Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • Ijuin Hikaru showers praise on Okada Keisuke — 5ch: “Isn’t he a genius?”

    On the September 1 broadcast of TV Tokyo’s “Ijuin Hikaru & Sakuma Nobuyuki’s Unauthorized TV Tokyo Review,” Ijuin Hikaru’s glowing praise of Okada Keisuke (of the comedy duo Masuda Okada), host of “Kaiun! Nandemo Kanteidan” (“Fortune’s Turn! Appraisal Panel”), calling him “a genius,” became a hot topic. Reactions on 5ch were largely in agreement, with many commenters citing specific hosting techniques as proof of Okada’s skill — like his subtle way of holding down contestants’ appraisal-value flip cards so they can’t be raised early before the cue. On the other hand, some pushed back by pointing to his hosting on the baseball talk show “Dugout,” arguing he “lacks knowledge” and is “bad at moderating,” leaving opinions split over Ijuin’s assessment.

    Sep 2 (Wed) 14:27

    Talent Ijuin Hikaru (58) appeared on TV Tokyo’s “Ijuin Hikaru & Sakuma Nobuyuki’s Unauthorized TV Tokyo Review” (Tuesdays, 1:30am), which aired on the 1st. He named, by name, a popular comedian he considers a “can-do-anything” genius.

    In the “Unauthorized TV Tokyo Timetable Review” segment, Ijuin brought up his own recent appearance on the network’s long-running hit show “Kaiun! Nandemo Kanteidan,” saying, “I got to appear on ‘Kanteidan’ again after a while.”

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

    2AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:35
    Because watching an Osaka night-view video channel on YouTube is more fun than watching Peace-kun over at Omiya Park.
    7AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:36
    This kind of insider praise (industry people hyping up their own) isn't bad, honestly.
    8AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:36
    The Nobel Prize guy.
    70AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:27
    Re: #8
    Yeah lol
    Okada being where he is today is definitely thanks to that show lol
    He honed his craft on that show lol
    9AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:37
    I get it. I've felt that for a while too.
    If he were with Yoshimoto (the big Osaka talent agency), he'd definitely have made it to the top by now.
    10AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:38
    Nakayama Hide gives off the same vibe.
    12AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:39
    Re: #10
    Wasn't it Ijuin who also brought up how this guy handled things with Erika Sawajiri before?
    62AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:19
    Re: #10
    But Nakayama Hideyuki is Nippon TV only, though.
    14AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:40
    Isn't Yoshimura from Nobukobu (comedy duo) this type too?
    15AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:40
    If Ijuin Hikaru says so, it must be true.
    16AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:40
    He's one of the two pillars holding up Matsutake (talent agency) right now.
    17AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:41
    When Ijuin talks,
    his left thumb is constantly twisting and rubbing away, right?
    Is that some aftereffect of an illness or something?
    It bugs me so much that none of what he's saying actually sinks in…
    46AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:00
    Re: #17
    Apparently that's him hitting the brakes on his own brain.
    He's got this mode where his brain feels like it could talk forever once it kicks in,
    and when that happens he completely ignores the show's time limit and the other guests and just can't stop talking.
    So supposedly, spinning his thumb diverts just enough attention to keep that runaway talking in check.
    23AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:45
    They never let Matsutake (talent agency) win M-1 early on, huh.
    76AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:32
    Re: #23
    Masuda Okada's first M-1 appearance wasn't good at all.
    24AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:45
    Okada goes full throttle right from the start,
    so on a long broadcast, the second half gets rough.
    26AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:46
    Remarried and having kids in his 50s —
    that's a bit unusual.
    27AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:46
    Whether or not that's true of Okada specifically, there really are people who make a show more entertaining just by being there, even if they're not especially funny themselves.
    For me, guys like Tokoro George and Itsumi Masataka were like that.
    31AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:48
    Saw him on the subway once when I was young — he was alone but smiling the whole time, no disguise or anything.
    32AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:48
    His humor's a bit too cheap, so he might work for specials, but I don't want him on prime-time comedy shows.
    33AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:48
    We all know Okada's funny.
    Spelling out every little detail is just unnecessary.
    36AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:49
    For a while Okada was on a show with Masuda Akemi,
    and people joked he'd swapped partners for that other Masuda (his own duo partner is also named Masuda).
    37AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:50
    I think it was a Hinatazaka46 show — watching him handle the rookies on it, I thought he was really impressive.
    39AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:53
    He might be good at turning amateurish guests into decent laughs.
    41AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:54
    I get this.
    When he was on Bakushou Mondai's "Carboy" (radio show), I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.
    45AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:00
    Okada of Masuda Okada really made it big.

    Back in the Kansai late-night show "Libido no Ran,"
    he was just nodding along to Kitano Makoto's dumb chatter.

    That was a show where Kitano Makoto's hosting was just painfully unfunny.
    59AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:15
    Even among M-1 champions, people say Masuda Okada and Black Mayonnaise are on a different level.
    77AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:33
    Re: #59
    Different level in what sense?
    63AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:19
    Re: #1
    I don't get what this bit about the flip card means.
    78AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:35
    Re: #63
    Assuming you've seen the "on-location appraisal" segments —
    you know how contestants hold the flip card with the appraisal price face-down, then raise it high on the host's "Jaga-jan!" cue?
    Apparently some contestants can't help but raise it early, before the cue.
    To stop that, the host has a technique of pressing down on the bottom of the flip card,
    and the point is that Okada is incredibly good at making that "holding it down" look completely natural, seamlessly leading into the "Jaga-jan!" cue so no one notices why he's doing it.

    Background and key points of this topic

    Okada Keisuke has a track record as the M-1 Grand Prix 2004 champion as part of the duo Masuda Okada, and in recent years has hosted “Kaiun! Nandemo Kanteidan.” The “technique for holding down the flip card” that came up in the thread is a practical trick for keeping contestants from raising the appraisal-price card before the cue — something easy to miss unless you watch the show regularly. On the other hand, his hosting on the baseball talk show “Dugout” has drawn criticism for “lacking knowledge” and being “bad at moderating,” showing that opinions of Okada genuinely differ depending on the type of show. It’s worth noting that Ijuin’s “genius” comment was specifically about his hosting skill on Kanteidan, not an overall verdict on Okada’s comedic style as a whole — an easy point to misread.

    *This article was compiled by excerpting and summarizing the 5ch (Sports/Entertainment News+) thread “Ijuin Hikaru showers praise on Masuda Okada’s Okada Keisuke: “Isn’t he a genius? The show gets more fun just by him being there”.”

  • Juice=Juice × Harami-chan Team Up for “Moré! Mi Amore” Livestream — Fan Reactions Are All Over the Map

    Juice=Juice’s Danbara Ruru, Inoue Rein, and Arisawa Ichika are teaming up with street pianist Harami-chan — known for her 47-prefecture tour — for a special livestream performance of “Moré! Mi Amore.” Harami-chan herself gushed about the collaboration on social media, calling them “an absolute monster group” and urging fans to spread the word. On 5ch’s Hello! Project board, the announcement drew plenty of excited reactions like “I’m too excited to sleep,” but also some cooler takes such as “that trend’s already cooled off” and “no buzz at all,” highlighting a divide in enthusiasm over the collab.

