Japan Reacts

Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • Woman: “Men Should Understand the Fear of Unprotected Creampies”

    A thread titled “Men should understand the fear of unprotected creampies” ignited a head-on clash between men and women on 5ch. The original poster argued that the risk of unwanted pregnancy isn’t something only women have to bear — men who finish inside without protection should feel anxious about it too. In response, a wave of pushback followed: “The fear of being cuckolded into raising someone else’s kid is way bigger,” and “If you’re not trying to get pregnant, going in raw is on both of you.” The discussion spiraled into why people skip contraception and whether partners actually feel free to say no, with no consensus ever reached on who should really be responsible for birth control.

    1AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:20
    Fair point.
    3AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:22
    We're stuck with the fear of being cuckolded into raising someone else's kid instead.
    6AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:24
    Period pain, sure, but what's she trying to prove by making us 'get it'?
    Even if we go 'yeah that sounds rough,' the fear's still sitting there either way.
    8AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:25
    Normally if you're really into a guy, you'd want him to finish inside you though.
    9AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:26
    I already know that, what's your point?
    10AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:26
    Women should know the fear of a lifetime of hardship.
    11AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:26
    That whole "you'll get kinder once you've felt the same pain" theory…
    it's basically the same logic as workers resenting management.
    13AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:26
    Just what kind of dating history have you been through, exactly?
    17AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:29
    No, it's on you for having sex without trying to get her pregnant in the first place.
    19AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:29
    Re: #17
    There's a lot of guys like this who dodge responsibility.
    18AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:29
    Going raw but pulling out gives me this weird tension that kills my focus.
    20AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:30
    Re: #14
    In that case, isn't it the woman's fault for not making it clear she wanted it in her backdoor instead?
    41AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:44
    I've had women tell me flat out we don't need a condom plenty of times.
    43AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:45
    Re: #41
    Nobody cares about a virgin's fantasy.
    44AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:46
    Re: #41
    Guys like that tend to get called limp dicks.
    48AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:49
    So then why do you let him finish raw inside you?
    50AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:50
    Re: #48
    I never said I let it happen.
    55AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:54
    Using a condom is for wimps.
    56AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:55
    Re: #55
    Specifically, how is that "being a wimp"?
    58AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:57
    Being too scared to say no is on the woman herself.
    Who you date is your own call.
    64AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:59
    Re: #58
    Then why don't you wear one?
    62AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:59
    They go off with violent guys on their own and nobody makes them.
    Fix that first.
    66AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:01
    Re: #62
    When did who go off with someone? That's just you making stuff up, right?
    67AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:01
    Just say no then.
    Are you dumb or something?
    69AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:03
    If she's your girlfriend, she'll basically let you go raw.

    Even the strict ones — book a regular hotel instead of a love hotel, say "I don't have a condom," and they'll reluctantly let you.
    74AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:06
    Re: #69
    Don't mistake that for being normal.
    Plenty of girls hate it but can't bring themselves to say no.
    79AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:11
    Re: #74
    Well, I've never made anyone feel bad about it.
    The real thing's loose enough to kill the mood as it is — no way I'm putting a condom on top of that.
    87AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:16
    Re: #40
    Honestly, same — I got a girl I was messaging on Instagram pregnant and then ghosted her, so yeah, that tracks.
    90AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:18
    Re: #87
    Yeah, guys like this scumbag are out there.
    I'd love for the kid to meet him a few years down the line
    and go "this is your real daddy."
    88AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:18
    Re: #82
    Amateur girls have it made — they can just lie there and still feel like they're "working."
    91AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:19
    Re: #88
    Are there really girls like that? Wouldn't know.
    100AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:31
    No, it's the guy over here praying "please just let her period show up!"
    Are you even for real, or just talking out of your depth? lol ("エアプ" — slang for someone who talks like they have experience but clearly doesn't)
    103AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:33
    Re: #100
    By the way, I'm a guy.
    Lol, got you.

    Background and Key Points of This Debate

    Arguments over who’s responsible for contraception are a recurring staple on 5ch, and this thread was no different, weighing “the pregnancy risk women bear” against “the risk of being cuckolded or dragged into custody disputes that men bear.” That said, everything raised in the thread amounts to anonymous gut feelings and personal dating anecdotes — no statistics or data on pregnancy rates or actual condom use ever showed up. The question of consent — the power dynamics behind who refuses protection and who feels unable to — is arguably the real issue here, but the thread barely dug into it, ending instead in a stalemate over “who’s got it worse.” Readers should keep in mind this is an exchange of emotional arguments, not an objective survey.

    ※This article is an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Woman: “Men Should Understand the Fear of Unprotected Creampies”.”

  • Juice=Juice Is Running Away With Hello! Project Alone — 5ch: ‘It’s Not About the Numbers, They’re Making Kōhaku’ (NHK’s Prestigious New Year’s Eve Song Special)

    Within Hello! Project, Juice=Juice alone has seen a sudden surge in popularity, and a thread popped up on 5ch where fans of the other groups raised questions like “Is it even fun watching Hello! Project in this one-group-dominant state right now?” and “How can people put up with this?” In the thread, voices crediting Juice=Juice’s popularity to a viral hit song clashed with voices suspicious of “staged” manipulation, arguing that view counts and chart rankings don’t actually translate into real sales. Posts comparing the venue sizes of each group’s Christmas events also appeared, along with opinions noting that Morning Musume, Angerme, and Tsubaki Factory stayed completely uninvolved in this whole development — highlighting how differently each group is positioned.

    1AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:07
    Hasn't the recent decline in popularity of Hello! Project OGs been pretty bad lately?
    652 Anonymous 2026/10/10 (Sat) 12:23:26.51 0
    Then again, is Hello! Project actually fun right now?
    9AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:20
    Hello! Project used to basically mean 20 years of "we're not selling, but we're having fun" — but now that Juice=Juice suddenly started selling, both fans and members are getting worked up, acting jealous or newly fired up over it.
    Nothing's really changed except that Juice=Juice is selling well, so the fact that people are even bothered by it means they're already framing everything around Juice=Juice.
    10AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:22
    Re: #9
    Honestly it just makes me think a viral song has this much power — nothing else has really changed. If anything IS different, it's that you guys switched from bashing Hello! Project in general to specifically dragging Juice=Juice. Seriously trash behavior, why are you even alive.
    11AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:24
    There's absolutely no way the other groups start selling just because Juice=Juice loses steam — Hello! Project itself just ends.
    14AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:32
    Re: #11
    Gross, lol — sounds like one of those bitter lurkers who actually wants Hello! Project to become washed-up (オワコン, "has-been content"). Gross, lol.

    Seriously, Juice=Juice should blow up even harder and turn all of Hello! Project into an "organization of light" that drives out the toxic, bitter fans.
    16AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:37
    Re: #14
    Isn't Re: #11 a warning aimed at people who are anti-Juice=Juice but still fans of the other Hello! Project groups? If someone were an anti of Hello! Project as a whole, they'd never think "once Juice=Juice falls off, the other groups will rise back up."
    19AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:54
    Angerme still has that vibe that pulls in female fans, so honestly there's nothing to worry about — if anything, a huge viral moment could still happen for them too.
    23AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:57
    Re: #19
    Would that end up being a "glad Tamenaga's here" kind of moment?
    28AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:09
    Juice=Juice has been leveling up by training with top-tier instructors in Korea, learning dance from the fundamentals up.

    It's unfair not to let the other groups get this same training — they should rotate each group through a Korea training camp.
    29AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:11
    Re: #28
    Angerme and OCHA NORMA, yeah — those two should get to go.

    Morning Musume, Tsubaki Factory, and Rosy Chronicle don't need to.
    30AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:12
    Re: #28
    Oh, so you actually had that perspective too. But Juice=Juice got this opportunity because they properly sold and have the drive to take the job. Groups that don't sell don't get the opportunity, and groups without ambition would just end up on a Korean food tour and call it a day.
    32AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:14
    Re: #30
    Somehow I can picture Ikuta Erina literally just doing a food tour and ending it with "Korea is the best!"
    40AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:16
    Re: #32
    Morning Musume already did exactly that — on a Hulu special last year or so they just did a food tour in Korea and came straight back, so it's already a proven fact.
    37AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:16
    You can put up with it, can't you? Morning Musume was the dominant, favored group forever.
    47AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:17
    Re: #37
    There was this half-resigned mood of "well, it's Morning Musume, so what can you do" — and I think Juice=Juice suddenly selling broke that whole balance.
    38AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:16
    Re: #1
    For starters, they're not even in the running for the awards judging. Their sales are worlds apart from the other groups. Almost all of Juice=Juice's numbers are just rigged online figures (yarase). Their real-world sales are miles behind AKB or iLife.

