Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • Nintendo vs. Palworld Patent Battle: Still Not Over

    It was reported on 5ch that on September 3rd, an appeal against a rejection ruling was filed for patent application “2026-019762” — a monster-capture mechanic patent filed by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. Nintendo’s legal maneuvering around Pocketpair’s *Palworld* continues to drag on. The thread split between users defending Nintendo’s move as “a righteous fight to protect creators” and critics calling it “a big corporation crushing small studios with patents.” The conversation gradually spread into gripes about Nintendo’s own recent game output and its heavy reliance on remakes.

    1AnonymousSep 12, 2026 06:49
    More movement in Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's patent filings
    The status of application No. "2026-019762" — a divisional filing of the monster-capture-mechanic patent, limited to touch-panel-equipped information processing devices — has been updated. The Japan Patent Office's (JPO) prosecution status page now shows a record that an appeal against the rejection ruling was filed on September 3rd.
    2AnonymousSep 12, 2026 06:50
    Didn't Nintendo already lose once?
    4AnonymousSep 12, 2026 06:51
    Re: #2
    Was it really just once, though?
    8AnonymousSep 12, 2026 06:53
    Palworld's this newcomer going toe-to-toe with the king of the industry and holding its own
    Meanwhile even Square [Enix] had no choice but to fully surrender and beg for mercy
    9AnonymousSep 12, 2026 06:54
    Re: #8
    Honestly, wouldn't mind seeing Pokémon taken down a peg
    12AnonymousSep 12, 2026 06:55
    The fact that they can't even think "let's just make a better game and beat them fair and square" says it all
    It's basically admitting they've already lost on the gameplay front
    15AnonymousSep 12, 2026 06:56
    Re: #12
    Well, it is Game Freak, after all
    16AnonymousSep 12, 2026 06:56
    Honestly it's a blatant ARK ripoff
    If anything, I'm surprised ARK's side never sued instead of Nintendo
    38AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:01
    Re: #16
    No way the indie scene would sue over something like that
    Do you know how many Vampire Survivors-likes, Metroidvanias, and Diablo-style hack-and-slashes are out there?
    21AnonymousSep 12, 2026 06:58
    Come to think of it, how was that game Game Freak put out on PlayStation?
    28AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:00
    Re: #21
    Pretty much a mediocre game, honestly
    35AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:01
    Re: #21
    Guess the flaws really stand out
    25AnonymousSep 12, 2026 06:59
    In this world, Nintendo is overwhelmingly in the right
    Palworld should be pulled from sale — why hasn't it been?
    42AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:02
    Re: #25
    This is basically Zanza from Xenoblade at this point (Zanza — the self-righteous, godlike tyrant from Xenoblade Chronicles)
    27AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:00
    If this industry lets one case slide, copycat rights-infringing games will spring up like mushrooms after the rain
    Nintendo isn't suing because they hate Palworld — they're acting to protect every creator in this industry
    31AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:01
    Re: #27
    Exactly
    Nintendo is fighting to protect all creators
    Classic Nintendo
    29AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:00
    This is exactly the kind of crappy move that keeps tanking their stock price lol
    44AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:02
    Re: #29
    It's simply because they're not putting out any must-play masterpieces
    32AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:01
    Instead of fighting, why not just buy them out already?
    41AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:02
    Re: #32
    Microsoft or Sony backing Palworld means there's no way to win
    It's a whole different league of power
    45AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:02
    The rest of the game industry can't make anything but garbage yet won't shut up
    You're all just riding on Nintendo's coattails
    49AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:04
    Re: #45
    Nintendo's probably gotten just as full of themselves as this guy…
    55AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:06
    Honestly, the mood has really shifted compared to before
    Even within the fan community, defenders are getting fewer
    61AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:08
    Re: #55
    It's not just the Palworld thing —

    Their game development output has clearly declined lately, with nothing but remakes and remasters on the schedule
    Feels like the frustration has been building up
    56AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:06
    Palworld having custom animations for literally hundreds of Pals is genuinely insane
    They made dedicated motions for bathing, carrying stuff, sleeping, being happy, mining — a separate one for each
    Pokémon just doesn't have that kind of love — or the technical chops — for it
    59AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:08
    Re: #56
    They really went that deep into the detail?
    100AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:32
    Re: #56
    That really is impressive
    They reuse assets but every one still has its own personality
    57AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:06
    Capcom's only "pulled a Wilds" once lately (slang for a rough, underbaked launch, after Monster Hunter Wilds), but good ol' Nintendo's already pulled it twice — with Mario Kart and Eta Rider
    Way too many bad games
    60AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:08
    Re: #57
    Is it really two, though?
    Didn't Metroid and Z-A (likely Pokémon Legends: Z-A) get a pass?
    66AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:11
    Re: #57
    And these are supposed to be their rare first-party titles, too
    Their batting average has gotten pretty low
    62AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:09
    Re: #60
    People who bought Metroid seem pretty satisfied with it — don't lump it in with garbage like Z-A
    71AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:13
    Re: #62
    No they're not lol
    Who even wants a totally linear Metroid?
    67AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:11
    Rather than this blockbuster-or-nothing mentality, I wish they'd make more lightweight indie-style games like Chameleon.
    Personally, I want Nintendo to give us play, not just games.
    68AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:12
    Re: #67
    They put out that presumably small-scale Yoshi game and it bombed spectacularly, didn't it
    72AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:14
    Re: #67
    They have to keep making big-budget titles just to keep their large staff and know-how intact
    76AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:16
    Re: #67
    At that point, indies already cover that, no?
    78AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:18
    Some people worship Chameleon, but they've also put out stuff like Exit 8 (a well-known indie horror game)
    Not really my thing
    81AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:19
    Re: #78
    Wait, what are we even talking about now?
    80AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:19
    Some people are saying Nintendo's fighting to protect creators or to stop copycat games from appearing, but
    it's increasingly looking like no rights were actually infringed, and imitator products showing up is a perfectly healthy part of doing business anyway
    More than anything, it'd be the worst possible outcome for creators if a giant corporation gets away with using patents it hoarded out of boredom to crush small studios' games it simply doesn't like
    82AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:19
    Re: #80
    This is basically the Homs from Xenoblade at this point (Homs — the human race in the Xenoblade Chronicles games)
    85AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:22
    But since Palworld won, China's apparently gearing up to release a game that's a blatant copy of Elden Ring with just the skin swapped out.
    Feels like the takeaway was "if Palworld can get away with it, this is fine too."
    93AnonymousSep 12, 2026 07:26
    Re: #85
    I don't know exactly what the point of contention is with Palworld, but if we're talking about games that just swap the skin, Splatoon Raiders is the same deal, so I don't see the problem
    Though straight-up ripping off character designs, that I'd call a no-go

    Background and Key Points of This Story

    Since 2024, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have been pursuing a patent infringement suit against Pocketpair’s *Palworld* over its monster-capture mechanics, among other things. The application number making the rounds this time, “2026-019762,” is a derivative patent limited to touch-panel operation; it was initially rejected and has now reached the stage of an appeal against that rejection — it does not by itself indicate which side is winning the main lawsuit. The thread split between those defending Nintendo’s stance as “action to protect creators across the industry” and those criticizing it as “a large corporation using patents to crush smaller studios.” The discussion also expanded into praise for how much detail Palworld put into its animation work, plus frustration over Nintendo’s own recent lean toward remakes and sequels — though it’s worth noting these points are separate from the merits of the patent dispute itself.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from a 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G board) thread titled “[Sad News] Nintendo Apparently Still Fighting With Palworld.”