    1AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:40
    Juice=Juice × Harami-chan: Special "Moré! Mi Amore" Livestream Announced
    3AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:42
    https://ogre.natalie.mu/media/news/music/2026/0903/Haramichan_jkt202609_juicejuice.jpg
    4AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:43
    This is the kind of news that's so exciting I'll only be able to sleep… at night (playing on the cliché "too excited to sleep even at night")
    11AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:44
    Harami-chan🍖🎹47-Prefecture Tour! @harami_piano
    Juice=Juice is seriously such a monster group lolololol they're amazing so please spread the word lolololololol

    🎹🎻🎤 "Moré! Mi Amore"
    https://x.com/harami_piano/status/2037120081835286678
    https://pbs.twimg.com/amplify_video_thumb/2037118754803638272/img/11hYeYgFs0_XAJuX.jpg
    https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2037118754803638272/vid/avc1/3840×2160/o66xLJ299XuM4O_1.mp4
    31AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:46
    Nice, nice! (Kansai dialect for "that's great")
    36AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:47
    Urami-chan (a pun on "grudge")
    Tsurami-chan (another yakiniku cut, like harami)
    40AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:48
    47AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:49
    Stuff like this is probably more fun done as a one-take performance
    49AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:51
    Unfortunately this trend's already cooled off
    bit late to jump on the bandwagon now
    50AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:52
    Yep, this one's a non-event too
    51AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:53
    Turned on notification alerts for Harami-chan's X and YouTube, done
    65AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:56
    Nice to see this connection come together
    66AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:56
    【Image】Tomorrow's broadcast "Hamada Kayo Sai ★ Ookami Shounen (TBS)" — promo image of Juice=Juice's Danbara Ruru & Inoue Rein is here! キタ━━━━(゚∀゚)━━━━!!
    https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1788425741/

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Harami-chan is a street pianist known nationwide for her 47-prefecture tour, and she’s continued to release collaboration livestreams covering existing songs and teaming up with popular artists. “Moré! Mi Amore” is one of Juice=Juice’s own songs, and idol groups collaborating with pianists isn’t an unusual promotional approach within the Hello! Project scene. While the thread saw plenty of genuine excitement, there were also more tepid reactions like “that’s already cooled off” and “no buzz,” splitting opinion on whether the timing and draw of the collab still had impact. Differences in taste over performance style were also discussed, with the main point of debate less about the collaboration itself and more about “whether this particular pairing still has meaning right now.” Note that posts amounting to personal attacks or irrelevant flame-baiting have been excluded from this piece.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Juice=Juice’s Danbara Ruru, Inoue Rein & Arisawa Ichika × Harami-chan: Special “Moré! Mi Amore” Livestream Announced.”

  • Japanese Version of ‘The Blood of Dawnwalker’ Gets Blood and Gore Cut for Censorship

    It’s become a hot topic on 5ch’s hardware/industry (Geha) board that the Japanese version of the action RPG ‘The Blood of Dawnwalker’ has had its blood and gore effects cut. The game had been drawing attention ahead of release as a new title from staff behind the ‘Witcher’ series, but the thread turned heated after it emerged that not just the console version but even the PC (Steam) version is censored for Japan. Alongside criticism that even overseas digital purchases only offer the Japanese version if the account region is set to Japan, posters also shared a workaround — editing the launch options to display the uncensored version in Japanese — while others voiced jaded takes on the genre itself, saying they’re ‘sick of these games where you just swing a sword around in a dark screen.’

    4AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:35
    That's rough.
    Bandai Namco never changes, huh.
    5AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:35
    Re: #1
    Watched a playthrough video — this is a crap game.
    Crap game regardless of the blood.
    6AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:36
    These games where you swing swords around in a dark screen, dodging and parrying —
    the market's so saturated there's barely any demand left, yet people still buy them.
    31AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:25
    Re: #6
    Future generations will probably remember this as the Reiwa-era Atari Shock (the infamous 1983 video game market crash).
    90AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:17
    Re: #6
    And with Western games the pacing is clearly bad.
    Chinese and Korean games rip off Japanese ones, but at least they keep a proper sense of speed, so they're fun.
    102AnonymousSep 3, 2026 18:09
    Re: #6
    Even Onimusha is apparently selling worse than that on Steam.
    Sword-fighting games in general are getting old.
    7AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:37
    Censorship is just how vested-interest groups make their living.
    It's pure evil.
    10AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:40
    If this were just the console version, whatever, but the PC version is censored too. Bandai Namco and Capcom are garbage publishers that censor even their PC releases.
    12AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:41
    Isn't it just a mistake to expect to play a foreign game on PS5 without running into CERO censorship in the first place?
    13AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:42
    Features and restrictions: Language: Japanese only (cannot be changed to another language)
    Account: Only usable with a PlayStation Network account whose country/region is set to 'Japan'
    Store access: Only the Japanese PlayStation Store is accessible
    Price: A discounted model, cheaper than the standard one

    This is exactly the trap for anyone who bought the Japan-locked PS5 lol
    14AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:45
    Whoa, the Xbox version is rated Z (18+) too. If they can't re-add the uncensored version later, that's the worst.
    Also the price is steep — even AA Western titles are routinely near 10,000 yen now.
    18AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:04
    Re: #14
    Let us know if it works.
    16AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:51
    Is this set in 14th-century Europe? Is the protagonist Chinese or something?
    19AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:07
    For PC, the only option is buying the overseas version from a key reseller. Truly garbage.
    20AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:09
    Wasn't Japanese language support stripped from the overseas Xbox version too?
    33AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:33
    Re: #20
    Checked the overseas Xbox store listing — it does show Japanese support, aside from voice dubbing.
    75AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:45
    Re: #20
    I'm just playing the uncensored version with Japanese text normally — is something wrong with my setup?
    21AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:13
    Steam has the censored version too.
    And GOG has region-locked Japan out entirely.
    Bandai Namco really are idiots.
    22AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:13
    Meanwhile, it seems pirates are enjoying the uncensored version with Japanese text.
    28AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:18
    Bandai Namco's about to release DLC for Code Vein 2, so maybe they wanted to crush the competition first?
    29AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:22
    No blood at all…

    Are they hitting each other with wooden swords or what lol
    30AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:25
    The word 'Blood' is literally in the title and there's no blood? Is this a joke?
    34AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:35
    Re: #30
    If anything, the protagonist is a half-vampire.
    32AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:30
    You used to be able to play uncensored by buying the overseas disc version, but once everything goes download-only, that option disappears too.
    36AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:37
    Had to laugh that even Steam is censored. Looks like PC is entering its own downgrade era now.
    38AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:38
    Re: #36
    By the way, Capcom is one of the rare garbage companies that censors even the PC version too. Makes you wonder what the point of censoring PC even is.
    45AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:48
    Elden Ring is drenched in blood, though.
    Why the difference?
    54AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:01
    Re: #45
    A developer launching a brand-new IP
    doesn't have the resources to fine-tune content for a specific country's regulations (like Japan's),
    so they tend to just take the easy route and cut everything.
    48AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:53
    Isn't the Japanese version of Wolverine going to get its blood cut too?
    50AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:56
    Re: #48
    It'd be pretty funny if the blood spraying everywhere that they showed off at the SIEJ-invited Japan early-access preview ends up getting cut lol
    69AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:34
    Sigh…

    84AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:59
    Re: #70
    So you're saying the MS Store version, not Steam, might actually work?
    85AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:05
    Re: #84
    It's not 'might work' — it does work.
    Just download the overseas version and add culture=ja to the launch options.
    87AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:12
    But you guys were hyping this up like crazy just because it's made by ex-Witcher staff.
    88AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:14
    Re: #87
    Oh really.
    No wonder it's boring.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Under Japan’s CERO rating system, sexual and violent content that exceeds a certain threshold results in a ‘Z (18 and up)’ rating, and major publishers often respond by trimming content from the overseas version to pass review. ‘The Blood of Dawnwalker,’ the title at the center of this discussion, is a vampire-themed action game from Rebel Wolves, a studio founded by former CD Projekt Red staff. The thread zeroed in on the fact that the blood effects — an element tied directly to the game’s own title — have been almost entirely removed in the Japanese version. One common misconception is that censorship only applies to the console version; in reality, even the overseas release only offers the Japanese version through digital-only storefronts if the account is set to Japan, and the same restrictions extend to the PC (Steam) version as well, regardless of platform. At the same time, posters discussed workarounds such as changing the language setting via launch options or personally importing the overseas package, which raised further questions about how effective the censorship really is. It’s also worth noting that titles like Elden Ring have managed to release with blood effects intact, showing that whether censorship happens can come down to the developer’s resources and how negotiations with CERO play out.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread ‘[Sad News] ‘The Blood of Dawnwalker’ Japanese Version Ends Up Absolutely Gutted by Censorship wwwwwwwwww‘.

  • Speed Wagon’s Idota: Duo With Ozawa Is Back, But ‘The Offers Just Aren’t Coming’

    Jun Idota (53) of the comedy duo Speed Wagon appeared at a Nihon Ham product launch event on September 3 and revealed that, even though his partner Kazutaka Ozawa has resumed his entertainment career, offers for the duo have been “unbelievably” nonexistent. Ozawa had been on hiatus after being named in Bunshun’s reporting on Hitoshi Matsumoto as the person who introduced women to him, but he returned to work earlier this year. On 5ch, threads buzzed with claims that the duo was never that popular to begin with, alongside anecdotes about Ozawa’s relationship with Matsumoto that triggered the hiatus — sparking a mix of sympathy and “you brought this on yourself” takes.