    "Selling" literally means something has to actually sell —

    fake internet votes don't mean anything actually sold.
    41AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:16
    Re: #38
    Exactly this. I get that fans want to hype their group up, but the other side's fans do the exact same thing. Adults aren't stupid — everyone already discounts for that. When it comes down to real numbers, Juice=Juice is clearly behind.
    44AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:17
    To sum up, it's a cynical jab meaning something like: "Even if you desperately inflate the numbers behind the scenes with a pile of phones to fake a huge viral moment, there's not a single real, living person who's actually interested — doesn't that feel hollow to keep doing?" (along with a mocking sneer at the whole situation).
    45AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:17
    Re: #44
    Seriously, this. Pumping up YouTube and TikTok view counts doesn't mean anything if it doesn't translate into actual sales — pie in the sky.
    48AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:17
    With this whole thing, it's the method itself that's getting rejected by Hello! Project fans. Proof of that: even within the same Hello! Project fanbase, the people pushing back are the overwhelming majority.
    49AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:17
    Re: #48
    This whole thing is a massive blow to Hello! Project.

    Hello! Project fans hate this kind of stuff more than anything — if this is fine, you might as well just be an Akimoto fan (producer behind AKB48-style idol groups). If it's just shady adults working backstage to game the entertainment industry, then that's Akimoto's whole game, not Hello!'s.

    We hate Akimoto's approach — we're Hello! Project fans because we love pure music and pure idols.

    Juice=Juice is about to take damage they won't recover from.
    50AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:18
    This whole thing really put Hello! Project fans' sense of integrity to the test.

    Only Morning Musume, Angerme, and Tsubaki Factory stayed completely uninvolved with "Moremi" (a mocking nickname fans gave the viral song/campaign at the center of this).

    The most impressive were the Morning Musume members and their fans — totally unfazed, acting like Juice=Juice didn't even exist.
    52AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:18
    Re: #50
    I'm going to remember this "Tripartite Pact" (a joking nod to the WWII alliance) well — these three groups are the real deal.
    53AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:18
    The reality: "Moremi" hasn't gone all that viral either.

    TikTok post counts:
    Moremi: 63,000 posts (12 months since release)
    "Cute na Kyuutai": 117,000 posts (4 months since release)
    "Koi Hajimemashita" ("I Started Falling in Love"): 175,000 posts (1 month since release)

    Getting crushed by new songs from Cutie Street (nicknamed "Kyuusuto") and =LOVE — neither of which even gets called "viral."
    54AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:18
    Re: #53
    "Selling" means, literally, that something has to actually sell.

    This is ugly. Nothing's actually selling.
    55AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:18
    It was staged: off-share purchases juiced the first-week numbers to fake a viral moment, and then the newbie "line-up enthusiasts" (people who like showing off standing in queues) jumped on the bandwagon. That's the real story here. Look at the actual numbers and nothing's really selling.
    61AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:21
    Re: #55
    …But from there, if they've got real skill, they'll stick around! If they've got real charm, they'll stick around! And that's not just the members, or just the songs, or just the costumes — it's the strength of the whole package.

    It feels like they've finally gotten onto the same playing field as K-pop idols, so let's not trash-talk it — morale's finally up, after all.
    57AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:19
    Juice=Juice's numbers are rigged, so their numbers are the last thing you can trust.
    64AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:22
    Re: #57
    Uh, hey boss — I'll lend you Dambara (member Ruru Dambara) for one job, so can we just make this work somehow?
    65AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:22
    Re: #57
    So what IS the most trustworthy thing, then?
    62AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:21
    I've never once thought Juice=Juice was the sole dominant group.
    67AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:22
    Re: #62
    1 Anonymous 2026/09/30 (Wed) 17:11:13.43 0
    Christmas events

    Morning Musume.'26
    2026/12/16 [1,207 seats] Zepp Haneda — evening show only, sold out

    Angerme
    2026/12/17 [1,758 seats] Ichikawa City Cultural Hall Main Hall — both shows, 2nd-round reservations

    Juice=Juice
    2026/12/09 [1,758 seats] Ichikawa City Cultural Hall Main Hall — both shows, 1st round, sold out

    Tsubaki Factory
    2026/12/03 [1,000 seats] Nissho Hall — evening show only, sold out

    BEYOOOOONDS
    2026/12/04 [1,000 seats] Nissho Hall — both shows, 1st round, sold out

    OCHA NORMA
    2026/12/14 [*,802 seats] Hitotsubashi Hall — both shows, 1st round, sold out

    Rosy Chronicle
    2026/12/07 [*,933 seats] Setagaya Egret Hall — both shows, 2nd-round reservations
    68AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:23
    Re: #62
    Right now there's a real chance to become a national sensation through a viral song — even if it makes you "public enemy number one" too (a pun on 国民的, "nationally beloved," vs 国民敵, "national enemy").
    86AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:27
    The reality: "Moremi" hasn't gone all that viral either.

    TikTok post counts:
    Moremi: 63,000 posts (12 months since release)
    "Cute na Kyuutai": 117,000 posts (4 months since release)
    "Koi Hajimemashita" ("I Started Falling in Love"): 175,000 posts (1 month since release)

    Getting crushed by new songs from Cutie Street (nicknamed "Kyuusuto") and =LOVE — neither of which even gets called "viral."
    95AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:29
    Re: #86
    ………It's not about the numbers for Juice=Juice.

    Just watch — they're going to be on Kōhaku.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Hello! Project is structured so that multiple groups belong to the same agency, so when one group’s popularity suddenly outpaces the others, fans of the other groups tend to feel that “the whole atmosphere has changed.” This time, the trigger was Juice=Juice’s song going viral, and the thread captures a mixed, complicated reaction from fans of the other groups — a recurring fault line that’s long been common on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. What particularly split the thread was the question of which metric to trust as the true measure of popularity: one side points to TikTok post counts and social media reaction, while the other emphasizes traditional numbers like CD sales and live venue capacity, and the two sides talk past each other without meeting. It’s worth noting that the view counts, post numbers, and chart rankings cited in the thread all come from anonymous posts, with no primary sources provided to back them up.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from a 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread: “Is today’s Juice=Juice-dominated Hello! Project actually fun? Wondering how other groups’ fans can stand it“.

  • Why Do In-House Staff Write Game Scripts Instead of ‘Top-Tier Screenwriters’? 5ch Debates

    On 5ch’s “Hardware/Industry” (Geha) board, a thread asked why game scripts are so often written by in-house staff rather than famous screenwriters — like an Akutagawa Prize-winning novelist. Using Xenoblade and Final Fantasy as examples, posters repeatedly pointed out that writing a game script involves constraints unlike those of novels or film screenplays. Others pushed back, noting that Silent Hill f brought in a writer with a background in visual novels, and that Yakuza had used outside writers in the past — arguing that hiring external writers isn’t actually rare, which sparked further debate.

    1AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:38
    Movies: "We got that Akutagawa Prize-winning novelist to write the screenplay."
    Games: "I love anime and manga and I'm decent at writing, so they let me handle the script!"
    This is exactly the problem.
    3AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:43
    This is such a Xenoblade thing.
    It'd be so much better if they just hired someone who can actually write proper dialogue.
    29AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:12
    Re: #3
    It is written by a proper screenwriter, you know.
    4AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:46
    Probably because they're expensive and ignore what's actually feasible to express in a game.
    5AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:46
    Because it's the juiciest part of the job for the people making it.
    6AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:50
    An Akutagawa Prize novelist just isn't cut out for games lol
    8AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:54
    Are you dissing President Hino!?
    9AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:57
    Honestly, once you write something as a game script specifically, it usually ends up garbage no matter who wrote it, so I don't think it matters that much.
    10AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:58
    For the record, Xenoblade does bring in writers from anime and other fields too.
    11AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:01
    According to Yoko Taro, games often hit cases of "can't do this, can't do that" because of spec limitations, so it's frequently easier to adjust the script instead of forcing the implementation through —
    which is why it's better to have a writer on staff full-time.
    12AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:01
    People keep saying that game scripts aren't a straight line,
    which makes writing them a pretty specialized job.
    13AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:02
    If someone can only write scripts where the protagonist just moves the plot forward on their own, putting them on a game script won't work out.
    Games have their own know-how.
    14AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:03
    Simply because it doesn't sell.
    Even seinen magazines like Young Jump and Young Magazine are running isekai "Narou-style" stories these days (Narou = Shōsetsuka ni Narō, the web novel site tied to isekai tropes).
    15AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:04
    Who exactly counts as a "top-tier screenwriter" anyway?
    111AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:07
    Re: #15
    Someone like Miyuki Miyabe, maybe?
    16AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:04
    Probably because they can't fully trust that person's sense of responsibility.
    17AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:06
    This one really stings for the Nintendo fanboys defending garbage scripts from Kusakihara and KMR.
    18AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:07
    They try to express everything through narrative prose,
    which clashes with games, where you show things through visuals, music, and controls.
    28AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:11
    Re: #18
    All they'd really be asked to do is come up with lines, like writing a TRPG replay collection.
    23AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:10
    Re: #1
    Nah, "it won the Akutagawa Prize so it must be good" is a pretty shallow take too, you know.
    Even famous awards have handed out trash novels decided by rigged judging, right?

