Japan Reacts

Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • Blood Found in Lotte’s Clushi Ice Cream, Cause “Can’t Be Identified” — Mother of Toddler Left Shaken

    A report has surfaced that blood was found in Lotte’s frozen treat “Clushi,” and after investigating, the company determined the foreign substance was indeed blood but could not pin down how it got there. The product had been bought by a mother to give to her 2-year-old child, and unsatisfied with Lotte’s response, she’s reportedly demanding, “I want them to properly get to the bottom of this.” Following the report, a thread on 5ch saw speculation that the cause might be a blood spot that sometimes forms in chicken eggs, alongside suggestions that a factory worker may have been injured during production — though neither theory had solid evidence behind it, and the debate spread without any resolution.

    Published 10/9 (Fri) 18:50

    ENCOUNT

    Lotte stated that, following its investigation, the foreign substance found was confirmed to be “blood”

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

    5AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:47
    Are there actually Japanese people who buy from this maker?
    83AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:57
    Re: #5
    If nobody did, the company would've gone under by now.
    7AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:47
    People normally just slurp it straight down without checking first, so odds are a few people have already drunk some.
    12AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:48
    Made at the cost of someone's lifeblood, coughing it up in the process.
    20AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:49
    Re: #12
    Blood, sweat, and tears… literally? lol (playing on the idiom "effort that makes blood seep out")
    71AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:56
    Re: #12
    What is this, Kappa Sushi?! (referencing that chain's past food-safety scandal)
    18AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:49
    Might be egg? Depending on a chicken's health, you occasionally get a blood spot in the egg white. If there's one, there are probably more where that came from.
    171AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:08
    Re: #18
    That's probably it.
    26AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:51
    Loaded with additives, looks seriously bad for you.

    Sugar (made abroad, made domestically), isomerized sugar syrup, dairy products, vegetable oil, egg yolk (contains egg), fructose, dietary fiber, salt / emulsifier, stabilizer (thickening polysaccharides, cellulose), flavoring, annatto coloring
    196AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:11
    Re: #26
    That's just a totally ordinary ingredient list for "lacto-ice" (a cheaper, dairy-based imitation ice cream).
    33AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:51
    Why would you even try to plate this stuff?
    55AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:54
    Re: #33
    Oh, good point — that doesn't look like something that got mixed in. Looks more like someone cut their finger and it landed on top while twisting the tube.
    63AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:56
    Re: #33,55
    It literally says it was for her 2-year-old daughter. What's with the "oh, good point"?
    39AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:52
    I mean, there's no way plain contamination would give you blood that vivid in color.
    61AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:55
    Re: #39
    You're not even an expert, so don't go stating that like it's a fact.
    62AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:55
    Felt sick, went to the hospital, blood pressure was 210. Is that bad?
    80AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:57
    Re: #62
    "Is that bad?" — if you actually went to the hospital, the doctor would've told you something, right? You'd have asked whether it was bad or not, right? Did you actually go to the hospital?
    106AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:01
    Come to think of it, one of the part-timers hasn't been seen lately. There's a clock-in record from last month but no clock-out… uh…

    Is that the kind of turn this is taking?
    122AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:02
    Re: #106
    Apparently there have been ongoing reports of this going back 4 years.
    125AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:03
    Before we even get to blood or foreign objects — I never bought Clushi to begin with, since it's just "lacto-ice," not real ice cream.
    Lacto-ice has vegetable oil processed to look like cream mixed in alongside the dairy, which means it contains trans fats.
    Trans fats raise your risk of arteriosclerosis, heart attack, and stroke.
    They also build up on the inside of your blood vessels, causing clots and plaque.

    And now hearing blood got mixed in, yeah, I'm done buying this forever lol.
    What do you even have to do during manufacturing for that to end up in food lol.
    Blood can also carry HIV and other viral or bacterial infections, so this is just not okay lol.
    147AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:05
    Re: #125
    Someone at the factory probably got hurt or something. Isn't that the obvious guess?
    188AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:10
    Re: #147
    If a worker really got injured at the factory, wouldn't the whole batch normally get scrapped?
    Also, reporting it up the chain would be the duty of that worker — or any other worker who witnessed it.

    Or, it could've been deliberate too — done out of mischief or as a grudge against the company. Can't rule that out either.
    150AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:05
    This one's creepy. A single drop landing in there wouldn't look like that. Makes you imagine something like murder.
    163AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:07
    Re: #150
    Maybe someone just nicked their finger. That kind of thing happens a lot in factories.
    151AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:05
    Isn't it a rat? If it were roaches, you'd need to boil down something like 20 of them to get that much volume. ("G" = Japanese slang for cockroach)
    155AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:06
    Re: #151
    If it were a rat, you'd expect a ton of hair mixed in too.
    175AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:09
    Googled it and there have been scattered reports going back a few years. Why hasn't this blown up before now?
    187AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:10
    Re: #175
    If it's happened this many times, the blood-spot-egg theory is the strongest candidate. Thread's done here.
    202AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:11
    Re: #187
    If even you could figure out the answer, Lotte would've announced it ages ago, lol.
    180AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:09

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    When a foreign substance in food turns out to be “blood,” the two causes that most commonly come up are blood spots in eggs (blood mixed into the yolk or white) and an injury to a worker during manufacturing, and the thread’s speculation mainly revolved around these two theories. Blood spots are something food-safety standards require removing, but they generally pose no health risk, and similar reports have occurred before with dairy and processed egg products. On the other hand, if a worker’s injury were the cause, there are cases where, due to infection risk, a product recall or a report to the public health center would be required. Lotte responding that “the cause could not be identified” isn’t unusual in itself — trace contaminants often become hard to pin down through composition analysis alone once time has passed. That said, “cause unknown” doesn’t mean a cover-up; while some posts in the thread speculated about foul play, it’s worth noting that, as of now, there’s no information suggesting an investigation or any charges have been filed.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5channel (News Express+) thread “[Ice Cream] Blood Found in Clushi… Cause “Could Not Be Identified” — Mother of 2-Year-Old Shaken by Lotte’s Explanation, “Please Properly Investigate”.”

  • Juice=Juice Heads to Korea for a K-pop-Style Choreography Camp for Their New Song — 5ch: “Nobody in the Juice Family Asked for This”

    Hello! Project group Juice=Juice traveled to Korea for a dance training camp to learn choreography for their new single, and footage of the trip streaming on Hulu sparked discussion on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. The thread ranged from technical doubts — can they even pull off intense K-pop-style footwork in thick-soled heels? — to bigger-picture points about how Hello! Project’s sing-while-dancing style runs on different assumptions than K-pop’s lip-syncing culture. Opinions split between posters welcoming it as valuable training abroad and those questioning why a one-off tie-in song needed K-pop choreography in the first place.