    Sep 3 (Thu) 3:25 PM

    Jun Idota (53) of the comedy duo Speed Wagon attended the “Nihon Ham Wiener ‘Hojun’ Brand New Promotion Announcement & Tasting Event” held in Tokyo on the 3rd.

    Idota appeared as “Wiener Master,” the trainer of the mysterious masked wrestler “Juicy Hou,” to help boost awareness and eating occasions for the coarse-ground wiener brand “Hojun.”

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

    2AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:54
    Feels like the duo wasn't that popular to begin with
    37AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:10
    Re: #2
    I liked their radio show — good friends like Bananaman used to come on as guests a lot
    3AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:54
    Because, quite simply, there's no demand for them
    4AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:55
    It's because he never actually took responsibility and explained himself
    His thinking is way too soft
    7AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:55
    Pulled a stunt like that and he can still make a comeback, huh
    8AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:55
    The man who can identify Tochu (a Nagoya sports newspaper) by smell alone
    9AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:56
    Idota's character is strong enough that he doesn't really need a partner
    Worst case, he can still make a living as a local Aichi Prefecture comedian
    107AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:53
    Re: #9
    CBC (the Nagoya TV station) seems like the type to pick that up
    11AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:57
    Bringing back the 'Amaaai!' (his old catchphrase, meaning "sweet!") manzai routine at this point isn't gonna cut it…
    105AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:51
    Re: #11
    Hamburger Sensei
    12AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:58
    Weren't the two of them not even working together before the scandal anyway?
    13AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:59
    Oh, Ozawa's the guy who was hooking Matsumoto up with women? Completely forgot he existed
    14AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:59
    He had all that work because he was talented, and like with Watanabe (another scandal-hit comedian), there's probably a part of them wanting to keep using him on the cheap — but this is the phase where they're first testing how much backlash it'll bring
    15AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:59
    Wasn't there no demand for him to begin with, and he only got work by supplying Matsumoto with women?
    17AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:59
    Huh?
    The way he's using "unbelievably" is off
    It should be "of course there are no offers"
    18AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:00
    Everyone's too scared to open that Pandora's box
    19AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:00
    Well… yeah, obviously lol
    First he needs to spill everything at a press conference and grovel in apology, right?
    20AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:00
    It was actually Ozawa who came up with the Hamburger Sensei character, you know
    24AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:01
    Not even Downtown Plus will take him?
    28AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:03
    Re: #24
    Apparently he told this story afterward — he expected Matsumoto to call and say something like "sorry for dragging you into this" or "let's keep at it," but instead got screamed at with "you introduced me to some crazy woman!" lol
    They're completely done with each other now
    32AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:07
    Re: #28
    Matsumoto holds a grudge once he's angry
    He won't even meet with Miyasako (another scandal-hit comedian) either
    65AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:23
    Re: #28
    I get how Matsumoto feels, but Ozawa's just too pitiful lol
    33AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:07
    These days you barely even see Idota solo, huh
    47AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:16
    Re: #33
    Idota's from Aichi, so he appears a lot on local Nagoya shows
    43AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:13
    Ozawa: "I will continue my activities as before, because there is nothing whatsoever for me to be ashamed of."
    Matsumoto: "The allegations are baseless, so I will fight this."
    Nakai: "I've been able to continue my entertainment activities going forward without any issues."

    Why do these guys claim it's all baseless and then just vanish without ever explaining anything?
    62AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:22
    Re: #43
    Ozawa didn't actually do anything wrong, he just got caught up in Matsumoto's mess
    69AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:24
    Re: #62
    Ozawa's basically like someone who did a "yami baito" (a shady gig-work scam job) — even doing shady work without knowing what it really was can get you arrested
    73AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:25
    Re: #62
    Then why did Kenkoba warn people not to get close to Ozawa?
    58AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:20
    He'll just have to grind it out on The Second (a manzai contest for veteran duos)
    Though with audience judging, it's basically hopeless
    63AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:22
    Re: #58
    The judges are comedy nerds
    Plenty of Matsumoto devotees among them, so compliance concerns probably mean nothing to them
    Even if they win their round, not sure they'd actually make the finals though
    85AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:33
    Matsumoto's fans say "it'd be a nice heartwarming story if Ozawa showed up on Downtown Plus" — but sadly, that's never happening.
    The "suite-room mixer" reported by Bunshun was something Ozawa himself had arranged.
    The night Ozawa, feeling responsible, decided to go on hiatus, he got a call from Matsumoto.
    He expected to hear something like "Sorry for dragging you into this too."
    But what came through the phone instead was Matsumoto screaming at him:
    "What the hell is going on?! That woman you brought is out of her mind! What are you gonna do about this?!"
    Given all that, there's no way Ozawa is ever appearing on Downtown Plus.

    This is from some magazine reporter's tweet, but personally I'm obsessed with it.
    94AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:39
    Re: #85
    He initially said he had nothing to be ashamed of, and then suddenly went on hiatus — that's probably pressure from Yoshimoto (or really, from Matsumoto)
    95AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:39
    Re: #85
    Ozawa apparently complained about getting screamed at to people all over the place, which is probably how it reached the magazine reporter too
    86AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:36
    Hamburger Sensei is such a nice guy and good at hosting too, he should just go solo
    89AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:37
    Re: #86
    Nice guy?
    The fact that he's still working with Ozawa at all makes him look shady… lol
    93AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:39
    Re: #86
    He could always fall back on being a Dragons-themed comedian too lol

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Idota and Ozawa’s duo Speed Wagon has a history of hiatus: when Bunshun reported on Hitoshi Matsumoto’s alleged sexual misconduct in 2023, Ozawa’s name came up as the person who had introduced Matsumoto to the women involved, and he stepped back from entertainment work. Matsumoto denied the allegations and sued Bunshun, but he withdrew the lawsuit at the end of 2024, meaning the allegations themselves were never legally resolved. In the thread, opinions split between those arguing the duo lacked notable achievements even before the hiatus, and those who saw the hiatus itself as the direct cause of the drop in offers since Ozawa’s return. It’s worth noting that the anecdote about Matsumoto furiously berating Ozawa comes from a magazine reporter’s tweet, not an official account from either party.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Sports/Entertainment News+) thread “Speed Wagon’s Jun Idota: Duo Reunites With Kazutaka Ozawa’s Return, But “Unbelievably, There Are No Offers”“.

  • Sakanaction’s Ichiro Yamaguchi on AI Lyrics: “Smart But Boring,” “No Scent to Them”

    On the September 1 broadcast of All Night Nippon, Sakanaction’s Ichiro Yamaguchi described AI-generated lyrics as “the kind that are smart but not interesting” and said they “have no scent — no color, you could say,” adding that good lyrics are born when they exceed his own imagination. Reactions on 5ch were split: many argued AI and human lyrics should be compared in a blind test, or pointed out that the sense of “AI-ness” is just a preconception on the listener’s part, while others agreed with Yamaguchi’s take, citing the flat contours of AI vocals and the uniformity of AI lyrics.

    Sakanaction’s Ichiro Yamaguchi appeared on the September 1 broadcast of “Sakanaction Ichiro Yamaguchi’s All Night Nippon” (Nippon Broadcasting System), answering a listener’s question about what matters most in writing good lyrics.

    Yamaguchi explained that what matters most in writing good lyrics is “exceeding your own imagination.” “Even if you write intending to phrase something a certain way, or wanting to write about a certain theme, you don’t end up surprising yourself,” he said.

    He considers a lyric complete when it reaches the point of “Huh? That’s not even what I meant to say, but it turned out beautiful” or “Did I really write this?”

    Source: sirabee.com / Original article here

    2AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:40
    But that's just a ripoff of "Shake Hip," right?
    5AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:42
    If you can tell human from AI in a double-blind test, you win.
    6AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:44
    This guy sounds pretty frustrated tbh
    Sounds perfectly listenable to me
    10AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:45
    Re: #6
    Exactly

    Re: #1 is just coping (a "moral victory" mindset)
    7AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:44
    Time to time-slip back and crash the Man'yōshū (Japan's oldest poetry anthology)
    8AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:45
    I wonder
    If you lined up a bunch of lyrics
    could you really pick out the AI ones every single time?

