Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • Aichi Prefecture Recommends Pay Raise of Over 3% for Civil Servants — 5ch: “Huh, That’s Actually Pretty Low”

    On October 6, the Aichi Prefectural Personnel Commission recommended that Governor Hideaki Omura raise prefectural employees’ monthly salaries by an average of 3.09% (¥12,481). This marks the second straight year of a recommendation topping 3%, a notably high level, and if implemented, the average annual salary for general administrative employees would come to roughly ¥6.986 million. On 5ch, reactions split between people calling it “surprisingly cheap” and others pointing out that once management positions are factored in, raises in places like Tokyo’s 23 wards are even steeper — fueling a wider debate over civil servants’ pay levels and job security.

    On October 6, the Aichi Prefectural Personnel Commission recommended that Governor Hideaki Omura raise Aichi prefectural employees’ pay by more than 3%. This is the second consecutive year the recommendation has topped the 3% mark.

    On October 6, the Aichi Prefectural Personnel Commission recommended to Governor Omura that prefectural employees’ monthly pay be raised by ¥12,481, an average of 3.09%. The move aims to close the gap with private-sector wages, which have been trending upward; if realized, the average annual salary for general administrative employees would reach approximately ¥6.986 million.

    Full text at the source. Last updated: Wed, 10/7, 6:02 AM

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

    2AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:42
    Re: #1
    Funny how there's always magically a budget for this.
    42AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:32
    If they're jacking up pay this much, shouldn't they scrap job security guarantees too?
    If the justification is "matching the private sector," that can't apply to salary alone.
    Social insurance should be fully merged with the private-sector system too.
    3AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:43
    Huh, that's actually pretty cheap.
    54AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:38
    Re: #3
    They're leaving out management to make it look cheap.
    Here's the real picture ↓
    Starting pay for civil servants in Tokyo's 23 wards is up 25% from five years ago, with annual pay rising over ¥1 million — four straight years of increases.
    A 36-year-old section chief's annual pay went from about ¥9.17 million to about ¥10.22 million; a 42-year-old department head went from about ¥11.83 million to about ¥13.00 million.
    https://www.fnn.jp/articles/-/945789
    4AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:43
    Only ¥7 million?
    At this rate nobody's going to want to be a civil servant anymore.
    18AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:53
    Re: #4
    Disposable income is way higher than in "Tonkin" (derisive 5ch nickname for Tokyo).
    41AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:30
    Re: #4
    Well, if a civil servant ever gets laid off, that's basically game over for them.
    Going forward we'll see more municipalities like Yubari (the city that famously went bankrupt), and civil servants will keep getting cut too.
    No matter how much you raise the pay, nobody's going to want the job under those conditions.
    78AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:56
    Re: #4
    This is probably a civil servant posting on the taxpayer's dime.
    Don't they get how hard things are for people crushed by high taxes?
    Civil servants are so greedy.
    25AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:00
    They scream it like it's a blood feud: "Inequality is unacceptable! We must equalize the burden to fix the gap!"

    Consumption tax hiked from 8% to 10% ← No problem for civil servants, since they just use a quarter of the expanded general-account budget to raise their own pay

    High-cost medical care burden increased ← Doesn't touch civil servants, thanks to their mutual aid association (half of its funding is effectively tax money anyway)

    Student loans have to be repaid ← Public school teachers don't have to repay theirs

    And yet the government waves the inequality flag around.
    But when you point this stuff out to them, they fire back:
    "It's a different position, so it can't be helped!"
    "If it bugs you that much, why don't you become a civil servant too?"
    Hey, hold on, isn't that contradictory lol
    Weren't you the ones who said inequality (favoring whoever pays less) is unforgivable?
    Way too much of a double standard lmao
    31AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:05
    Re: #25
    Then just become a civil servant lmaooo
    44AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:32
    Re: #31
    It's the "employment ice age" generation, right (Japan's famous lost-generation job seekers)? The competition ratio is still insane.
    50AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:35
    Re: #44
    Civil servants are supposed to be a drag on/check on society, but if that's the only job everyone wants, it just drags the whole society down.
    And it's already bloated so much that in elections, "public opinion" is basically turning into "civil servant opinion" — it's spiraling out of control.
    53AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:38
    Re: #44
    So civil servants his age are basically an elite bunch, since high pay is just the norm for them, huh?
    47AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:34
    Why is it that private-sector workers are grinding away on ¥3 million a year, while civil servants barely work and just keep getting raises?
    52AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:38
    Re: #47
    Who knows.
    I think it's because people keep voting for politicians who just look stable on the surface — that's how we ended up here.
    Just look at the Hyogo Prefecture document scandal and you'll get it.
    69AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:48
    Re: #47
    It's messed up: in Japan, private-sector workers earn less, actually contribute to society, and pay high taxes — yet still have to fund useless, dead-weight civil servants with that tax money.
    58AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:41
    Re: #50
    Civil servants basically work a three-day weekend.
    They've got so much time off and so little to do that most of the posts online end up being from civil servants.
    Everyone else just has to keep posting things civil servants would hate, every day, as self-defense.
    61AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:43
    Re: #58
    They already get weekends and public holidays off, plus something like 60 days of paid annual leave.
    A year is 52 weeks, so that works out to roughly 3-4 days off a week.
    They're off for half the year.
    99AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:11
    Re: #58