    1AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:27
    Can you even dance K-pop-style choreography in thick-soled high heels?
    2AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:28
    K-pop idols are all stick-thin — they don't have the core strength to dance in heels.
    4AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:29
    If they try that without having the fundamentals down first, they're going to wreck their hips. Please don't.
    5AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:30
    Feels bad seeing the Juice members getting bullied by some rando who clearly doesn't get it, to the point of tears.
    11AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:35
    Re: #5
    Who cried?
    7AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:31
    People were saying their footwork has issues, but of course it's rough in heels like that. Then again, Juice's choreography was never really built around footwork to begin with.
    8AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:32
    Juice's recent songs have had less of a singing focus — are they shifting toward a K-pop direction?
    10AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:33
    K-pop choreography is supposedly hard enough that singing properly through it is a struggle. Wonder how they'll handle that.
    15AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:45
    Girls' Generation is basically the "always in heels" group in my mind.
    23AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:55
    Re: #15
    I think back then they still choreographed with singing in mind.
    56AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:12
    Not just JJ — Hello! Project dancing in general pushes through on personality/stage presence without ever nailing the basics.
    63AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:16
    Re: #56
    If they actually did serious dancing, they wouldn't be able to sing properly.
    64AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:18
    Re: #56
    True, and what Hello! Project does is really just an applied, performance-level layer on top of that. Members like Kawashima and Endo already built up solid fundamentals before joining, so they can keep drilling basics on their own and keep adding to that foundation. Even within Hello! Project, it feels like the newer trainees these days are being trained with more emphasis on fundamentals.
    61AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:14
    Feels like they're just being used to ride the K-pop hype wave.
    89AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:45
    Re: #61
    Isn't the point to shoehorn Juice into the K-pop mold? The public image of Hello! Project is "hopelessly uncool," so maybe they're trying to shake that off.
    68AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:19
    The dance-focused unit isn't that popular, so I guess dancing just isn't prioritized much anyway. Honestly even Angerme looks like they're just flailing around to me.
    70AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:21
    Re: #68
    It looks like flailing because they're not in sync.
    74AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:24
    Makes you realize how hard someone like Kasahara Momona must have worked. Good for her, realizing early that staying stuck in this little village forever wasn't going to cut it.
    79AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:32
    Re: #74
    Sayashi, Kasahara, and Yume all had to go out of their way and graduate to change their environment and realize that — meanwhile Juice=Juice gets to realize and learn it all while staying inside Hello! Project.
    82AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:37
    Re: #74
    So did she give up on singing then? lol
    78AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:28
    Rewatched Moremi's (a fan nickname for Juice=Juice) dancing and yeah, there's almost no footwork in it. Might honestly be the group with the least footwork in all of Hello! Project.
    80AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:36
    Re: #78
    Exactly this. Meanwhile look at Angerme — insane dancing AND overwhelming vocal power.
    83AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:38
    Re: #78
    If dancing hard enough to leave them out of breath starts hurting the singing, that's just not Juice anymore.
    81AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:37
    Hasn't Yume basically been doing the same thing all along?
    84AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:39
    Re: #81
    That was just a quote-retweet from X (Twitter), that's all.
    90AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:47
    Re: #89
    K-pop's getting old too, people are tired of it.
    99AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:03
    Re: #90
    This just shows how narrow-minded Hello! Project fans are. That's exactly why they're stuck topping out at Budokan and Yokohama Arena.
    106AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:10
    Re: #99
    If you want to claim it's not really getting old, back it up with actual numbers.
    92AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:53
    lol there's no intention to shove them into a K-pop box. They're trying to make Juice the real, undisputed "strongest performers in idol-dom." Singing's already solid at this point, so dancing's the obvious next step. Other Japanese idols don't put that much effort into dance, so it's natural to end up at "okay, Korea then."
    101AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:05
    Re: #92
    The 46 groups (Sakamichi) are stealing Momusu's thunder with their group choreography these days, and SKE's been picking up that style too lately.
    98AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:01
    Well, Korea's whole genre leans sexy, practically porn-adjacent. Hello! Project doesn't do that, so it comes out cute instead.
    103AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:06
    Re: #98
    Can't you even see the post right above yours? lol
    107AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:12
    K-pop dome and stadium concerts have skyrocketed — they've finally overtaken Japanese idols.


    2026 Female Idol Dome/Stadium Shows

    21 Korea
    15 Sakamichi
    4 Equal Love
    1 Kawalab

    0 Stardust
    0 Amuse
    0 Hello! Project
    0 iLIFE
    115AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:27
    Re: #107
    And what about the sales numbers, which are what actually matter?
    109AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:15
    Hello! Project's practice hours are abnormally low even by idol industry standards. Forget skill — they haven't even nailed the basics.


    Hello! Project


    Korean agency
    112AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:18
    Re: #109
    The nerve to go on a full tour with that little practice is honestly impressive lol. Normally you'd be too embarrassed to even get on stage.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    Hello! Project has long marketed “singing live while dancing” as the group’s core strength — a point of contrast with K-pop idols, who often lip-sync through especially complex choreography. The thread split over whether to view the Korean choreography camp as valuable technical training or dismiss it as just a gimmick tied to a one-off collaboration song. Commenters debated whether the footwork is even feasible in thick-soled heels, and some pointed out that earlier K-pop groups like Girls’ Generation adjusted their choreography with singing in mind — a reminder that K-pop dance isn’t uniformly high-difficulty-and-lip-synced, a nuance that’s easy to miss. The names of former Hello! Project members who left the group, such as Sayashi Riho and Kasahara Momona, also came up, with some praising the fact that Juice=Juice members can learn these skills while staying in the group, while others remained skeptical of the shift in direction itself.

    *This article is composed of excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “[Hulu] Juice=Juice Is in Korea on a Choreography Camp for Their New Song.”

  • 5ch Skeptical of ¥5 Million Container House — Poster Dodges Questions With “That’s Personal Information”

    A thread appeared on 5ch’s News VIP board claiming “the container house I built for 5 million yen turned out surprisingly livable.” The poster explained that they’d lined up multiple shipping containers on roughly 1,000 square meters of land, offsetting electricity costs with solar panels installed on an adjacent vacant lot. But commenters quickly pushed back, pointing out that Japan’s Building Standards Act should require extra costs to convert containers for residential use, and many questioned whether the building in the photos was even real. The thread also got into property tax and the procedures for converting farmland to residential land, turning into a full-blown fact-check of whether a “bargain container house” is actually feasible.

    1AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:51
    Pretty nice, not gonna lie.
    (Stock photo)
    2AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:51
    Sounds like temperature swings would cause condensation and breed a ton of mold.
    6AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:52
    Re: #2
    I run the AC and dehumidifier properly, thanks.
    10AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:53
    Re: #6
    How much would the electric bill be if you ran AC in every single container? Not realistic at all.
    18AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:54
    Re: #10
    I've got solar panels on the vacant lot, so electricity actually earns me money.
    14AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:53
    Under current law you have to use containers specifically certified for residential use, so it ends up pricier than just building a normal house.
    21AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:55
    Re: #14
    Nah, it was 5 million yen.
    24AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:57
    How many cubic meters is it?
    27AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:57
    Re: #24
    No idea on cubic meters. The land itself is about 1,000 square meters.
    31AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:58
    Re: #27
    What about the containers?
    26AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:57
    What is this slick-looking house… is it seriously a container?
    29AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:57
    Re: #26
    Yep, it's a container.
    34AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:58
    Using a random image you grabbed off the internet means the real thing's probably pretty lame.
    Show us an actual photo lol
    37AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:00
    Re: #34
    That's personal information.
    It's actually a pretty stylish house, for real.
    39AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:00
    Building a 5-million-yen place and bragging "dirt cheap!"
    then running the AC and climate control full blast with a sky-high electric bill lol


    This is what they call putting the cart before the horse.
    43AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:01
    Re: #39
    Solar power, though.
    40AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:00
    One upside of container houses is they seem earthquake-resistant.
    44AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:01
    Re: #40
    Seriously, the structural strength is pretty solid.
    45AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:02
    Re: #37
    Everything except the container can be blurred or blacked out, that's fine.
    Though I'm guessing it's just too shabby to show.
    49AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:02
    Re: #45
    You can bait me all you want, I'm still not showing it.
    46AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:02
    This'll do, right?
    53AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:04
    Re: #46
    Mine's way nicer than that.
    48AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:02
    At this scale it'd run you 15 million yen.
    50AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:03
    Re: #48
    Nope, 5 million — pulled some strings.
    75AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:10
    Re: #50
    Impressive. Give us a rough cost breakdown.
    55AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:05
    Re: #43
    Whoa, so you piled solar panels on top and blew the budget up even more?
    These days, anyone who isn't totally clueless checks the cost-effectiveness before installing that.