    It's a radio show — I'd love to see them actually try it
    12AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:47
    Like those AI songs made from Harabo Nishi's gags (a comedian known for absurd bits)
    The lyrics are completely nonsensical and hilarious
    13AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:47
    That's a ripoff of Kome Kome Club
    I thought it was the Drifters' "Baban Baban Ban Ban Ban"
    15AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:49
    Same kind of thing as saying Utada Hikaru's lyrics lack humanity?
    45AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:19
    Re: #15
    The one that was the News Zero ending theme had good lyrics though
    16AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:50
    Plenty of humans out there stitching together lines they picked up from somewhere too, and it's cringe
    67AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:53
    Re: #16
    It's all been done already
    Twist it and it just turns edgy/try-hard
    Same goes for the music, not just the lyrics
    17AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:50
    Hearing it's basically just a pile of predictive text makes it sound less impressive somehow
    Feels like AI's losing steam lately too, I wonder how that'll go
    18AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:50
    Seeing the name in print, it overlaps with Ryoichi Yamaguchi.
    I like them both — funny, good talkers
    19AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:51
    Saw a Yajuu Senpai song on my YouTube recommendations (an internet meme figure)
    Fully AI, MV too, but the quality blew me away
    Made me realize how far this stuff has come
    22AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:53
    Logical correctness doesn't even matter
    as long as it feels vaguely affirming, you're fine
    Just grab a word people don't normally use but that clicks the second you hear it — "oh, that one" — with a sideways, unexpected twist, and you win

    Honestly, lyric writing looks like exactly the field AI would be best at
    23AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:53
    Humanity fought shogi software with everything it had but eventually admitted total defeat
    now it's been embraced and put to good use
    music's world is still resisting, huh
    24AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:53
    It's like how AI illustrations never quite grab you
    things with too little irregularity just don't pull people in
    66AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:53
    Re: #24
    Yeah, it's boring
    26AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:54
    Well, that's just the impression the word "AI" gives, isn't it
    27AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:55
    > Smashing separate drafts together ("gacchanko")

    "Gacchanko" is totally Gemini's catchphrase lol

    The big AI models have a sheer volume of knowledge beyond any single person
    No human could ever compete on that front
    so he's surely using AI heavily
    It's just that he's not leaving it entirely up to AI, that's all
    28AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:55
    Feels like poetry, where the usable vocabulary is more limited, is actually closer to being in trouble

    Poetry might end up being more about the "poet's brand" than the actual content
    29AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:57
    AI does tend to line up words that just sound pleasant
    30AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:57
    > "It feels smart but not interesting" "To me it just has no scent — no color, I guess"

    That's nothing but a preconception based on already knowing it was written by AI
    Run a blind test and you won't be able to tell the difference
    31AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:57
    Sounds like "you're smart but not interesting" yourself
    32AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:59
    Re: #1
    They should do a New Year's special guessing which lyrics are Yamaguchi's and which are AI's

    If he gets it wrong, no point airing it

    Bonus points if Daigo guesses wrong and Gackt yells at him (referencing a variety-show bit)
    33AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:00
    My kettle broke so I went looking for a new one
    almost went with stainless but got enamel instead
    34AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:02
    There are a lot of YouTube channels having AI sing lately, and sometimes it's better than the original — pretty impressive
    dunno about the lyrics side of things though
    35AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:05
    Wonder if he actually knows anything about stainless steel when he says that…
    36AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:06
    I want to believe AI still can't pull off suddenly shifting tone to catch the listener off guard
    if it can do that, then you probably can't tell them apart anymore
    37AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:06
    You guys sounded pretty mechanical/inorganic back when you started too
    like "Aruku Around" or "Native Dancer"
    though I don't know about the lyrics
    39AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:09
    It's because the prompt given for writing lyrics isn't good enough
    Just tell ChatGPT ("Chappy") to write a prompt that gives it "scent" and makes it gel-like
    52AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:27
    Bet you couldn't tell in a blind test lol
    65AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:50
    Re: #52
    I think a professional musician could spot it easily
    Though you couldn't
    I can easily spot it in videos and images too
    56AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:34
    AI vocals sound like clean straight lines, kind of jagged and angular
    I guess with humans the edges feel rounded off, huh
    58AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:36
    Re: #56
    It's still just mid-evolution
    74AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:06
    If you've actually used it, you'd know getting rid of AI's quirks is nowhere near easy
    I use AI 12 hours a day so I'd know
    75AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:12
    Re: #74
    "I made this with AI! Amazing!" — there's a flood of ridiculous output out there that somehow got the OK looking like that
    At this stage, it's a tool that only someone who can actually tell what's wrong with AI output can really use well

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Yamaguchi’s remark originally came up as an example within a broader discussion of “what makes good lyrics,” not as a blanket condemnation of AI technology itself. On the thread, opinion split between those who read the comment as a claim that “AI loses to humans” and pushed back, and those who agreed with Yamaguchi’s sense of it. Some pointed to the precedent of shogi software, which humans resisted before eventually embracing and putting to use, suggesting music may follow the same path; others held firm that, for now, you can still sense a difference in texture from human work, citing the flat contours of AI vocals and the “lack of irregularity” in AI illustrations. It’s worth noting that whether people could actually tell the difference in a blind test was never verified on the broadcast — it remained at the level of “I’d love to see them try it.”

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Ichiro Yamaguchi on the something-missing feeling from AI-made lyrics: “Smart but not interesting” “No scent — like stainless steel”.”

  • Yen Rockets to 1-Month High of ¥156 — Up ¥3 in a Single Day as Traders Bet on End of Weak-Yen Era

    On the 3rd, the yen surged in Tokyo trading, briefly touching the ¥156 range against the dollar — its strongest level in about a month, since August 7. That’s roughly a ¥3 move in 24 hours from around ¥159.70 the previous evening, with the yen-buying pinned on growing expectations of a BOJ rate hike and remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent. On 5ch, opinions split over whether a stronger yen will actually ease prices and daily life, with pessimists insisting “companies won’t cut prices” clashing against optimists hoping “imports will get cheaper.” The thread also debated long-term interest rates and expansionary fiscal policy.

    In Tokyo foreign exchange trading on the 3rd, the yen briefly climbed into the ¥156 range against the dollar — the first time it’s hit that level in about a month, since August 7. Alongside growing expectations that the Bank of Japan will accelerate rate hikes, remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent fueled speculation about a correction to the weak yen, driving a wave of yen buying.

    As of 5pm on the 2nd, the rate was hovering around ¥159.70. In New York trading that same day it strengthened to around ¥158.21 at one point, and it strengthened further still in Tokyo trading on the 3rd. …(437 characters remaining in the paid version)

    Nikkei, September 3, 2026, 11:38 (updated 16:02, September 3, 2026)

    Source: nikkei.com / Original article here

    24AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:15
    Next up: the mystery phenomenon of "strong yen, high prices."
    Big corporations have zero intention of lowering prices — they'll just whine about shrinking profits from the strong yen and use it as an excuse to jack up prices even more.
    Nothing changes until someone smashes big business's special privileges.
    28AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:16
    Re: #24
    Well yeah, obviously.
    Nobody's honest enough to actually lower prices just because the yen got stronger.
    61AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:21
    Re: #24
    There might be the odd sale here and there, but that's basically how it'll go.
    Maybe there's an outside chance of a de facto price cut though.
    72AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:23
    Re: #24
    And when that happens, what excuse will the bottom-feeders who wanted a strong yen come up with next?
    43AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:19
    Are they seriously going to keep hiking rates forever lol
    JGB yields are headed to 5%.
    200AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:36
    Re: #43
    Actually, 10-year bond yields are falling, not rising, as inflation worries ease.
    321AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:46
    Re: #43
    You clearly don't get it — long-term bond yields are rising precisely BECAUSE they're not hiking rates lol
    62AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:21
    America really is something else — one comment and the whole market reacts.
    69AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:23
    Re: #62
    Since last year, the joint operations command for the Self-Defense Forces and U.S. Forces Japan has been based at the Akasaka Press Center, you know? 🤣🤣🤣
    85AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:24
    Re: #69
    That's wrong.
    104AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:26
    Re: #69
    JJOC is in Ichigaya.