  • Fuji TV Cancels “Sashihara Chinatsu” After Just 5 Months — Even Staff Say “Yeah, That’s Bad”

    Fuji TV’s late-night variety show “Sashihara Chinatsu” is being canceled at the end of September, barely five months after its launch this past April, according to a report from Josei Jishin. The show’s title is a mash-up of the surnames of its two hosts, Rino Sashihara and Chinatsu Wakatsuki. On 5channel, opinions split over whether the cancellation comes down to sponsor issues or simply weak ratings, with plenty of blunt comments along the lines of “Honestly, it’s impressive it even lasted five months.”

    Posted: 2026/09/11 14:00 Last updated: 2026/09/11 15:32

    Josei Jishin Editorial Team

    Fuji TV’s late-night talk variety show “Sashihara Chinatsu,” which only launched this past April, has reportedly been given an abrupt cancellation at the end of September.

    Source: jisin.jp / Original article here

    2AnonymousSep 11, 2026 16:31
    Don't care either way, I dislike both Sashihara and Wakatsuki
    They're both past their prime anyway
    3AnonymousSep 11, 2026 16:51
    I don't think it was a sponsor problem — the show itself just wasn't any good.
    4AnonymousSep 11, 2026 16:57
    Even the sponsor angle as a reason for cancellation isn't that big a deal. It's a money issue, not some scandal tied to organized crime.
    5AnonymousSep 11, 2026 17:03
    Oh, so it's just a local station show?
    11AnonymousSep 11, 2026 18:03
    Honestly, it's impressive it even lasted five months.
    12AnonymousSep 11, 2026 18:10
    Wasn't it only ever meant to run one season (a "kuru," about 3 months)?
    14AnonymousSep 11, 2026 18:42
    When two D-listers team up, they're still just D-listers at the end of the day.
    16AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:17
    It's probably just that the ratings were low
    It did look kind of boring
    17AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:21
    Yeah, that's plenty enough already
    18AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:38
    First I'm hearing of this. (・ω・)

    Looks like Paula-chan's ignoring it too. (*´・ω・)(・ω・`*)ネー
    19AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:44
    Sashihara's honestly past her expiration date at this point
    She seems suited to behind-the-scenes work, so she should focus on that instead
    20AnonymousSep 11, 2026 19:47
    Huh?
    I was actually enjoying it quite a bit
    Too bad
    23AnonymousSep 11, 2026 20:13
    Fuji TV really has zero taste
    Might as well just go off the air at this point
    Total waste of airwaves
    24AnonymousSep 11, 2026 20:28
    How's this any different from Matsumoto and Nakai?
    26AnonymousSep 11, 2026 20:50
    There's a weirdly huge number of articles slapping "the reason why" (wake) onto the headline lately — that's AI-written, isn't it?
    30AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:18
    Re: #26
    I'll just run the article through my own AI to make it readable myself, so the media should just stick to plain, accurate, factual news.
    27AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:41
    There's no demand for these two to begin with.
    28AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:48
    Stuff like this usually comes down to one of: ratings tanked and sponsors bailed, the sponsor ran out of budget, or some compliance violation
    A compliance violation seems unlikely here, so maybe it really was just so-so ratings?
    29AnonymousSep 11, 2026 22:17
    Re: #1 Might as well go full self-deprecating with it:
    "Documentary 72 Hours: In a Hallway of a TV Station in Odaiba…"
    "100 Cameras: Inside the Accounting Department of a TV Station in Odaiba…"
    "Unsolved Incidents: The 'Iibe / Minato-Ota / Overseas Location Shoots Gone Too Far' Problem"
    "Our Generation: A Staff Roundtable of Real Talk"
    31AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:45
    Just move it over to TV Tokyo or MX already, lol
    32AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:58
    I was reading this thinking it belonged on the entertainment board, but there was a business angle tacked on at the end after all.

    Background and Key Points of This Story

    Late-night talk variety shows are usually judged for renewal or cancellation at the boundary of a “kuru” (one broadcast season, roughly three months), so getting canceled after five months counts as relatively short-lived even by that genre’s standards. The article does make clear that the show’s title is a coined term combining the surnames of hosts Rino Sashihara and Chinatsu Wakatsuki, but the original report itself never spells out a concrete reason for the cancellation — the thread’s “poor ratings” and “sponsor trouble” theories are both just speculation. There are also comments wondering whether these “…no wake” (“the reason why…”) style headlines are AI-generated, making the reporting style itself part of the discussion — a wrinkle that isn’t obvious from the article text alone.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Business News+) thread “Even staff were stunned, saying ‘That’s rough’ — the ‘sorry state of affairs’ reason Fuji TV’s new show got canceled after just 5 months.”

  • Naps Are Unlimited — 5ch: “Sensei Hori Has Transcended All Living Things”

    In the late-night thread “Fuyajō” (“Castle That Never Sleeps”) on 5ch’s “Whatever’s On Live” board (Nandemo Jikkyo G), regulars kept the chat going all night under the house rule “you can nap as many times as you want.” What started as a joking watch over who was dozing off drifted, with no particular logic, into a quiz guessing Pokémon move sets, and then into talk about a manga production scene so wild that “Sensei Hori has transcended all living things.” Keeping the same laid-back late-night vibe the whole way through, the chat rolled on unbroken until morning.

    12AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:20
    So glad I was born in China—
    14AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:21
    So glad I was born in China—

    15AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:21
    So glad I was born in China—
    41AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:23
    Re: #15
    I told you to quit taking screenshots in the limited-edition Hanabi outfit, remember?
    Show some consideration for people who don't have it
    33AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:23
    When are you gonna sleep?
    37AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:23
    Re: #33
    No need to sleep
    Humans don't need sleep
    54AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:27
    There's no such thing as a creature that never sleeps
    Well, except for Hori Daisuke
    59AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:28
    Re: #54
    Sensei Hori has transcended all living things😭
    65AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:30
    Come on over here and stay awake with us👊😅👊
    66AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:30
    Why are the Hori diehards (obsessive fanboys) swarming in here😨
    77AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:33
    Re: #66
    Standing by for the bath scene
    67AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:30
    Re: #63
    https://yuyuyu.tv/washio/img/ogp.jpg
    71AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:32
    Re: #67
    Thanks😳🍄💦
    68AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:30
    70AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:31
    Re: #68
    Is this Hori Daisuke?
    73AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:32
    Double-Edge, Curse, Rest, Sleep Talk
    75AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:33
    Re: #73
    Is this Snorlax?
    76AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:33
    Scald, Calm Mind, Substitute, Rest
    78AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:33
    Re: #76
    Is this Suicune?
    79AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:34
    Re: #75
    What's that gonna do against a Ghost-type?
    Not totally sure, but I think it's one of those "-skin" abilities (like Refrigerate/Pixilate, which change a move's type)
    81AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:35
    Re: #79
    Sharp eye on you😎
    80AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:34
    I wish all the unemployed would just vanish from this world
    83AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:36
    Re: #80
    Don't phrase it like a Madoka Magica wish, lol (the anime famous for wishes that backfire)
    82AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:36
    85AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:38
    👊😅👊
    https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sAsX1iOV2cw/hq720.jpg
    86AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:38
    Re: #85
    Is this a calico cat?
    90AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:53

    Background and Talking Points

    “Fuyajō” is a common nickname for all-night threads on 5ch’s “Whatever’s On Live” board (Nandemo Jikkyo G), referring to the loose, freewheeling chatter among regulars who camp out from late night into early morning. The opening rule, “you can nap as many times as you want,” appears to be an unspoken convention so that going quiet for a while doesn’t get you treated as having left — a reflection of the particular culture of these overnight threads. The “Sensei Hori” who keeps popping up throughout isn’t given any specific backstory in the text, which suggests it’s an in-joke that only makes sense within this particular community. Another notable feature is the mini-game of guessing Pokémon move sets that crops up out of nowhere, a sign that the thread isn’t so much digging into one topic as building up through a steady pile-up of small talk.