    It's inconsistent from start to finish.
    57AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:06
    Re: #55
    For the solar panels too — had a contractor I know import Chinese-made panels, so it was cheap.
    68AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:09
    Re: #65
    So how much, then?
    70AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:09
    Re: #68
    Soil improvement cost about 500,000 yen.
    72AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:10
    Re: #70
    What did you do about the land-use conversion paperwork?
    73AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:10
    Re: #72
    Did it myself.
    77AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:11
    Re: #72
    There's no way you actually did that.
    That's illegal use.
    Go ahead and report it.
    85AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:13
    Why are you lying about something like this?
    87AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:14
    Re: #81
    This is probably about 3 of them.
    89AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:14
    Re: #87
    That's a rip-off. It's not that expensive.
    95AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:15
    Re: #89
    It's the same everywhere.
    97AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:16
    Re: #95
    I've got a connection (that's how I got it cheap).
    110AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:20
    Re: #109
    Which part specifically?
    111AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:21
    Re: #110
    If you'd read the thread you'd get it.
    When asked about property tax, he dodged the question, didn't he?
    113AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:22
    Re: #111
    It's not registered as a building, so no property tax applies to it.

    It's classified purely as farmland, and the property tax on the land itself is under 10,000 yen.
    117AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:24
    Re: #113
    What category of farmland is it?
    119AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:24
    Re: #113
    You can't transfer it as farmland if the whole plan assumes converting it to residential land.

    Background and Key Points of This Debate

    When a container is used as a residence, Japan’s Building Standards Act treats it as a “structure,” which can require a building confirmation application and the use of containers specifically certified for residential use — commenters in the thread pointed out that this tends to make it pricier than simply repurposing a used shipping container as-is. Specific points of contention piled up one after another: the upfront cost of retrofitting solar power versus the electricity savings it offsets, and the legal procedures for converting farmland to residential land (including restrictions under the Farmland Act and how property tax is assessed). But because the poster refused to share photos or a detailed cost breakdown, verification of the claims stalled partway through. One point readers can easily get wrong is that the “5 million yen” figure took on a life of its own as a standalone number — the thread never fully sorted out whether that total included the cost of the land itself, or the solar panels and soil-improvement work, and the discussion moved forward without ever nailing down those assumptions.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News VIP) thread “[Images] This container house I built for 5 million yen turned out pretty livable.”

  • “Greatest Games of All Time” Ranking Revealed — Zelda’s #1 Spot Sparks Debate on 5ch

    The overseas gaming outlet “acclaimedvideogames.com” has published a “Greatest Games of All Time” ranking compiled from multiple critics’ lists, with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild taking #1, Tetris at #2, and Half-Life 2 at #3. When the results were shared on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board, posters questioned why Elden Ring only landed at #20 and why Pokémon Gold/Silver didn’t make the list at all (with Red/Green/Blue coming in at #60), sparking debate over whether the ranking method favors older titles, versus the view that games should be judged by their influence on later works.

    #1 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

    #2 Tetris (1985)

    #3 Half-Life 2 (2004)

    Source: acclaimedvideogames.com / Original article here

    4AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:11
    Guess The Legend of Zelda really is the strongest after all.
    Elden Ring seems like it should've cracked the list somewhere, but I guess the wall at the top was just too thick.
    6AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:13
    Re: #4
    Checked the site — Elden Ring actually comes in at #20.
    7AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:15
    If it's a straight aggregate ranking like this, wouldn't older games naturally have the advantage?
    11AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:20
    Re: #7
    Isn't it based on average placement or something?
    12AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:20
    Re: #7
    But aren't Breath of the Wild and The Witcher 3 relatively recent games in the grand history of gaming?
    9AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:16
    Never played it myself, but is a ranking that puts Minecraft at #39 even credible?
    13AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:21
    Re: #9
    It's obviously not based on sales — even A Link to the Past ("Kamitora") only sold 4.6 million copies worldwide.
    15AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:22
    If it's ranked by influence on later games, fair enough — Resident Evil 4 had a massive impact on every TPS that came after it.
    16AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:24
    Re: #15
    Did Breath of the Wild actually influence anything? Genshin Impact, maybe?
    25AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:28
    Re: #15
    By that logic the Dark Souls series should rank even higher — there are way too many Souls-likes among today's games.
    33AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:34
    Re: #15
    Gears of War was born out of Resident Evil 4's influence too, you know.
    38AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:36
    Isn't it weird that Pokémon isn't on this list at all, though? Gold/Silver was a massive worldwide hit.
    71AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:56
    Re: #38
    Gold/Silver was a crap game.
    79AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:02
    Re: #38

    Pokémon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow (Pikachu) is at #60.
    41AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:36
    Breath of the Wild's definitely a good game… but calling it #1 is a bit of a stretch…
    47AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:41
    Re: #41
    It wouldn't be weird for it to be #1…
    42AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:37
    Feels like a list full of games that could've gotten bloc-voted up.
    43AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:40
    Re: #42
    By that logic there's basically no title that couldn't have been bloc-voted.
    64AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:53
    Re: #42
    Is there really some organization out there pushing Tetris up a greatest-games-of-all-time ranking?
    44AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:41
    Chrono Trigger at #27, seriously? Do foreigners even play that one?
    53AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:44
    Re: #44
    If anything, Chrono Trigger has a reputation for being highly rated overseas.
    59AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:48
    Honestly, The Last of Us was kind of mediocre. Story aside, Part 2 is way more fun to actually play.
    78AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:02
    Re: #59
    Part 2 pointlessly bloated out the areas, which made exploring a total chore, and combined with how little the scenery actually changed, the story felt dull too — playing it was mind-numbingly boring. On the plus side, adding things like prone crawling in combat made the movement flow a lot smoother, and the weapon-upgrade animations felt really satisfying. But at the end of the day it's still a linear game with a boring scenario, unlikable characters, and plot convenience cranked up sloppily strong, so there was zero immersion — gameplay-wise it was genuinely a slog.
    74AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:59
    This is just Zelda fanboyism, lol.
    76AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:01
    Re: #74
    The problem is on Zelda's side — it lands near the top of literally every outlet's ranking.
    77AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:01
    Re: #74
    Overseas love for Zelda is genuinely no joke — even plenty of indie games lift features straight from A Link to the Past.
    81AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:04
    Before Breath of the Wild, Japanese gamers generally saw Zelda as a niche, hardcore series and kept their distance.
    83AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:05
    Re: #81
    Even after Breath of the Wild, I wouldn't call it a 'national' franchise exactly — Splatoon, Momotetsu, and Pokémon are all way more mainstream. Even Echoes of Wisdom barely made a dent either.
    87AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:08
    Re: #81
    It was popular all the way up through Ocarina of Time — it's everything after that that went quiet.
    86AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:08
    Elden Ring's probably the most critically acclaimed, but historically I feel like Demon's Souls and Dark Souls deserve more credit.
    89AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:10
    Re: #86
    Elden Ring is one culmination of the formula, but it was those earlier games that paved the way there.
    93AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:13
    Hey, if Nintendo had never existed in Japan, would Japanese game makers just be stuck as second-tier players?
    104AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:20
    Re: #93
    Without Nintendo, Sony would never have built a game console, so Sega would've ended up ruling the world.
    98AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:15
    'Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest 2: The Great Tank and the Tail Troops' isn't even on here, come on.
    106AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:21
    Re: #98
    I loved this one. Never played 1 or 3 though.
    101AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:17
    Lol, Capcom only has one game in the top 10 — and it's Resident Evil 4, the game that gave Capcom a big head and dragged the series into its dark age. Even funnier.
    107AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:23
    Re: #101
    Capcom's second entry is Street Fighter II at #23, which is respectable, but honestly it feels like it should rank even higher.
    111AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:30
    Kind of surprised Uncharted 2, Silent Hill 2, ICO, and the like rank this high. Well, I like them too, so no complaints here.
    114AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:32
    Re: #111
    Foreign fans straight-up deify Silent Hill 2.
    115AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:32
    'Scary Stories at School' (Gakkou de Atta Kowai Hanashi, a cult Super Famicom horror game) — out of the whole human race, the only people repping this one are Iijima and me.
    117AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:34
    Re: #115
    I'd have figured it had a decent-sized fanbase.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    “Greatest games of all time” rankings like this one are usually built not from a single vote but from an “average rank” method that aggregates multiple critics’ lists and reader polls — which tends to let titles that have been praised consistently for years hold onto the top spots. The thread’s complaint that “older games have the advantage” does point to a real feature of this aggregation method. But it’s easy to overlook that games like Minecraft or Pokémon — despite selling in numbers far beyond almost everything else on the list — can still end up ranking lower if critics’ votes for them are split rather than concentrated. It’s also worth noting that in rankings compiled overseas, titles whose domestic fame in Japan doesn’t match their critical reputation abroad (such as Chrono Trigger or Silent Hill 2) tend to rank higher than Japanese fans might expect — a gap that reflects differing evaluation cultures rather than simple “bloc voting.”

