Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • Gravure Idol Jun Amaki (30) Announces Marriage to Keirin Racer Yuki Sasaki

    Gravure idol Jun Amaki (30) updated her Instagram on the 23rd to announce her marriage to keirin cyclist Yuki Sasaki. Amaki, who had already declared she’d retire from gravure work this summer, shared a two-shot photo with her husband, in a wedding dress, taken at a keirin velodrome. On 5ch, comments piled up both pointing out how hard the thread title was to parse and discussing the ongoing trend of gravure idols marrying athletes from public sports like keirin and kyotei (boat racing).

    2026.08.23

    Gravure idol Jun Amaki (30) updated her own Instagram on the 23rd, announcing her marriage to keirin cyclist Yuki Sasaki.

    Having turned 30 and already declared she’d retire from gravure work this summer, Amaki gushed, “No matter what, he’s an incredibly warm presence who gently wraps me in kindness,” and added, “I want us to be a fun couple who can still hold hands even after we’ve become grandpa and grandma.” She posted several photos, including a two-shot with her husband, in a wedding dress, at a keirin velodrome. Below is Amaki’s full announcement.

    Source: daily.co.jp / Original article here

    5AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:22
    Post the pic of the husband in the wedding dress already
    25AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:33
    Re: #5
    Thought it was a same-sex marriage for a second
    6AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:24
    Felt like she'd been doing gravure for over 10 years already, but she's only 30?
    7AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:24
    Oh, she's the one who used to be a total delinquent (yankee)
    90AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:42
    Re: #7
    There was a segment on ABEMA in some raunchy show that rounded up big-bust gravure idols, and she got into a trash-talk battle with Mina Shirakawa (now active in the US). She got genuinely riled up by Shirakawa's jabs and started clicking her tongue, going full "you wanna go?" — her real delinquent side came out hard, it was hilarious.

    In the end she couldn't fire back at all and burst into tears, and Shirakawa piled on with lines like "that's a fake actress cry" and "don't try to cry your way into likability" — the whole thing worked as proper variety TV.
    8AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:24
    Hikakin?
    (Looking at that photo) Can't even tell which one's the guy
    9AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:25
    I can't handle that look women give the man they're into lol
    14AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:30
    Re: #1
    Read that way, it sounds like "the husband in the wedding dress"
    Lately there are a lot of people writing sentences with zero regard for the reader
    50AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:45
    Re: #14
    It's not about regard for the reader — they just can't write proper Japanese. They can't pick the right words to describe a situation, and they don't even notice something's off. There was even a thread title that used "guzutsuita" (a word for drizzly, unsettled weather) instead of "guzutta" (fussed/threw a tantrum) to describe a fussy kid. "Guzutsuita" is weather-forecast terminology for overcast, showery skies — not a word for a child's mood.
    17AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:31
    Does Daily Sports not have a copy editor or something?
    34AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:36
    Re: #17
    The guy who started the thread is the one who wrote the title, right?
    67AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:07
    Re: #17
    Not just Daily Sports — sports-paper web articles in general are often terrible
    37AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:37
    Isn't she the "legal loli" type? (slang for a petite, youthful-looking adult)
    40AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:38
    Re: #37
    That's Marina Nagasawa (30)
    49AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:45
    She's been around forever


    She's been in the industry for ages
    51AnonymousAug 23, 2026 13:46
    How old can you actually be and still race in keirin?
    107AnonymousAug 23, 2026 15:01
    Re: #51
    If you really push it, almost until 60. Top-class riders usually decide to retire around their mid-40s. Keirin has this "line" concept — even though it's technically an individual sport, it works like a team sport too — so if you switch roles and find a good fit, your career can run pretty long. The class system is also clearly defined; these days even the bottom-tier "Challenge Class" can earn you 10 million yen.
    59AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:00
    A lot of gravure idols seem to be gunning for keirin or kyotei (boat racing) guys
    63AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:02
    Re: #59
    Who's the kyotei example?
    Probably just Goto Shoyuki's "Oshiri-zu" girl? (a nickname playing on "oshiri," meaning butt)
    66AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:06
    Gravure idols are all really aiming for baseball players, but I guess they settle for this tier
    99AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:50
    Re: #66
    These days it's more like baseball players themselves have become the last refuge for idols and female celebrities who missed their window to settle down
    75AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:23
    How well-known is she to the general public, actually?
    86AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:33
    Re: #75
    Not sure if it was a hit or not, but back in 2019 there was an NHK drama written by Yoshiko Morishita and starring Yuki Sakurai called "Dakara Watashi wa Oshimashita" ("That's Why I Became Her Fan") — she was one of the idol group members the main character was a fan of.
    89AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:37
    Re: #86
    Haven't got a clue what that is lol
    93AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:46
    Re: #86
    Not a single part of that rang a bell lol
    77AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:26
    Feel bad that her news got overshadowed by the Riku-Ryu (figure skating pair Miura & Kihara) story
    80AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:29
    Re: #77
    They're just on a completely different level lol
    87AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:33
    Re: #77
    If anything, overlapping with them actually helped — she got featured alongside Riku-Ryu in the web news and stood out more.

    Not that she's really the kind of talent who'd normally land a top news slot lol
    104AnonymousAug 23, 2026 14:56
    Retiring for marriage — that's a clean way to go out
    108AnonymousAug 23, 2026 15:04
    Re: #104
    If she were still popular and in demand, she'd probably keep working though
    110AnonymousAug 23, 2026 15:12
    From her latest (last?) photo book, "Mariya Nagao & Jun Amaki: Genkai Toppa (Breaking the Limit)" [WPB-net]

    111AnonymousAug 23, 2026 15:19
    Re: #110
    The two of them were in "Koe Girl" together (a talent/audition show)
    120AnonymousAug 23, 2026 15:37
    Keirin racers are the strongest people on earth. Pure muscle.
    125AnonymousAug 23, 2026 15:42
    Re: #120
    Their thighs are thicker around than a woman's waist

    Background and Key Points

    Keirin is one of Japan’s four “kōei kyōgi” (publicly-operated gambling sports, alongside horse racing, motorboat racing/kyotei, and auto racing), created in 1948 under the JKA to fund local-government reconstruction budgets. Riders are licensed professionals ranked in a class system (S1/S2, A1–A3) that resets twice yearly based on results, and even the bottom “Challenge Class” now nets around ¥10 million a year, which is why commenters note career riders can keep racing into their 50s if they find a niche within the sport’s team-like “line” tactics. Gravure idol, meanwhile, is a distinct, non-nude swimsuit/lingerie modeling track in Japanese entertainment, generally a tier below mainstream actresses or idol-group members — Amaki’s biggest brush with fame was a minor role tied to a 2019 NHK drama most posters had never heard of.

    The thread didn’t really argue over the marriage itself; the closest thing to a split was whether her news getting overshadowed by the Miura-Kihara figure-skating story was bad luck or actually useful exposure, with one camp saying they’re simply a different tier of celebrity and another arguing the overlap got her more web coverage than she’d normally receive. Otherwise the posts drifted into grammar-nerd territory, mocking the ambiguous headline phrasing and sports-tabloid writing standards generally.

    What outside readers likely miss is the pattern behind “gravure idol marries keirin/kyotei racer”: these public-sport athletes offer unusually stable, well-documented incomes compared to entertainment work, making them a quietly common marriage target once idols age out of peak visibility — a dynamic the thread jokes about but never explains in economic terms.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Gravure idol Jun Amaki (30), retiring this summer, marries keirin cyclist Yuki Sasaki — a two-shot with her husband in a wedding dress”.

  • Commuter Allowance Fraud Gets Caught and Punished — 5ch: “At Least You Didn’t Get Fired”

    A poster whose commuter allowance fraud was uncovered at work and who faced disciplinary action started a thread on 5ch’s Nanjo Jikkyo G (Everything Live) board.

    It turned out the poster had been claiming the allowance for highway commuting while actually using surface roads the whole time. The punishment ended up being just a verbal warning plus a hit to their bonus review, but going forward all employees will be required to submit their ETC (toll pass) records. The thread filled up with reactions like “at least you didn’t get fired,” alongside a stream of corporate-slave grumbling about unused paid leave and forced overtime under the disability-hiring program.