    KAGEROU……
    31AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:12
    Re: #23
    The Poplar Prize isn't really that famous.
    It only got attention because an actor won it.
    24AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:10
    What even is a "top-tier screenwriter"?
    112AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:07
    Re: #24
    Someone like Gen Urobuchi, maybe?
    35AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:13
    Whether it's movies, novels, or manga,
    the truly great stuff tends to stay buried.
    Everyone only looks at what's already in the spotlight, and then judges everything based on just that.
    39AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:15
    Re: #35
    You seem like the type who'd like matcha-scented soap.
    40AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:15
    Re: #1
    Depends on the company.
    Yakuza, for one, used to bring in famous writers early on.
    FF has publishing deals and still ends up with weird stories, so they're probably just cheaping out on scenario budgets.
    49AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:22
    Re: #40
    I've been hanging around Geha and following the industry for a long time, and that's not really it.
    That company has a structure where whoever's higher up tends to grab all the control — it skews dictatorial. If that person were genuinely a great creator, the company would've just kept thriving without issue.

    The reason it ended up this way is that the person in that powerful position got there through political clout, not creative talent.
    Most other first-party studios are roughly the same.
    48AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:21
    There probably aren't that many pro screenwriters eager to work on game scenarios, where scenes regularly get cut or heavily rewritten depending on how development goes, and after spending years on it the whole project can still end up shelved and never actually released.
    51AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:24
    Re: #48
    Isn't that true in their main field too, though?
    Editors and sponsors asking for cuts or changes is completely normal there as well.
    The only places you really get to do whatever you want are web novels (Narou) or doujin work.
    57AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:28
    Re: #51
    The production timelines are just too different.
    Games can take five or six years and still get scrapped in the end.
    59AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:30
    Re: #51
    I think the point is that games are especially troublesome to work on compared to other industries.
    54AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:26
    People who can write interesting stories for games mostly end up leaving for other industries.
    That's the answer.
    63AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:31
    Re: #54
    We already know that part — I think they're asking you to explain the reason behind it, lolw?
    67AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:33
    Re: #63
    Game writers quit because development takes so long, and
    because the job includes non-writing work too (implementation, debugging, playtesting).
    69AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:34
    Re: #63
    As a medium, games just put less weight on the scenario.
    The exceptions with high weight are basically visual novels and adventure games.
    88AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:42
    > RP
    There are still people out there who naturally look down on light novels……

    There are also people in the industry who naturally look down on visual novels too — you run into them sometimes, like certain old-school console guys. So honestly, seeing Silent Hill f succeed after hiring a visual novel writer does give me a satisfying little "serves you right" feeling.

    — Motoi Okamoto (@obakemogura) October 20, 2025
    107AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:00
    Re: #88
    The bigger factor was that the protagonist was a young woman, so this take is off the mark.
    92AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:45
    There are plenty of visual-novel writers and light-novel authors who'd take the job.
    What I dislike is the attitude of trying to get by with in-house amateurs.
    114AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:09
    Re: #92
    Well, hiring an outside writer isn't actually all that rare in itself.
    You occasionally hear about writers who got brought in during early development to help with plotting,
    through interviews or social media posts from people involved.
    Sometimes it goes unnoticed because the credit is listed under a different name.

    The thing is, the amount of scenario material a game actually needs —
    for a visual novel it can be dozens of times the volume of a regular book,
    plus you need huge amounts of side dialogue and minor events beyond the main story,
    and whenever a town or field layout changes, the lines have to be rewritten too,
    so handling that in-house is overwhelmingly more efficient in a lot of cases,
    which is why it rarely turns into the kind of job where you'd hand a professional author or scenario writer
    enough work to credit them as the main scenario writer.

    Since the volume and format are so different from a novel or TV drama script,
    even when a writer does provide a script for a game, it often ends up staying at the "original concept" stage rather than the finished product.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    Unlike novels or film screenplays, game scenarios differ enormously in volume and format — branching paths, minor events, and dialogue that has to be rewritten whenever a field layout changes. The fact that development can stretch on for years, with the scenario itself liable to get cut due to spec changes, was cited as another reason professional writers rarely stay attached full-time. As examples like Yakuza’s use of outside writers and Silent Hill f’s hiring of a visual-novel writer show, bringing in external writers isn’t itself unusual — but posters noted it rarely turns into work substantial enough to be credited as the main scenario. One point that got lost in the thread was that the very premise — “a writer with a prestigious award must be able to write a good script” — is itself disconnected from the practical realities of making a game.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, aka Geha) thread “Why do games get handled by otaku-turned-developers instead of top-tier screenwriters?“

  • Sonic Kart’s Wild Lineup: Even Steve and Miku Are Racing Now

    Sega’s new racing game “Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds” has become a hot topic on 5ch’s Hardware & Industry (Geha) board, after it emerged that the roster features a massive crossover lineup — including Minecraft’s Steve, SpongeBob, Hatsune Miku, Evangelion’s Asuka, and Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud. In the thread, opinions clashed head-on between those saying “the game itself is actually solid” and critics arguing that “the gadgets aren’t balanced, so the combinations feel monotonous.” The discussion ranged widely — from complaints that the ad artwork makes the characters too small to see clearly, to speculation about why there’s no voice acting, to suggestions that Sega should go free-to-play to combat poor sales.

    1AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:27
    ↓
    2AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:27
    What the hell is this

    3AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:29
    At least let Joker ride in a Molcar (the car-shaped critters from PUI PUI Molcar)…
    36AnonymousOct 10, 2026 10:48
    Re: #3
    Pui-pui? (Molcar's signature catchphrase)
    4AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:32
    I heard this game can't stop getting updates because it's some exec's pet project up top — is that for real?
    100AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:02
    Re: #4
    Concurrent player counts are dead (there was almost no period where it was ever "alive"), yet they keep pushing updates — no wonder people say that.
    6AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:34
    Still better than Wolverine, so it's fine
    8AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:36
    Re: #6
    Not just real — the game itself is actually really well made.
    The fact that it's not selling anyway is just so Sega.
    7AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:34
    This is Sega's answer to "Mario Kart's fine, thanks"!
    27AnonymousOct 10, 2026 10:12
    Re: #7
    Mario Kart Arcade GP was made by Bandai Namco, remember.
    Pac-Man and Mametchi are in that one too.

    In the 1st and 2nd games you could pick Pac-Man, Akabei, and Mametchi.
    https://bandainamco-am.co.jp/am/vg/mariokart2/special/character/