    Converted to an hourly wage, that's gotta be something else.
    81AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:01
    Re: #50
    The weird part is that it's the only job that's this popular. You see that tendency in developing countries, like in parts of Africa.

    In developed countries, public-sector pay tends to track private companies, small and midsize firms included — but in exchange they hire a bit more broadly, using the jobs as an employment buffer, say for single mothers.

    In Japan, though, the bottom rungs are non-regular staff and fieldwork gets outsourced, so full-time civil servant jobs are basically a privileged class now. They squeeze headcount at the bottom to balance things out, while the "bubble generation" who got in back when competition was low just rides the seniority system and lives it up.
    100AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:12
    Re: #81
    It's less that the job "became" popular and more that the whole civil servant system was built to engineer that popularity as a tool of control.
    Historically, Japan's rule has run in an unbroken line from aristocracy to the samurai class, and today's government and bureaucracy were established out of that same lineage.
    Just as politicians inherit their seats across 2nd and 3rd generations as a leftover of samurai-era society, civil servants were built into the other half of that same structure of control.
    So why did it end up this way? Because Japanese culture runs on the assumption that people are fundamentally good.
    There's been constant complacency that even handing out enormous authority, people will keep themselves in check.
    In reality, that's not what happens — they run wild and do whatever they want.
    91AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:06
    Re: #87
    Civil servants actually have a really high birth rate.

    That's probably the key to fixing the falling birth rate.
    98AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:10
    Re: #91
    Meanwhile, the birth rate among fixed-term contract government workers is 0.3.
    I hate to say it, but this isn't so different from Rome living large on the backs of slaves.
    And the rest of the public is the one footing the bill.
    108AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:16
    Thanks for the booming economy —
    first time in my life I've actually felt a boom.
    112AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:20
    Re: #108
    The only parts of the economy doing well are a small slice of semiconductor and AI-related firms.
    Most of the Nikkei average's moves just come down to Uniqlo and SoftBank anyway — that doesn't describe the economy as a whole.
    200AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:10
    Re: #108
    Everything's getting more expensive and bankruptcies are everywhere, and you call that a boom?
    That's just how it feels if you're a civil servant.
    137AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:42
    Re: #132
    I've experienced both, and honestly the ease of the job doesn't change much — in the end it all comes down to which department you're in.
    143AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:50
    Re: #137
    Isn't that way too narrow a view?
    149AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:52
    Re: #143
    How is it narrow? You make it sound like you've got some wide-angle view across all civil servants or something?
    153AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:55
    Re: #149
    It's not even about having some broader view — you can just observe this normally through everyday dealings, paperwork, and daily life.
    193AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:03
    Re: #149
    There are a lot of posts from civil servants here, and all they ever think about is… civil servants.
    142AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:48
    Re: #134
    Of course nobody's going to get that.
    You'd have to be out of your mind to just intuit it with zero explanation given.
    159AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:57
    Re: #142
    Maybe just read whichever you like better, Keynes or Schumpeter, or at least check out a summary of their ideas.
    161AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:59
    Re: #159
    So basically your position is: once you state your opinion, the other person is supposed to go look it up themselves and automatically come around to agree?
    That's total civil-servant-brain thinking.
    165AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:01
    Re: #161
    If you want to take it easy, I already gave you the keywords — just go ask an AI about it.
    191AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:01
    Re: #161
    Civil servants can only think in terms of leaning on tax money.
    Clueless about the real world, total dead weight on society…
    170AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:06
    Re: #156
    That's just a rural thing.
    173AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:08
    Re: #170
    By the way, Kanagawa and Tokyo are the only places where civil servant pay is actually below the private-sector average.
    Those two have some justification for a raise, but the rest of the top 10 haven't needed one in the last decade.
    175AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:10
    Re: #173
    What exactly do you mean by "private-sector average"?
    Can you actually show specific numbers for that average?
    189AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:59
    Re: #173
    For Tokyo, here's how it looks ↓
    Starting pay for civil servants in Tokyo's 23 wards is up 25% from five years ago, with annual pay rising over ¥1 million — four straight years of increases.
    A 36-year-old section chief's annual pay went from about ¥9.17 million to about ¥10.22 million; a 42-year-old department head went from about ¥11.83 million to about ¥13.00 million.
    https://www.fnn.jp/articles/-/945789