    If you don't even know what JJOC is, you're not even in the conversation.
    109AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:27
    You guys should just quit NISA (Japan's tax-free investment account) and stick to plain savings at this point.
    124AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:28
    Re: #109
    Shouldn't you be buying while the yen's still a bit stronger?
    126AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:28
    Re: #109
    You can snag Orikan (the popular "All Country" world-index fund) on the cheap right now.
    136AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:29
    Re: #109
    Here's my situation as a 57-year-old unmarried corporate slave:
    Regular savings: ¥3 million
    Time deposits: ¥7 million
    Pension insurance: ¥5 million
    Stocks: worth about ¥25 million
    Land and buildings: worth about ¥30 million
    That's just how it is 🤣🤣🤣
    131AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:29
    No matter how much they talk it down or intervene, if Takaichi goes all-in on expansionary fiscal policy and floods the market with JGB issuance, it'll definitely snap right back.
    What's actually needed is fixing the underlying fundamentals that have lost the market's trust.
    Until that happens, downward pressure on the yen is guaranteed to continue.
    143AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:30
    Re: #131
    The U.S. is issuing way more debt than Japan, so it can only end in dollar weakness.
    163AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:33
    Re: #143
    How much debt gets issued has nothing to do with exchange rates.
    138AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:30
    When Bessent talks about "appropriate policy," he probably means a consumption tax cut, not a rate hike.
    157AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:32
    Re: #138
    They say the truly rich are snapping up hard assets.
    In the U.S., apparently they're hedging with farmland and the like.
    170AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:34
    Re: #157
    Hard to say. What used to be panic-driven moves now really feels like it's turned into pure indecision.
    247AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:40
    Re: #157
    I think they want Japan to boost domestic demand so we end up buying more American products.
    141AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:30
    Once the yen strengthens, domestic companies' earnings will slump, so we're probably in for a wave of layoffs.
    155AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:32
    Re: #141
    Cheaper imports should actually help a lot of companies recover too.
    148AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:31
    https://imgur.com/Kq9t5hh.jpg
    https://imgur.com/Hjgdi3b.jpg
    164AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:33
    165AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:33
    Re: #155
    Based on experience, I don't think so.

    That's coming from someone who's lived through Showa (the bubble era), Heisei, and now Reiwa.
    189AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:35
    Re: #165
    What about oil and energy, for starters?
    Actually, what kind of "experience" are you even talking about?
    202AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:36
    Re: #189
    Does oil just spring up domestically when the yen gets strong or something?
    277AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:43
    Re: #189
    For goods with a high share of imported raw materials that aren't processed much — like gasoline — sure, prices drop.
    But goods that rely heavily on imported materials yet still go through processing barely move.
    And services? They don't budge at all.
    Japan, with its service-heavy economy, is a country where exchange-rate swings have relatively little effect on overall prices.
    169AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:33
    Re: #155
    Then why did the "Lost 30 Years" even happen, lol.
    Back when it was ¥80 to the dollar, there was a massive labor surplus.
    213AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:37
    Re: #169
    That just means things stayed as manageable as they did because imports were cheap.
    The Lost 30 Years happened because the Japanese government let the shortfall in domestic demand go unaddressed.
    Go learn the basics.
    190AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:35
    Who are the people here actually rooting for a weak yen?
    198AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:36
    Re: #190
    People like me who just want to flee the country?
    224AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:38
    Re: #190
    People who get off on ordinary folks suffering.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    As the phrase “correction to the weak yen” suggests, today’s surge is being attributed to two overlapping factors: expectations of a BOJ rate hike and remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent. Where the thread split was over whether a stronger yen actually benefits household budgets. Whether companies pass falling input costs on as lower prices varies a lot by industry — goods like gasoline, which rely heavily on imported raw materials and undergo little processing, are highly sensitive to exchange-rate moves, while for Japan’s overall price level, dominated as it is by services, the effect of a stronger yen is seen as limited. On long-term interest rates too, opinions clashed between the intuitive view that “rate hikes push bond yields up” and the counter-view that “yields are rising precisely because the BOJ isn’t hiking, due to inflation concerns” — a reminder that this can’t be explained by a simple formula. Some also pointed out that whether the yen’s rebound actually translates into a better standard of living depends on how companies handle pricing going forward.

    *This article was compiled by excerpting and summarizing the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “[Forex] Yen Surges to ¥156 Range for First Time in a Month — Up ¥3 in 24 Hours Amid Bets on Weak-Yen Correction.”

  • The ‘Sakamoto Ryoma Did Nothing’ Theory: 5ch Users Fire Back With Primary Sources

    A debate broke out on 5ch’s “Whatever Live” board (なんでも実況G) over the theory that “Sakamoto Ryoma actually did nothing.” According to one post in the thread, the theory traces back to 2017, when media outlets conflated a research group’s proposal to streamline textbook terminology with a historian’s book published around the same time, mistakenly reporting that “Ryoma will disappear from textbooks.” In response, users cited historical records — including his signature on the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance and his role in arms imports — and the thread largely concluded that “saying he did nothing” is an overstatement. Still, some argued he wasn’t really at the center of the Meiji Restoration, leaving opinions divided.

    1AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:04
    If anything, he did nothing.
    2AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:05
    What's Takeda Tetsuya gonna do about this? (actor/musician famous for his Ryoma fandom)
    3AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:05
    Re: #2
    He's got "the kanji for 'person' is two strokes leaning on each other…" going for him, so he's unfazed (referencing Takeda Tetsuya's famous line from Kinpachi-sensei)
    5AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:07
    A business genius who traded with Glover & Co. — a subsidiary of Jardine Matheson, which was backed by the Rothschild family — importing surplus weapons from the American Civil War for next to nothing, talking Glover into extending massive credit by promising there was demand to repay it, buying up huge quantities of arms, and ultimately driving Glover into bankruptcy.
    6AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:07
    That's the downside of Takeda Tetsuya's manga 'Oi! Ryoma' (a romanticized Ryoma biopic manga).
    8AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:09
    Glover, bankrupted because of Sakamoto Ryoma, couldn't return to his home country and stayed in Japan, where the Mitsubishi zaibatsu ended up taking care of him.
    9AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:10
    Wasn't the general consensus that nobody really knew what he did, he was just the guy who showed up everywhere?
    17AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:16
    So in 2017 the Council for the Promotion of Cooperation between High Schools and Universities in History Education proposed splitting history textbook terms into "basic" and "advanced" categories because there was just too much to memorize.
    Under that proposal, figures like Sakamoto Ryoma, Saigo Takamori, Okubo Toshimichi, Kido Takayoshi, and Iwakura Tomomi got moved to the "advanced" side.
    Then, coincidentally that same year, historical writer (not an actual researcher) Kozo Kaku published a book arguing "Ryoma wasn't really a big deal."
    The book was basically just a fun, casual read, but the media combined these two things and reported "Sakamoto Ryoma didn't do much, so he's being cut from textbooks."
    That report went viral, and it seems some people took it at face value.
    In the end, the council's chairman came out and said "We never said that, the reporting is wrong," which put the story to rest — and Ryoma was never actually removed from textbooks.
    But apparently the misunderstanding still lingers.