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (“Nandemo Jikkyo G”) thread “[Good News] The Greatest Games of All Time Ranking Has Been Decided LOL.”

  • Aeon-affiliated supermarket chain to shutter 100 stores — 5ch reacts: “It’s a Maruetsu and it’s still expensive lol”

    Aeon-affiliated USMH (United Supermarket Holdings) has announced it will close roughly 100 stores by fiscal 2030, mainly among its Maruetsu, Kasumi, and Inageya chains. President Takemi Ide explained that “inflation has been tougher than expected, which is how we arrived at this number of closures,” revealing a reality in which rising procurement costs driven by inflation are squeezing the business. On 5ch, the reaction focused less on shock at the closures themselves and more on debates over which is more convenient, My Basket or Big-A, the price gap with local supermarkets like Taiyo, and personal takes on whether life was easier in the deflation era or the inflation era.

    United Supermarket Holdings (USMH), an Aeon-affiliated operator of food supermarkets, revealed on the 9th that it will close approximately 100 stores by fiscal 2030. It runs chains including Maruetsu, Kasumi, and Inageya in the greater Tokyo area, and the closures are part of a broader structural reform.

    President Takemi Ide said at a press conference, “Inflation (rising prices) has been tougher than expected, which is how we arrived at [this number of] closures.” Inflation appears to be pushing up procurement costs and squeezing profits.

    [Asahi Shimbun]

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

    2AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:27
    Genuine question for anyone who actually knows this stuff:
    with prices soaring across the board, are small regional sash (window/door frame) manufacturers out in the sticks going to lose work? Go under?
    4AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:28
    Re: #1
    Isn't it "U.S.M.H"? Or is that just Asahi's style?
    21AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:32
    People aren't even buying from the supermarket, let alone eating out.
    What are Japanese people even eating these days?
    29AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:34
    Re: #21
    Eating Kasumi (also means "mist" — i.e., living on thin air).
    And on that note… (classic rakugo sign-off line)
    48AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:36
    This is probably what's coming for former independent chains in Kansai and Tokai
    that got absorbed into Aeon.
    95AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:42
    Re: #48
    Among Osaka-born supermarkets, Daiei, Mycal (Nichii),
    Daimaru Peacock, and Koyo all ended up bought out by Aeon.
    Originally, Jusco (later renamed Aeon) was jointly founded by
    Okadaya of Mie Prefecture, Futagi of Hyogo Prefecture, and Shiro of Osaka Prefecture,
    and Jusco's head office at founding was located at Shiro's Noda store in Fukushima Ward, Osaka City.
    166AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:48
    Re: #48
    Already happened.
    49AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:36
    For the Aeon group, My Basket is good enough.
    116AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:44
    Re: #49
    My Basket's fresh food is way too low quality.
    It's fine if you're just buying packaged goods though.
    60AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:38
    HERE IT COMES━━━━(°∀°)━━━━!! (classic forum hype reaction)

    63AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:38
    I wish La Mu would expand into the greater Tokyo area.
    83AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:41
    Re: #63
    There's one near me but it smells kind of off somehow.
    The deli food and fruit are pretty cheap, but everything else isn't really anything special.
    68AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:39
    The little Daiei in my neighborhood closed the other day and got torn down immediately (yikes).
    For the people in the residential area who relied on it, now all that's left within walking distance is convenience stores.
    134AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:46
    Re: #68
    In Tokyo residential areas, online supermarket delivery services target wealthy households and deliver right to your door, don't they?
    Per-item prices are high, but if you own a house, the store covers delivery and with a drop box installed you don't even need redelivery.
    70AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:39
    Were we actually happier back in the deflation era?
    Nah, surely not… or were we?
    80AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:41
    Re: #70
    Economists hate deflation because it kills growth, but it's not all bad.
    Say what you will, Japan's GDP growth stagnated, but we still held onto 2nd place in the world for ages.
    Then the moment Abenomics kicked in with yen-weakening policy, we went into steady decline —
    to the point of being overtaken by South Korea and Taiwan in per-capita GDP.
    88AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:41
    Re: #70
    Just look at the results.
    However you slice it, life was easier to live during the deflation years.
    Just look at convenience store bento prices, it's obvious.
    78AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:40
    Ever since Kishida, they've been forcing through "raise prices, raise wages" policy — now the bill's come due.
    98AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:42
    Re: #78
    Prices go up but wages don't — that's just how Japanese society works, it was always obvious.
    And yet they ran a weak-yen policy that assumed wages would rise along with it.
    96AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:42
    Re: #88
    But back then the Japanese economy was an absolute wreck.
    119AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:44
    Re: #96
    That's only because it's converted into dollars.
    In real terms, things are far worse now.
    147AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:47
    Re: #96
    Even the "nightmare" DPJ years (the Democratic Party's 2009-2012 government, long derided by the LDP) were way easier to live through than this.
    112AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:43
    Since around the day before yesterday I've been seeing posts saying average spend per customer is rising but the number of items bought is falling.
    At this rate, small and mid-sized food makers are going to start dropping like flies too.
    122AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:45
    Re: #112
    Not "the day before yesterday" — the year before last.
    120AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:44
    Don't need My Basket, but keep Big-A around —
    I depend on it for drinks and canned tomatoes.
    133AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:45
    Re: #120
    Big-A's open 24 hours, after all.
    Big-A >>>>>>> My Basket.
    142AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:46
    My local Kasumi is losing out to Taiyo.
    At Taiyo, customers fill their baskets to the brim.
    182AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:50
    Re: #142
    Taiyo's always packed with people.
    It's cheap, that's why.
    155AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:47
    Re: #133
    There are like 3 My Baskets near me too,
    but there's nothing worth buying there.
    163AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:48
    Aeon was way more appealing back when it was this in-between thing — part regular supermarket, part department store.
    Now it's no different from any other supermarket, and that "gotta buy it at Aeon" feeling is gone.
    Having a real identity really does matter.
    181AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:50
    Re: #163
    Out in the countryside, local chains are cheaper anyway.
    "Aeon is expensive" is just the standard impression.
    169AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:48
    I'm not in Kanto so I wouldn't know, but going by the names they all sound old lol.
    Are the buildings run-down too?
    194AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:52
    Re: #169
    The Maruetsu near me has no customers.
    It's a Maruetsu and it's still expensive lol.
    It's cramped too.
    New supermarkets keep moving in, so it'll probably end up on the closure list.

    Background and key points of this discussion

    USMH (United Supermarket Holdings) was formed in 2015 when Aeon-affiliated chains Maruetsu, Kasumi, and Inageya merged into a single food-supermarket group with deep roots in the greater Tokyo area — one that has faced constant price competition from discount formats such as My Basket, Big-A, OK, and Gyomu Super. This latest round of roughly 100 store closures is being framed as a structural reform meant to offset rising procurement costs by shrinking the store network. On the thread, interest centered less on the reasons behind the closures and more on comparing My Basket versus Big-A, the price gap with local chains like Taiyo, and whether life felt easier during the deflation years or the current inflation years, with opinions split over how to judge the weak-yen policy. It’s worth noting, though, that these are personal impressions rather than claims backed by concrete business data, such as changes in average spend per customer or number of items purchased.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Aeon-affiliated food supermarkets to close 100 stores — inflation headwinds “worse than expected”.”

  • Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Former ICC Judge Pillay, Spotlighting the ‘Rule of Law’

    On October 9, 2026, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced it would award the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay (85), former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Coming amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ongoing military clashes between the US and Iran, the selection was said to underscore the importance of “the rule of law.” On 5ch’s News Flash+ thread, reactions split between those who read the award as a jab at President Trump and those pointing out that the ICC has no power of arrest or investigation and little real teeth, with the political meaning of the prize dividing opinion.

    [Oslo — Yuya Yokobori] The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on the 9th that it would award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay (85), former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

    Pillay has also served as a judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC), and with armed conflicts flaring around the world—including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and military clashes between the US and Iran—the award put the spotlight on the importance of “the rule of law.”

    [Yomiuri Shimbun]

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

    6AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:11
    Sweden: "Hey Trump… go ahead and launch a missile at us if you've got the guts 🤣"
    9AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:12
    Re: #6
    My bad
    It was Norway 🤣
    258AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:00
    Re: #6
    Ugh, there go the retaliatory tariff hikes
    11AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:13
    The world's 3 great CCs:
    ICC
    10cc (the British rock band)
    175AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:44
    Re: #11
    CC Girls (a 90s Japanese idol group)
    195AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:47
    Re: #11
    Ah, so you're an old geezer who's into classic rock, huh?
    49AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:21
    The ICC's a weird outfit honestly
    No international investigative or arrest powers of its own, yet it issues arrest warrants anyway—all talk, leaving the actual work to everyone else
    55AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:22
    Re: #49
    If it's annoying Trump this much, it's doing its job just fine
    120AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:32
    Re: #49
    Same deal as the UN really
    Enforcement is left to the individual member states
    63AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:24
    The only person who thought Trump could win it was Trump himself
    70AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:25
    Trump dies of pure rage
    80AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:26
    Re: #63
    Trump: "My aides keep telling me only two people in the whole world think I'm going to win the Peace Prize."
    Melania: "Two people? You're one—who's the other?"
    142AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:36
    Re: #63Re: #70
    Just like Toru Hashimoto said, truly "the greatest US president in history"! Re: #1

    "Trump urges supporters to vote by mail, reversing his fraud claims" https://l.smartnews.com/m-8DXjXbr2/qWvO5l
    102AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:29
    Totally a dig at Trump lol
    129AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:34
    Re: #102
    Yeah, it's a jab at Trumpy, and a warning shot too
    Basically: if you want the Peace Prize in your last two years, maybe don't go sanctioning the ICC
    109AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:30
    Calling it now—

    someone's definitely gonna make an AI video of them announcing Trump's name as the winner
    127AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:33
    Re: #115
    Basic rule of the Nobel Prize: the recipient has to actually be alive

    Good luck with that, buddy
    162AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:42
    Re: #109Re: #115
    Just like Toru Hashimoto said, truly "the greatest US president in history"! Re: #1

    "Even 'Trump districts' turn into surprise toss-ups in the US midterms—Republicans losing steam even in unexpected districts, pouring huge money into once-safe seats. Can President Trump defy 'history'?" https://l.smartnews.com/m-8Cevk41i/RUXE7P
    148AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:38
    Re: #129
    Before that, it's basically "we don't give it to warmongers, dummy lol"

    that's what this is (´・ω・`)
    194AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:47
    Re: #148Re: #153
    Just like Toru Hashimoto said, truly "the greatest US president in history"! Re: #1

    "One month before the US midterms: Trump's approval sags, giving Democrats a tailwind" https://l.smartnews.com/m-8CpXR7Vu/rFvSmW
    199AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:48
    Re: #194
    Evil has never once prospered for long in this world
    202AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:48
    Re: #194
    He's the best president ever—for weakening America, that is
    157AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:40
    Let's see Article 9 of the Constitution stop a cyberattack (Japan's pacifist clause renouncing war)
    174AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:43
    Somebody go interview poor Trump-kun who missed out on the Nobel Peace Prize lmao
    178AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:44
    Nobel Dictator Prize: Donald Trump
    Bonus feature: a lifetime stay in prison included
    187AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:45
    Re: #174
    Ah, I can't wait.
    Approval ratings are gonna keep tanking lol
    What's he gonna do about next month's midterms lol
    207AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:49
    Re: #174Re: #178
    Well, just like Toru Hashimoto said, truly "the greatest US president in history"! Re: #1
    215AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:51
    I think Japan should push for "rule of law," not "rule by force"

    That said,
    upholding "rule of law" takes force too, so maybe what's needed isn't a Japanese military but a world police force
    233AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:55
    Re: #215
    Not happening under the Takaichi administration
    255AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:00
    This is clearly a provocation aimed at Trump
    268AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:02
    Re: #255
    This kind of political bias is exactly why people say the prize has lost its value
    269AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:02
    Re: #255
    What upholds the law is the spirit of standing up to power
    Even in America, the courts have slapped President Trump with a "No" when he's acted against the law

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    The Nobel Peace Prize is an independent award chosen by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, not Sweden—the thread’s “Sweden” slip-up and subsequent correction is a classic example of this common mix-up. The ICC, a permanent international court established in 2002, has no police or investigative body of its own, and as the thread notes, enforcing its arrest warrants depends on member states’ cooperation—the same structural weakness as UN resolutions, which likewise sit and wait on member states to act. The split in opinion comes down to one question: whether to read this year’s award as recognition of “the rule of law,” or as a jab at the Trump administration amid its military actions and pressure on international courts—both readings show up in the thread’s reactions. Doubts about the ICC’s actual effectiveness and the political meaning of the award itself are two separate issues, and it’s easy to conflate them and jump to the mistaken conclusion that “the ICC is powerless, so the prize means nothing too.”

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “[Nobel Peace Prize] Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and ex-ICC judge Navi Pillay honored… emphasis on the importance of “the rule of law”.”

  • Voice Actress Ayumi Mano Announces Marriage and Pregnancy — 5ch Erupts with a Chorus of ‘Who?’

    Voice actress Ayumi Mano announced on X (formerly Twitter) on the 9th that she has married and is expecting a child. She wrote that “both mother and baby are doing well,” and also thanked the people involved who helped accommodate changes to her work schedule. Notably, on the 5ch “Geinou/Sports News+” thread, the very first wave of reactions wasn’t congratulations but a chorus of “Who?” and “Who is that?” — once it was pointed out she voices Sumi Nakahara in Demon Slayer, the tone shifted to “Oh, her, I know her.” The thread turned into a light squabble among posters over just how famous she is, producing the familiar mix you get in these threads: well-wishes for her sitting right alongside a wall of “never heard of her.”

    Voice actress Ayumi Mano updated her own X account on the 9th to announce her marriage and pregnancy.

    Mano posted a statement that opened with “I have an announcement.” It read: “To everyone who always supports me — this is a personal matter, but I wanted to let you know that I have married someone outside the entertainment industry and have been blessed with a new life.”

    She continued, “Both mother and baby are doing well, and I’m spending my days peacefully, supported by those around me.” She added, “To everyone who always warmly cheers me on, and to everyone involved who understood and cooperated with adjusting my work schedule up to this point, I offer my heartfelt thanks.”

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

    3AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:31
    No way, I'm done. I've lost the will to live.
    8AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:32
    No idea who she is, but good for her I guess.
    9AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:33
    Didn't 'Cassandra' say she'd never find happiness?
    Guess that was a lie, then.
    12AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:33
    Who's supposed to know that?
    16AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:34
    Tilting my head sideways here…
    Who?
    18AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:34
    Who?????