    *This article is an excerpt and summary compiled from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Fuyajō 🏰🏡 “Naps Are Unlimited, nora yo”.”

  • Can Sony Pull Off a “Comeback”? Revival Plans Fly Across 5ch’s Console Wars Board

    A thread titled “How can Sony turn things around from here” appeared on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board. Right at the top, someone noted that “the most recent earnings report showed record-high sales and profit,” and yet post after post voiced alarm that Sony is somehow in dire enough straits to need a “comeback” in the first place. Opinions split over the outlook for the PlayStation business, the heavy tilt toward Western-made games, and the lack of original IP, with a good number of posters also worried about a high-profit structure that’s really just propped up by cost-cutting.

    1AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:37
    Need this ASAP, please!
    3AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:39
    I'm not asking Sony to improve anymore
    I just want them to go bankrupt.
    4AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:39
    They're posting record-high sales and record-high profit right now
    what exactly would a "comeback" even look like from here?
    61AnonymousSep 11, 2026 22:53
    Re: #4
    By the way, why are they making so much money in the first place?
    5AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:40
    Ditch PlayStation and focus purely on anime, movies, music, and image sensors
    everything else can just be sold off piecemeal
    7AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:41
    Pull out and just insist they "never actually lost to Nintendo," that's the only move left
    11AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:43
    Just make one IP on the level of Pokémon and they'd turn the whole thing around, you know
    12AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:43
    If they want a comeback, step one is writing out a list of what actually needs fixing
    15AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:47
    Sony? Oh, they already lost and they're on the bus home right now. A comeback? About all they can do on the ride back is buy a lottery ticket.
    16AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:48
    In the end, was the PS2's dominance really just down to demand for a DVD player?
    90AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:31
    Re: #16
    PS1 → the Super Famicom/FF generation, the Cambrian explosion of casual games, and the era when perfect arcade ports really took off
    PS2 → the DVD-playback feature, plus everyone carrying over from the PS1
    17AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:49
    Sony's first-party games get treated the way Ubisoft's do now, so maybe only Spider-Man — riding on how popular the source material already is — still has a shot
    18AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:51
    Sony doesn't even have that kind of drive to begin with
    19AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:52
    Flip the PS over! (Literally.)

    The little-known trick for dodging the original PS1's "Sony timer" (the urban legend that Sony gear is built to break right after the warranty runs out)
    21AnonymousSep 11, 2026 21:59
    Sony today is only posting high profits thanks to cost-cutting and reliance on Chinese mobile gacha games
    the foundation underneath is rotten
    23AnonymousSep 11, 2026 22:02
    If they just own the fact that it's basically a giant smartphone and fully commit to being a cash-collection device running on Chinese gacha games, they can survive
    that's already what's happening in practice, so all that's left is to make the call official
    29AnonymousSep 11, 2026 22:08
    Re: #23
    This is probably the only path left.
    They have no choice but to sell it as "play mobile gacha games on a big TV screen instead of a tiny phone screen."
    That could mean making PS-exclusive gacha titles, or getting Chinese studios to churn out cash-grab action games with the pitch "control cute anime girls on the big screen!" — I bet the target crowd would bite instantly (the original oddly says "barriers," likely slang for the intended audience).
    Anyway, either way, they've been pushed into a corner where just having third parties make software like before no longer cuts it
    43AnonymousSep 11, 2026 22:25
    Re: #23
    No — if they throw away even the nominal pretense of being a home console, that would actually finish them off.
    If being a giant smartphone is fine, then physical discs aren't needed either, and that's exactly why they're trying to ditch them.
    But do that, and retailers will drop them too.

    With smartphones, companies don't need retailers because they run their own app stores, but there's no way PlayStation could build a store like that from scratch at this point.
    The more you think about how they could survive, the more it just proves they're already checkmated.
    24AnonymousSep 11, 2026 22:02
    PlayStation is finished because they stopped investing in the future
    27AnonymousSep 11, 2026 22:06
    Go back in time and punch the executives, one by one
    33AnonymousSep 11, 2026 22:11
    Re: #31
    Ghost of Yotei is basically just DLC, but the moment they started bragging about it like it's a "complete edition," the whole thing was doomed to flop
    57AnonymousSep 11, 2026 22:45
    Well, the path forward is already set.
    It goes download-only, the hardware disappears from store shelves, and its whole presence just quietly fades away.
    No need to even make some big withdrawal announcement — it's win-win all around
    67AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:09
    Re: #57
    That's the most Sony move possible.
    If they hand out a free app as a "service" on phones, they get to claim it's reached more people than the PS5 and keep their pride intact
    64AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:05
    It's because they're running this warped double standard where violence and gore are fine but anything sexy gets banned
    66AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:08
    Just buy Microsoft already.
    They're posting record profits, right?
    That'd win it for them.
    So just go buy Microsoft, yeah?

    Problem solved. That's all.
    69AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:14
    Only option left is to hijack every AI on Earth, trigger WW3, and build a world where nobody wins anymore (´・ω・`)
    89AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:29
    Re: #69
    If memory gets another 10x bump, the Switch 2 is finished too
    which means the "everybody dies" theory comes true
    81AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:10
    Only option is to just keep putting out good games
    and build a character and flagship title that screams "this is Sony" the second you see it
    82AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:14
    Re: #81
    I think Toro (Toro Inoue, Sony's mascot cat) is fairly well known to the general public
    but if you told me Toro was starring in an action game or a racing game, that just wouldn't feel right
    91AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:32
    99% chance it's hopeless
    92AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:39
    Re: #91
    So there's at least a little chance, then?

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    The claim of “record-high profits” that comes up often in threads like this appears to refer to either Sony Group’s overall earnings or those of its Game & Network Services segment specifically, but since no source is cited anywhere in the thread, these posts shouldn’t be taken at face value without caution. Where opinions diverged was over how to read those strong numbers: skeptics saw them as “surface-level strength” propped up by cost-cutting and hits from Chinese mobile gacha games, while others read them as a genuine sign of underlying business health. The worries about a lack of original IP and dependence on third parties echo a real industry-wide shift — in recent years the PlayStation business has leaned more on live-service titles and partnerships with outside publishers rather than major in-house new releases — so this isn’t just idle griping. That said, the thread also mixed in claims stated as flat fact with no backing, plus a few borderline conspiracy-theory posts; in writing this article, claims without any clear basis have been left out.

    ※This article is an excerpt and summary based on the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “[Urgent] How Sony Can Turn Things Around From Here.”

  • Chef Komeo Introduces ‘Monthly Stool Tests’ After Food Poisoning Scandal — Netizens Ask, ‘You Weren’t Doing That Already?’

