At around 11:30 a.m. on September 21, 2026, a rental shop on Lake Biwa in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, called police to report that three men who had rented a jet ski (personal watercraft) had not returned. Only the jet ski itself was later found on the lake, and police and fire crews continue to search for the men. On the thread, posters debated whether the rental shop had actually checked the men’s boating licenses and ID, whether they had been wearing life jackets, and whether rough water from an approaching typhoon may have been a factor. At the same time, a fair number of crude comments mocking the region or the victims cropped up, making for a mix of fact-checking and mean-spirited joking.
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According to police, at around 11:30 a.m. today (the 21st), a shop in Otsu that had rented out a jet ski to three men filed a report with police after the men failed to return from Lake Biwa.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / original article here
Re: #2
According to the report: 'They rented the jet ski from the shop and were wearing life jackets at the time.'
Bet they took them right off after, lol
Macho, Osteoga, and Gay-a
The Black Tri-Coupling
Note: “Mash, Ortega, and Gaia” is a joke referencing the “Black Tri-Stars,” a legendary three-man ace pilot squad from the Gundam anime franchise — the poster is comparing the three missing men to the famous trio. The reply in #47 mangles the names into crude puns and swaps “Tri-Stars” (三連星) for “Tri-Coupling” (三連結, like coupled train cars) as a joke.
If they didn't even check ID, that'd explain it
I could totally see that
Yeah, probably
Searching for them is a waste of time
Did they think it was the same as a boat?
Hard to imagine all three drowning at once, right?
Seriously, who goes out today of all days
Even if it's a lake, the wind would kick up some serious chop
And no life jackets either, so of course this happens
Can't be helped
Class 4 boating license, huh
Probably paid upfront anyway
Lake Biwa is basically the ocean, man
Never seen a whale in it though
So many idiots think just turning the handlebars makes it turn!
Jet skis should require a license.
It already does. There are just a lot of idiots who ride without one.
Cardiac arrest, huh
Probably all gone at this point
Whoa, that was fast
Note: this claim of cardiac arrest circulated as unverified live-broadcast chatter within the thread and was not confirmed in the source article at time of writing.
Not Lake Biwa, but a few months back during a heavy rain I ran into one for the first time on a riverbank near me
Note: nutria are large invasive semi-aquatic rodents found in parts of Japan — the comment is a tongue-in-cheek joke, not a serious theory.
That's probably where they'll turn up
Even Lake Tazawa, Japan's deepest lake, is only about 400 meters deep
Background and Key Points of Discussion
Unlike road vehicles, personal watercraft (PWC) in Japan require a small-craft operator’s license (specifically a “special small-craft license” for jet skis), and rental shops normally ask to see it before handing over the keys. A 2018 legal revision also made wearing a life jacket mandatory in principle. The thread split along two main lines: skepticism about whether the license and ID checks actually happened (with some suspecting the men simply rode off without returning the craft), and criticism of the poor judgment shown in going out on the water with a typhoon approaching. Some posts claimed two of the men were in cardiac arrest, but this was unverified information based on live news coverage and had not been confirmed as of the source article. A number of crude comments mocking the region or the victims also appeared in the thread; since the people involved in this accident are real individuals, those remarks have been left out of this article.
※ This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (News Speed+) thread “[Shiga] Three Men Missing on Lake Biwa — Only Rented Jet Ski Found on the Water, Police and Fire Crews Searching.”