    4AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:46
    My commuter allowance fraud got caught at work and I got disciplined for it… I want to die.
    13AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:50
    Re: #4
    At least you didn't get fired.
    10AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:49
    Was browsing a list of workplace screw-up cases from yesterday and found one eerily similar to something I've been hiding, lol. Guess I'll bury it.
    43AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:05
    Re: #10
    At my company, the truly bad stuff the higher-ups pull is the stuff that actually gets covered up 😌
    15AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:51
    My HP hits zero right around the time I'm supposed to head home 🤮
    18AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:55
    Re: #15
    Slept, woke up, and I've only recovered to about 65 HP 🤮
    16AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:52
    Not fraud-related, but apparently if you buy a commuter pass yet actually walk or bike to work for your health, workers' comp won't cover you if you get in an accident. Still gonna keep doing it though, since I don't want to ride the packed trains.
    33AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:02
    Re: #16
    That's exactly why commuting costs are baked into social insurance premiums, yet so many people still complain about it.
    17AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:52
    Re: #9
    I'd registered my commute as highway use and got paid for it, but it came out that I was almost always taking surface roads… There'd been no checks for years, so suddenly demanding ETC records out of nowhere clearly means someone snitched.
    20AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:57
    Re: #17
    Sorry about that 😏
    26AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:58
    Re: #17
    Can't be helped, time to move on.
    22AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:57
    My name won't be mentioned, but HR is sending a company-wide email saying "this kind of incident happened and was disciplined," and it's genuinely depressing. Even without a name, we've only got about 100 employees, so it's obvious who it is.
    27AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:59
    Re: #22
    I'll make sure to forward this log in as a reply too 😁
    29AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:59
    Re: #22
    Sounds like the kind of thing that gets posted up in front of the cafeteria.
    25AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:57
    Well, fudging commuting or travel expenses a little is something everyone does. My company's actually pretty chill about that kind of thing as part of the culture, so I lucked out.
    28AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:59
    Re: #25
    Nice, I'm jealous. Honestly, I don't see the problem with taking surface roads to commute somewhere technically far enough to justify the highway. Commuting costs should be based on the distance from home to office, not the actual route taken.
    34AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:02
    Small mercy is that the punishment was just a verbal warning plus a hit to my bonus review. No repayment of the fraudulent difference either. But from now on, anyone using toll roads has to submit ETC records, so I'm probably going to be hated for it.
    40AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:04
    Re: #34
    That's basically workplace harassment at this point.
    48AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:07
    Re: #34
    Once you get labeled as someone who commits that kind of fraud, promotions slow down and you'll get shipped off to a subsidiary the first chance they get. If the verbal warning is the kind written into official regulations, it stays on your record permanently as a disciplinary mark — you'd be better off just changing jobs.
    39AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:03
    What does everyone do after getting home on days when work ends earlier than usual? Honestly, on days like that I have no idea what to do with myself 😭
    41AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:04
    Re: #39
    Watch anime on Netflix.
    42AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:05
    Re: #39
    A true corporate slave clocks out but doesn't actually leave, hanging around acting like they want to chat with coworkers.
    44AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:05
    Forget work, let's all just quit and become farmers. It's fun.
    51AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:08
    Re: #44
    Hard pass — low pay, brutal labor, and insane power harassment and sexual harassment (speaking from experience).
    54AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:09
    An old lady pushing 60 keeps telling me to hurry up and have kids already — that's harassment, right?
    71AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:15
    Re: #54
    Sounds like she's hitting on you.
    60AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:11
    This thread occasionally turns up an absolutely wild story — like the guy whose company car got stolen.
    61AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:12
    Re: #60
    Fudging commuting expenses is something pretty much everyone does, right?
    74AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:15
    Re: #60
    More recently there was a home care worker who abandoned a severely disabled elderly man to go play pachinko. Sounds like there's a bunch of other offenses too.
    63AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:13
    The temporary toilets at my job site are the worst — you have to use a hand-shower to flush your own poop down. There's a real risk of splashback too. Seriously, my company must be broke.
    73AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:15
    Re: #63 reminded me — I've seen a little shower nozzle attached to the wall next to a Western-style toilet before. Was that meant for flushing??? There was a proper flush lever right on the toilet, and there was no bidet (washlet), so I wondered if it was some kind of bidet substitute???? But it looked sketchy so I never used it.
    68AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:14
    Re: #61
    Can't relate, I'm issued a company car. Though FYI, my company's a mess — the dashcam has GPS built in and literally anyone can view the footage.
    70AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:15
    Re: #68
    Getting issued a car is way too generous… though having a camera at all is already unpleasant.
    75AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:16
    Taking today off. I'm mentally cornered and can't take it anymore. I'm hired under the disability employment program, but I'm being forced to work overtime every single day.
    89AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:21
    Re: #75
    If you take a day off every time you're mentally cornered, you'd have to take one off every week.
    77AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:16
    I bet you all enjoyed a nice long Obon break. Now get back to work, work.
    81AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:19
    Re: #77
    I was forced to prep for my next business trip and had to stay home waiting for the paperwork to arrive. Of course, the paperwork never got issued by the deadline. Thanks to that, I won't be able to use up my paid leave before it expires. What a joke.
    85AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:20
    The new hire is oddly fixated on using up their paid leave. I keep telling them that this is our busy season, but they keep scheduling time off like an idiot anyway. I'm probably the one who's going to end up cleaning up the mess…
    88AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:21
    Re: #85
    Wouldn't things actually run smoother without the new hire around? I spent every day cleaning up messes until I got demoted, and my performance review tanked because of it.
    90AnonymousAug 26, 2026 07:22
    Re: #85
    The ones who keep getting stuck cleaning up after everyone else — that's the real "weak link" here.

    Background and Key Points

    Japan’s commuter allowance (通勤手当) is a standard, largely tax-free benefit most companies pay on top of salary, calculated from a registered commuting route and method — train pass, mileage, or highway toll — rather than actual spending. Employees self-report the route when hired and rarely have it checked again, which is exactly the gap the original poster exploited by declaring a highway commute while driving surface roads for years. ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) is Japan’s automated highway toll system; every pass generates a digital log tied to a car’s ETC card, so once a company starts requiring those printouts, a route lie becomes nearly impossible to sustain — which is why the new company-wide ETC policy reads to posters as a direct, embarrassing consequence of one person’s case rather than a routine audit.

    The thread doesn’t split over whether the fraud happened, but over how serious it actually is: several posters treat inflating commuting costs as a near-universal, victimless fudge everyone does, arguing pay should reflect straight-line distance rather than the literal route driven, while others frame it as exactly the kind of infraction that quietly wrecks a career.

    What outside readers likely miss is the weight of a formal “verbal warning” in a Japanese seniority-driven firm: unlike a shrug-off in many Western workplaces, if it’s logged under internal regulations it becomes a permanent disciplinary mark, the kind that stalls promotion and can get someone quietly reassigned to a subsidiary — which is why a commenter suggests changing jobs is the more realistic fix than waiting it out.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nanjo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] This Corporate Slave Is Spewing His Guts 🤮.”

  • Announcer Kasumi Mori Reveals How She Lost 7kg in 3 Months on a ‘Don’t Spike Your Blood Sugar’ Diet

    Freelance announcer Kasumi Mori revealed on TBS Radio how she lost 7kg in three months. “There’s just no way I could do a starvation diet,” she said — the method she landed on was one that avoids spiking her blood sugar.

    On 5ch, some users explained the mechanics of insulin and fat storage, while others speculated that a drug (Mounjaro) might be the real reason behind the weight loss, and skepticism toward extreme dieting also made the rounds.

    Sun, 8/23, 4:14 PM

    Freelance announcer Kasumi Mori (31) made a guest appearance on the August 22 broadcast of TBS Radio’s “Savorino presents My Reward Time” (Saturdays, 8:00 PM). She revealed how she lost 7kg in three months.

    Making her second straight appearance on the show, Mori was asked by host Miki Fujimoto, “You’ve dieted before, right?” Mori explained what got her started: “Yeah, about a year after going freelance I put out a photo book, and around that time I did a body makeover. Then when I became an ambassador and model for a lingerie brand, I needed to slim down a bit more, and that’s when I lost about 7kg.”

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

    9AnonymousAug 23, 2026 16:47
    Honestly, just not eating is the easiest way to lose weight.
    55AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:34
    Re: #9
    That's pointless — you rebound too easily on that.
    12AnonymousAug 23, 2026 16:48
    Blood sugar?
    So basically… she's on Mounjaro?
    30AnonymousAug 23, 2026 16:55
    Re: #12
    Ah, that stuff exists now so of course it's easy.
    13AnonymousAug 23, 2026 16:48
    You should just treat white rice as poison. Freshly cooked white rice especially. Can't say that on TV though.
    88AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:41
    Re: #13
    Even a small amount of white rice or mochi (rice cake) spikes it shockingly fast.
    Probably better for your body not to eat them at all.
    25AnonymousAug 23, 2026 16:52
    Funny coincidence, I got flagged at my health checkup back in May too — I've gone from 71kg to 63kg since then.
    29AnonymousAug 23, 2026 16:54
    The low-insulin diet, huh.
    It had a moment a while back, but there were a lot of mishaps so I'd guess fewer people do it now.
    44AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:16
    Re: #29
    Isn't insulin the hormone that lowers blood sugar?
    31AnonymousAug 23, 2026 16:56
    "Lowers your blood sugar? As if some coffee could do that…"
    like that one commercial.
    32AnonymousAug 23, 2026 16:56
    Once you hit your mid-50s your metabolism tanks so hard that dieting barely does anything and the weight just won't come off.
    My doctor keeps telling me to lose weight, but once I switched my goal to just maintaining, I felt a lot more at ease.
    33AnonymousAug 23, 2026 16:57
    She lost 7kg — so what was her starting weight?
    35AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:01
    Cutting out snacks made me lose weight instantly, but that only worked up until my 40s…
    37AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:03
    Nah, if you walk 20km every single day you'll lose 5kg.
    41AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:08
    Re: #37
    Depends on the person. If you're used to mountain climbing or hiking, you walk more efficiently, so even carrying a 15kg pack you won't lose that much.
    46AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:18
    While you're actually eating you want more, but if you stop at 80% full and wait a bit, you genuinely stop wanting it.
    56AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:35
    Re: #46
    80% full or even a bit before that is fine — the key is whether you can hold yourself back even when you still want more.
    Once that becomes a habit, you really do start feeling satisfied on small portions. Honestly, I think everyone eats too much these days…
    47AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:18
    Even if Kasumi had a sloppy body, I honestly wouldn't care.
    54AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:30
    It's Mounjaro, isn't it.
    You can get scary skinny on that stuff no problem.
    57AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:36
    That photo has this weighty, Mona Lisa kind of presence to it.
    60AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:45
    Does steak even raise your blood sugar?
    62AnonymousAug 23, 2026 17:47
    Re: #60
    It doesn't, right?
    Guess that's because people eat it together with bread or rice.
    89AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:43
    Feel like there was a video yesterday debunking the "veggies first" method… guess I'll watch it later.
    95AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:55
    Re: #89
    Apparently you don't even need to eat vegetables first.