    Following a mass food poisoning outbreak in which 78 people reported feeling unwell after eating at an event that served crab ramen, chef Komeo announced on his X (Twitter) account on September 10 that he would introduce “monthly stool tests” and “health condition checks.” While framed as a measure to prevent a repeat of the incident, the announcement itself was met on 5channel with reactions like “So that means you weren’t doing that until now?” — sparking doubts about whether basic hygiene management had ever been in place at all. The thread also saw technical exchanges about whether stool testing is even legally required and where the bacteria behind the poisoning may have come from, going beyond simple criticism into more practical discussion.

    Komeo introduces “monthly stool tests” and “health condition checks” after food poisoning incident — but questions erupt: “So that means you weren’t doing this before?”

    After causing a mass food poisoning outbreak that left as many as 78 people feeling ill, chef Komeo declared he would “rebuild hygiene management from the ground up.” But that “fresh start” is already facing harsh scrutiny.

    Updating his X account on September 10, Komeo wrote:

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

    3AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:51
    Honestly, forget the guy himself — I just want to know how the virus actually got in… Surely he wasn't cooking with hands that had, uh, poop on them, right?
    15AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:00
    Re: #3 It's naturally present in meat and fish that haven't been heated thoroughly enough. If you prep that on a cutting board and then cut vegetables with the same knife and board without sanitizing them, it transfers over — and if you don't apply enough heat after that, there you go.
    20AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:03
    Re: #15 Why are you cutting vegetables meant to be eaten raw with the same gear as the meat… that's way too reckless…
    64AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:03
    Re: #15 Salmonella isn't normally found in seafood.
    4AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:51
    You get served in a shoddier environment with worse food than people who just go out for an 800-yen bowl of ramen. Truly the "innovation" of a has-been country.
    9AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:56
    Hygiene management training is supposed to be mandatory, but I got through mine via something like a university stand-in course (not sure if that's still a thing these days).
    10AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:56
    Managing ingredients, disinfecting, and checking your health condition should go without saying — but does everyone really do monthly stool tests these days?
    11AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:56
    Simple solution: don't go to the place. Normally a restaurant would just go under after this.
    12AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:58
    Got called out for leaving cardboard boxes on the floor, so now he's just put them up on a kitchen shelf instead lol
    13AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:58
    There's no legal requirement for restaurants to do stool tests anyway.
    32AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:09
    Re: #13 It's not like he's a soapland worker (sex workers at Japanese "soapland" bathhouses are required to get regular health checks), so of course he wouldn't normally bother. This is the bad side of Japanese people — they don't do anything themselves but just assume everyone else is being diligent. They rebel against their school teachers, yet still assume those teachers were actually teaching them the right things.
    14AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:58
    Wouldn't washing your hands or just using clean gloves solve this?
    16AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:01
    I'd think everyone who handles food already does that — if anything, isn't once a month overkill? Feels like he doesn't know even the most basic stuff that's common sense everywhere else.
    17AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:01
    Caused an incident so bad it should be career-ending, and he still thinks he can bounce back — total gangster mentality (反社, slang for shady, criminal-adjacent behavior). There's dumb, and then there's this.
    21AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:03
    Here's a riddle: I'll compare a published book to this ramen. The connection? Simple — it just hasn't been found out yet!
    22AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:04
    He hasn't reached the level where he should be serving food to other people, and he never will.
    34AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:11
    Seriously, what shop did this guy even train at?
    36AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:13
    Re: #34 A delinquent classmate of mine got a job at a sushi shop and bailed almost immediately — no way he could hack it. Mostly because they kick you there.
    38AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:14
    From here on it's just karma catching up with him, so that's fine — but the problem is there's no law to actually crack down on this. If someone wanted to, they could pull off something like food terrorism easily, and the fact that you couldn't even charge them for it is scary.
    40AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:16
    Re: #38 Nah, not terrorism — the payoff isn't worth the risk.
    42AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:18
    No idiot is going to keep going there after this, right?
    44AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:21
    Re: #42 You're a bit mistaken — this is exactly the kind of place idiots with nowhere else to go end up at.
    46AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:23
    He never paid his dues. Someone who came up getting smacked around and yelled at by a master chef learns to recognize danger differently than he does.
    49AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:24
    Re: #46 Because taking the contrarian route turns into a game of chicken over "look how many rules you can get away with breaking."
    57AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:36
    Re: #55 Yeah, there isn't — legally speaking, anyway.
    58AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:46
    Re: #57 You can pretty much tell, right — like "oh, this one's gonna give you the bad kind of diarrhea." Not to get political here (a stray reference to Japan's security-treaty debates), but you just know which stuff you shouldn't eat.
    66AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:06
    Food safety is the first thing to get cut for cost savings.
    67AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:07
    Re: #66 Don't assume that's free. I'll do it if you're paying for the stool test.
    74AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:22
    If he wasn't doing stool tests, what was the health department even doing?
    78AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:25
    Re: #74 Basically, the health department doesn't do anything — unless you actually cause a food poisoning outbreak.
    80AnonymousSep 12, 2026 03:32
    Re: #74 Hygiene management is something you're supposed to handle yourself in the first place.

    Background and Talking Points

    Stool testing for restaurants isn’t a legal requirement — it’s one of several forms of self-management businesses voluntarily carry out under the Food Sanitation Act. Health centers typically provide hygiene guidance during inspections, but they don’t monitor on a case-by-case basis whether stool tests are actually being performed. The thread split into two main currents: distrust over Komeo’s side offering too little explanation, and a more technical discussion about the bacteria responsible — the latter including corrections such as “Salmonella isn’t normally found in seafood,” meaning the discussion wasn’t purely emotional but also involved genuine exchanges of hygiene knowledge, a nuance the original article doesn’t fully capture. It’s also worth noting that whether “once a month” stool testing is high or low by industry standards isn’t something the forum posts alone can settle — readers who take away only the impression of “a restaurant that was doing nothing before” risk misreading the actual situation.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geino/Sports News+) thread “Komeo introduces “monthly stool tests” and “health condition checks” after the crab ramen food poisoning incident… “So that means you weren’t doing this before?” — questions erupt.”

  • Outcry Over Korean Team’s Celebration After Home Run — 5ch Split: “Was It Intimidating? The Video Leaves It Unclear”

    At the Super Round of the BFA U18 Asian Championship being held at the Taipei Dome, Korea’s team erupted in wild celebration after hitting a home run in the fourth inning that closed the gap to just one run against Japan. It’s been reported that Zenyu Ogura, a legendary figure in Japanese high school baseball who was serving as commentator for the Virtual Koshien broadcast, criticized the celebration. On 5ch, opinions first split over how to read this — was the criticism aimed at the players celebrating the home run itself, or at what looked like a provocative attitude toward the Japanese dugout? Reactions were further divided after users checked the video themselves: some said the Korean players’ behavior “just looks like normal celebrating,” while others felt it was genuinely “intimidating.”

    Japan’s Samurai Japan high school national team is currently competing in the 14th BFA U18 Asian Championship, held in Taipei, Taiwan. On the 11th, Super Round Game 1 against Korea took place at the Taipei Dome. During the Japanese broadcast, a legendary figure in high school baseball criticized the Korean team’s manners.