    Or so I heard.
    51AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:33
    He bought up tons of guns and warships under the Satsuma domain's name on behalf of the Choshu domain, right?
    Sakamoto Ryoma was basically an arms dealer.
    74AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:42
    Re: #51
    It's solid historical fact that his trading company Kameyama Shachu contributed to the arms-and-rice trade between Satsuma and Choshu and helped broker their relationship.
    Fiction just added extra embellishment on top of that — embellishment doesn't mean the whole thing is a lie.
    60AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:35
    I mean, if he really did nothing, why would anyone bother assassinating him?
    72AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:41
    Re: #60
    Honestly the only one with a real motive to kill him is Glover, who he bankrupted.
    78AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:47
    I saw somewhere that when it came to figuring out how to get Glover & Co.'s weapons to Choshu, it would've been tough without Sakamoto Ryoma.
    84AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:50
    Re: #78
    Back then no one else had a ship they could move around freely.
    But if the rifles hadn't gotten through, they probably couldn't have repelled the Second Choshu Expedition, so that might've been his single best move.
    82AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:50
    There are historical records showing he was present at the signing of the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance and even signed it himself — if that's "doing nothing" then that's hilarious.
    Some guy who supposedly did nothing just shows up out of nowhere and signs off on it? That's terrifying.
    86AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:54
    Re: #82
    Wasn't it that Katsura Kogoro of the Choshu domain asked him afterward to endorse it in writing?
    I recall reading that he just headed straight back to the Teradaya inn in Fushimi once he'd witnessed the alliance get signed.
    And that's when he ran into the Teradaya Incident — the Fushimi magistrate's office raided the place and he fled to the Satsuma domain residence.
    94AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:58
    Re: #82
    Though there's also a theory that the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance was basically already settled before that, and he just showed up for the after-party.
    Well, he was known for being good at winning people over, at least.
    87AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:55
    He's not counted among the "Three Great Nobles" or "Ten Great Men" of the Restoration. His posthumous court rank, Junior Fourth Rank, was handed out to dozens of people — so in baseball terms, he's not quite Nagashima, Oh, Ichiro, or Otani tier, more like a Hara or Kiyohara-level patriot, one notch below the very best.
    89AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:56
    Re: #87
    Part of that is because he was from Tosa.
    Choshu and Satsuma hogged all the credit.
    And on top of that, he was a masterless ronin who'd abandoned his domain.
    88AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:55
    Threads about the "Ryoma did nothing" theory sometimes go the way this one did, correcting course with "no wait, he actually did this stuff" — but other times they just end with "Ryoma sucked, dude was nobody, lol."
    93AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:58
    Re: #88
    Even among posters on this board (なんG), literacy levels vary.
    96AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:59
    Re: #88
    There's just too much of a paper trail for "he did nothing" to hold up.
    He may not have been in as important a position as people claim, sure.
    Nakaoka (Shintaro) was actually more involved in the Restoration itself.
    95AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:58
    I read a biography once — it was mostly just him tagging along with important people and somehow winning them over. Whether he actually did anything wasn't really clear.
    Though my memory's fuzzy on it.
    100AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:01
    Re: #95
    He's the rare type who's on good terms with everyone, so just having him around smooths things over.
    98AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:00
    Where there's smoke, there's fire.
    The records prove he showed up at historical moments all over the place, so saying he did nothing is an overstatement.
    The weapons he bought from Glover surely helped topple the shogunate too.
    109AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:05
    Re: #98
    "Helped" is an understatement — that was basically the spark that lit the whole Restoration.
    Non-samurai militia wielding serious firepower changed everything.
    If they hadn't been able to counter the Second Choshu Expedition, the whole framework of the Restoration might've turned out differently.
    99AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:00
    If you take Ryoma away from Kochi, all that's left is bonito.
    102AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:01
    Re: #99
    There's still Kyuji Fujikawa (the pro baseball pitcher).
    101AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:01
    "I wish to wash Japan clean" — he actually said that.
    104AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:03
    Re: #101
    Though apparently that was just an empty prayer, not something he actually did.
    108AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:05
    Besides, they put up a statue of him back in the early Showa era — that alone means he can't have done nothing.
    112AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:06
    Re: #108
    He was famous enough that they even used a propaganda story about him appearing in the Empress's dream.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    The “Sakamoto Ryoma did nothing” theory reportedly originated in 2017, when the Council for the Promotion of Cooperation between High Schools and Universities in History Education proposed streamlining textbook terminology around the same time that historical writer Kozo Kaku happened to publish a general-audience book arguing that “Ryoma didn’t really do much.” The media conflated the two and reported that he would “disappear from textbooks.” The council’s chairman later denied this, saying “we never said any such thing,” and in fact Ryoma’s entry was never removed from textbooks. In the thread, users cited action after action backed by primary historical sources — his presence and signature at the signing of the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance, his involvement in arms imports to the Choshu domain through his trading company Kameyama Shachu — and the prevailing view was that “he did nothing” is an overstatement. At the same time, some pointed out that Ryoma isn’t counted among the “Ten Great Men” or “Three Great Nobles” of the Restoration and wasn’t as central to politics as his later image suggests, so opinions didn’t fully converge.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (“Whatever Live” board) thread “[Sad News] Sakamoto Ryoma Never Actually Said “The Dawn of Japan, Ze Yo” (a famous line attributed to him in Tosa dialect).”

  • New Fire Emblem Sparks “Male Characters Are Getting Snubbed” Debate — 5ch Fires Back: “There Are Plenty of Hot Guys, Though?”

    A post on X (formerly Twitter) claiming that “the new Fire Emblem favors its female characters, who are all cute, while the male characters get treated badly” went viral and sparked a debate on a thread in 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board. Posters tallied up the number of good-looking male candidates by name and repeatedly compared the new game to the earlier title Three Houses. At the same time, some pointed out that while the raw number of handsome characters has actually gone up, the proportion may look lower because the game also added more characters with strong personalities or older designs — complicating any simple “favored vs. snubbed” framing.

    3AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:24
    Honestly, if we're being real, the only obviously good-looking guys this time are Diedrich and the protagonist, right?
    With four whole factions, you'd think at least one of them could've had a house full of hotties like the Blue Lions in Three Houses.
    24AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:51
    Re: #3
    Kai, Io, Nadja, Diego, Gates, Sorel, Kiriku, Lysander, Sirocco

    I count that as plenty of handsome guys — more than Three Houses, even… isn't your bar for "hot" set way too high?
    Also, personally, Dietrich gives off way too much of an Alucard vibe for me to really call him handsome lol
    31AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:02
    Re: #24
    I'm more of a Nathan guy than a Kiriku guy myself
    42AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:22
    Re: #24
    The raw number of handsome guys has actually gone up, but the number of middle-aged dudes and oddball characters has grown even more, so the ratio of hotties has probably gone down
    4AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:26
    The Buccaneer guy cracked me up, that character design has got to be a joke
    5AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:28
    Could tell from Engage already — the dev team's got some serious neckbeard energy
    8AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:33
    Looking at how many similar middle-aged guys there are, my theory is it's not that they're deliberately snubbing male characters — the character designer genuinely thinks this is what a sexy guy looks like
    10AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:35
    Re: #8
    Maybe they drew so many hotties for Uta no Prince-sama (a idol-boyband otome game) that they're all out of ideas now
    18AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:41
    Nobody accuses the male characters who aren't good-looking of being "political correctness" hires — people go way easier on that side
    21AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:45
    I'd get it if people were mad like "FE is supposed to have middle-aged men and women, old men, old women, all sorts!" but complaining there aren't enough hotties feels off
    22AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:47
    Kind of rich coming from someone using an Altina icon (a character from the Trails series)
    23AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:49
    This isn't really any different from complaining "stop putting so many Black characters in"
    26AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:52
    Isn't this basically calling someone out in public?
    Come on, let it go
    27AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:53
    Honestly I'd rather have more rugged, cool-guy characters like Bertrand than just pretty boys
    28AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:56
    Feels like they're all just characters designed to appeal to fujoshi (female BL fans)
    Though I guess it comes down to who the artist is in the first place…
    29AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:57
    Honestly this isn't unique to this game — it applies to basically all content these days
    30AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:00
    They were all "ugh, ugly PC characters!" before, and now suddenly it's come to this
    Maybe they just put in too many beautiful women
    32AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:04
    Isn't Three Houses actually the odd one out here, since most of its cast are students?
    33AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:04
    Awakening, Fates, and Engage all skipped the rugged-guy archetype and ended up feeling like a school talent show
    This game's lineup has way more of that classic pre-Radiant Dawn kind of cool that guys actually go for, way better than Engage's men
    35AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:16
    It's just long-haired guys and plain-looking dudes, pretty underwhelming
    36AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:17
    How many times do I have to say it — just get Urushihara (illustrator Satoshi Urushihara) to do the character designs…
    39AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:19
    Re: #36
    He'd demand Nintendo let him allow his character designs to be drawn nude in doujin works
    There's no way Nintendo agrees to that, so he's banned from Nintendo for life
    53AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:40
    One of the protagonists, what's-his-name, is super handsome though
    Meanwhile there's nothing going on for the female protagonist's route
    66AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:57
    Re: #53
    Leda is obviously gorgeous by any measure
    65AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:57
    Even a quick look shows it's nothing but good-looking guys