    In the DX version, everyone except Pac-Man got cut.
    10AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:37
    Guess when something's not gonna sell, it's not gonna sell, no matter how far you go.
    12AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:38
    They went all-out on sponsored content and stealth marketing, but honestly, the game's quality is straight-up garbage, so it's dead.
    13AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:40
    Re: #12
    It's the opposite.
    This is a case of good quality that just isn't selling.
    15AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:42
    Re: #8
    Re: #12
    Some of you are probably asking "well which is it," but both are true.
    It's just way too generic-Mario-Kart, and the gadgets aren't balanced, so everyone ends up running the same combo.
    You could say it played things too safe, the opposite of Mario Kart World, and that backfired.
    14AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:40
    Weird that Rei's in it but Shinji and Asuka aren't.
    16AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:42
    To begin with, Mario Kart isn't popular because you get to play as the popular character Mario.
    90AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:17
    Re: #16
    Yeah, and sales dropped a lot going from [Mario Kart] 8 Deluxe to [Mario Kart] World too.
    23AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:50
    What is this ad? The characters are way too small, it's hard to make out — the composition is terrible.
    30AnonymousOct 10, 2026 10:25
    Re: #23
    Same, I thought that too.
    I opened the image wondering what other characters were in it, and it was so hard to see that it freaked me out.
    Made me realize Mario Kart actually put real thought into the size balance between characters and karts.
    31AnonymousOct 10, 2026 10:25
    Re: #13
    Sorry, but that's not what I'd call "well made."
    Though I don't know what you mean by "quality" exactly.
    37AnonymousOct 10, 2026 10:50
    Re: #31
    Games that are crap but still sell are pretty common, you know.
    Like Dora Base 1 (the janky but beloved Doraemon baseball game).
    38AnonymousOct 10, 2026 10:52
    Wonder why they didn't add voice acting.
    Is it really that hard?
    39AnonymousOct 10, 2026 10:54
    Re: #38
    Probably a pay/royalty issue or rights issue?
    47AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:21
    Re: #38
    Japanese and English alone might be manageable, but preparing it for all the other languages seems tough.
    76AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:48
    Re: #38
    The director was complaining in an interview about not having the budget for it.
    45AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:10
    They should drop the "Sonic Kart" branding
    and just call it "Sega Kart," shouldn't they?
    You don't need that many Sonic characters — does anyone even use them?
    Everyone just plays as the crossover characters anyway, right?
    46AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:18
    Re: #45
    Well then, should we rename Mario Kart to "Nintendo Kart" too?
    52AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:31
    There are more characters that should've been included, like Axel from Crazy Taxi or Beat from Jet Set Radio.
    81AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:02
    Re: #52
    Axel's already in the game.
    Do a little more research before you post.
    60AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:04
    They should still go free-to-play, even at this point.
    The party-racing genre is still basically a blue ocean in the free-to-play space, so I think they could dominate it.
    And they could monetize endlessly with skins, Fortnite-style.
    94AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:48
    Re: #60 Re: #62
    Might be better to hook players into spending with new characters.
    63AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:15
    Only die-hard Sega fanatics would buy this instead of Mario Kart.
    65AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:50
    Re: #63
    A lot of Sega fanatics basically vanished the moment Sega quit the hardware business (myself included).
    69AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:17
    Re: #63
    The people supporting Sega now aren't Sega fanatics.
    Even ex-Sega-fanatics have their pride.
    73AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:26
    Wouldn't a "Project Sekai Kart" (the hit Vocaloid rhythm game) have been better?
    77AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:49
    Re: #73
    Because Sega doesn't understand at all that Vocaloid and Puyo Puyo are more popular than Sonic.
    83AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:04
    If you look at how well the Sonic movies did, it's clear it's just Japan where sales are abnormally bad.
    I mean, having Minecraft characters, FF7 characters, and Mega Man all in one game — that's Nintendo-level pull.
    89AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:17
    Re: #83
    Even with a worldwide multi-platform release, actual sales haven't even hit 500,000 units. If you count unsold shipped stock sitting in warehouses, it's around a million, but the president himself called it a flop at the earnings briefing.
    87AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:09
    It's a Sega game, so why isn't Rappy (the rabbit-bird mascot from Phantasy Star Online) in it?
    92AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:38
    Re: #87
    If they put that thing on the track, people would say it's ripping off the Chocobo.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    “Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds” was conceived as Sega’s answer to Mario Kart, and as noted in the thread, its defining feature is a large-scale crossover lineup that goes beyond Sega’s own IP — including Steve (Minecraft), SpongeBob, Hatsune Miku, Asuka (Evangelion), and Cloud (Final Fantasy VII). Oddball crossovers aren’t new in themselves; Bandai Namco’s “Mario Kart Arcade GP” had Pac-Man and Mametchi appear as guest characters too. The thread’s discussion split roughly into two main points. The first was the question of overall quality: some said the core gameplay itself wasn’t bad, while others criticized it as a “generic Mario Kart” where the gadgets aren’t balanced and the lineups end up feeling similar. The second was the cause of poor sales — pointing to the small, hard-to-see character art in ads, speculation about why there’s no voice acting (budget or rights issues), and proposed fixes like going free-to-play or monetizing through character add-ons. Note that one claim in the thread suggesting “Sega deliberately leaked information” has been omitted from this article for lack of supporting evidence. As for actual sales figures, one post in the thread cited “roughly 500,000 units sold worldwide,” said to be based on a remark from management, though this could not be independently verified within the thread itself.

    ※This article was compiled by excerpting and summarizing the 5ch (Hardware & Industry / “Geha”) thread “Sonic Kart Turns Into a Game Where Steve, SpongeBob, Hatsune Miku, Asuka, and Cloud All Race Together.”

  • Does Hello! Project Rotate Which Group It ‘Pushes’? 5ch Weighs In

    A thread on 5ch’s Hello! Project (Morning Musume-related) board heated up over the theory that the agency’s “favoritism” has shifted in sequence — from the “One for All” era (when promotion was spread equally across every group), to the Rika/Miko-era Juice=Juice, to the current Juice=Juice lineup, and now to Ochanorma. Posters pointed out that Tsubaki Factory and Angerme have been pushed for years without producing results, and talk also surfaced that Juice=Juice looks poised to return to the Excellent Work Award at this year’s Japan Record Awards. Opinions split between “they sold because they were pushed” and “they sold on their own merit.”

    1AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:47
    They're just rotating budget, connections, and casual fangirl buzz in turn.
    Ochanorma's anime theme song is amazing~
    ↑ (this)
    5AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:50
    If it were that easy to rotate the spotlight, I'd think this agency would've rotated it to Tsubaki by now.
    9AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:52
    Re: #5
    Tsubaki is the agency's favorite — they pushed them for about three years from 2021 onward, but it did nothing, and they've basically given up on them now.
    6AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:51
    It's certain the agency wants to push Ochanorma from next year onward.
    Every time there's a festival or Hello! Con, they get articles written naming Ochanorma as the act set to follow the currently-popping Juice=Juice (slang: "moreru," meaning "thriving").
    Though the agency also seems to be pushing Nagano, so it's unclear whether Ochanorma or Angerme will end up the main favorite.
    It overlaps with that period after Kasai joined, when they were hyping Tsubaki hard while also pushing Jokoryo.
    11AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:53
    Re: #6
    I get the sense they want to steadily build real strength rather than it being like pushing on a noren curtain (getting no response) the way it's been with Tsubaki — but because of that, they probably won't get flashy favoritism either.
    8AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:51






    13AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:56
    It's frustrating because the members themselves did nothing wrong.
    Especially the new members who got tossed into some random extra group as an add-on — their whole idol career just ends up being spent desperately cleaning up the mess their senpai made.
    15AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:57
    Re: #13
    The current Juice=Juice sold because they didn't blame anyone else, though.
    17AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:59
    Re: #15
    Everyone's working hard building on what the senpai stacked up, isn't that right? Only I'm the one blaming others? every Hello! Pro member is working hard so I don't think it's right for you to act so cocky about it if you were truly part of the Juice=Juice family you wouldn't say something like that because it taints everything honestly get out of Hello! Project you
    19AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:00
    Re: #17
    If everyone's working hard to some degree, then isn't it just that whoever works hardest gets rewarded?
    18AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:00
    Even if they do sell, it's the adults in charge who take the credit anyway, so who cares.
    20AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:01
    Re: #18
    In Hello! Project's current case there's no producer or person in charge, so even if a group or talent that sells does emerge, no adult shows up to hog all the credit.
    21AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:06
    They sidelined Morning Musume itself just to keep pushing Angerme and Tsubaki so hard, and in the end it was Juice that sold.
    22AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:08
    Re: #21
    To begin with, every group besides Juice=Juice and Rosy Chronicle was being actively pushed in one way or another.
    So failing to sell at the level today's Juice=Juice does during that time is just on them, isn't it?
    The fact they're not selling now isn't Juice=Juice's fault at all.
    23AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:10
    Re: #22
    Of course the new groups (the thread calls them "Rabiyo") and the freshly-debuted Ochanorma got pushed during the pandemic.
    Angerme and Tsubaki, though, were genuinely pushed way too much — it got exhausting.
    24AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:12
    Re: #23
    It's kind of ironic that Juice=Juice — who missed Best New Artist at their debut and have been sidelined ever since — might make a comeback to the Japan Record Awards this year with the Excellent Work Award.
    25AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:13
    Juice=Juice threads really do bring out the people with time on their hands, having a blast lol lol

    This is exactly what it feels like when a group is "having a moment."
    The Colorful era, the Rika/Miko era, the Ma-chan era —
    I'm getting that exact same momentum right now.
    The only difference is this time the songs are actually going viral.
    26AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:14
    Re: #25
    When a song spreads outside the fandom, the number of non-Hello!-otaku rubberneckers jumping in skyrockets.
    The three eras you listed only ever drew jealousy from within the Hello! otaku bubble — strictly a local phenomenon.
    30AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:23
    At the very least, it's not Danbara or the members who deserve the credit for that.
    31AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:24
    Re: #30
    They're just parts in the machine after all — in the end, it's the chairman who wins.
    32AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:24
    Re: #30
    The song was written specifically for the Danbara-era Juice=Juice by Aoi Yamazaki, so you can absolutely argue it's built around the members.
    35AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:26
    If it had been a group other than Juice that took off, they'd probably have put out two triple-A-side singles this year alone, like Tsubaki did after Ad Damme.
    But because it's Juice, it seems like they have no intention of pushing it that hard.
    39AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:29
    Re: #35
    Up-Front used to be an enka-style agency that steadily built up acts like KAN and Sha Ran Q, so if the chairman's touch is still alive, Juice=Juice's push this year feels extremely true to Up-Front's style.
    37AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:26
    Re: #32
    It's all thanks to Aoi Yamazaki, honestly. Thank you, Aoi Yamazaki.
    40AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:30
    Re: #37
    That's exactly why the various camps, figuring Juice=Juice itself had nothing to do with it, pushed hard for "Dantotsu de Aishite" and "RED LINE" — but those flopped, didn't they.
    41AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:30
    If you build them up slowly and steadily, the girls just age out though.
    42AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:31
    Re: #41
    The oldest member of =LOVE, the dominant idol group right now, is already in her thirties, so for Juice=Juice, whose oldest member is 25, there's obviously still time. Even Nonaka, Taniguchi, and Hirai — who'll become Hello! Project's oldest generation once Oda graduates — still have a few years of runway left.
    54AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:46
    Sorry for phrasing it like they're disposable goods.