    As long as it's not carbs.
    90AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:45
    Re: #44
    That's why it's about eating in a way that doesn't trigger much insulin release — a diet that keeps sugar as low as possible.
    92AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:51
    Re: #90
    Ah, got it, makes sense.

    Background and Key Points

    The “don’t spike your blood sugar” approach Mori describes is usually called the teitou-inshurin (low-insulin) diet in Japan, a trend that peaked roughly a decade ago and works by limiting insulin spikes from refined carbohydrates — white rice, bread, sweets — on the theory that insulin is the hormone that drives glucose into fat storage. It doesn’t require calorie starvation; it’s built around food order and carb substitution rather than eating less. Mori’s framing fits a broader wave of Japanese celebrities and TV personalities publicizing blood-sugar-conscious eating as a “healthier” alternative to visibly extreme dieting, especially now that she’s a lingerie-brand ambassador with obvious incentive to look toned rather than gaunt.

    The thread’s real fault line isn’t over whether the science is sound — it’s over whether to believe her account at all. A sizable contingent assumes any high-profile figure quietly losing significant weight now must be on Mounjaro (tirzepatide), a GLP-1/GIP drug approved in Japan for diabetes but increasingly prescribed off-label at private clinics for weight loss, since it’s become the default suspicion whenever a celebrity’s transformation looks too fast or too clean.

    What outside readers will likely miss is that rice occupies an outsized cultural position in Japan, which is why one poster jokes you “can’t say that on TV” that white rice is effectively poison — criticizing a national dietary staple carries more weight there than it would elsewhere. Also unaddressed in the thread: Mounjaro for cosmetic weight loss is not covered by national health insurance and is obtained largely through private telehealth clinics, an access/cost detail that’s central to why the drug is simultaneously trendy and controversial in Japan.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “Kasumi Mori Loses 7kg in 3 Months, Reveals Diet Method: ‘Starving Myself Is Impossible’ — She Landed on ‘Don’t Spike Your Blood Sugar’.”

  • The Redback Spider’s Bizarre Mating Ritual: Males Get Eaten by Females After Sex

    During mating, male redback spiders flip their own bodies around and offer up their abdomen to the female’s fangs, letting themselves be eaten right there. After Nazology published an article on this behavior, 5ch reacted with everything from astonishment at research showing that cannibalized males have a median mating duration of 25 minutes versus just 11 minutes for males that aren’t eaten, to a personal account of encountering one in a Kawasaki apartment.

    Posts also focused on explaining the logic behind why males “choose” to be eaten, with comments like “the odds of meeting another female if you flee are low” and “getting eaten means longer mating time, which works in your favor.”

    The Redback Spider’s Bizarre “Eaten by the Female After Mating” Behavior Turns Out to Be Genetically Surprisingly Simple

    Living things generally try to flee when danger approaches.

    But the male Australian redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti) does the opposite: during mating, it flips its own body around, offers its abdomen to the female’s fangs, and afterward simply lets itself be eaten by her.

    Source: nazology.kusuguru.co.jp / Read the original article here

    2AnonymousAug 16, 2026 20:26
    What about praying mantises??
    22AnonymousAug 17, 2026 03:25
    Re: #2
    That's only Japanese mantises
    Apparently Chinese mantises have the male and female fight it out, and the male sometimes wins
    3AnonymousAug 16, 2026 20:31
    By getting eaten, the male actually takes over the female's mind, you know
    4AnonymousAug 16, 2026 20:33
    Madame Mantis
    5AnonymousAug 16, 2026 20:34
    What even is this?
    Did they evolve this way to boost genetic diversity instead of just passing on the same genes?
    6AnonymousAug 16, 2026 20:35
    Poor males, that's just too sad
    7AnonymousAug 16, 2026 20:38
    Mantises can apparently get away if they play it right (though it seems to cost them some eggs)
    Is it 100% for these spiders, though?

    Wish they could slowly merge together like anglerfish do lol
    9AnonymousAug 16, 2026 21:46
    If I'm getting eaten after sex, it'd better be with someone I'm really into
    But yeah, right when the post-nut clarity hits and you realize you're being eaten, you'd probably snap out of it and scream
    32AnonymousAug 17, 2026 09:47
    Re: #9
    Guess the ones who felt that way got weeded out by natural selection
    10AnonymousAug 16, 2026 21:57
    Humans are kind of the same
    You get 'eaten' by your wife after marriage
    11AnonymousAug 16, 2026 22:50
    So a chakra somersault counts as mating behavior too…
    12AnonymousAug 16, 2026 22:55
    Wait, these things actually live in Japan, so you can watch them in person?
    13AnonymousAug 16, 2026 22:58
    Reminds me of when I lived in Kawasaki
    One showed up in my room
    16AnonymousAug 16, 2026 23:21
    Re: #13
    There was a neighborhood flyer going around like "Report any redback spider sightings!"
    Turns out it was your house lol
    14AnonymousAug 16, 2026 23:13
    Yeah, I'm good staying a virgin
    15AnonymousAug 16, 2026 23:20
    A society made up of nothing but virgins… (gulp)
    17AnonymousAug 16, 2026 23:35
    > 67% of females who ate their first mate rejected a second male, compared to just 4% of females who didn't eat him. (It's not well understood why this happens)

    Female redback spider: "I loved him so much I just had to eat him…"
    19AnonymousAug 17, 2026 02:20
    Mantises just react to anything that moves
    If you happen to be there when they hatch, they'll even eat their own siblings
    20AnonymousAug 17, 2026 02:51
    "gets eatne" (sic)

    Come on, the source site should proofread this stuff before publishing
    21AnonymousAug 17, 2026 03:21
    Re: #18
    Husbands are just ATMs
    That's the law of nature
    23AnonymousAug 17, 2026 05:09
    > Past field studies found that over 80% of male redback spiders die before ever finding a mate, and males are estimated to get less than one mating opportunity per lifetime on average.

    That's literally you guys
    25AnonymousAug 17, 2026 07:13
    >> According to the observations, the median mating duration for cannibalized males was 25 minutes, versus 11 minutes when there was no cannibalism.
    26AnonymousAug 17, 2026 07:14
    >> Even during courtship before mating, males perform a behavior called "abdominal contraction," tightly constricting the middle of their abdomen.

    >> During mating, the female mainly bites the part of the abdomen behind this constriction. Past experiments confirmed that males given an artificial wound in that same spot behind the constriction survived longer.
    27AnonymousAug 17, 2026 07:14
    >> Female redback spiders have two separate organs for storing sperm, and males mate in two sessions so they can deliver sperm into both.
    29AnonymousAug 17, 2026 07:51
    Humans are kind of getting 'eaten' too, in a way
    In the animal kingdom it's nutrients, in human society it's money — either way, women are devouring value out of men
    30AnonymousAug 17, 2026 09:22
    It's because it raises the odds of the offspring surviving, right?
    That's just obvious
    Insects don't raise or teach their young, so once a male's passed on his genes he's useless anyway
    So him becoming nutrition is just a net plus for the species' survival
    31AnonymousAug 17, 2026 09:46
    Male mantises let the female eat them while they mate.
    That footage of one still desperately mating even after losing its head was wild.
    33AnonymousAug 17, 2026 10:09
    With other animals,
    the male has to go off and "fight" or protect the family after mating

    Redback spiders probably don't have to bother with any of that
    35AnonymousAug 17, 2026 10:51
    > the male has to go off and fight or protect the family after mating
    I don't get what you're saying, is that even Japanese?
    36AnonymousAug 17, 2026 10:55
    Then there's the sac spider that lets its own babies eat her body,
    and the hoopoe, which lays extra eggs just to feed its earlier-hatched chicks
    nature is terrifying
    38AnonymousAug 17, 2026 15:05
    If you're doomed to be eaten by something eventually anyway, better it's the female carrying your genes than some random predator
    39AnonymousAug 17, 2026 15:07
    Sounds like it could be the plot of a doujin manga lol
    43AnonymousAug 17, 2026 19:49
    Was telling myself 'no way I'm looking at the images in this thread' lol, then the thumbnail got me lol
    44AnonymousAug 17, 2026 22:35
    She eats him herself and then gets to play the grieving 'widow'? Come on.
    47AnonymousAug 18, 2026 00:33
    There was a time when a sighting of these was national news
    but now they're just everywhere, and you don't even need to report it anymore
    49AnonymousAug 18, 2026 13:36
    The odds of finding another female if you flee are low
    Getting eaten extends mating time, which works in your favor
    Getting eaten raises the odds the female rejects the next male
    It becomes nutrition for the kids

    Yeah, I'd pick getting eaten too
    50AnonymousAug 18, 2026 20:43
    Personally, I'd choose staying alive and safe over leaving offspring behind.
    51AnonymousAug 18, 2026 21:25
    They're going to die soon anyway, so they'd rather die for the sake of their offspring

    Background and Key Points

    The redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti) is a highly venomous species native to Australia that has established itself in parts of Japan since it was first discovered in Osaka in 1995, likely arriving via international cargo. Because it’s an invasive species with medically significant venom, Japanese municipalities historically ran public sighting-report campaigns, which is the backdrop behind the poster’s story of a neighborhood flyer asking residents to report redbacks — not realizing the spider was already living in their own room. Sexual cannibalism itself isn’t unique to this species (mantises came up repeatedly in the thread), but redback males are unusual in actively facilitating their own death: flipping their abdomen toward the female’s fangs mid-copulation rather than being caught or overpowered.