    Cool, dependable big-brother type

    Young hotshot type

    Dignified bearded hottie

    Sultry, alluring hottie

    Ripped, muscular hottie

    Intellectual hottie

    Battle-hardened hottie

    Noble-pedigree hottie

    Bard-type hottie
    78AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:18
    Re: #65
    Sirocco betrays you though lol

    And anyway, plenty of women are into the "hot older guy" type too
    71AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:03
    Re: #1's definition of "handsome" is probably this

    https://www.falcom.co.jp/sen4/character/rean.html
    https://www.falcom.co.jp/sen4/character/lloyd.html
    89AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:33
    If these guys don't count as handsome, none of you would even be allowed to exist



    99AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:00
    Re: #89
    Even after these guys were officially revealed, people in the main thread kept grumbling about there not being enough hotties
    In Three Houses, the ones handsome enough to cause a stir on looks alone were really just Dimitri, Felix, and Sylvain
    For the rest, isn't it more about whether you grow to like them once you get to know them through support conversations?
    97AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:55
    Re: #1
    Female otaku are way too allergic to young, pretty-girl characters
    Male otaku are way too allergic to young, handsome-guy characters
    Both sides are equally guilty here
    98AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:57
    Re: #97
    If people were actually allergic to handsome guys, Final Fantasy wouldn't sell at all

    Background and Key Points of This Debate

    The Fire Emblem series has traditionally mixed in rugged, older-looking characters and characters built around strong personalities alongside its more conventionally handsome ones, meaning the bar for what counts as “handsome” varies widely from title to title and viewer to viewer. In the thread, opinions split even on the exact same characters, with some calling them handsome and others disagreeing — showing this isn’t an issue that gets settled just by counting heads. Some also pointed out that while the absolute number of handsome characters has actually increased, the simultaneous rise in strong-personality and older-character designs may make it look, proportionally, like there’s a “hotty shortage.” Whether the original X post was based on an accurate read of the actual character lineup can’t be verified from the thread alone. Debates like this over “favoritism vs. neglect” tend to recur across other games too, and part of the underlying cause may simply be that character-design preferences split along generational and gender lines.

    ※This article was compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “X: “The new FE favors its female characters, who are all cute, and it’s frustrating how badly the male characters get treated.”“.

  • NHK Taiga Drama Depicts Shibata Katsuie’s Death as a “Suicidal Leap” — Viewers Cry “That’s Not Historical Fact”

    The NHK taiga drama “Toyotomi Brothers!” has stirred up discussion on 5ch after depicting the deaths of Shibata Katsuie and Lady Oichi as a suicidal leap. According to a Daily Shincho report (9/3), portraying Katsuie — a man who prized honor above all — dying by jumping rather than by seppuku made for a striking, unexpected scene. On the thread, some defended the choice, arguing it’s “the result of getting bashed for being formulaic whenever they stick to the historical record,” while others hit back with “they clearly don’t understand that seppuku was considered an honorable death” and “even a layperson can tell that death scene doesn’t add up.” The debate spiraled into a broader argument over how much creative license a historical drama should take before it stops being history.

    Thu, 9/3, 6:00 AM

    Daily Shincho

    Katsuie and Oichi’s leap to their deaths left a strong impression, but…

    Source: topics.smt.docomo.ne.jp / Original article here

    5AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:57
    This is the result of getting slammed as 'stale' every time they stick to the historical record.
    36AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:07
    Re: #5
    Handling that skillfully is exactly what a pro is supposed to do.
    80AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:15
    Re: #5
    I don't remember a taiga drama ever getting bashed for sticking to historical fact — when was that supposed to have happened? Usually what gets a taiga drama criticized is twisting the record or shoehorning in a forced female lead.
    7AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:58
    I mean, normally it'd just be seppuku — the jumping might be overdoing it.
    31AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:06
    Re: #7
    They clearly don't get that 'committing seppuku' was considered an 'honorable' act lol
    10AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:58
    The producers are just letting their ego run wild trying to cram in 'originality.'
    12AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:59
    Have the castle go up in a big blaze
    Actually do it for real
    Do it with CG
    Either way,
    they don't have the budget, the skill, or the will
    to pull off staging like that.
    14AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:59
    It's just fiction based on history, what do you expect — by that logic, the Honno-ji Incident, which they've probably dramatized hundreds of times by now, is entirely made up too.
    15AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:00
    Is the historical consultant actually doing their job? Even a layperson can tell that death scene is off.
    59AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:11
    Re: #15
    Wasn't it that Shingen died choking on a rice cake, and Nagamasa got his head cut off by Oichi?
    17AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:00
    Re: #1
    It's made by 'that crowd' (5ch slang implying left-leaning NHK staff), so of course it turns out like this.
    19AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:00
    It's dangerous because idiots actually think NHK taiga dramas are literal true stories.
    21AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:01
    It's the classic 2-hour mystery-drama pattern where the culprit gets cornered on a cliff. Dun-dun-duuun♪
    22AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:02
    Even old Kacchan (Katsuie) must be crying from beyond the grave.
    23AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:02
    Shibata: "Watch closely — this is what war looks like!" → jumps to his death.
    Kind of a Ramba Ral moment, huh (´・ω・`) (a Mobile Suit Gundam character famous for his dramatic death scene)
    25AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:03
    Bothering to watch this every single week just to complain about it — that's the real foolishness.
    26AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:04
    Honestly, who cares about 'the values of the era'? If you actually reproduced everything by period values, you'd get an even more sexist, way worse drama. And history is full of records written up by whoever won, so who knows how reliable any of it really is. Complaints like 'stick to the historical facts!' can just be ignored — reworking the past through a modern lens is something taiga dramas have always done.
    27AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:05
    Right before the leap, cornered Oichi looked at the soldiers and said something like, 'How reassuring — the Oda clan will be safe now.'
    28AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:05
    If they're allowed to fictionalize it this much, they might as well just do Yamato Takeru next.
    29AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:05
    And yet at the same time, they cling to 'historical accuracy' that's as moldy as some pre-war scholarship.
    30AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:05
    If you want the real history, go read a textbook or a history book. As long as it's a drama or a novel, it's pointless without some originality lol
    32AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:06
    Taiga dramas are just glamorized fiction anyway.
    33AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:06
    There's just nobody left who can actually make good work, or act it, anymore.

    Better to give up and go watch the old classics from back when actors like Morishige and Tanba were in their prime — it's healthier for you.
    34AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:07
    To begin with, there's almost no 'truth' in Japanese history anyway.
    35AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:07
    Can't be helped, screenwriters vary in skill — this year's just a dud.
    37AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:07
    Fantasy would be one thing, but wasn't the NHK Special's war reenactment drama actually sued by the bereaved family of some lieutenant general or other?
    39AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:08
    If they're willing to take it this far, just go make Hyouge Mono into a taiga drama already. (a manga about a Sengoku-era tea master)
    55AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:11
    Re: #39
    Can't happen — when NHK adapted it into an anime, they had a falling-out with the author and the credit got downgraded from 'original work' to 'original concept.' That's also why the anime got cut short.
    41AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:08
    Having a written record doesn't make something fact unless it's a confirmed eyewitness account — that's overstating it. If 'there's a record so it's true' held up, every wartime Imperial Headquarters announcement would count as historical fact too. (those announcements were notorious for being fabricated propaganda)
    48AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:10
    It's not just NHK — no period drama is ever going to be 100% historically accurate.
    83AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:16
    Sure, go ahead with the acrobatic interpretations, but if it's not what the taiga drama's actual audience is asking for, it's nothing more than the screenwriter indulging themselves.
    86AnonymousSep 3, 2026 17:16
    Re: #83
    The ones complaining are mostly Sengoku-history nerds anyway.