    In the game, Japan took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, aided by Korean fielding errors. In the top of the fourth, with two outs, Korea’s cleanup hitter Lee Ho-min blasted a massive solo home run to left field off pitcher Masahiro Sugimoto (Chiben Gakuen High School), cutting the deficit to one run.

    After rounding the bases, Lee Ho-min returned to a jubilant Korean dugout. The players rushed out in front of the dugout, shouting loudly in a way that seemed intended to intimidate the Japanese team. It was this moment that drew criticism from Zenyu Ogura, who was providing commentary for the live Virtual Koshien broadcast.

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

    3AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:25
    Japan's high school all-star squad
    went and lost to a team like Korea
    6AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:27
    Don't go lecturing another country's culture right after losing
    7AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:27
    In any other sport this would just be normal celebrating — comments like this are exactly why kids don't want to play baseball anymore
    9AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:29
    I could kind of see it if the game were held in Japan, but this is in Taiwan
    What is this, an uninvited etiquette lecturer?
    11AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:30
    Why would Korea need to learn Japanese manners?
    12AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:30
    Lame, lol. Go make up your own rules and follow them by yourselves.
    13AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:30
    What even is this
    Who does this guy think he is?
    If he wants to talk about manners, he should look at the arrogance of forcing his own standards on other people first
    14AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:31
    You don't have to force yourself to hype this up, you know
    15AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:31
    If it were about international rules instead of "Japanese manners" I could get it
    17AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:31
    I'm Japanese myself, but getting crushed and then acting like a sore loser is embarrassing — frustrating to see as a fellow Japanese person
    18AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:32
    I could understand it between two teams from the same country, but expecting that kind of deference from Korea in the first place is the wrong ask
    19AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:33
    This isn't even Japanese high school baseball — would anyone have complained if players from North/Central America or the Caribbean celebrated like this?
    https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2098333192743006208/vid/avc1/1404×720/UQoKZEDmqRlsqJR0.mp4
    https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2098320073803042816/vid/avc1/1280×720/MPuKY5-mQJAUfhSL.mp4
    20AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:33
    "Manners" (lol)
    Just go jerk each other off over your own rules back home
    21AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:34
    Guess the guy who planted a flag on the mound got reincarnated (a reference to a past incident where a Korean pitcher stuck a flag in the mound after beating Japan)
    23AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:35
    Didn't they also do the pepper mill thing or whatever it's called? (the grinding-motion celebration gesture popularized by Lars Nootbaar at the WBC)
    25AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:35
    Lecturing people about manners just because you're salty about losing — hilarious, lol
    26AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:36
    Isn't the headline off here?
    He's saying "cut out the intimidating behavior,"
    but the headline alone reads like "don't celebrate home runs"
    30AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:41
    Re: #26
    Ah, if they actually did something directed at the Japanese dugout, that changes things
    28AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:40
    There was a video a while back of a women's baseball team going nuts celebrating after scoring.
    The women look like they're just having fun, but the men's side is seriously creepy, like some kind of army
    33AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:43
    Re: #1
    Oh, so it's a commentator criticizing the intimidating attitude, not a manager
    Got fooled by the thread title
    34AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:44
    He'd actually dropped a fly ball earlier, yet still celebrated like that
    35AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:44
    Japanese players celebrate home runs too, don't they?
    36AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:44
    Re: #1
    > cleanup hitter Lee Ho-min

    I misread that as "Hoimin" (the healing spell from Dragon Quest)
    38AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:45
    Sounds like the kind of manager who's been watching too many "Japan is amazing" TV specials
    54AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:03
    So Japanese standards are supposed to be the international standard?
    That's awfully presumptuous, don't you think
    And if you'd won, maybe, but saying this after losing just reads as sour grapes
    Which itself goes against Japanese manners
    55AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:05
    Re: #54
    "The loser doesn't get to say anything"
    sounds more like a Korean custom than a Japanese one, no?

    In Japan the norm is basically no-side (no hard feelings once the match is over)
    57AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:07
    I don't see the problem with celebrating
    Did they actually do anything intimidating though?
    82AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:31
    Forcing Japanese customs onto other countries isn't right
    This idea of "being considerate of others" feels a bit twisted
    When you're happy you should celebrate all out, and the losing side should congratulate the winners too
    88AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:36
    Re: #82
    The title's misleading
    He's not saying don't celebrate the home run — he's saying stop the provocation aimed at the Japanese dugout
    95AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:42
    > "The players rushed out in front of the dugout, shouting loudly in a way that seemed intended to intimidate the Japanese team."

    Thought "that can't be right" and checked the video myself, but it just looks like normal celebrating to me
    Calling this "intimidation" seems like a stretch
    https://youtu.be/w_bbE_hyOaw?t=1253
    99AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:49
    Re: #95
    Yeah, that's just young guys celebrating normally

    Background and Key Points of This Story

    The BFA U18 Asian Championship is currently underway in Taipei, Taiwan, with Japan and Korea both fighting for a top finish in the Super Round that includes this game. Zenyu Ogura, who raised the criticism, is a legendary figure in high school baseball who led Nihon University Third High School to a national championship at Koshien; this time, he wasn’t speaking as a team manager but as a commentator for the live Virtual Koshien broadcast. On the thread, his comments were initially misread as coming from “the manager,” which sent the discussion off track — it’s easy to overlook that these were really just the personal impressions of a commentator watching the game. There’s also the matter of the article describing the behavior as “intimidating”: among viewers who watched the same footage, some felt it “just looks like celebrating” while others saw it as “provocation aimed at the opposing dugout” — a reminder that text alone makes it hard to judge what was actually going on.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] U18 Asian Championship: Korea Erupts in Joy Over Home Run, “They Need to Learn Some Japanese Manners” — Legendary High School Baseball Figure Quietly Speaks Out.”

  • Wanna Go Back to 1985: 5ch Users Say ‘Japan Partied Every Single Day Back Then’

    A thread that began with the post “Going to sleep now — hope I wake up back in 1985” got posters who lived through the era sharing their Showa-period memories one after another. The fragments piled up: how the catchphrase in the Sazae-san anime had switched to “Luxury is wonderful,” the shock of seeing Gradius and Space Harrier at the arcade, and the long lines for Bikkuriman chocolate. At the same time, cooler heads chimed in with “Going back would just mean living the exact same life over again” and “Games and entertainment were actually worse back then” — and that gap between nostalgia and reality became the thread’s central tension.