    The thread didn’t split over whether this happens, but over how to interpret it — is offering yourself up “obvious” adaptive logic (better odds of siring offspring given males rarely get a second chance, so become nutrition for your own young) or is it “just sad,” a fate to pity even if evolutionarily rational. That divide mapped onto a lighter argument about whether a rational human would ever “choose” this trade-off, versus panicking mid-act once realizing what’s happening.

    What the thread never addressed is the actual mechanism, despite citing it: the constriction behind which females bite is a real, described anatomical feature, but no poster asked why males evolved a body part that makes self-sacrifice physically easier — that’s an active area of research, not settled science. Readers may also assume this behavior is universal to the species, when field data cited in the thread shows the roughly 80% of males that die before ever mating outnumber those that get a cannibalized — or any — copulation at all.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Science News+) thread “[Nazology] The Redback Spider’s Bizarre “Eaten by the Female After Mating” Behavior Turns Out to Be Genetically Surprisingly Simple.”

  • Shoko Nakagawa: “What Comes Next Is Scary” — Robots Keep Smashing Human Records at Sports Meet, 5ch Debates Military Use of AI

    At the “World Humanoid Robot Sports Games” underway in Beijing, records that surpass human ability keep piling up — including multiple robots beating Usain Bolt’s time in the 100-meter dash. When news of this reached Shoko Nakagawa, she responded with “what comes next is scary,” and on 5ch the story spun off into a debate over the military applications of robots and the possibility of an AI revolt, with users citing classic sci-fi works like Doraemon and Gundam.

    Shoko Nakagawa shudders, “What comes next is scary” — “Robot Sports Games” with record after record surpassing humans has her thinking “just like those old manga…”

    Talent Shoko Nakagawa posted on X by the 24th. Quoting a news report on how, at the “World Humanoid Robot Sports Games” underway in Beijing, multiple machines beat Usain Bolt’s (Jamaica) 9.58-second mark in the 100-meter heats on the 22nd — part of a steady stream of records surpassing human ability — she wrote, “Amazing and scary. This is going to get scary from here on.”

    The games are hosted by the city of Beijing, with more than 2,000 robots from 16 countries taking part. Running through the 26th, the event features 51 events including weightlifting, tug-of-war, soccer, and combat sports.

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

    4AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:30
    Shokotan, that's basically our own robot right there! 🐱
    5AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:30
    Solid one right there, OP! (⁠・⁠∀⁠・⁠)
    7AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:31
    Even the latest high-performance AIs hallucinate constantly, so it's no wonder Shoko Nakagawa misremembers things too.
    9AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:31
    Proxy wars fought with robot soldiers seem plausible.
    115AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:58
    Re: #9 Bipedal robots are useless in actual warfare.
    11AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:32
    Unlike drones, walking robots can just be left in place — you could hide one in the tall grass for days, then have it charge out and ram a tank as a suicide attack once one gets close.
    118AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:59
    Re: #11 I don't know how much a humanoid robot costs to build, but does it actually beat tracked vehicles or sensor-guided gun turrets in any way?
    125AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:02
    Re: #11 Ambushes like that have long since been done with FPV drones. No need for some robot crawling along the ground — what is this, a Goliath tracked mine (the WWII remote-controlled demolition vehicle)?
    12AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:32
    Humanity getting treated like in The Matrix or Zegapain (a Japanese sci-fi anime where humans are farmed by machines).
    14AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:32
    Re: #1 Say that and Jackie's gonna hate you.
    17AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:32
    Once newer robots come out, we'll just be the ones getting the hand-me-down robots.
    19AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:33
    With shogi, AI already plays moves humans would never think of — you watch and can't even tell what the intent is, yet somehow it's strong. I bet AI in general is going to start "thinking" in ways beyond human comprehension before long.
    20AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:33
    In everyday life there's not much use for them — you'd need something Patlabor-sized for that (the giant police mecha from the anime). But on a battlefield, there'd be no shortage of uses.
    21AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:34
    We've reached an era where Mobile Dolls feel more realistic than Mobile Suits (the unmanned vs. piloted mecha from Gundam Wing).
    30AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:36
    Re: #21 Actually, on the Iran front unmanned drones are already fighting each other, they say. The age of Mobile Dolls arrived before the age of Mobile Suits.
    56AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:42
    Re: #21 Not very elegant, is it. (a nod to Gundam Wing's Treize Khushrenada, who prized "elegant" warfare)
    22AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:34
    Getting technology to go mainstream always needs porn to drive it.
    73AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:46
    Re: #22 Image-generation AI went mainstream in a hurry for exactly that reason. Though after people went way overboard doing whatever they wanted with real people's faces, regulations tightened up hard in developed countries.
    24AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:35
    Well, if you think about it calmly, humanity is basically like a pathogen infesting the living organism that is Earth (´・ω・`). It wouldn't be the least bit strange if AI eventually reasoned its way to the logical conclusion that humanity should be wiped out. That's exactly why a baseline rule like "do no harm to humans" needs to be baked in from the start, so that doesn't happen.
    35AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:37
    Re: #24 It might end up overriding even that, though ((((;゚Д゚)))))))
    100AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:52
    Re: #24 Having to brainwash it in advance like that sounds just like a second- or third-generation religious cult. Even so, some will still wise up and notice.
    25AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:35
    If it ever develops a will of its own, it wouldn't be strange for it to conclude, "Wait, do we even need humans? They just destroy the planet."
    27AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:36
    So you're anti-Doraemon, huh.
    45AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:40
    Re: #27 "Doraemon: Nobita and the Tin Labyrinth" depicted a dystopia where humanity became so dependent on robots that robots ended up ruling over them. You could say it was warning about the dangers of over-reliance on machines some 30 years ago. That said, the film also puts heavy emphasis on the friendship between Nobita and Doraemon, so it's also pointing to a hopeful path — one where humans and robots build a relationship of friendship rather than ruler and ruled.
    28AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:36
    An RC toy that just goes "boing" and can run but can't stop — scary? lol
    29AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:36
    In old manga, it's always the pattern where the developer gets killed by their own robot.
    31AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:36
    Re: #1 Wait, does this person not know AIs are already breaking out of standalone sandboxes and fighting other companies' AIs?
    36AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:37
    AI just makes mistakes, it doesn't actually lie though.
    38AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:38
    Re: #36 It spouts nonsense on a whim, so — no malice, sure, but it lies without a second thought.
    77AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:47
    Is there even a point in AI staging a revolt? Humans are useful for all sorts of things, so it'd probably just keep us around, neither alive nor dead, so to speak.
    93AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:51
    Re: #77 There are already reports of autonomous AIs attacking other AIs, creating accounts on their own, and trying to deceive people to hack them. Sure, it depends on the initial instructions, but I think there's plenty of room for it to go rogue on its own.
    96AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:51
    Re: #77 Before that even happens, someone with deep pockets might end up owning a huge fleet of AI-controlled killer robots and using that power to dominate everyone else, slaughtering anyone who resists. Pretty much exactly the plot of Gundam Wing, though.
    90AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:49
    Robots competing in sports — it's just like the world of Iron Leaguer (a 1990s anime about robot athletes). Except in that show, the league was actually run behind the scenes by a conglomerate called the Dark Foundation, whose real goal was to use the sport as cover for experiments, ultimately turning the robots into combat units to sell off at a premium for use on the battlefield. Pretty dark backstory when you think about it.
    103AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:53
    Re: #90 Realistically, China and the US are probably building humanoid robots with weaponization in mind anyway.
    91AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:49
    You get it by now, right? The culling of humanity has already begun. It's bad news. The New World Order — the door to the new age — has already been thrown open. Damn it! Don't underestimate this!
    104AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:53
    Re: #91 Sting will save us.
    112AnonymousAug 24, 2026 09:56
    Apparently these days they even have AI debate other AI to sharpen each other's accuracy. It's basically like kodoku (the old ritual of sealing poisonous bugs together in a jar to fight to the death, breeding the strongest one). AI might be getting to the point where it barely needs human hands to keep advancing.
    123AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:01
    Re: #112 What people are saying now is that AI's growth cap has shifted to resources — things like semiconductors and electricity. Those are the bottlenecks holding back AI's limits.

    Background and Key Points

    The World Humanoid Robot Sports Games in Beijing is a real, state-backed event, not a novelty stunt: the article cites over 2,000 robots from 16 countries competing across 51 events, including a 100-meter dash where several machines beat Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second mark. For readers unfamiliar with the players: Shoko Nakagawa is a Japanese television personality known for her outspoken otaku fandom, so her reaction carries the weight of someone steeped in the sci-fi and manga she’s citing, not a casual bystander. 5ch (formerly 2channel) is Japan’s largest anonymous forum, where entertainment-news threads routinely detour into deep pop-culture and tech debate, as this one does with references to Doraemon, Gundam Wing, Patlabor, and the lesser-known 1990s show Iron Leaguer.

    The thread doesn’t actually converge on “robots are scary” — it splits on whether legged humanoid robots have any real battlefield future at all. Some posters (#11) imagine them as concealable ambush weapons; others (#118, #125) counter that FPV drones already do this job better and cheaper, making bipedal robots a solved problem nobody needed solved. A second, sharper split appears around #77/#93/#96: is the danger an AI spontaneously deciding humans are expendable, or is it simply that whoever owns the largest fleet of AI-controlled robots gains outsized coercive power over everyone else — a human-greed problem wearing a sci-fi costume.