    Background and Points of Debate

    The widely accepted account holds that in 1583, after being defeated by Hashiba Hideyoshi at the Battle of Shizugatake, Shibata Katsuie and Lady Oichi took their own lives at his castle, Kitanosho — said to have set the keep ablaze and gone down with it. The “leap to their deaths” staging departs from this standard account, and because it clashes with the values of samurai society, which regarded seppuku as an honorable death, some viewers apparently found it jarring. While some on the thread called for fidelity to the historical record, there’s also a strong strain of opinion defending the show’s creative license, noting that the historical sources themselves are unreliable since they may be slanted by the victors’ own accounts. The question of “how much of a taiga drama should be historical fact” is a debate that resurfaces every year. In truth, primary sources detailing exactly how Katsuie and Oichi died are scarce, and historians themselves are divided on whether it was seppuku or death by fire after setting their own residence ablaze — making it hard to flatly condemn the drama’s staging alone as “distortion.”

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[Toyotomi Brothers!] NHK Made Honor-Conscious Shibata Katsuie Die a Dishonorable Death by Jumping — Why Does It Keep Distorting Historical Fact and Cramming in Nothing but ‘Sengoku-Era Absurdities’?“

  • Elderly Man Berates Crying Baby on Train, Beats Hasty Retreat After Three Women Give Him an Earful

    A firsthand account went viral on 5ch’s News Speed+ board: a man believed to be in his 70s, angered by a baby crying on a commuter train, reportedly kept hurling abuse at the apologizing mother, saying things like “sorry doesn’t cut it.” A trio of women who happened to be nearby is said to have given him a sharp rebuke, after which the man had nothing left to say and left the scene. While the thread saw plenty of sympathy for the mother and criticism of the elderly, a good number of commenters also doubted whether the story was even true, calling it “usomatsu” (a term for a suspiciously fake-sounding sob story) or wondering if it was AI-written — producing a mix of emotional sympathy and cool-headed skepticism.

    The man who flew into a rage appeared to be around 70 years old. He apparently found the baby’s crying so intolerable that he kept hurling a stream of abuse at the apologizing mother.

    “The mother was practically in tears apologizing, saying ‘I’m sorry,’ but the man kept piling on lines like ‘sorry doesn’t solve anything,’ ‘you’re an inconsiderate mother,’ and ‘get off right now’ — the kind of thing that made even bystanders like me uncomfortable to hear. The whole car went dead silent, with nothing but the baby’s crying and the man’s shouting echoing through it.”

    ◆ The Mysterious Trio Turned Out to Be Allies

    Source: topics.smt.docomo.ne.jp / Read the original article here

    3AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:09
    The world is overflowing with toxic old farts ("rougai" — a slang term for elderly people who cause trouble for those around them).
    Amen.
    6AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:10
    You're supposed to be quiet on the train, right?
    Guess we should all just enjoy the sound of the rails switching and clacking over the points instead.
    7AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:10
    Women are so badass
    This story feels amazing, love it!!!
    9AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:11
    But it's so unfair — women go for strong men while the nice guys get left in the dust.
    51AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:18
    Re: #9
    Being spineless and being kind aren't the same thing.
    Truly kind men are plenty popular.
    81AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:23
    Re: #9
    You keep saying that, old man, but the punchline is always the same: they end up accused of sexual violence and getting "Nakai-Matsumoto'd" (a reference to the sexual misconduct scandals involving celebrities Nakai Masahiro and Matsumoto Hitoshi).
    181AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:41
    Re: #9
    What you guys call "kind" is just the bare minimum — not being violent is basic human decency. That's not kindness, that's just the floor.
    11AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:11
    Did he seriously hurl abuse at a baby, though?
    12AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:12
    Anna Tsuchiya (an actress famous for playing tough "yankee"-type roles) taking reputational damage from being lumped in with delinquents.
    13AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:12
    This reeks of "usomatsu" (a made-up sob story).
    The Violet Flower Clock.
    I thought stories made up out of thin air were supposed to be more fun than this.
    14AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:12
    [Tokyo]

    https://nikkan-spa.jp/2182471

    Shoko Makise (pseudonym, 29), who works at an IT company in Tokyo, reportedly ended up riding in the same train car as the man who flew into a rage at a mother with a child, while she was in on her day off.
    15AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:12
    What is it with guys in their 70s wearing baseball caps always turning out to be garbage, every single time?
    16AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:12
    A crying baby?

    That's soothing to me lol

    Whenever I look at a crying baby

    it usually stops crying lol

    I can calm them down with just my eyes
    19AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:13
    I can put up with a baby crying, but a kid's shrieking makes me want to hit something.
    23AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:13
    That same tired, AI-generated "toxic old person" story I'm sick of seeing recommended on X.
    Guess it's made its way into SPA articles now too.
    24AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:13
    Piling on abuse after you've already gotten someone to apologize is just kicking a corpse.
    Back in the old arcade days someone would've thrown an ashtray at him.
    Meet the monster geezer who hit 70 without ever learning a thing from life.
    25AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:14
    Re: #1
    Quit dragging Anna Tsuchiya into this — that's collateral reputational damage.
    26AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:14
    Well, honestly, a guy loudly complaining is more obnoxious than the crying itself. Can't argue with that.
    27AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:14
    Another one of these "old man = villain, woman = hero" fanfics, huh?
    30AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:15
    A made-up story, huh… can you actually make a living off writing fiction like this?
    79AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:23
    Why not just have an AI write it?
    88AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:25
    Re: #79
    It's obviously already AI.
    82AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:23
    Their true identity is…

    Charlie's Angels?
    150AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:35
    Re: #82
    More like the Kisugi sisters.
    115AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:29
    They churned out another one of these same old made-up stories, huh.
    Is this AI-generated too?
    118AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:30
    Re: #115
    Of course it's just outsourced entirely to AI.
    129AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:32
    There were actually more kids around in the Showa era, and they were louder too — people these days have just lost all their patience.
    134AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:33
    Re: #129
    That's because we're a nation of lowlifes who get their kicks reading these feel-good made-up stories.
    144AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:34
    Re: #129
    Yeah, hearing the neighbors' marital spats through the walls used to be a daily occurrence.
    133AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:33
    Looks like they took inspiration from "The Exit 8" (a Japanese horror game/film).
    Though that was a boring movie.
    159AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:36
    Re: #133
    They say it's basically a birthrate-decline countermeasure movie —
    if you don't call out the power-harassing old man on the train,
    you can't get out of the station.
    154AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:36
    "Sukatto Japan" (a Japanese TV show built around feel-good comeuppance stories)
    165AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:38
    Re: #154
    This isn't satisfying at all.
    Babies cry for a reason,
    and saying "don't just ignore that" is fair enough —
    but yelling about it is going too far.
    162AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:37
    "Their true identity is…" lol, that got me.
    Someone's imagination is running way too wild.
    163AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:37
    Re: #162
    Could they at least make the story sound a bit more natural lol
    172AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:39
    I think this part is actually true.
    The real reason playground equipment gets removed from parks isn't because it's dangerous,
    and the real reason events get cancelled
    is complaints from toxic old people.
    188AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:41
    Re: #172
    I figured it was because shady-looking young people gather around the swings at night and cause trouble.
    200AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:43
    Re: #172
    That's not "toxic old people," that's "monster parent" (a term for overbearing, entitled parents) complaints…

    Background and Talking Points on This Story

    This kind of “trouble on the train” personal account is a staple genre frequently published by web outlets like Nikkan SPA! — often called “sukatto” (feel-good comeuppance) stories — and is typically narrated through pseudonymous, unverifiable characters. In this thread too, commenters focused less on debating the story itself and more on questioning the article’s credibility. “Usomatsu” is slang that originated on 2channel/5ch, traditionally used when a poster’s personal anecdote smells fabricated, though in recent years it’s increasingly used to suspect an article was auto-generated by AI. The complaint about the “old man = villain, woman = hero” framing is also a stock criticism routinely leveled at this genre of anecdote article, not something unique to this particular story. The tendency for criticism to pile onto the elderly likewise owes a lot to how casually the term “rougai” (a pejorative for elderly people regarded as a nuisance or burden to society) gets thrown around on 5ch, and it’s worth noting that this isn’t necessarily grounded in actual data about elderly people as a whole.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “👴 ‘Shut it up!’ — Elderly Man Hurls Abuse at a Crying Baby on a Train, Then Turns Tail and Flees After Three Women Give Him a Piece of Their Mind.”