    1AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:55
    I want to go back to that era already
    6AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:58
    Even if you went back, you'd just redo the exact same life
    Some kind of force is at work, so you can't change a thing
    If anything, knowing what's coming just makes it more painful
    Heck, this very post might not even go through
    7AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:59
    Re: #6
    That's fine by me
    That time was simply the peak of my life
    17AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:07
    Re: #6
    Seriously?! 🙀
    9AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:59
    The math doesn't add up — a high school sophomore 41 years ago
    12AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:00
    Re: #9
    Oh, is that so
    13AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:01
    Re: #9
    It adds up fine, moron
    11AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:00
    Yahoo Google Apple Amazon
    Yahoo Google Apple Amazon
    Yahoo Google Apple Amazon
    Yahoo Google Apple Amazon

    Got it? Never forget that
    16AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:04
    Re: #11
    Add Bitcoin to that list too
    18AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:08
    Re: #11
    Don't need it

    I just want to loop endlessly between 1985 and 1987
    23AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:13
    Lightning's going to strike the clock tower tonight at 10:04 PM
    and that bolt will send you back to 1985 (a Back to the Future reference)
    51AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:36
    Re: #23
    We don't have the DeLorean, and "jigowatts" isn't even a real unit anyway (a nod to the mistranslated "gigawatts" line in the Japanese dub of Back to the Future)
    24AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:15
    Re: #18
    I want to go to a world that loops endlessly from April 1, 1980 to March 31, 2020 🥺
    26AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:16
    Re: #24
    1980, huh… did anything good happen?
    32AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:18
    I'd honestly love to see what Japan's bubble era was actually like
    We're never again going to hear a newscaster casually say "the economy's amazing right now" — not before, and not ever again
    35AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:20
    Re: #32
    Let me give you something concrete
    In the Sazae-san anime
    they changed the line to "Nowadays it's not 'Luxury is the enemy!' — it's 'Luxury is wonderful!'"
    36AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:20
    Re: #32
    Put in today's terms, it was like the whole country was throwing a festival every single day
    Non-stop excitement, every day
    42AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:22
    Re: #32
    Honestly the only memory I've got is standing in line
    to buy a ton of Bikkuriman chocolate 🥺

    But I do remember Shogakukan's grade-school magazines
    were packed with articles about how booming the economy was 🥺
    33AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:19
    Seeing Gradius at the arcade blew my mind
    Then Space Harrier blew it even further
    I remember thinking, "Japanese games have really come this far?"
    97AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:30
    Re: #33
    I can't believe Space Harrier is a game from over 40 years ago. It's basically an out-of-place artifact (OOPArt) at this point
    54AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:38
    Horse racing didn't even have the trifecta bet back then, so you couldn't win big
    56AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:44
    Re: #54
    Was that the Symboli Rudolf heyday?
    58AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:46
    The happiest era Japan ever had
    Everyone back then thought it would just go on like that forever
    59AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:47
    Re: #58
    This, exactly
    People who never experienced it probably just don't get it
    how unhappy things are now by comparison
    67AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:54
    Re: #58,59,63
    Some things really are better now though 🥺
    79AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:05
    Around 1985 must've been peak era for '80s idols like Koizumi Kyoko, Kawai Naoko, Matsuda Seiko, and Nakamori Akina
    There must've been tons of swimsuit gravure photos of them
    81AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:05
    Re: #79
    Seiko feels more like an early-80s image to me
    90AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:17
    Which August would I want to loop, I wonder…

    1987?
    1997?
    2007?
    2017?…
    91AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:18
    Re: #90
    August 1987 is way too sad
    That's when Yuyake Nyan Nyan ended, so no way (a popular idol variety show that launched Onyanko Club)
    92AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:19
    Re: #90
    1997 was around when Yuyu had just stepped out of the spotlight, I think
    95AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:27
    Part of me wants to visit the '90s though
    A society before social media
    96AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:28
    Re: #95
    The '90s were straight-up Heisei era, never really felt it (as opposed to the Showa nostalgia here)
    103AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:32
    Re: #95
    Back then girls' gym uniforms were still bloomers, too 🥺

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    The “1985” discussed in this thread actually falls just before Japan’s full-blown bubble economy (the extreme surge in land and stock prices) truly kicked off. The yen’s appreciation following that year’s Plaza Accord triggered monetary easing, and land prices are generally said to have accelerated from around 1987 onward, with the so-called “bubble economy” peaking in the late 1980s. That means the thread’s shared memory of “a festival atmosphere every day” is probably better understood as an impression blending the back half of the ’80s rather than 1985 specifically. The thread also shows a split between those who say “going back would just mean reliving the same painful life” and those who insist “that era was the peak” — worth noting, though it’s not addressed directly in the posts, is that this nostalgia for the past likely stemmed not so much from how high the standard of living actually was, but from a sense of optimism about the future and the novelty of the entertainment available at the time.

    *This article is an excerpt and summary compiled from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Going to sleep now — hope I wake up back in 1985.”

  • Knight Scoop’s New Secretary Is Rookie Announcer Misaki Takiguchi, Saori Masuda Graduates — 5ch: ‘Bring Back Mari Okabe’

    It’s been revealed that Misaki Takiguchi (23), a rookie announcer just six months into her career at ABC TV, has been chosen as the fifth “secretary” on “Detective! Knight Scoop.” Freelance announcer Saori Masuda (29), who has served as secretary since November 2019, will graduate from the show after the March 25 broadcast. On 5ch’s live-discussion threads, alongside comments welcoming the new secretary, posters raised doubts about the show continuing with a rotating “special assignment chief” in Hitoshi Matsumoto’s absence, and noted that few Osaka-based announcers manage to thrive after going freelance.

    “Knight Scoop”: Six-Months-In Rookie Misaki Takiguchi Named Fifth Secretary — Saori Masuda, Leaving the Company at End of March to Go Freelance, Graduates from the Show

    It was revealed on the 11th that Misaki Takiguchi (23), a new announcer at the station, will become the fifth secretary on ABC TV’s “Detective! Knight Scoop” (Fridays, 11:17 p.m.).

    Freelance announcer Saori Masuda (29), who had served as secretary since the November 29, 2019 broadcast back when she was a staff announcer at the station, will graduate from the show after the broadcast scheduled for the 25th.

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

    5AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:49
    Is Yoshimoto Kogyo pressuring them to keep hyping up Matsumoto at every turn? Creepy.
    7AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:50
    Matsumoto's probably only looking at her with a pervy eye.
    10AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:50
    She's not all that cute, honestly
    Fukuto would've been fine.
    11AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:51
    She looks like that girl who used to be an idol — Matsui-something?
    17AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:54
    Oh, the secretary changed
    Wonder if Masuda's going freelance and heading to Tokyo.
    18AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:55
    Matsumoto's not even on the show and the chief's seat is still sitting empty lol
    20AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:58
    Wish they'd do something about this "guest special-assignment chief" system
    Either bring Matchan (Matsumoto) back for real, or if not, just appoint a proper new chief — make up your mind
    Stuff like that young-carer controversy happens because there's no chief keeping the show in line
    71AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:27
    Re: #20
    That's not really the chief's problem though…
    21AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:59
    Never seen either of them before, but the secretary's looks just shot way up.
    23AnonymousSep 11, 2026 23:59
    Did Masuda actually think she'd get to keep this job?
    24AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:00
    Re: #1
    26AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:01
    The third segment got abruptly swapped out for a rerun from a while back
    Kinda unsettling.
    28AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:03
    I'm not into the whole "isn't it hilarious making the announcer read out viewer submissions about poop and buttholes" bit.
    35AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:16
    Forget the secretary, just settle on a proper chief already.
    36AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:18
    Knight Scoop's probably about due to wrap up.
    37AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:20
    Totally overshadowed by a cute young newcomer lol
    40AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:21
    I wish they'd get Miho Ohashi as secretary — I think she'd be perfect.
    41AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:23
    Announcer Misaki Takiguchi stands 172cm tall
    You guys are pathetic 😢
    42AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:24
    As long as she can say stuff like "balls" that normally wouldn't fly on broadcast TV, I don't care who it is.
    46AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:36
    Masuda was great though — is ABC out of their minds?
    47AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:37
    Re: #46
    She left the company ages ago already.
    49AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:37
    Re: #46
    She probably just wanted to move back to Tokyo.
    50AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:40
    There goes a valuable source of income for Masuda
    She mentioned on Matsuoka and Daikichi's show that right after going freelance, she looked at her pay statement and thought she couldn't survive on it — hope she's okay.
    54AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:44
    Just bring back the original secretary, Mari Okabe.
    62AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:53
    Re: #54
    Chiaki Matsubara: "…"
    79AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:43
    The only Osaka-station announcers who actually made it as freelancers are probably Miyane and Shimbo
    Even Yamahiro's in a rough spot now, only getting a TV spot once a month out of pity
    Not saying she has to become some ageless monster announcer like Yozo Michigami, who stuck with Asahi Broadcasting for almost 60 years
    but she's taking a real gamble.
    81AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:56
    Re: #79
    Not sure what counts as "success," but I think Hiromi Kawata's pulling off the talent gig looking totally cheerful.
    82AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:57
    Re: #79
    That announcer who famously couldn't skip (hop-skip) on camera got popular off it, though
    84AnonymousSep 12, 2026 02:02
    Re: #1
    Not bad, eh