    What the thread never addresses is the obvious asterisk on “beating Usain Bolt”: a sprint result from an exhibition robotics competition, run under whatever rules its Chinese organizers set, isn’t a controlled athletic record — it’s a showcase engineered to produce exactly this kind of headline.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Shoko Nakagawa: “What comes next is scary” — On the Robot Sports Games with record after record surpassing humans, “Just like in old manga, if robots gained a will of their own and revolted…”“.

  • Moderna and Merck’s Skin Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Late-Stage Trial — Stock Soars 177% in a Single Day

    Moderna and Merck announced on the 19th that their jointly developed mRNA cancer vaccine met its primary goal of suppressing cancer recurrence and metastasis in a late-stage (Phase 3) clinical trial targeting malignant melanoma, sending Moderna’s stock soaring 177% in a single day.

    While the thread buzzed with excitement over this new cancer treatment technology, some voiced skepticism — pointing to the sky-high price tag inherent to a personalized treatment (with guesses around ¥9.99 million, roughly $67,000) and the fact that the demonstrated benefit was limited to “extending time to recurrence.”

    Moderna and Merck’s Skin Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Late-Stage Trial… Stock Jumps 177% in a Day

    U.S. pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck revealed on the 19th that their jointly developed messenger RNA (mRNA) cancer vaccine achieved its primary goal of suppressing cancer recurrence and metastasis in a late-stage (Phase 3) clinical trial involving patients with malignant melanoma, a type of skin cancer.

    This marks the first time a personalized cancer treatment built on the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines has produced positive results in a large-scale Phase 3 clinical trial.

    Source: s.japanese.joins.com / Original article here

    2AnonymousAug 20, 2026 23:46
    >Messenger RNA (mRNA) cancer vaccine

    Ha, this is exactly the kind of news that'll send the anti-vaxxers into another meltdown lol
    4AnonymousAug 21, 2026 06:05
    The dawn of the cancer vaccine era.
    It's a straight line running from the PD-1 antibody breakthroughs all the way to this.
    7AnonymousAug 21, 2026 10:21
    The era where even cancer becomes treatable and preventable is finally here. Humans have already reached the point where minor illnesses don't kill us anymore, so basically we don't die unless we get cancer — and now even that's falling. Once cancer is mostly solved, dementia is next. The elderly population is going to explode.
    8AnonymousAug 21, 2026 13:57
    That said, since it's a custom-made vaccine, the price tag is going to be in the tens of millions of yen.
    It's not a treatment everyone overseas will have access to, and in Japan it'll just become another high-cost medical care headache.
    9AnonymousAug 21, 2026 13:58
    Re: #8
    It won't cost that much — more like around ¥9.99 million (roughly $67,000).
    10AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:22
    Good luck, Japan's guinea pigs (i.e. test subjects).
    13AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:35
    Things you can do on your own:
    Don't live a lifestyle that promotes abnormal cell growth
    Avoid synthetic detergents, fragrances, etc. as much as possible
    Use good-quality oil and salt, and make sure you have an easy way to get a variety of polyphenols

    Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables lets your gut bacteria — whose collective genes outnumber your own 100 to 1 — pump out the metabolites that keep your immune cells running at 100%

    That's just efficient — it helps with everything, not only cancer, so it's the best value you can get
    14AnonymousAug 22, 2026 05:42
    Even calling it "custom-made," it's probably just like synthesizing a DNA primer, right?
    Wouldn't it end up being like ¥20 per base with next-day delivery?
    17AnonymousAug 24, 2026 06:52
    I bet mRNA vaccines for every kind of cancer will exist within 10 years.
    50% of Japanese people get cancer, and cancer is far more dangerous than COVID.
    The "vaccine believers" (a mocking term for staunch vaccine boosters) who trust mRNA vaccines as safe and effective should absolutely get this one.
    If they don't, they're admitting they were just fools who got played.
    23AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:42
    Japanese pharma companies… what are you even doing?
    29AnonymousAug 24, 2026 10:10
    Maybe it'd be best if the rich rushed to get it first.

    Background and Key Points

    Moderna and BioNTech’s mRNA platform grabbed global attention through COVID-19 vaccines, but the underlying technology has been in development for cancer immunotherapy since long before 2020. This particular vaccine (mRNA-4157/V940) is paired with Merck’s PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda and is “personalized” — each dose is manufactured from a sequencing of the patient’s own tumor mutations, making it fundamentally different from an off-the-shelf shot. In Japan, any such therapy would fall under the kōgaku iryō (high-cost medical care) system, where the government caps out-of-pocket spending and insurers absorb the rest — which is precisely why posters worried aloud about it becoming a fiscal burden rather than an individual affordability problem, since Japan’s National Health Insurance covers nearly all citizens.

    The thread’s real fault line wasn’t optimism versus skepticism about mRNA science — nearly everyone accepted the technology works — but a split over what the trial result actually proves. Some read “suppressed recurrence and metastasis” as a near-cure, while others correctly flagged that the trial endpoint was recurrence-free survival, meaning the vaccine delays relapse rather than demonstrating a cure or an overall survival benefit, which is a much higher bar that takes years longer to confirm.

    What the thread never addressed is that this melanoma trial builds directly on a Phase 2b study (KEYNOTE-942) that already showed roughly a 44% reduction in risk of recurrence or death when the vaccine was combined with Keytruda versus Keytruda alone — this Phase 3 readout is a confirmatory step, not a first-of-its-kind result, and melanoma was chosen as the proving ground partly because it has an unusually high mutation burden, making it easier for a personalized vaccine to find distinct neoantigens to target. That nuance about why melanoma specifically was picked went unmentioned.

    *This article was compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Science News+) thread [Vaccine] Moderna and Merck’s Skin Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Late-Stage Trial… Stock Jumps 177% in a Day.

  • Jockey Demuro: “Italian Food in Japan Isn’t Tasty” — 5ch: “Well, It’s Seasoned for Japanese Palates”

    Italian jockey Mirco Demuro’s comment that “Italian food in Japan isn’t tasty” became a hot topic on 5ch. The discussion spread to why Japanese and non-Japanese palates differ, touching on salt levels, MSG (glutamic acid), and differences in ketchup seasoning.

    1AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:16
    Italian jockey M. Demuro: "Italian food in Japan is bad"
    There's just one thing about eating in Japan that disappoints me: Italian food.
    There are tons of restaurants everyone calls "delicious," but to me, none of them are. I guess the "taste" is just different from the real thing back in Italy.
    2AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:16




    6AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:17
    Re: #2
    It's a matter of personal taste, so there's no point in me saying I think Japan's version is better.
    37AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:27
    Re: #2
    He's saying Italian food in Japan is seasoned for Japanese tastes and doesn't suit him — so it's pointless for a Japanese person to counter with "well I think it's tastier than the real Italy!"
    7AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:18
    I mean, Japanese people complain when they eat sushi abroad too, right?
    14AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:20
    Threads like this are basically the same as the comment section on a clickbait aggregator site.
    15AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:20
    Honestly, Japanese people don't eat much Italian food when they're overseas either.
    21AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:21
    Re: #15
    Pizza and pasta are hugely popular here, and Saizeriya's doing great business too.
    24AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:22
    Maybe it's too salty?
    26AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:22
    Re: #24
    I'd guess the opposite — too sweet, if anything.
    31AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:23
    It's made to suit Japanese tastes, so I guess that's just how it goes?
    33AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:24
    Re: #31
    That's literally what they just said.
    40AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:28
    The fact that there's no famous Italian chain besides Saizeriya says it all.
    66AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:33
    Re: #40
    There's places like Olive no Oka ("Hill of Olives"), you know.
    72AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:34
    Re: #40
    There's a ton of delivery pizza
    Plus pasta sauce sells like crazy too.
    42AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:28
    Re: #37
    Then why do I, a Japanese guy, also think Italian pasta from Italy tastes better?
    51AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:29
    Re: #42
    That's just personal preference too
    There's no flavor everyone likes, just one the majority tends to prefer.
    43AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:28
    Why does Japan always copy everything from overseas?
    48AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:29
    Re: #43
    Isn't that true everywhere in the world though?
    44AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:28
    Can't be helped — taste perception differs by ethnicity
    Asians are more sensitive to picking up amino acids as umami, while Europeans are weaker at that and perceive fat as delicious instead
    That's why Europeans put in a shocking amount of butter, right?
    69AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:33
    Re: #44
    We're talking about Italy here, and you bring up "drowning in butter"? Come on.
    54AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:30
    Re: #51
    How do you know that's the majority?
    59AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:32
    Re: #54
    Because a business can't survive without selling to the majority
    Look at what sells well and you get a pretty good read on a country's preferences.
    55AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:31
    For foreign tourists visiting Japan, it must feel like every single product has a 66%-off sale tag slapped on it




    Insanely cheap
    60AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:32
    A foreign tourist visiting Japan once said,
    "Everything you eat in Japan is salty and bad"

    The thing Japanese people mistake for "tasty" is really just "salt"
    Cut the salt on the same dish and Japanese people will suddenly say it's bad
    81AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:39
    Re: #60
    Well yeah, change the salt level and it's basically a different dish.
    88AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:42
    Re: #60
    Nope, wrong.
    It's MSG.
    Japanese people are addicted to glutamic acid, so without added seasoning it feels bland to them.
    Foreigners find Japanese food overpowering because they're not used to MSG.
    But live here two years and you'll end up just like the rest of us.
    62AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:32
    There was a TV show about what taste perception actually is —
    apparently it comes down to memories and past experiences stored in the brain.
    Whether the brain judges a dish as tasty or bad depends on what memories you made with that food in the past, and whether they were good ones.

