:18
    Re: #82
    I mean, he just shouldn't have said "take it back" or whatever — that's all it would've taken…
    85AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:18
    Re: #82
    He could've just died protecting Luffy after Luffy collapsed from exhaustion following back-to-back fights.
    91AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:21
    Re: #82
    I think they just should've cut the part where he falls for the provocation.
    90AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:21
    If you just look at Ace's background and bloodline, he's basically main-character tier.
    Being the son of the Pirate King alone is already insane —
    the adopted son of a Yonko,
    the adopted grandson of a legendary Marine.

    Why'd they kill him.
    94AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:22
    Re: #90
    Exactly because of that. He'd overshadow Luffy.
    Just from that one fight trading blows with Smoker in Alabasta, he was already massively popular.
    97AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:25
    Re: #90
    Someone important to the protagonist dies → they fall into despair but manage to accept it thanks to encouragement from friends and allies → they grow as a person.
    That's a pretty standard, tried-and-true story beat.
    101AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:28
    Re: #90
    Probably because if they'd kept him alive, Oda would've had no idea what to do with him.
    96AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:25
    Hmm, this guy's a loser lol
    98AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:26
    Re: #96
    Akainu's whole rant was just too full of hard truths.
    99AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:27
    Re: #96
    Thought "no wounds on his back" meant he'd crushed every enemy head-on — turned out it just meant he was really good at running away.
    102AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:28
    People sometimes get this wrong, but his actual combat ability was top-tier even among Yonko commanders.
    Like you can see from the flashback arc, it's just that Roger's bad traits came out in him.
    108AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:33
    Re: #102
    The problem is people said he was "on the level of not even beating Smoker," and that's what's dragging his reputation down…
    105AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:30
    So is Akainu basically top-tier strength even within the Navy?
    107AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:32
    Re: #105
    Hard to say with how crazy the power inflation for villains has gotten lately.
    He's top-tier as far as the Navy goes, but as an opponent for Luffy… eh, kind of underwhelming.
    112AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:34
    Re: #105
    Combat-wise he's definitely top-tier.
    Mentally though, he's the weakest — bullies a coworker, gets yelled at, and grovels an apology.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Live/Anime Board) thread “[Sad News] Even Thinking About It Now, Fire Fist Ace’s Death Was Just Plain Dumb.”