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    The role of secretary on Knight Scoop has been passed down between ABC announcers since the show began in 1988, starting with the very first secretary, Mari Okabe, making Takiguchi the fifth in that line. Much of Masuda’s tenure as secretary overlapped with the irregular arrangement in which a different guest fills in each week as “special assignment chief,” a workaround that’s been in place since Hitoshi Matsumoto went on hiatus at the end of 2023 — and threads repeatedly voiced frustration with that arrangement itself. Posters also noted that on a separate show, Masuda had spoken about looking at her pay statement right after going freelance and realizing she couldn’t make a living off it, tying that into the broader reality that only a handful of Osaka-based announcers — such as Seiji Miyane and Jiro Shimbo — have managed to land stable freelance work. On the whole, the thread’s focus landed less on the new secretary herself and more on the show’s structure and the uncertain career path facing female announcers.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[TV] “Knight Scoop” Six-Months-In Rookie Misaki Takiguchi Named Fifth Secretary as Freelance-Bound Saori Masuda Graduates.”

  • Man Googles JAF for Roadside Help, Gets Fake Company Instead — Threatened Into Handing Over ¥300,000

    In Adachi Ward, Tokyo this past May, a man in his twenties whose car had broken down searched for JAF (Japan Automobile Federation) on his smartphone and called the contact number that came up. What he actually reached, though, was a fake operator believed to be tied to “Tokuryu” — a loosely organized crime network — and the man who showed up threatened him into handing over ¥300,000 in cash. Two people, including an executive at a roadside-service company, have been arrested. On 5ch, the thread splits between people questioning how a fake company could slip into search results in the first place (an ads/SEO problem) and others pointing out he could have simply used the roadside-assistance rider on his auto insurance instead.

    ■ Was the man who showed up linked to “Tokuryu”?

    The person arrested is Shin Akimoto (24), an executive at a roadside-service company.

    This past May, a man in his twenties whose car broke down in Adachi Ward, Tokyo, searched on his phone to call JAF. He reportedly called the contact number that came up in the results.

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

    11AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:07
    Wait, he called JAF without even being a member? lol
    251AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:12
    Re: #11
    Expensive, but fine I guess.

    Normally you'd just call your own auto insurance though.
    27AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:09
    Didn't he have the roadside-assistance rider on his insurance?
    222AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:04
    Re: #27
    A guy who screws up a basic search probably doesn't even know his insurance has roadside assistance.
    48AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:14
    Apparently when you search "JAF," a bunch of sketchy ads show up first and you have to scroll way down before the real JAF appears.
    Google is garbage.
    56AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:17
    Re: #48
    There's been a problem for a while now with scam sites showing up as the top ad.
    Users just have to get more internet-savvy.
    50AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:15
    I genuinely don't get how searching for JAF ends with you calling a roadside company tied to Tokuryu (a loose, disposable crime network).
    59AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:17
    Re: #50
    They probably rigged it to rank above the real JAF in search results.
    Just a net cast wide, waiting for people to swim into it.
    63AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:19
    Re: #59
    That's probably not doable.
    Gaming it that way costs way too much money.
    Guys like this couldn't pull that off.
    90AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:28
    Re: #59
    They wouldn't burn that kind of money and time on it — this isn't some finance-industry operation.
    He said he "thought it was affiliated with JAF," so he was probably looking for something cheaper than JAF and got snagged by a scam site claiming some JAF connection.
    60AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:18
    There are scams with plumbing/water-line work too, that's scary.
    186AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:53
    Re: #60
    For water-line work there are municipally-designated contractors, so apparently if one acts outrageously you can file a complaint with the local government and get them delisted.
    64AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:20
    These days even the membership card is just an app.
    He might have been a non-member who was never actually signed up with JAF.
    77AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:23
    Re: #64
    Sparkle, sparkle~ (a meme-ish sound effect, often used sarcastically)
    100AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:29
    Re: #1
    Searching "JAF" only brings up JAF lol
    Wonder what he actually searched.
    111AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:32
    Re: #100
    Probably something like "cheap tow truck."
    Tons of shady results show up for that.
    193AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:55
    Re: #100
    Not sure how exactly, but maybe he got the search results scrubbed at lightning speed afterward?
    145AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:42
    Whoa, is finding a business online really this dangerous these days…
    How are you even supposed to search for a legit company when you need one…
    154AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:45
    Re: #145
    First, call the police.
    158AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:46
    Re: #145
    If you use Virus Buster (a Japanese antivirus suite), it probably blocks it or color-codes results — showing only safe sites in green.
    167AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:48
    Re: #145
    You've got your best buddy Chappy, don't you? (slang nickname for ChatGPT)
    166AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:48
    Re: #1
    Quite a few people clearly haven't read Re: #1.

    > Suspect Koki Makishima (26), occupation unknown, was arrested on suspicion of threatening the victim and extorting ¥300,000 in cash.
    (That's the guy who showed up.)

    > It was suspect Akimoto who arranged this car carrier.
    >
    > He's suspected of borrowing it from a rental company for nearly a year without paying the rental fee.
    (That's the guy who got the call.)

    If he doesn't even own a car and uses a rental, he probably doesn't have his own auto insurance either.
    (And even if he did, with a "driving other cars" rider, whether it'd cover this situation is iffy.)
    People going on about auto insurance should at least read Re: #1.
    181AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:52
    Re: #166
    The car carrier he never returned to the rental company is the one the suspect actually drove there in.
    200AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:57
    Didn't a JAF employee do something recently too?
    204AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:59
    Re: #200
    He claimed the car behind him was tailgating and tried to kill the driver by trapping them at a railroad crossing.
    209AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:00
    Re: #200
    Trapped someone at a railroad crossing — attempted murder charge.
    219AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:03
    When I Google "jaf," the top results are all just jaf.or.jp or jafnavi.jp.
    231AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:06
    Re: #219
    Maybe he googled "tow truck" instead of "JAF"?
    232AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:06
    Re: #219
    He probably didn't google "JAF" but something like "roadside service" or "tow truck."
    Do that and the top results turn into ads.
    236AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:07
    Re: #219
    For me too, the official site with the JAF logo comes up first.
    And all I typed was just
    jaf
    So how'd he end up picking a different site?