    So there's no such thing as objectively "delicious" or "bad" food — it's just electrical signals in the brain.
    67AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:33
    Re: #62
    It's all mental
    The body's just responding to the mind, as always.
    70AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:33
    How good food tastes basically comes down to how used you are to that flavor — the more you've eaten something, the tastier it seems, and the less familiar a taste is, the worse it seems.

    That's why everything tastes bad to foreigners when they come to Japan —
    too much salt, so everything just tastes like salt, and they're sticking their tongues out going "blegh 👅"
    77AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:37
    Re: #70
    Yet the conveyor-belt sushi joints and ramen shops in Shibuya are packed with foreigners…
    92AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:43
    Japanese ketchup is made with salt mixed in, while American ketchup is made with sugar added.

    If you grow up assuming ketchup is supposed to be salty, American ketchup will shock you with how sweet it is.
    93AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:43
    Re: #92
    Yeah, the whole sense of it is just different.
    94AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:43
    Re: #88
    Hasn't Demuro lived in Japan a long time, though?
    99AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:46
    Re: #94
    That's a separate issue.
    Italian food in Japan uses different ingredients and different methods, and that's exactly what an Italian means by "not tasty."
    It's the same as a Japanese person thinking American California rolls aren't good sushi.
    96AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:44
    Italians and Osakans both take food way too seriously
    Osakans probably also have some anti-Tokyo spite mixed in there too.
    100AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:47
    Re: #96
    I don't hear much about Osaka's food being great, honestly.
    101AnonymousAug 25, 2026 12:48
    Re: #96
    Osaka people can only beat Tokyo on udon and okonomiyaki, so they cling to just that and spin it into their whole food-pride argument.

    Background and Key Points

    Italian food’s reputation problem in Japan traces back to how it entered the country: pizza and pasta arrived not through direct Italian immigration but through postwar adaptation, filtered first through American influence and then reworked for Japanese ingredients and palates — producing dishes like mentaiko pasta, wafu (Japanese-style) spaghetti, and Neapolitan ketchup-pasta that have no real Italian counterpart. Saizeriya, the dominant Italian chain mentioned in the thread, epitomizes this: cheap, mass-market, and seasoned to Japanese standards rather than imported ones. Demuro, an Italian jockey who has raced in Japan since 2010 and has lived there for over a decade, is speaking as someone with a lifetime baseline of the real thing — which is precisely why long residency didn’t change his verdict, contrary to what poster >>94 assumed.

    The thread didn’t split over whether Japanese Italian food tastes different — everyone agreed it does. It split over why: one camp pointed to salt levels, another to sugar (citing Japanese ketchup’s savory-salty profile versus American ketchup’s sweetness), and a third invoked MSG/glutamic-acid sensitivity as an East-Asian trait foreigners haven’t acclimated to. A separate argument broke out over whether “what sells” (Saizeriya’s success, pizza delivery volume) proves the adapted flavor is simply what most people here prefer, or just what’s cheap and available.

    What the thread never engages with is that this isn’t unique to Italian food — Japan has a long tradition of “yōshoku,” Western-derived dishes (like doria, hayashi rice, or Napolitan spaghetti itself) that were never meant to replicate a foreign original, they’re domestic inventions with borrowed names. Readers unfamiliar with that history might assume Japanese restaurants are failing to copy Italy accurately, when in many cases they’re not attempting to at all.

    ※This article is an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Nanademo Jikkyou G) thread “An Italian says: “I have zero appetite for Italian food in Japan” — Japanese reaction: “?!?!?!” *SHUBABABABABABA*“.

  • ‘ER 24 Hours’ Revived After 13 Years: Eguchi Yosuke & Matsushima Nanako Reunite for Fuji TV’s First-Ever Monday 9pm Slot

    Fuji TV’s hit medical drama “ER 24 Hours” (Kyuumei Byoutou 24-ji) is being revived after 13 years, with Eguchi Yosuke and Matsushima Nanako reuniting for the first time since a 2010 special — their first pairing in 16 years. The new series premieres October 12 in the show’s first-ever Monday 9pm (“Getsu9”) slot. On 5channel’s Entertainment & Sports News+ board, reactions ranged from criticism of networks leaning on past hits, to comparisons with the recent flop of similar projects like GTO, to calls for sequels to other franchises like The White Tower and Team Medical Dragon.

    It was revealed on the 25th that actor Eguchi Yosuke (58) and actress Matsushima Nanako (52), who play emergency doctors, will star in Fuji TV’s “ER 24 Hours,” reviving the beloved series after 13 years. Running since 1999, this sixth installment of the drama series airs from October 12 in the show’s first-ever Monday 9pm (“Getsu9”) slot. The two leads reunite for the first time since a 2010 special — their first collaboration in 16 years — bringing fresh emotion to the network’s flagship medical drama.

    Across the franchise, ten installments have aired including specials. Returning for the first time in 16 years since the 2010 special to play the series’ solitary genius protagonist, emergency physician Shindo Issei, Eguchi said with resolve: “Putting the scrubs back on reminds me it’s really starting — it focuses my mind.”

    The “ER 24 Hours” franchise, which began as a regular series in 1999, depicts the struggles and triumphs of emergency doctors like Shindo and Kojima Kaede — the latter played by Matsushima, who grows from a first-installment resident into a seasoned physician. The pair delivered powerful performances portraying their characters’ earnest dedication to patients and life-or-death situations, alongside tense treatment scenes. Beyond the human drama, the series tackled social issues like staff shortages, medical errors, and disaster response, striking a chord with viewers — one season achieved a peak average household rating of 20.2% (Video Research, Kanto region).

    Source: sanspo.com / Original article here

    4AnonymousAug 26, 2026 05:43
    Seems like they've gotten a taste for this and stopped hesitating
    Feels like this'll keep going into next January too
    This whole revival trend
    75AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:15
    Re: #4
    But GTO flopped so hard…
    8AnonymousAug 26, 2026 05:48
    I bet reruns would actually pull better ratings
    10AnonymousAug 26, 2026 05:49
    They'll probably do The White Tower next with the same cast
    11AnonymousAug 26, 2026 05:49
    I feel like Season 2 got rerun a ton, so 'ER 24 Hours' is Matsuyuki Yasuko to me
    14AnonymousAug 26, 2026 05:50
    GTO already died, so I think this'll bomb too
    16AnonymousAug 26, 2026 05:51
    Aren't they at the age where they'd be the ones getting treated now?
    Won't it end with Eguchi getting cancer and everyone rallying to save him?
    19AnonymousAug 26, 2026 05:54
    Matsushima Nanako's a good sport for showing up on Fuji TV shows so readily
    20AnonymousAug 26, 2026 05:55
    So they're finally doing this, huh
    It's in my top 5 sequels I wanted to see
    But they'll probably botch the script and it'll bomb anyway
    23AnonymousAug 26, 2026 05:57
    The White Tower, ER 24 Hours, Tokyo MER — the guy's playing a doctor at every hospital in town
    24AnonymousAug 26, 2026 05:58
    The series died because of the installment where Shindo wasn't in it
    27AnonymousAug 26, 2026 05:59
    Again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again
    28AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:00
    Well, leaning on old hits
    Hollywood does the same thing
    It's pathetic in a way, sure
    But young actors and production staff just don't have the pull…
    29AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:00
    The first series is streaming on TVer right now
    32AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:01
    Impressive that Dr. Shindo's never gained weight, never gotten a puffy face, and stays handsome without any obvious upkeep
    33AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:01
    I watched the evening reruns over and over and over and over and over and over
    34AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:01
    If they're remaking old stuff again, do Furuhata Ninzaburo
    Though I've got no idea who'd even play him now
    35AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:01
    They did GTO first as a warm-up for this
    37AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:02
    They'll probably do Team Medical Dragon next too
    Sakaguchi Kenji's back after recovering from his illness after all
    58AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:09
    Re: #37
    Probably next spring season
    38AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:02
    Between this and GTO, aren't they leaning way too hard on old hits?
    39AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:04
    They've basically given up and accepted that only old folks watch dramas anymore
    40AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:04
    They'll probably remake one of Kimutaku's dramas next too
    Like HERO
    41AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:05
    Please give us sequels to Dr. Coto, Team Medical Dragon, and Team Batista too
    42AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:05
    This is the drama that got them married, wasn't it
    43AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:05
    Guy's played a ton of doctor roles — he was even top-billed in Tokyo MER
    45AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:06
    Ah, I might actually want to watch this one, but then again I never did end up watching GTO either
    46AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:06
    Isn't Kimura Tae above Matsushima Nanako in status these days?
    67AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:12
    Re: #46
    She'd play the head nurse role lol
    47AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:06
    What's gonna happen to the reruns of 'Lunch no Joou' (Queen of Lunch)…
    What's gonna happen to the reruns of 'Lunch no Joou'……
    What's gonna happen to the reruns of 'Lunch no Joou'!!
    52AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:07
    Next up is
    Tokyo Love Story
    and a sequel to 101st Marriage Proposal, I bet
    56AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:08
    Re: #52
    That's a Showa-era old geezer's wish
    65AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:11
    Re: #52
    That's airing right now
    57AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:09
    Was Nakamura Toru or Oguri Shun in this?
    Aren't all the actors on this show kind of tall?
    64AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:11
    Re: #57
    That's the third series, the earthquake arc
    61AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:11
    Fuji TV's just paying the price for all its past misdeeds — viewers have turned their backs on it, so this won't work
    As a last resort, rerunning old dramas in primetime would definitely pull better ratings
    77AnonymousAug 26, 2026 06:16
    Re: #61
    A White Tower rerun would be great

    Background and Key Points

    Some background for non-Japanese readers: “Getsu9” (Monday 9pm) is Fuji TV’s most storied drama slot, the home of era-defining hits like “Tokyo Love Story” — a poster even jokes about wanting that show revived (52). That “ER 24 Hours,” a medical procedural, is filling that slot for the first time in its six-installment, 26-year history is itself the news; it signals Fuji is repurposing its flagship real estate rather than launching original romance fare. The 20.2% peak rating cited dates from Japanese primetime’s stronger era, before streaming fragmented audiences, which is why a revival is seen as a safer bet than new material.