    If it were Yuria Mano, I'd know her.
    22AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:35
    No, who are YOU guys, exactly?
    33AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:39
    Re: #22
    And who exactly are you, mister?
    26AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:36
    Hmm, the only role of hers I recognize is the Demon Slayer one.
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HGmUWBsaQAAdZAb.jpg?name=orig
    49AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:43
    Re: #26
    I recognize Mugen Gacha and DanMachi (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?)
    but I don't remember the voice.
    57AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:47
    Re: #26
    Even with an anime adaptation, Demon Slayer is still the only one I recognize lol
    91AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:00
    Re: #26
    Can someone at this level actually make a living off voice acting full-time?
    30AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:38
    She's not famous enough to be anyone's decoy, so don't expect a 'rush' here. (a stray bit of gaming slang tossed in for no real reason, as 5ch posts sometimes do)
    32AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:38
    Gonna go lie down… standing up.

    So anyway, who is she?
    34AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:40
    Starting a thread about a voice actor in Geinou/Sports News+, seriously…
    36AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:40
    Have no clue who she is, but just being in Demon Slayer already puts her ahead of most.
    38AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:40
    I told her not to make the announcement…
    that girl, I swear.
    41AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:41
    The Duke of Death and His Maid
    was a genuinely great show.
    43AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:42
    Voice actors back in the day never used to make announcements like this.
    Pointless.
    44AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:42
    Bakushou Mondai's Tanaka: "Feels like some voice actor gets married every single day." (Tanaka is one half of the comedy duo Bakushou Mondai)
    47AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:43
    Is she actually well known among anime fans?
    50AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:43
    Sumi Nakahara from Demon Slayer — I was thinking 'was there even a character like that,' turns out she's one of the three girls at that hospital.
    How is anyone supposed to know that!
    51AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:44
    Re: #1
    Seriously…? I'm taking three days off work starting tomorrow…
    53AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:45
    Still no marriage/pregnancy announcement from Yui Horie or Yukari Tamura, huh? (two famously veteran voice actresses)
    58AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:48
    Thought it was Sawa-chan from K-On! for a second.
    61AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:49
    People saying they don't recognize her even though she's a Demon Slayer voice actress — are they hermits or something?
    93AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:00
    Re: #61
    How many people actually know the names of all three of those girls?
    67AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:51
    She's the bar mama in Hagure Keiji Junjouha, right?
    Her older sister's an actress too, isn't she?
    68AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:51
    None of the anime I've actually watched has a character she's played.
    71AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:53
    Feels like a voice actor gets married every single day.
    80AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:57
    Re: #71
    Okay then, who got married yesterday?
    72AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:53
    No way… guess I'll go lie down for a bit…
    74AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:54
    Scratching my head on this one… guhhh.
    75AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:55
    Looking at her résumé,
    she's been in a decent number of shows, yet somehow never stands out…
    76AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:56
    Aww, Ayumin's getting married? That's a bummer. ("Ayumin" being a cutesy nickname for Ayumi)
    98AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:02
    Her Alice in The Duke of Death and His Maid was a perfect fit, but that's about the only standout role so far.
    Wish she'd landed more parts in that vocal range.
    105AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:06
    Re: #98
    Alice in that show was a maid through and through — pretty understated lines, so she didn't leave much of an impression.

    Background and Talking Points

    In recent years, voice actors announcing their own marriages and pregnancies on social media has become a common stand-in for an agency press release. Mano’s statement follows the familiar template for this kind of announcement, right down to phrases like “both mother and baby are doing well” and thanks for cooperation in adjusting her work schedule. Where the thread split was between “Who?” reactions over her name recognition and posters trying to place her by recalling her roles, such as Sumi Nakahara in Demon Slayer — the humor came not from any insult, but simply from the gap in how recognizable she turned out to be. One thing readers could easily misread: the titles floated in the thread, like “Mugen Gacha” and “DanMachi,” are posters’ own recollections of her roles, not an official filmography listed by Mano or her agency.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Voice Actress Ayumi Mano Announces Marriage and Pregnancy.”

  • Switch 2 Key Card Sales Up 631% in US — 5ch: “Thanks for Making It Less Bad”

    A post on X (formerly Twitter) claiming that US spending on game key cards rose 631% year-over-year in 2026 became a hot topic on 5ch’s hardware/industry (Geha) board. Nintendo Switch 2’s physical packaging mainly uses “key cards” — essentially vouchers that don’t contain the actual game data on the cartridge and require a download on first use — a format that has long drawn criticism for its downsides to users. In the thread, some argued that Sony’s announced plan to scale back disc releases for PS5 titles had relatively softened resistance to key cards, while many others questioned the reliability of the 631% figure, noting it lacked any stated baseline or comparison point and was only a partial-year tally, leaving the discussion split over how much to trust the number.

    In the US, spending on game key cards is up 631% in 2026.

    Game key cards are the format for most physical Switch 2 releases.

    They’re not ideal, but after the PlayStation announcement, I think anxiety about buying them has eased.

    Source: x.com / Original post here

    3AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:10
    Is it because PS is pulling out of physical discs?
    8AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:12
    That's because those flimsy PS discs get cracked (pirated) anyway.
    15AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:16
    Guess it was the optimal solution after all, huh.
    20AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:23
    Re: #15
    As a user, I think the ideal/optimal solution would be Xbox-style disc-to-digital, but that's tricky since it depends on third-party publishers too.
    16AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:16
    It doesn't even say what the 631% increase is being compared against, and there's no evidence it correlates with PS's problems — anyone celebrating this is definitely an idiot.
    17AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:20
    Re: #16
    When they use percentages like this, it's usually because the base number is pathetic.
    28AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:28
    Re: #16
    It says "2026," so isn't it just being compared to 2025?
    23AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:25
    Not to be blunt, but there weren't any standout key-card titles last year, so it's a bit of a stretch —
    this year the key-card lineup is thicker, with titles like Poko-a (apparent nickname for a game title), FF7, Elden Ring, etc.

    To begin with, the take here is that Switch 2's packaged sales are offsetting the slump in other platforms' packaged sales, and that part should be taken at face value — but reinterpreting it as "key cards are popular" is dangerous.
    31AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:30
    Re: #23
    If people are against discontinuing discs, key card sales should go down — but if key card sales really are accelerating, that would mean people are accepting the end of discs. None of it adds up.
    33AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:32
    Re: #31
    Discontinuing discs and key cards are totally different things.
    Key cards still exist as physical items and can be bought and sold.
    37AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:34
    Re: #31
    > If people are against discontinuing discs, key card sales would go down

    Zero basis for that.
    34AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:32
    Re: #28
    That's just speculation, and even if it's a correct comparison between '25 and '26, it's data completely unrelated to discontinuing discs, so it's beside the point.
    47AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:38
    Re: #34
    Whatever the cause,
    the fact that key card sales increased doesn't change.
    That's not "beside the point" — what are you even saying?
    57AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:43
    There's a real chance key cards only look better by comparison because Sony went and announced ditching discs.
    63AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:46
    Re: #57
    For Westerners, having your ownership rights taken away is a serious landmine issue —
    their sensitivity to that is nothing like the Japanese.
    58AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:44
    Re: #28
    How exactly do you compare a 2026 that hasn't even finished yet??
    61AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:45
    Re: #58
    Isn't it just "so far this year"?
    67AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:49
    Unless Nintendo guarantees key cards will work semi-permanently, they're sitting on a powder keg that could blow up into controversy anytime.
    80AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:56
    Re: #67
    That's true of physical media's lifespan too, though.
    69AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:50
    Even with the pre-price-hike rush demand, a 15% YoY drop is rough. Software isn't doing great either…

    Monthly Software Ranking (Nintendo digital, estimated)
    1 NBA 2K27
    2 Madden NFL 27
    3 Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls
    4 EA SPORTS Kickoff Bundle
    5 Star Wars Zero Company
    6 Halo Campaign Evolved
    7 Elden Ring
    8 Big Walk
    9 Mario Kart World
    10 Splatoon Raiders


    Hardware units
    1st Switch 2 -15%
    2nd PS5 -11%
    3rd Xbox -31%
    *PS5 was -11% YoY in unit terms, but +17% in revenue terms (price hike and PS5 Pro effect)

    Accessories
    1st PS5 DualSense
    2nd PS5 DualSense Edge
    3rd PlayStation Portal