    But in practice, this was an organization that pushed people out at 25.

    I mean, it's not really fair to lump it together with an organization run by Sashihara-P — a former idol herself and an influencer — who puts idols' own feelings first… I want them to make it okay for Hello! Pro members to stay on past 30, starting now? Reiruru especially.
    59AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:49
    Re: #54
    When I think about how the current situation exists because the original members properly handed things off to their juniors, I do feel a bit of "why are you guys still around" about it — I mean, =LOVE and Momoiro Clover Z are original-member groups, right?
    61AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:50
    Re: #59
    Handed off? They just gave up during the pandemic and quit in a hurry, that's all.
    It's always the ones who were being pushed who quit the fastest.
    64AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:52
    Re: #59
    People say this sometimes, but Danbara Ruru joined Juice=Juice as a pure addition at a time when none of the original 5 members had quit yet.
    So whatever's true for the other members, in Danbara's case it's not like she got in because a senior stepped aside.
    65AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:53
    You say "excessive," but things like the McDonald's commercial or being an exclusive model for magazines like Piichilemon, ST, or CanCam are things no Juice member has ever pulled off, for the record.
    66AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:54
    Re: #65
    That was a pointless, excessive hard-push, huh.
    67AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:56
    Re: #65
    For solo bookings, it'd be more like Suzuki Airi, Yagi Saki, or Mano Erina, I guess — group popularity and individual name recognition are different things after all.
    68AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:56
    Re: #65
    Jokoryo was also capped at just being a regular on "bis" back then, but being an exclusive model means you can only appear in that one magazine — not the kind of job a genuinely popular idol, who gets offers from all sorts of publishers, would take.
    77AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:05
    Wait, exclusive CanCam model, seriously? That's genuinely impressive lol

    Rikako is gorgeous though, makes sense.
    83AnonymousOct 10, 2026 16:09
    Re: #77
    Thank you 😊
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HTeiGy4akAApHse.jpg:orig#.jpg

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Hello! Project, run by talent agency Up-Front, manages multiple groups, and disputes over which group gets the lion’s share of songs and media exposure are a perennial source of “favoritism” debates among fans. There used to be a clear production structure under songwriter-producer Tsunku♂, but with no clear overall producer in charge today, it’s unclear who’s even making these decisions, so the thread’s speculation remains impossible to verify. Opinion split over whether Juice=Juice’s current momentum comes from the agency’s backing or mostly from the songs going viral on their own merit. Posters agreed that Tsubaki Factory and Angerme have been “pushed for years without results,” but were divided on whether that’s due to the agency simply not trying as hard for them, or a lack of strength in the songs and concepts themselves. Note that the talk of the Excellent Work Award at the Japan Record Awards is speculation ahead of the year-end announcement, not a confirmed fact. Unverified rumors about individual members’ personal lives have been excluded from this article.

    *This article was composed by excerpting and summarizing the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “From One for All → Rika/Miko → Juice=Juice → Ochanorma, Looks Like the Budget’s Getting Passed Around~.”

  • Pianist Hayato Sumino (“Cateen”) Apologizes for Joking About Fellow Pianist Kyohei Sorita’s ‘144 km/h’ Speeding Scandal

    Pianist Hayato Sumino (31), who performs on YouTube under the name “Cateen” and has over 1.5 million subscribers, posted on social media joking about fellow pianist Kyohei Sorita’s “144 km/h” speeding incident — only to delete the post and apologize after facing backlash. On 5channel, opinions split between those who saw it as harmless banter between acquaintances, since the traffic violation had no victims, and those who felt it was inappropriate for a public post. Many comments also compared the two pianists’ careers, including their results at the Chopin International Piano Competition.

    Oct 10, 2026, 13:46

    Pianist Hayato Sumino (Cateen) Deletes Social Media Post, Apologizes

    Pianist Hayato Sumino (31), who performs on YouTube under the name “Cateen” and has over 1.5 million subscribers, drew criticism over a post on X (formerly Twitter) and ended up apologizing.

    Source: zakzak.co.jp / Original article here

    2AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:23
    Oh, so it's Cateen, of course (said in Kyushu dialect)
    27AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:44
    Re: #2
    Can't help but chuckle　(´・ω・`)
    3AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:24
    The guys NHK kept hyping up sure love screwing up, huh
    8AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:27
    Joking about a criminal? How tasteless!
    9AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:27
    If two comedians did this to each other nobody'd care
    Bakushou Mondai or Knights would jump on it instantly
    10AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:27
    You guys cracking jokes about Hirosue aren't exactly tasteful either
    13AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:30
    Watching Showa-retro exploration videos on YouTube beats watching "Peace-kun" from Omiya Park anyway
    14AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:30
    Eh, who cares lol
    So dumb
    15AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:31
    Can't even read his name "Hayato" lol
    21AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:37
    Re: #15
    "Cateen" is his stage name
    "Hayato" is his real given name
    16AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:33
    Re: #1
    Starting his own controversy just to make news for Sorita's sake
    That's kinda sweet, actually
    17AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:34
    Re: #12
    Not knowing pianist Hayato Sumino (31, YouTube name: Cateen), who has over 1.5 million subscribers, is honestly pretty bad
    30AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:47
    Re: #17
    Nah, there are plenty of people who genuinely don't know him lol. Even if you're online, it's not like everyone knows every YouTuber
    And if someone barely uses the internet, I bet tons of people have never heard of him　(´・ω・`)
    50AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:58
    Re: #17
    1.5 million is impressive, but it's not "you're bad if you don't know him" territory
    Even at 15 million there'd still be people who don't know him, same at 150 million
    If he had, say, 1.5 billion subscribers, THEN not knowing him would be a problem
    18AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:35
    The "temple concert" Sorita forced ahead with in the rain.
    It even got aired as an NHK program.

    The audience who showed up in good faith really got the short end of the stick.

    Someone needs to properly call this out. Make Sorita reflect and actually apologize for it.

    Doesn't have to be Cateen who does it.
    20AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:35
    They used to be roommates, I think
    So that's probably just their usual banter
    But it's not appropriate for a public post
    22AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:37
    Unlike Sorita, this guy's whole lane is "piano plus elite-education YouTuber"
    Basically Harami-chan and Kono Gendo averaged together
    23AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:41
    It's not Takuzo Sumino,

    it's Hayato Sumino (すみの はやと,
    29AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:45
    His name sounds like one of Ryo Fukawa's one-hit gag catchphrases
    31AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:48
    If it had caused an accident with real victims, teasing about it would be questionable, but speeding alone seems fine to joke about, honestly
    Though if their relationship means scandals are supposed to be off-limits, I get why the speeding guy's fans would be furious
    32AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:48
    He's basically Japan's top pianist right now, isn't he
    45AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:55
    Oh, the guy who's so good-looking that Japanese comments flooded the Chopin Competition livestream so hard the moderator got furious?
    51AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:59
    Re: #45
    Sounds like a fanbase similar to Fujii Kaze's
    Poor guy
    47AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:56
    Come to think of it, you don't see street-piano YouTubers much anymore
    Did they get pushed out once serious pros like this joined YouTube?
    49AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:58
    Don't know either of them, don't care
    56AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:03
    Nah nah
    That's reading way too much into it lol
    57AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:03
    Apparently Cristiano Ronaldo has 1.05 billion total followers counting Instagram and everything
    But I wouldn't be surprised if elderly Japanese folks who aren't into soccer still don't know him　(´・ω・`)

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    The Chopin International Piano Competition is regarded as one of the world’s foremost piano competitions, and Kyohei Sorita is known for placing second there — the highest ranking ever achieved by a Japanese pianist. Hayato Sumino, meanwhile, has built his profile largely through YouTube, and many comments in the thread compared the two men’s contrasting career paths. Worth noting: the real point of contention here isn’t whether speeding itself is acceptable, but whether it was appropriate to publicly joke about an acquaintance’s scandal — a case of banter going too far. Opinions differ on where to draw the line between private joking among friends and a public post, so reading this purely as “outrage over bad taste” misses the point. It’s also easy to overlook that what Sumino actually apologized for wasn’t the speeding incident itself, but the wording of the post mocking it.

    *This article excerpts and summarizes the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Pianist] Hayato Sumino (Cateen) apologizes over inappropriate post — joked too far about Kyohei Sorita’s “144 km/h” speeding incident [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★].”