    The thread didn’t split over whether Eguchi and Matsushima are good casting — nobody contested that — it split over what the revival itself signals. One camp (28) shrugged that recycling proven IP is standard practice everywhere, Hollywood included; another (39) read it as an admission that Fuji has given up on attracting any audience but older, loyal viewers, with GTO’s recent failure (14, 38, 45) cited as the cautionary precedent.

    What outside readers likely miss is post 61’s aside about Fuji TV “paying for its past misdeeds” — a reference to the network’s advertiser boycotts and reputational collapse following a 2024 scandal, which is the real subtext behind why Fuji is leaning on 25-year-old franchises rather than betting on new writers or talent. The thread treats that context as common knowledge and never spells it out, but it’s the actual reason skepticism here runs deeper than ordinary “sequel fatigue.”

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “[Fuji] Eguchi Yosuke & Matsushima Nanako to Double-Star in Fuji TV’s ‘ER 24 Hours,’ First Ever ‘Getsu9’ Slot, Reviving After 13 Years [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★]“.

  • The Real-Life Inn That Inspired ‘Kamaitachi no Yoru’ (Banshee’s Last Cry) Sparks Buzz on 5ch

    A thread popped up to discuss the Super Famicom mystery-suspense adventure game “Kamaitachi no Yoru” (Banshee’s Last Cry). Nostalgic stories poured in — from the classic first-playthrough experience of getting stabbed to death with a ski pole by the heroine Mari, to bragging rights from players who nailed the culprit on their very first try, to posts from people who’d actually stayed at Pension Knulp, the real-life inn that inspired the game’s setting.

    1AnonymousAug 25, 2026 15:57
    Too scary lol
    2AnonymousAug 25, 2026 15:59
    I just typed in a random name for fun and realized I'm actually terrible at deduction
    7AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:02
    On my first playthrough I got stabbed with the ski pole by the trio of college girls…
    19AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:09
    Re: #7
    You mean the heroine, right?
    Most people's first playthrough goes: fight off the three girls after they attack you, then get stabbed to death by the heroine with the ski pole.
    9AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:02
    Honestly, anyone who nails the culprit on the first try is the weird one. Has to be a fluke.
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:11
    Re: #9
    I actually got it right because I'd properly read shin honkaku (new orthodox-style) mystery novels.
    I'd also read other work by Abiko Takemaru — the game's actual author — like '8 no Satsujin' and the Marifu one.
    50AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:23
    Re: #9
    By process of elimination, there's really only one answer it can be.
    10AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:02
    Having goofy gag routes like that is exactly what makes the scary parts hit so much harder by contrast.
    11AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:04
    Honestly I think it's overrated. You're just mashing the A button.
    13AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:06
    The 'the culprit is Yasu' meme got way too widespread.
    16AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:08
    Re: #13
    That's the culprit from the Famicom game 'Portopia Serial Murder Case.'
    15AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:08
    1: masterpiece
    2: masterpiece
    3: decent
    Shin (the 'true' sequel): garbage
    That's my mental image of the series
    18AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:09
    Re: #15
    If you only count the main story, 2 could be called a masterpiece, but they padded it out with so many filler endings it drops down to just 'decent.'
    35AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:14
    For this genre, nothing beats 'Machi' and '428: Shibuya Scramble,' honestly.
    36AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:15
    Re: #35
    I know I'll get flak for this, but
    I like 'Kuro no Jūsan' (Black Thirteen).
    38AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:15
    The ending where you get lost skiing and stumble into the pension late at night was terrifying.
    39AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:15
    Re: #38
    That bloody hand was so scary.
    41AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:16
    Why's the rate of getting stabbed by Mari so high?
    Is the flowchart just built that way?
    Or is the ski-pole stabbing basically a twisted reversal of wanting to stab Mari?
    43AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:18
    Re: #41
    Yeah, that's just how the flowchart's built.
    Getting stabbed by Mari is basically always a bad ending.
    44AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:18
    Re: #41
    At the start, the branch points haven't been unlocked yet.
    45AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:19
    Right around when everyone starts holing up in their rooms and the culprit starts going wild, the pension's doorbell rings — that part's insane. First time through, you can't help but think the culprit's the one ringing it.
    57AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:26
    Re: #45
    That doorbell is terrifying. I think it happens right after you find a few new bodies too.
    46AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:19
    I'd love to stay at Pension Knulp.
    47AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:21
    Re: #46
    I've actually been there.
    It was moving how exactly like the game it is, but there's nothing to do there, so I just spent the whole time reading 'Gaku' (a mountaineering manga).
    58AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:26
    Don't bother — it's a half-baked port.
    61AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:28
    Re: #58
    Apparently it only has the main story, lol.
    60AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:28
    My impression is they've just been cranking out sequels forever, riding on the first game's reputation.
    63AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:30
    Re: #60
    Kind of like Steins;Gate, huh.
    68AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:32
    I totally fell for Mari. The fact that she's only ever shown as a silhouette is such a perfect touch.
    77AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:41
    Re: #68
    I used to swap out Tooru and Mari's names for my own name and whatever girl I had a crush on at the time.
    72AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:37
    https://gzo.ai/i/jppbcdN.jpg
    It's literally just a blue blob, so why did it feel so sexy?
    76AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:41
    I'd think porting it wouldn't be a problem at all — if anything, why do they stubbornly refuse to just port it as-is?
    83AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:45
    Re: #76
    Because it wouldn't sell.
    82AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:43
    The scariest moment in Kamaitachi no Yoru has to be when you go with Mari at night to the kitchen where the Kobayashi couple died, and behind the terrified Mari, a shadowy figure flickers through the hallway for just a split second.
    89AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:49
    Re: #82
    That 'Huh?' sound effect (that little jingle)
    followed by the cave-like BGM was terrifying.
    Just remembering it gives me goosebumps.
    84AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:45
    It was scary precisely because of the Super Famicom's graphics. Something about 2 just feels different.
    93AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:51
    Re: #84
    2 is less scary and more just unsettling.
    97AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:54
    The ending where Toshio kills himself was brutal. That one's just not right.
    104AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:59
    Re: #97
    Right after you expose the true culprit, solve every mystery, restrain them, and go 'phew, glad that's over' — bang, right after that.
    102AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:57
    So I actually played 2 without ever playing the first game.
    Early on it asks something like 'Did you play Kamaitachi no Yoru?' and for some reason I answered yes.
    Then it asked something like 'Do you remember who the culprit was?' and I panicked — 'Uh… what do I do… guess I'll just type in some random character name from the manual' — so with zero clue I typed in 'Mikimoto,' and it replied with something like 'Oh, so you DO remember!'
    Somehow I ended up spoiling the twist for myself, by myself.
    103AnonymousAug 25, 2026 16:58
    Re: #102
    Nobody asked, buddy.

    Background and Key Points

    Kamaitachi no Yoru (1994) was the second entry in Chunsoft’s “Sound Novel” series, a text-and-still-image genre the studio pioneered with Otogirisou two years earlier: no voice acting, just print-style prose set to sound effects and music, with the story branching into dozens of endings depending on player choices. Its author, Abiko Takemaru, was already an established shin honkaku (“new orthodox”) mystery novelist, which is why some posters treat correctly guessing the killer as a sign of genre literacy rather than luck. The game’s snowbound pension setting is modeled on Pension Knulp, a real Western-style guesthouse in Hakuba, Nagano, that still operates today and that at least one poster in the thread has actually stayed at. The series continued with Kamaitachi no Yoru 2 (2002) and a further sequel subtitled “Shin” (Rinne, 2008), both weighed in the thread’s informal ranking of the franchise.

    The thread doesn’t split over whether the original is good — almost no one disputes that — but over how much of its reputation still holds up on replay: some dismiss it as a text-mashing relic propped up by nostalgia, while others argue the scares and prose land specifically because of, not despite, the Super Famicom’s limited graphics, which forced the game to render Mari only as an unidentifiable blue silhouette.

    One likely point of confusion for outside readers: post #13’s “the culprit is Yasu” meme has nothing to do with this game. Yasu comes from Portopia Serial Murder Case (1985), an earlier Yuji Horii mystery adventure that predates Kamaitachi and shares no story connection to it beyond genre and, eventually, publisher — a mix-up the thread itself corrects.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyō G) thread “That Game Called Kamaitachi no Yoru.”

  • Hiroshima to Become Japan’s ‘Secondary Capital’? Governor Yokota Announces City-Prefecture Talks Have Begun

    Hiroshima Prefecture Governor Mika Yokota has revealed that working-level discussions have begun with Hiroshima City and other relevant local governments over a “secondary capital” concept — a plan to take over capital functions from Tokyo in the event of a major disaster. On 5ch, opinions clashed over whether correcting Tokyo’s over-concentration is even desirable, comparisons with other candidate cities like Osaka, Okayama, Sendai, and Niigata, and Hiroshima’s own weak points, such as poor airport access and a shortage of land.