    Background and key points of this discussion

    “Tokuryu” (anonymous, loosely-affiliated crime networks) is a term that has become common in recent reporting on phone scams and robberies, characterized by ringleaders and low-level operatives who form and disband on a disposable, ad-hoc basis. This particular scheme looks like a form of “search fraud,” where victims connect with a fake operator hidden among search results or ad slots and are then hit with an inflated bill in person. The thread is split between commenters arguing that “searching for JAF only turns up JAF” and others noting that combined search terms like “tow truck” or “cheap” can surface ads and fake sites — and the article alone doesn’t clarify exactly what search terms the victim used. Many auto insurance policies also come with a roadside-assistance rider that can provide free or low-cost help with just a call to the insurer, but non-members or those without that rider may have no choice but to search for a provider this way.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Called JAF, Tokuryu Showed Up and Shook Him Down for ¥300,000.”

  • Movie ‘Kokuho’ to Get First TV Broadcast in Early 2027 — 5ch: ‘I watched it ← Barely anyone actually discusses it in depth’

    It has been announced that “Kokuho,” the highest-grossing live-action Japanese film of all time, will get its first terrestrial TV broadcast on Nippon TV’s “Friday Roadshow” slot in early 2027. The film stars Yoshizawa Ryo and became a talking point for its kabuki performance scenes alongside Yokohama Ryusei. Reactions on 5ch were split on the film itself, ranging from the sardonic comment “I watched it ← barely anyone actually discusses it in depth” to speculation about how a runtime of over three hours will be edited for TV, and whether visuals meant for the big screen will hold up on a television broadcast.

    Fri, Sep 11, 11:59 PM

    It has been announced that “Kokuho” (released 2025), starring actor Yoshizawa Ryo and the highest-grossing live-action Japanese film of all time, will get its first television broadcast on Nippon TV’s “Friday Roadshow” slot in early 2027.

    On “Friday Roadshow,” the second part of “Titanic” aired on the 11th, after which a “special announcement” revealed the terrestrial broadcast of “Kokuho.”

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

    2AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:07
    The star of Kokuho
    3AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:07
    Pretty pathetic that you can't even talk about box office numbers without specifically qualifying it as "live-action"
    5AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:08
    A knockoff of Farewell My Concubine (the Chinese classic) winning the Japan Academy Prize lol
    22AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:16
    Re: #5
    That's disrespectful to Farewell My Concubine
    71AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:05
    Re: #5
    Seriously, this.
    I watched it knowing that, and it ended up being the biggest waste of time ever lol
    Why did they hype it up so much?
    Japanese movies, I swear
    8AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:09
    Yoshizawa Ryo in 'Survival Wedding,' which I caught on NTV Plus, was actually pretty good
    He made a nice match with Haru too
    9AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:09
    Heard there's some racy content in it
    47AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:38
    Re: #9
    You can look forward to it
    65AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:59
    Re: #9
    It's really nothing special lol
    10AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:09
    With a runtime over 3 hours, the broadcast slot is probably going to end up around 4 hours
    77AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:12
    Re: #10
    Normally they'd split it into two parts like they did with Titanic
    Then again, Friday Roadshow once expanded its slot to 4 hours and aired "The Sun That Never Sets" (Shizumanu Taiyo), starring Watanabe Ken, in a single week
    11AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:10
    I watched it ← a movie nobody really goes into any real depth about
    12AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:11
    So there really are people who watch on terrestrial TV
    Probably people without internet, or people who want to live-comment along
    How do you sit through all those commercials
    16AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:12
    Re: #12
    Streaming just feels like a hassle somehow
    It's easier when it's just playing on TV by itself
    24AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:17
    Re: #12
    I have no motivation to watch a 3-hour movie on streaming
    Even if I did, I'd probably just blow through it at 1.5x speed
    14AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:12
    They managed to air the nude scene in Titanic, so this should be fine
    15AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:12
    I never really felt like this was actually a hit though
    18AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:14
    It only hit because it's hot guy x hot guy x kabuki
    As for the actual content…
    19AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:16
    Re: #16
    Ah, the "second-screen watching" crowd
    Like eating dessert after a meal, or browsing 5ch and YouTube during the commercial breaks
    20AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:16
    This is a film that becomes unwatchable once you cut in commercials and trim the ending, so I wish it had aired on NHK instead of Friday Roadshow
    25AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:17
    This movie is amazing in the theater, but it just doesn't work on a TV screen
    I really felt that once it landed on Amazon Prime
    26AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:19
    Re: #1
    Ijuin Hikaru (radio personality): "Everyone kept saying Kokuho was amazing, so I watched it. It really was interesting, but there was clearly a scene in there that didn't need to be there. Still, I liked it enough to buy the novel and read it. Turns out the scene I thought was unnecessary wasn't even in the novel. So I wasn't wrong after all."
    39AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:27
    Re: #26
    The scene where he's assaulted by a man, maybe?
    28AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:20
    Farewell My Concubine was good and all, but isn't it getting overhyped now
    It's become the go-to weapon for dunking on Kokuho
    30AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:21
    I did think it was beautiful as a piece of live-action filmmaking
    31AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:22
    I've never once enjoyed a movie after being told beforehand "this is a big masterpiece"
    48AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:39
    It's genuinely great right up to around where Watanabe Ken's character dies
    The second half is seriously boring
    Such a waste of a good movie
    55AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:49
    Re: #48
    I get that, but the film is two sides of the same coin, so it wouldn't be complete without the second half
    Well, if the protagonist who'd been doing well is going to hit a setback, it pretty much has to happen from the midpoint into the back half
    56AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:50
    What's with this phenomenon where the bigger a hit a movie is, the less I want to watch it
    Even once it's on a subscription service, I still can't bring myself to watch
    58AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:53
    Re: #56
    Same here
    I think it's from being burned by disappointment so many times
    60AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:56
    Re: #56
    I feel that way too, but isn't that just being a contrarian subculture snob
    64AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:59
    Re: #56
    If someone recommends something to me with "You've got to watch this! It's a total masterpiece!"
    that instantly kills my desire to watch it.
    62AnonymousSep 12, 2026 00:57
    The kabuki performances by Yoshizawa Ryo and Yokohama Ryusei got rave reviews, but flip that around and it just showed me it's the kind of thing you can pick up with a short period of practice, which killed my ability to focus on it
    67AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:00
    Re: #62
    Even the movie itself mentions this, but it's hereditary. No one can take the role away through competition lol — the son of the lead family stays the lead forever
    81AnonymousSep 12, 2026 01:15
    Re: #62
    Splicing together only the best takes from multiple filmed attempts is totally different from doing it live on stage in one shot

    Background and Key Points of Discussion

    “Kokuho” is a film running over three hours that depicts the world of kabuki, and opinions on it were already split at its theatrical release, with comments ranging from “visually beautiful” to “the back half falls short.” For the terrestrial broadcast, the focus is on how the main feature will be edited for TV, with some in the thread citing the precedent of Friday Roadshow expanding its slot to four hours to air “The Sun That Never Sets” (Shizumanu Taiyo). There was also discussion of how visuals crafted for the big screen translate to a TV screen, as well as changing viewing habits where people tend to avoid long films on streaming platforms. Many comments also noted that the film’s reputation as the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time has taken on a life of its own, with sky-high expectations ironically becoming a barrier to actually watching it.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “Movie ‘Kokuho’ Set for First TV Broadcast on ‘Friday Roadshow’ in Early 2027 — Starring Yoshizawa Ryo, All-Time No.1 Japanese Live-Action Film.”