  • 73-Year-Old Dad Balks at Surrendering His License—’Don’t Treat Me Like an Old Man’—Finally Caves After Six Months of Pleading

    A personal account reported by the money-focused outlet “THE GOLD ONLINE,” about a son who pressed his 73-year-old father to surrender his driver’s license, became a hot topic on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo G (“Anything Goes Live”) board. According to the story, the father resisted for six months, insisting “My eyes and ears are still sharp and my reflexes haven’t slowed down—don’t treat me like an old man,” but after being shown calculations of upkeep costs and hearing pleas from his grandchild, he eventually caved and voluntarily surrendered his license. On the thread, comments backing the son’s handling (“better than dragging someone else into an accident”) stood alongside pushback (“judging by age alone is harsh,” “everyone’s different”) and doubts about whether the cognitive function test given at license renewal actually works. Many also flagged inconsistencies in the article itself—like the detail that the father kept his Land Cruiser even after surrendering his license.

    “If you end up causing an accident, it’ll be too late to fix. The upkeep costs aren’t exactly cheap either, so why not go ahead and turn in your license?”

    When Toshinori made this suggestion, Saburo turned red with anger. “My eyes and ears are still sharp, and my reflexes haven’t slowed down one bit! Don’t treat me like an old man,” his father insisted. Toshinori wouldn’t budge either: “You can keep the car right where it is—just stop driving it.” But Saburo brushed this off: “What good is a car that never gets driven? A car’s only worth something if you can actually drive it.”

    For the next six months, Toshinori kept up the persuasion every time he visited his parents’ house. He showed his father a breakdown of the upkeep costs, and got his grandchild to chip in too—”Grandpa, your driving worries me, please stop”—with the whole family working on him together. In the end, Saburo gave in, muttering “Fine, do whatever you want” as a parting shot, and went down to the police station to voluntarily surrender his license. Toshinori breathed a deep sigh of relief: “Now I don’t have to worry about him hurting someone else.”

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

    4AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:44
    Better than putting someone else through hell, I guess.
    19AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:51
    Re: #4
    Seriously, this.
    Every single person who's put someone else through hell thought they themselves were fine.
    5AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:45
    Sure, there's individual variation, but 73 these days feels like it should still be totally fine.
    8AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:45
    Guy was driving a Land Cruiser, so he must really love cars.

    Can't tell from the article, but if his cognitive function really wasn't an issue, it's harsh to make him give it up on age alone.
    10AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:47
    Aging varies a lot from person to person.
    You shouldn't just write someone off based on age alone.
    11AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:47
    I get the worry, but isn't this a bit much? Though if 'Grandpa's driving scares me' is genuinely true, then it's a fair call.
    13AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:48
    Just buy him a racing wheel controller and let him play Forza 6 instead.
    15AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:49
    Didn't know GOLD ONLINE wrote stuff like this lmao
    16AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:49
    He surrendered his license but kept the Land Cruiser? This 'essay' is way too sloppily written.
    17AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:49
    Left Dad to presumably struggle through an inconvenient life for a whole month.
    20AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:51
    Just buy him an e-bike or something.
    21AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:51
    It's clearly made up—even where he lives is vague.
    Put a little more detail into it, come on.
    22AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:51
    For a 73-year-old, just get him a car loaded with safety features.
    Even just pedal mix-up prevention alone makes a huge difference.
    25AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:51
    Just gift him a full racing-wheel rig and a PS5.
    26AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:52
    Wait, I thought the dad stabbed the son to death or something.
    27AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:52
    Lived over 70 years and has nothing in his life besides cars… lol
    28AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:52
    The reason the license-surrender push fizzled out before, as I understand it, is that quite a few elderly people kept driving even after surrendering their license and caused accidents anyway. Since insurance can cover things even without surrendering, the conclusion ended up being that, statistically, not surrendering—even after an accident—works out better.
    29AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:53
    If he'd compromised there, it might've ended in a tragic accident.
    30AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:53
    At this point, taking away the license just means someone else has to pick up the slack.
    33AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:55
    A textbook example of how 90% of media stories are pointless to even read.
    34AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:55
    A curveball of a topic for GOLD ONLINE.
    35AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:56
    Plenty of people's lives get turned into hell because of selfish old folks.
    No matter how capable you are, you're not allowed to get a license before age 18.
    By the same logic, no matter how capable you are, once you're past 70 you shouldn't be allowed to drive anymore.
    It's really that simple.
    36AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:56
    What are elderly people living alone actually supposed to do, though?
    It's not like they can just move to the city.
    37AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:57
    Instead of a Land Cruiser, just give him the smallest kei car possible—or worst case, a moped—to minimize the damage.
    A 73-year-old driving something that huge is pushing it, surely.
    38AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:57
    People on Yahoo comments leaving tons of replies to what's clearly an AI-written essay is just dumb.
    39AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:58
    He should just drive something like a 7-Eleven delivery van.
    40AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:59
    Has a causal link with the license surrender even been proven?
    41AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:59
    Not being able to drive anymore is fine in itself—the real problem is nobody helped him find another reason to live.
    44AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:01
    I ride a motorcycle too, and honestly the day I give up riding will probably be the day I die.
    45AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:02
    It's obviously made up, but GOLD ONLINE articles have this charm where there's always so much to pick apart.
    49AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:05
    Voluntary surrender is kind of pointless, honestly.
    The people who can rationally judge 'my abilities have declined with age, I should surrender my license' are the ones who are actually fine.
    It's the guys shouting 'I haven't declined at all! I'm not surrendering anything!' who are the dangerous ones—those are exactly the ones who should have their license taken away.
    58AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:09
    Re: #49
    Yeah, the thing is the cognitive test at renewal time doesn't actually mean anything.
    67AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:13
    That's exactly the age when guys are happily driving their grandkids around.
    Guess a lifelong single person wouldn't get that.
    75AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:20
    Re: #67
    But it was that very grandkid who told him to stop.
    77AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:23
    Unless there's dementia or some serious decline visible, cases these days where family pushes a 73-year-old to surrender their license are pretty rare, I'd think.
    80AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:26
    Re: #77
    Well, it's fiction, so.
    87AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:32
    Fair point that there's individual variation—so why not make everyone take an actual driving test at the test center once a year or every six months?
    Not like the elderly-driver courses at driving schools, but a real test where failing means mandatory surrender.
    Though give them a few retry chances.
    88AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:33
    Re: #87
    Those tests go easy on old folks—if all you do is wobble a bit while driving, you'll pass with room to spare.
    91AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:35
    Re: #87
    That scares me—feels like it's going to produce a fatality eventually.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    The “voluntary surrender” system for elderly drivers’ licenses carries no legal force—family members or police cannot confiscate a license on the basis of age alone. Even under the revised Road Traffic Act of 2022, the mandatory practical driving test applies only to drivers 75 or older with a certain violation history; 73 itself is not, under current rules, an age at which surrender can be forced. The thread split between those praising the son’s decision as a sound family call to prevent an accident, and those pushing back with “don’t judge by age alone when everyone’s different”—with several commenters also questioning whether the cognitive function test given at license renewal actually measures real driving ability. Meanwhile, since the original piece is a personal-account article from THE GOLD ONLINE, an asset-management-focused outlet, and contains inconsistencies—such as the father keeping his large SUV even after surrendering his license—many replies suspected it was fiction or AI-generated; however, the article itself doesn’t clarify how it was actually written, so this can’t be confirmed.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “The Son Who Took the Car Away From His 73-Year-Old Father Who Wouldn’t Give Up His License—The 〈Hellscape〉 He Saw One Month After the Surrender.”

  • Mother-Son Travel YouTuber Who Sparked Outrage Over Afghanistan Trip Now Heads to Iraq via Iran — This Time Through Iran

    Yuri, who runs the YouTube channel “Do-Konjo Yuri’s Mother-Child Journey” (ど根性ゆり, roughly “Gutsy Yuri”) and travels the world with her two children, kept traveling even after facing criticism for visiting Afghanistan despite an official evacuation advisory — and has now entered Iraq via Iran. On October 7 she posted “Peaceful again today” on Threads, drawing another wave of harsh comments. On 5ch forums, the focus wasn’t so much on the actual safety of her destinations as on where her travel funds were coming from and whether her posts were “designed to stir up controversy” — opinions were split.

    Yuri, who posts about traveling with her two children under the channel “Do-Konjo Yuri’s Mother-Child Journey” (5,100 subscribers), has entered Iraq via Iran. On October 7 she posted “Peaceful again today” on Threads, and the replies are once again filled with harsh comments.

    Criticized Over Afghanistan Trip

    Yuri launched her YouTube channel in April 2025, documenting travels around the world with her two children under the “mother-child journey” theme. Her Threads profile states she has visited “153 countries plus 10 unrecognized states” so far.