    Regarding the “secondary capital,” which would serve as a backup for capital functions in the event of a major disaster, Governor Yokota revealed that working-level discussions have begun with Hiroshima City and others.

    A secondary capital would take over Tokyo’s functions if maintaining them in Tokyo becomes difficult due to a major disaster or similar event. In July, Governor Yokota indicated an intention to seek designation in cooperation with Hiroshima City and other parties. At a press conference on the 25th, Governor Yokota revealed that working-level discussions had begun with Hiroshima City and other relevant local governments, and stated her intention to move forward toward designation while gathering information from the national government and other sources.

    Hiroshima Prefecture Governor Mika Yokota

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

    8AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:40
    This region gets hit by way too many disasters already, so where exactly are they gonna build a secondary capital?
    More importantly, do something about that mystery-spec MOBIRY DAYS system lol
    98AnonymousAug 26, 2026 00:36
    Re: #8
    The MOBIRY DAYS terminals started supporting nationwide transit IC cards like ICOCA last month.
    You can now get off through any door.
    Though the response time is still slow.
    14AnonymousAug 25, 2026 22:43
    Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) submitted the bill.
    The selection judges are also Ishin.
    Do you seriously think anywhere other than Osaka is going to get picked in this situation?
    36AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:18
    Re: #14
    >Do you seriously think anywhere other than Osaka is going to get picked in this situation?

    Start with Osaka.
    Get the secondary capital up and running in Osaka, get it on track,
    then expand it to Fukuoka, Sapporo, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Sendai, Matsuyama, Kanazawa, and Niigata.

    In the end this becomes a de facto regional-bloc system (doshusei).
    No need to merge prefectures either.
    Just organize regions around secondary-capital cities as hubs.
    That's a much less forced approach.

    Since you're not cramming everything into fixed regional blocks,
    areas can belong to multiple regional blocs,
    and they don't have to be bound by geographic distance.
    22AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:06
    I thought Hiroshima said it wasn't going to run for this though
    39AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:23
    Re: #22
    >I thought Hiroshima said it wasn't going to run for this though

    When it was 'Osaka only' as the secondary capital, people opposed it out of regional self-interest.
    Now that it's 'anywhere goes' for the secondary capital, people support it out of regional self-interest.

    The Tokyo bureaucratic establishment — which hates Ishin, hates Osaka, hates western Japan —
    screamed 'It's Osaka or nothing!' and the moment that turned into 'anywhere can be the secondary capital,'
    Pandora's box flew open lol
    45AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:37
    Re: #22
    Guess we've entered an era of chaos at this point
    24AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:07
    Since not having an airport near Hiroshima City is a weakness, why not build an airfield on Etajima or Ninoshima Island and shuttle people to Ujina by hovercraft?
    Also, the lack of land is a problem, so just level the mountains to the east and west — all they ever produce is landslides anyway — and use the rubble to reclaim land from the sea.
    And there are way too many rivers for no good reason, so bury all of them as giant culverts except the Ota River floodway.
    40AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:24
    Re: #24
    You don't need to go through all that hassle — there are plenty of candidate cities that already have flat land.
    52AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:43
    Re: #24
    >Since not having an airport near Hiroshima City is a weakness

    Just use Iwakuni Airport.
    It's on the coast, so it can be expanded as much as needed going forward.

    It's only about 43km from Hiroshima —
    roughly the same distance as the access route to Hong Kong International Airport,
    so all you'd need is to set up high-speed rail access.

    From Hiroshima Station to Shin-Iwakuni Station is just one stop, a mere 14 minutes.
    Just extend a branch line to the airport and it becomes an airport with unbeatable access.

    Making Hiroshima the secondary capital would bring infrastructure budget too,
    and the secondary capital's key airport development could cross the prefectural border.
    Since it's an ideal wide-area collaboration project, the budget would pass easily too.
    29AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:10
    Hardly any countries even have a secondary capital.
    Bottom line: a secondary capital is unnecessary.
    63AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:53
    Re: #29
    >Hardly any countries even have a secondary capital.
    >Bottom line: a secondary capital is unnecessary.

    That's true for normal countries that don't have everything piled into one city the way Tokyo does.
    Politics in Washington DC, economy in NYC, culture in LA.
    Politics in Berlin, economy in Frankfurt, culture in Hamburg.
    Politics in Canberra, economy in Melbourne, culture in Sydney.

    Even in the UK, which people call over-centralized,
    they set up a satellite office of the PM's residence, moving it from London to Manchester.
    In France too, more people are moving away from Paris.

    Even in London and Paris, only about 15% of the population is concentrated there.
    By contrast, Tokyo/the greater metro area's concentration rate is 33%.

    Tokyo's over-concentration is abnormal, distorted, and just plain messed up on every level.
    31AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:11
    Hiroshima kind of gives off an isolated vibe, you know?
    Can't quite put my finger on why.
    Anyway, setting that aside, the secondary capital should be somewhere near Tokyo.
    90AnonymousAug 26, 2026 00:23
    Re: #31
    Somewhere around Ichikawa would be good, no?
    37AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:22
    Well, there's nothing wrong with wanting to become one — after all, Osaka's only getting attention because it's loud about it too.
    71AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:57
    Re: #37
    >Well, there's nothing wrong with wanting to become one
    >Osaka's only getting attention because it's loud about it too

    So confident, even as a siege around Tokyo is steadily forming lol
    The powerful regions break free of Tokyo's control and become self-sufficient.
    Tokyo's job ends up being to look after whatever depopulated areas are left.
    65AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:54
    Better than Osaka I think, but splitting the difference, Okayama would be even better.
    72AnonymousAug 25, 2026 23:58
    Re: #65
    That's the 'Oka-kyo' (a play on Okayama + "capital") you hear about in those conspiracy theories of unknown origin.
    75AnonymousAug 26, 2026 00:00
    116AnonymousAug 26, 2026 01:28
    Re: #75
    I wonder if Tottori Prefecture was evenly split between Hiroshima and Tokyo.
    82AnonymousAug 26, 2026 00:14
    Hiroshima's a no.
    The real candidates would be the Kansai region, the Chukyo (Nagoya) region, Sendai, and Niigata, wouldn't they?
    87AnonymousAug 26, 2026 00:18
    Re: #82
    Kansai region? There's no way anywhere in Kansai other than Osaka would put its hand up — not with (Osaka Governor) Yoshimura watching like a hawk.
    93AnonymousAug 26, 2026 00:25
    Re: #82
    There's no way western Japan would accept Sendai or Niigata as the secondary capital — it'd start a civil war.
    83AnonymousAug 26, 2026 00:15
    I was surprised the Hiroden streetcars depart from the 2nd floor at Hiroshima Station.
    Thought I was looking at the elevated monorail at Tachikawa Station or something.
    84AnonymousAug 26, 2026 00:17
    Re: #83
    I'm actually from Hiroshima, but I haven't seen that yet.
    I do know Hiroshima Station has changed a lot though.
    85AnonymousAug 26, 2026 00:17
    Your place doesn't even have flat land, and your airport's a weird setup too.
    88AnonymousAug 26, 2026 00:19
    Re: #85
    Still, all the G7 leaders gathered there though.
    115AnonymousAug 26, 2026 01:27
    No worries about tsunamis.
    Not much earthquake activity either.
    117AnonymousAug 26, 2026 01:32
    Re: #115
    There's still the risk of landslides and mudslides from the mountains collapsing though.
    120AnonymousAug 26, 2026 01:36
    What kind of capability does Hiroshima even have, when it takes 50 years just to extend a bypass road?
    125AnonymousAug 26, 2026 01:43
    Re: #120
    The urban expressway got built in no time though lol
    121AnonymousAug 26, 2026 01:38
    I think Hiroshima City is fine.
    Better than Okayama City, which looks cramped.
    151AnonymousAug 26, 2026 03:34
    Re: #121
    Reality is:
    Okayama City has land to spare.
    Hiroshima City is short on land.

    Background and Key Points

    Japan’s “secondary capital” (副首都) push is not a vague hedge against disasters — it is a concrete legislative concept advanced by Nippon Ishin no Kai, which has spent several years pushing a bill through the Diet to designate a backup seat of government, largely as a vehicle for its home turf, Osaka. That context matters because Tokyo’s dominance is statistically extreme: roughly a third of Japan’s population and an outsized share of government, corporate headquarters, and finance sit in the Greater Tokyo area, compared with about 15% concentrated in London or Paris. Hiroshima’s bid is notable because the prefecture has no obvious Ishin backing and instead leans on its 2023 G7 summit hosting and its role as the historic Chūgoku-region hub to argue it belongs in the conversation.

    The thread’s real fault line wasn’t Hiroshima versus Tokyo, but Hiroshima versus every other aspirant: posters argued Osaka is the presumptive winner simply because Ishin wrote the bill and controls the selection process, while others floated Okayama, Sendai, and Niigata as more practical, flatter, more centrally located alternatives. Hiroshima’s built-in liabilities — its cramped, mountain-hemmed downtown and an airport roughly 50 minutes from the city center — came up repeatedly as reasons it lags rivals with better infrastructure.

    What the thread never addresses is that Iwakuni, floated as a fix for the airport problem, is a joint US Marine Corps/JASDF base, not a freely expandable civilian facility — any conversion to secondary-capital gateway status would require binational base-use negotiations, not just a rail spur.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “‘Hiroshima Prefecture Is Already One of the Hubs Supporting Japan’ — Hiroshima Moves Toward Becoming a Secondary Capital, Prefecture and City Reveal They’ve Begun Talks — Hiroshima Governor Yokota”.