    Annual Software Ranking (Jan-Aug)
    70AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:51
    Re: #61
    Re: #65
    What exactly is "January-October 2026" being compared against? What's the point of such a nonsensical comparison?
    To begin with, you shouldn't call something "2026" when it's not even a full year's worth of data.
    77AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:55
    Re: #74
    So I'm asking, what exactly is it being compared "to"? Why can't you say?
    Well, I guess it's natural you can't say, since there's no source or anything to back it up.
    85AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:57
    Thanks, Sony, for bumping key cards' reputation up to "better than nothing."
    93AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:06
    Re: #85
    Ditching discs really lowered the psychological barrier to accepting key cards.
    90AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:03
    Not understanding that key cards only work as long as the service stays online… are Americans stupid or something?
    101AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:10
    Re: #90
    The same barrier applies to key-discs and to discontinuing physical media too, though.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    This topic originated from a post on X (formerly Twitter), which cited no official sales source or comparison period. Game key cards are the dominant form of physical packaging for Nintendo Switch 2 — essentially vouchers that don’t contain the actual game data on the cartridge itself and require a download on first use — a format that has traditionally drawn criticism for its poor user experience. In the thread, some took the view that Sony’s announced plan to scale back disc releases for PS5 titles had relatively softened resistance to key cards, while others repeatedly pointed out that the 631% figure didn’t specify a baseline or comparison year, and that since 2026 is still only partially tallied, it’s risky to judge the real situation from the size of the percentage alone. As with the monthly software and hardware sales data posted in the thread, the tendency to argue impressionistically without a concrete numerical comparison is a readability issue particular to threads covering hardware competition.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry [Geha]) thread “US key card sales up 631% lol.”

  • “If FANZA Gets Hacked, Everyone’s Kinks Get Exposed”: 5ch Spirals Amid Nonstop Data-Leak News

    A thread that kicked off with the post “What if FANZA gets hit by a cyberattack and my name, address, and kinks all get leaked?” blew up on 5ch. It came during a stretch of nonstop data-breach headlines: since September 2026, breaches affecting 300 million people worldwide had been reported, along with a leak of 246,000 records at Japan’s Digital Agency and the exposure of 150 million driver’s licenses in the US. Treating it purely as a hypothetical rather than an actual incident, posters brought up past leak scandals involving Tsutaya (a major video-rental chain) and Amazon, and jokingly listed off the things they’d personally be mortified to have exposed.

    1AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:31
    Honestly, that's the real problem right there.
    3AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:32
    Realistically, that data's probably already circulating in the underworld.
    17AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:34
    What if it comes out that I'm into otoko no ko (feminine-presenting male characters)?
    18AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:36
    There's no "what if" about it
    The minister already said it's on you — personal responsibility.
    20AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:36
    Just like video rental stores used to hand customer lists over to the police
    Of course FANZA does too
    They need it for the sex-offender suspect list, after all
    22AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:38
    Re: #20
    Nobody said anything about that
    23AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:38
    People say Tsutaya got as big as it did because it was really a personal-data broker wearing a video-rental-store disguise
    Plenty of businesses would kill for customer data paired with their personal tastes
    24AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:38
    Way back when, there was that Amazon data leak where people's purchase histories for adult toys and other naughty stuff got exposed
    2ch was in an uproar over it, remember?
    25AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:39
    Amazon already had a leak before
    The wish lists got exposed
    26AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:41
    Everybody wants personal data
    The government, politicians, anyone with state power — they all want their hands on it
    That's exactly why the state will never crack down for real
    27AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:41
    If it's not up on some free site, you've got no choice but to pay for it, so you end up using these services anyway
    28AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:41
    Rough times for Lyco Reco fans (Lycoris Recoil, abbreviated as "Riko Riko")
    32AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:43
    Re: #28
    Could you please stop looking at Lyco Reco that way?
    29AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:42
    FANZA doesn't even require ID verification documents, does it?
    31AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:43
    Personally, the Yakiniku King (a Japanese BBQ chain) leak shocked me the most
    Why the hell do you need personal info just to eat yakiniku
    Is the entire country just dumb?
    33AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:45
    These days every single place makes you sign up through a smartphone app
    It's leak city now, mi amore~
    35AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:46
    Re: #33
    Don't you just not want to eat at a place that's such a hassle?
    37AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:48
    I've only ever bought stuff during the 10-yen sales, so now everyone's gonna find out I'm broke
    38AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:48
    Even McDonald's does coupon drops and mobile ordering through their app
    Way too many places are using coupons as bait to rack up members
    40AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:53
    I was really into masked-actor fetish content for a while, so a leak would genuinely be a disaster for me
    43AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:55
    Re: #40
    Didn't expect to find a fellow enthusiast here
    Nice to meet you
    47AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:57
    Re: #40
    Wait, it's Lyco Reco for you too?
    41AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:54
    👤 💻 🔓 Unauthorized access surges worldwide, 300 million hit by data breaches since September — AI suspected behind the attacks [Panna Cotta★]
    https://asahi.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/newsplus/1791533624/
    45AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:56
    Japan's Digital Agency leaks 246,000 pieces of personal data lmaooooooooooooooooo [668024367]
    https://hayabusa9.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/news/1791531763/
    46AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:57
    Makes you worry about the hotel chains too, like APA Hotel or Toyoko Inn
    49AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:59
    Re: #47
    Could you please stop looking at Lyco Reco that way?
    50AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:01
    Oh crap, my nickname's gonna become "Ichika"
    51AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:02
    Kinda hoping some hot celebrity's kink info leaks too lol
    52AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:03
    I've always only gotten off to the free preview samples, so I've got no blind spots
    55AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:05
    A new ransom business might be born: "pay up or we tell your company about your kinks"
    56AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:08
    [Sad News] US driver's license leak hits 150 million lmaoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo [339035499]
    https://greta.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/poverty/1791539337/
    58AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:10
    Even without getting hacked, that place is sketchy enough already… or so I hear…
    59AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:10
    If politicians' or celebrities' purchase histories ever got out, it'd be absolute chaos

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    FANZA is an adult-content streaming service run by the DMM group, and since using it requires identity verification and registered payment information, there’s a genuine risk that a leak could tie purchase history — i.e., sexual preferences — directly to a user’s name and address. It’s important not to misread the thread’s premise: it’s purely a “what if this got hacked” hypothetical, and nothing indicates FANZA itself has actually been attacked. The discussion was sparked by a wave of real data-breach news reported around the same time: a global surge in unauthorized access since September 2026, a leak of 246,000 records at Japan’s Digital Agency, and the exposure of 150 million driver’s licenses in the US, among others. Inspired by that news, posters traded jokes about what they’d personally hate to have exposed. While past leak scandals involving Tsutaya and Amazon were brought up, unverified claims — like the assertion that stores hand customer lists over to the police — were immediately shot down by other posters, so readers should keep in mind that rumor and fact are mixed together in the thread.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “What if FANZA gets hit by a cyberattack and my name, address, and kinks all get leaked.”

  • NPB Attendance Hits 27.17 Million, a Record for the 3rd Year Running — 5ch: ‘Even With Padded Numbers, the Carp Are Still Dead Last’

    On October 9, NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) announced that combined attendance across the Central and Pacific Leagues for 2026 reached 27,177,247, a new all-time record for the third year in a row. Per-game averages came to 34,088 for the Central League and 29,262 for the Pacific League. On 5ch, the reaction focused less on the record itself than on long-running doubts about how these attendance numbers are actually counted — “is that really how many people showed up?” Year-on-year, only the Chunichi Dragons saw an increase, while the Hanshin Tigers, DeNA, and the Hiroshima Carp all declined — and posters repeatedly noted that Hiroshima’s modest drop didn’t match how empty the stands actually looked in photos. The thread also pulled in comparisons with how the J.League and MLB tally their own numbers, reviving the old baseball-vs-soccer argument over whose attendance figures are closer to the truth.