    Source: yutura.net / Original article here

    2AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:18
    A tool for butting into other people's business this high-and-mightily
    That's just how Japanese social media works.
    3AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:18
    Where's the money even coming from?
    Is she rich or something?
    5AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:19
    I'd love for her to go to South Africa, Colombia, Venezuela, or the slums of Brazil.
    21AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:27
    Re: #5
    Yeah, as long as you're not marked as "the enemy," Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq honestly don't seem that dangerous.
    Central Africa or South America probably have worse everyday crime.
    6AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:20
    Why does this even blow up?
    Such a waste of energy trying to change someone like that.
    105AnonymousOct 10, 2026 15:16
    Re: #6
    It's because rescuing people costs taxpayer money.
    If she wants to dodge the backlash, the only way is to give up her Japanese citizenship.
    7AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:21
    Guess I'll subscribe to the channel.
    Honestly, I'm curious about it as a kind of reference material.
    9AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:22
    YouTube income can't be much for a channel like this, so where's the money coming from for a mom and two kids to travel around having fun?
    13AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:23
    Rubberneckers don't actually care until something happens.
    Making noise about it now just means you've got too much time on your hands.
    15AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:24
    Re: #13
    Exactly.
    Can't wait for this to become actual news.
    14AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:23
    If you just ignored it and didn't watch, that'd be fine, but watching it AND leaving a comment is exactly what she wants.
    So dumb.
    17AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:24
    Apparently Afghanistan is pushing inbound tourism to earn foreign currency.
    Still doesn't seem like a place to visit casually.
    18AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:24
    Don't take the bait — this is such a blatant attempt to farm outrage.
    19AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:25
    I haven't watched it myself,
    but I bet everyone who is watching is secretly hoping something happens.
    23AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:28
    I think the outrage is because she's bringing toddlers into countries rated danger level 3 or 4.
    Back when Kōda and Gotō were killed (Shosei Kōda and Kenji Gotō, Japanese nationals killed abroad in 2004 and 2015), the internet was full of "it's their own responsibility" talk — but this time people might see it more as using her kids as a shield.
    25AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:29
    Stop it already, this could turn into an international incident.
    26AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:29
    Yutabon (a child YouTuber known for dropping out of school) and his dad, burning with jealousy
    ↓
    27AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:30
    A new breed of outrage-bait YouTuber, huh.
    28AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:31
    You can't really knock someone who's already a super-veteran with 153 countries under her belt.
    29AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:31
    Locals there actually go to work and live normal lives — it's safe enough as long as you don't catch the attention of some shady group.
    30AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:31
    As long as she's not bothering anyone else, she can do whatever she wants — she just needs to declare up front that she'll handle any trouble entirely on her own.
    31AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:31
    They wouldn't target a streamer, right?
    It'd get found out immediately and turn into a huge deal.
    53AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:40
    Re: #31
    That might be true for individuals after ransom money or ordinary criminal gangs,
    but an Islamist fundamentalist group might specifically target someone live-streaming, just to publicize themselves.
    32AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:32
    Re: #21
    Right, exactly.
    It's about the kind of order in place — a society split into "us vs. enemy" is a different level of danger than one where murder, rape, and theft are just everyday occurrences.
    33AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:32
    Mother-son travel YouTuber takes 3- and 5-year-olds to Afghanistan, hits back at evacuation-advisory criticism: "The Foreign Ministry can't really be trusted anyway" [Laughing Gorilla★]
    https://hayabusa9.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/mnewsplus/1790999082/

    Mother-son travel YouTuber takes 3- and 5-year-olds to Afghanistan, hits back at evacuation-advisory criticism: "The Foreign Ministry can't really be trusted anyway" ★2 [Laughing Gorilla★]
    https://hayabusa9.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/mnewsplus/1791024226/
    34AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:32
    If you're not taking the news at face value, then what exactly ARE you taking at face value?
    35AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:32
    Being a "sucker" (yōbun, lit. "nutrient" — slang for someone exploited for others' gain) and not even realizing you're being used — that's truly pathetic.
    36AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:33
    Unless you add some kind of twist, everyone ends up doing the exact same thing, you know.
    37AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:33
    All I can say is do whatever you want.
    Making it a topic of conversation is already losing.
    38AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:33
    People say "don't be irresponsible, someone will see this and mistakenly think it's safe and go too" — but that's on whoever trusts info from someone like her, not on her.
    If people want to go to places labeled dangerous, that's their own call to make.
    Some say "if something happens it'll cause trouble for the country," but that's really the government's fault for not banning travel there outright.
    41AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:35
    Not taking the news at face value = not trusting the legacy media.

    Isn't that exactly the same as you guys? lol
    45AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:37
    Re: #41
    Same thought here lol lol
    49AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:39
    Re: #41
    I've never once seen an idiot who treats even the Foreign Ministry's danger advisories as "legacy media" lol

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    Japan’s Foreign Ministry issues travel advisories for each country and region on a scale of Level 1 to 4, and parts of Afghanistan and Iraq are rated at the higher levels. In the thread, many commenters invoked the 2004 killing of Shosei Kōda and the 2015 killing of Kenji Gotō to argue that travelers bear full responsibility for their own safety, while others focused on the fact that she brought along preschool-age children — ages 3 and 5. Yuri is an individual YouTuber with around 5,000 subscribers, and aside from her own explanations there’s no way to confirm where her travel funds actually come from, so the question of “where is the money coming from” kept resurfacing. Some also suspect she’s using the controversy itself as content. Overall, opinions split along two different axes — the actual safety of her travels versus the ethics of how she publicizes them.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Mother-son travel YouTuber who sparked outrage over her Afghanistan trip now heads to Iraq via Iran with her 3- and 5-year-olds, saying ‘I don’t take the news at face value’.”

  • FF14 Fan Festival Scraps Reserved Seating—With No Refunds—Buyers Furious

    At Final Fantasy XIV’s Fan Festival, attendees had been able to pay an extra fee to upgrade to reserved seating — but about a month before the event, reserved seating itself was abolished entirely, sparking a storm on 5ch. According to the thread, people who bought tickets specifically for reserved seats can no longer get any seat guarantee, and if they cancel, they won’t be refunded even the extra fee they paid. Posters criticized the “policy change right before the event,” while others sarcastically invoked Square Enix’s in-house e-money “Crysta” and the company’s past administrative order under Japan’s Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations to mock its management style.

    When buying tickets for the event, you could pay an extra fee to switch to reserved seating

    Reserved seating has now been scrapped

    If you can’t even get a reserved seat, canceling won’t get you a refund either

    Source: fanfest.finalfantasyxiv.com / Original article here

    5AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:48
    This is way past "Consumer Affairs Agency crossover" joke territory
    Just cancel it. Cancel the whole thing.
    10AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:50
    Announcing "actually, no seats for you" a month before the event is hilarious (lol)
    12AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:51
    FF stopped being a real series once the "layers" (レイヤー, slang for cosplayers) moved in
    FFX is the one to blame for that
    14AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:51
    Feels like the ticket comes with a coupon for "yakisoba with no filling" (a dig at infamous rip-off festival food stalls)
    16AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:53
    Whoever came up with this scheme is a genius, gotta hand it to them
    17AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:54
    I bought a defective product at my store and want a refund? Return the item and I'll give your money back?
    Can't give you cash, but here's a gift card that only works at MY store!
    20AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:57
    Just because it's even deader than Dragon Quest X doesn't mean you have to get this desperate squeezing cash out of people
    22AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:00
    If they actually issued refunds, producer Yoshida would be the one losing money, right
    23AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:01
    Kind of curious to see if other companies copy this if it actually works
    24AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:01
    From Square Enix's side, Crysta can basically be minted infinitely, so they take zero damage either way
    isn't that insane
    26AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:06
    Is Crysta basically like "Pelican" (an in-game currency from Phantasy Star Online 2)?
    27AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:07
    Refunding in points instead of actual cash is definitely not okay lol
    28AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:07
    Wait, they're even charging a purchase handling fee on top of that? lol
    31AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:09
    Isn't there also something called "Crysta" in jam or whatever? Weird name to reuse
    32AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:10
    Square Enix is sketchy enough that they've gotten hit with an administrative order for violating the Premiums and Representations Act even in their mobile games
    so my gut feeling is this kind of borderline-fraud move is probably deliberate
    34AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:11
    Maybe reserved seating was looking so empty it would've made the venue look bad on camera?
    39AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:17
    This is way beyond the FFXV DLC scam at this point

    Hey Mr. President, what happened to "let's be sincere"?
    78AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:27
    Re: #39
    Sincere toward his own greed, that is

    that's really the only reading
    43AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:25
    You pay 25,000 yen and you're still stuck standing?
    Is that "attendee souvenir set" thing actually worth something like 20,000 yen?
    45AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:29
    Re: #43
    Honestly, that part alone is pretty normal these days
    48AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:35
    More expensive than some mouse-themed kingdom's park, lol
    they're really going for it
    51AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:37
    Re: #48
    You should just be grateful you got to enter "Yoshida-land" at all
    53AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:38
    If the game were actually making good money, they'd run events like this for free
    59AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:47
    Re: #53
    You mean the mighty Dragon Quest X? Is that supposed to be a jab?
    58AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:47
    Re: #1
    What actually happens at these game events anyway?
    Songs, voice actor talk shows, stuff like that?
    61AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:49
    Re: #58
    Yoshida bragging about himself
    70AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:00
    Re: #1
    Their own in-house cryptocurrency! lol and they actually named it "Crysta"! lol
    75AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:21
    Re: #70
    Crysta is just e-money used to pay for Square Enix's online games (monthly fees, in-game items)
    hard to believe someone who actually plays FF14 wouldn't know that