    [NPB] Central/Pacific League attendance this season: 27,177,247 — a record high for the 3rd straight year

    Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) announced on the 9th the attendance figures for both the Central and Pacific Leagues this season.

    This season’s attendance came to 27,177,247, a new record high for the third consecutive year.

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

    2AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:40
    Re: #1
    What even is this???
    861 Anonymous sage (posted without bumping the thread) 2026/10/09 (Fri) 17:16:05.70 ID:GNaYW8hH0
    The only team whose per-game average rose year-on-year was Chunichi, up 2.6%. Hanshin, who won back-to-back pennants, was down 0.2%; DeNA down 2.6%; Hiroshima down 5.1%.
    https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/793c0b10ef061257378d91e8fb0f0286ce01f9d5

    Both Hanshin and Yokohama (DeNA) dropped from last year.
    Even with the padding, the Carp are still bottom of the Central League.
    18AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:52
    Re: #2
    Attendance looked like that and Hiroshima only dropped 5.1%? Makes no sense lol

    70AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:20
    Re: #18
    Reminds me of the Pacific League back in the Showa era (pre-1989, when it was infamous for empty stands).
    6AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:42
    Meanwhile the 'Tax League' (a mocking nickname for the J.League, implying it only survives on subsidies) is playing to empty seats.
    Guess Japan really is a baseball country after all.
    26AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:55
    Re: #6
    I mean, when it comes to Japanese athletes who actually make real money, it's still baseball players.

    Japanese soccer players go overseas too, but

    they still haven't gotten real recognition on the world stage.
    15AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:50
    The only team whose per-game average rose year-on-year was Chunichi, up 2.6%. Hanshin, who won back-to-back pennants, was down 0.2%; DeNA down 2.6%; Hiroshima down 5.1%.
    https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/793c0b10ef061257378d91e8fb0f0286ce01f9d5


    Both Hanshin and Yokohama (DeNA) dropped from last year.
    Even with the padding, the Carp are still bottom of the Central League.
    31AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:58
    Re: #15
    Except for games that got rained out and rescheduled, every Hanshin game sells out instantly before the season even starts, so you can't do the whole "they look like they'll win it this year, guess I'll go watch" thing.
    Both the rescheduled games and the rained-out games were already sold out anyway, so literally every home game was a sellout.
    So really it just means slightly more people than last year bought tickets, didn't show up, and let the seat go to waste.
    16AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:50
    Is there even any point to numbers that are just stacked up from padding??


    21AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:52
    https://x.com/kenspi95/status/2103048144426815879

    And this is supposedly 20,000 people.
    'Baseball math' (slang for NPB's inflated attendance counting) is garbage as usual.
    Even the diehard fans ('yakibuta' — a mocking slang term for baseball fanboys) who were watching in person were baffled.
    29AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:57
    Re: #21

    This one's also announced as 20,000.
    Come on, that's a stretch lol
    60AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:15
    Re: #29
    Looks about like old Kawasaki Stadium (notorious back in the day for near-empty crowds).
    115AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:32
    Re: #29
    Reminds me of the Pacific League in the Showa era.
    You could always hear some drunk old guy heckling, loud and clear.
    24AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:55
    Looking forward to SoftBank's Japan Series.

    For some reason the crowds always shrink once it's the Japan Series.
    The announced attendance for the Japan Series ends up lower than for a regular pennant-race game.
    82AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:25
    Re: #24
    I actually looked up the announced attendance for the Climax Series (CS, NPB's playoff round) versus the Japan Series since the pandemic started.

    Every single team that played in both had higher CS attendance than Japan Series attendance lol.
    Even Hanshin drew fewer fans at the Japan Series lol.

    Yokohama (DeNA) was the only one where the Japan Series was close to a sellout,
    but they'd finished 3rd and made the CS that way, so they had no home games there to compare against.
    30AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:57
    And this is apparently 20,000 people for Hiroshima.
    34AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:59
    Yokohama (DeNA)
    38AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:00
    Hiroshima's the only one whose numbers dropped like crazy lol.
    Wonder why.
    45AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:05
    Re: #38
    Is the Carp's empty stadium because of Sanfrecce (Hiroshima's J.League club)?
    Or because of 'zombie cigarettes'?

    Maybe it's both.
    42AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:02
    Average attendance:
    Central League >>> MLB

    Thanks to the padding, we beat MLB.
    46AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:05
    Re: #42
    MLB pads its numbers even more shamelessly.
    https://x.com/Pads1818/status/2091665980355141663
    43AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:04
    Lying 'yakiu' (a mocking baby-talk spelling of 'baseball' used by its haters online).
    50AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:08
    Gotta give the Pacific League credit for the effort.
    It's really turned things around.
    40 years ago, Seibu was basically the only team that drew a crowd.
    53AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:09
    Re: #50
    Pacific League TV (the PL's streaming service) is a lifesaver.
    57AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:13
    Re: #50
    Apparently there was a period when the stands were so empty, people in the crowd would do nagashi-somen (the flowing-noodle game) instead of watching the baseball.
    Though maybe those were just people killing time for free lol.
    59AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:14
    The Carp are dragging the Central League down,
    but Koshien (Hanshin's home stadium) crowds are making up for it?
    77AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:23
    Re: #59
    The Giants and the Dragons are basically sold out too.
    The BayStars and the Swallows draw pretty well too.
    94AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:28
    The J.League counts the fans who actually showed up.
    Pro baseball counts fans who never even showed up lol.
    98AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:29
    Re: #94
    Who cares if they didn't show up, as long as the advance tickets sold?
    'Ball-kickers' (mocking slang for soccer fans) don't even buy advance tickets lol.
    108AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:31
    Re: #94
    Which is exactly why the 'Tax League' has garbage-low revenue per fan and barely pays its stadium usage fees.
    102AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:30
    Re: #89
    The J.League never runs a deficit because of tax subsidies,
    so they can just hand out free tickets like crazy.
    112AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:32
    Re: #102
    Wow, impressive, J.League.
    Not a single club in the red.
    That's way healthier management than pro baseball.
    116AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:34
    Because they count people who never even showed up and pad the announced numbers,
    when a team like Hiroshima actually ends up with empty seats, they can't even respond to it lol.
    They have no idea which demographic dropped off, or by how much lol.

    Meanwhile the J.League tracks exactly who shows up, even on free tickets lol.
    120AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:37
    Re: #116
    Since the pandemic, J.League attendance and revenue have both been climbing steadily.
    Their marketing is genuinely excellent.

    People say the J.League's market size will overtake pro baseball's before long.
    124AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:39
    Re: #112
    Huh?

    Consadole Sapporo's parent company had to bail them out with 1.5 billion yen, you know.
    129AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:41
    Re: #124
    Apparently the J.League never runs a deficit thanks to tax money lol.

    Background and Key Points of This Debate

    It has long been known that NPB’s attendance figures aren’t an actual gate headcount, but rather a tally announced by the host team that includes advance and complimentary tickets — so the announced numbers can easily diverge from how full the stands actually look. This structural quirk is the root of the recurring “padding” controversy, and it’s exactly what drove this thread’s complaints that Hiroshima’s reported 5.1% decline didn’t match the sparse crowds visible in the posted photos. The J.League, by contrast, is seen by some as using a count closer to actual gate entries, and the rivalry over whose tallying method is more honest — baseball fans versus soccer fans — is a familiar fault line that keeps resurfacing in threads like this one. One point readers can easily get wrong is that a rise or fall in attendance doesn’t directly reflect a team’s financial health: for a team like Hanshin, where advance tickets sell out before the season even starts, a drop in announced attendance can simply mean more no-shows among people who’d already bought tickets — a quirk of how ticket sales themselves work. The thread’s real focus wasn’t the “record high” headline itself, but the reliability of the announced figures and whether comparisons between teams and leagues built on those figures actually hold up.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “[Baseball] NPB: Central/Pacific League attendance this season is 27,177,247 — record high for 3rd straight year… Per-game average: Central League 34,088, Pacific League 29,262.”