    Square Enix — What is Crysta?
    https://www.jp.square-enix.com/account/crysta/
    71AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:05

    72AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:05


    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HTsgzQ9agAAC0am.jpg
    88AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:55
    FF14 is a game about communing with a god named Naoki Yoshida
    and this event is basically that religion's ceremony — just a glorified offering plate
    91AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:01
    Re: #88
    Which is exactly why the true believers who want the best view of their god are the ones buying reserved seats —
    so it's genuinely unclear why they'd kill reserved seating partway through
    98AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:22
    Chinese players are the real victims here, after the mobile version of this already-dying game flopped so badly
    100AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:23
    Re: #98
    Ah, I see, so the mobile version's service ended
    thanks for clearing that up

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    FF14’s Fan Festival is a large-scale paid event held separately from the main game, and this time a special ticket was offered letting attendees pay extra to upgrade to reserved seating. About a month before the event, that option was scrapped — meaning even people who bought tickets specifically expecting reserved seats now have to attend under the same conditions as everyone else, and canceling doesn’t get them the extra fee back. On the thread, some pointed to Square Enix’s past administrative order for violating the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations in its mobile games as grounds for distrusting the company’s management, while others noted that the event’s price point (around 25,000 yen even for standing-only admission) isn’t unusual for this type of fan event. Worth noting: “Crysta” is Square Enix’s own in-game payment currency, not a cryptocurrency — a distinction that was actually misunderstood within the thread itself.

    ※This article excerpts and summarizes the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “[PS5 Bad News] Square Enix’s FF14 cash-grab event is spiraling out of control — will the Consumer Affairs Agency get involved?“.

  • Rio Nakai reveals husband Akiyoshi Nakao’s true self: he’s quick to snap — 5ch: “Not surprising at all”

    Actress Rio Nakai revealed an unknown side of her husband, actor Akiyoshi Nakao, through a questionnaire on TBS’s “A-Studio+.” While Nakao usually comes across as a mellow, likable guy, she says he’s actually particular to a fault and dead serious, snapping over the smallest things. She described his tone as having a “yankee” (delinquent-style) edge that puts pressure on the room, prompting host Shofukutei Tsurube to exclaim in surprise, “What an idiot! I could never say something like that myself!” On 5ch, comments saying “not surprising at all” emerged early and the thread largely settled on that view, while posts voicing anxiety about power dynamics within marriage and married life itself also piled up, broadening the discussion from the couple’s true colors to single users’ views on marriage.

    Akiyoshi Nakao — wife Rio Nakai reveals surprising true self: “He snaps over little things” — Tsurube: “What an idiot!”

    Actor Akiyoshi Nakao (38) appeared as a guest on TBS’s “A-Studio+” (Fridays 11:00 PM), which aired on the 9th. His wife, actress Rio Nakai (36), answered a questionnaire and revealed an unexpected side of Nakao.

    Asked, “What’s a surprising side of him the public still doesn’t know?” Nakai answered, “To the public he comes across as a cheerful, good-husband type, but maybe because he’s particular and dead serious, he snaps over little things, and his tone has this strong, delinquent-style edge that puts pressure on the mood. But sometimes that pressure actually comes in handy!”

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

    3AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:28
    Not surprising at all
    80AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:11
    Re: #3 nailed it, thread's basically over
    7AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:31
    Looks like the type to drive an Alphard (a flashy Toyota luxury minivan)
    16AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:44
    Re: #7
    Her husband's a car guy, so he probably wouldn't go for that kind of car
    He's been on TV Tokyo car shows a lot
    9AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:34
    Why lecture your family when they're already in a bad mood after getting home
    Just make small talk and calm them down
    74AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:47
    Re: #9
    I'm not taking sides here at all, but
    I can't stay in a good mood 365 days a year, morning to night,
    so I'm single because marriage scares me.
    How does everyone manage this?
    Especially in the mornings while getting ready I'm basically murderous, and I don't want anyone in my way.
    If I lived with someone else, they'd definitely end up using the sink, bath, or kitchen right when I want to, and that would drive me nuts.
    So when I'm dating someone and ask upfront, "I'm in a bad mood every morning, how do you feel about that?" everyone just goes "uhh…"
    What am I supposed to do?
    Living apart even after marriage is the only option for me.
    79AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:07
    Re: #74
    Didn't you have a father or mother growing up?
    It's not like you're face-to-face dealing with each other every single day as much as you'd think.
    82AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:14
    Re: #74
    Serious answer: pick a guy with an older sister.
    He'll already be used to women getting irritable from hormones or pushing their own rules, so he can read the room and handle it well.
    10AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:37
    This is the type where if the wife genuinely gets sick of it, it ends in a late-life divorce.
    She must still find him useful, or she's still in love.
    11AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:40
    It's because you can't earn enough that he's taking on jobs he doesn't even want to do.
    12AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:41
    Why does a thread about these two pop up regularly?
    They're not even that popular.
    64AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:22
    Re: #12
    I think people my own age especially find this couple hard to take.
    I just can't with them.
    13AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:42
    Watching her in dramas, I do think she's a talented actress,

    but she clearly has a strong personality, so I wouldn't want to be friends with her.
    15AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:42
    Couples who can fight it out in small doses are the healthy ones.
    If both sides just give up on each other and bottle it all inside instead, it eventually blows up.
    17AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:44
    They're actually on good terms, all things considered.
    Both marriage and dating only last when you're with someone similar to yourself.
    18AnonymousOct 10, 2026 11:45
    I bet most people already assumed two delinquent types married each other.
    30AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:13
    I bet the husband is actually the selfish one at home.
    It's the wife who's putting up with it.
    41AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:33
    Re: #30
    Even her fans know the wife is the selfish one, lol
    42AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:35
    Re: #30
    Does she really look like the type of wife who'd put up with things?
    52AnonymousOct 10, 2026 12:47
    Re: #1
    >>But deciding to take that job was your own choice

    This was probably about the low-rated drama on Fuji TV recently, and it turned into a fight between them too 😐
    Well, no matter who's in it, nobody watches Fuji TV anymore, so it can't be helped.
    63AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:15
    Re: #52
    It was a drama where the doctor husband says "I want you to stay home and focus on the kids' education," and she goes "I want to work, so let's divorce."
    The show itself was just bad, regardless of Fuji TV.
    67AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:30
    Re: #64
    Isn't that just because you're not part of the vulgar crowd?
    Maybe you'd prefer something more like Miki Nakatani's refined life with her Austrian husband, or Koyuki and Matsuken's back-to-nature lifestyle.
    73AnonymousOct 10, 2026 13:47
    Re: #67
    I'm self-aware enough to know I'm not classy either, given that I hang out on 5ch's entertainment board, but these two take tackiness to a whole other level beyond that.
    81AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:13
    Re: #79
    No, I meant I live with my parents and get irritated when our bathroom-sink times overlap?
    85AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:17
    Re: #81
    Oh, so it was about not getting along with your parents, not a spouse. My bad then.
    88AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:22
    If it's that painful, why not just move out of your parents' place in the first place? That's what I don't get.
    89AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:22
    Re: #88
    That's exactly why everyone moves out to live alone when home is painful — so why would you get married?
    90AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:24
    Re: #89
    You're saying everyone moves out to live alone because home is painful—

    but aren't you still living with your parents?
    93AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:25
    Re: #89
    Are you planning on marrying your little brother or your parents or something?
    94AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:26
    Re: #93
    There's no guarantee my spouse would be a good-natured person who yields to me and puts up with things.
    In fact, even in this article, it's the husband who snaps at his wife's bad mood.
    96AnonymousOct 10, 2026 14:27
    Re: #94
    Huh?
    You'd already know that much by the time you're dating, wouldn't you?

    Background and talking points

    Akiyoshi Nakao and Rio Nakai married in 2015 and are known as a celebrity couple raising children together. TBS’s “A-Studio+” regularly uses a format where a questionnaire to the guest’s spouse draws out an unexpected side of them, and Tsurube’s “What an idiot!” was simply a reaction that came out of that flow. What divided the thread was whether Nakai’s account actually counted as “surprising” — from early on, the view that it “wasn’t surprising” dominated. At the same time, the discussion spread to speculation over which spouse really does the enduring in the household power dynamic, and to posts from single users anxious about the small frictions of married life. One point left untouched in the exchange: the personality description of Nakao revealed on the show came not from his own self-report but from his wife’s questionnaire answer.

    ※This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Akiyoshi Nakao — wife Rio Nakai reveals surprising true self: “He snaps over little things” — Tsurube: “What an idiot!”“