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Personnel commission recommendations are issued under the Local Public Service Act, based on comparisons with private-sector wage surveys conducted in each prefecture. Whether one is actually implemented is up to the governor and the assembly — a recommendation doesn’t automatically take effect. This time’s 3.09% increase, about ¥12,481, is an average figure for general administrative positions, and it’s worth noting that the real picture differs once management roles and other job categories are included. The thread split between those who read the roughly ¥6.99 million average as “surprisingly low” and those who pushed back with examples from Tokyo’s 23 wards, arguing that actual figures including management are much higher — much of the disagreement came down to people talking past each other about different things (the overall average versus individual job ranks). Criticism of civil servants expanded into broader points about job security and differences in social insurance, but the discussion never got into a detailed comparison of the actual systems.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Aichi Prefecture Employee Pay: Second Straight Year of a Recommendation Topping 3% — Average Pay Would Reach Roughly ¥6.98 Million If Realized.”

  • Botched US Execution Leaves Death Row Inmate Alive — 5ch Reacts: ‘A Human Being Is Supposed to Die From That’

    In Tennessee, an attempt to execute death row inmate Christa Pike by lethal injection failed to produce a confirmed death, and her legal team’s statement revealed that she regained consciousness and was able to speak while being treated in a hospital. The backdrop: drug manufacturers’ refusal to supply execution drugs has made lethal injection increasingly difficult for US states to carry out, pushing some states to fall back on the electric chair or firing squad. On 5ch, opinions split over the legal question of what comes next — since the execution was “incomplete,” can it simply be carried out again, or would a second attempt amount to double punishment, meaning she should be switched to a life sentence instead?

    Oct 7 (Wed), 8:41 AM JST

    CNN.co.jp

    (CNN) Christa Pike, a Tennessee death row inmate who survived an attempted execution, has regained consciousness and is able to speak while receiving hospital treatment, her defense team revealed in a statement.

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

    2AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:05
    World champion at refusing to die
    42AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:15
    You're supposed to die from that
    if you're human
    51AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:17
    This woman's apparently some kind of gang leader
    if they put her back out there healthy, the body count's only going up
    11AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:09
    Did somebody at the top get fired over this botched execution?
    147AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:55
    Re: #11
    You've got a real gift for irony
    25AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:11
    They dosed her twice and it still failed — they probably can't execute her now
    Life sentence, then?
    101AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:32
    Re: #25
    The sentence was technically already carried out, so switching to life would basically be a second helping of punishment, which seems like it'd be a legal problem? Not sure though.
    217AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:36
    Re: #25
    Trumpo: 'Don't worry, baby, I brought back the firing squad! HAHAHA'
    33AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:13
    This woman's a violent criminal
    She killed someone brutally
    There's no way she should be let off
    38AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:14
    Re: #33
    Well, as a result she's suffered more than most death row inmates do
    36AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:13
    The sentence itself was carried out, and she was even left near death from it, so you could argue the slate's clean now
    That kind of argument actually sounds like it could fly
    coming from an American lawyer
    46AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:16
    Re: #36
    'It's not a death sentence until you're actually dead!'
    so by that logic, they'll just keep trying as many times as it takes
    59AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:18
    Re: #36
    Isn't Japan the same way?
    It's less 'she suffered enough' and more that the system just isn't built to administer punishment a second time
    60AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:19
    There's a rumor going around that once an execution fails, you can't be executed again — is that actually true?
    66AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:21
    Re: #60
    Her defense team is trying to stop it
    The crime itself wouldn't even get the death penalty in Japan
    70AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:22
    Re: #59
    Apparently Japanese executions don't fail because they leave the person hanging until death is confirmed
    In the US, companies get slammed just for having their drugs used in executions, so none will cooperate — which is why they end up with sketchy methods that fail
    83AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:25
    Re: #70
    It's a gun country anyway, so why not just use a firing squad?
    That'll definitely do the job
    84AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:26
    I mean, honestly — surviving an execution, recovering enough to talk to your lawyer, then getting executed again… if you're on death row, maybe going through that ordeal a few times isn't the worst thing
    158AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:00
    Re: #84
    It's a sedative, so there's probably no pain involved, right?
    103AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:32
    I'm curious whether she'll be released. Is there even a legal basis for continuing to hold her?
    106AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:34
    Re: #103
    Before that — is there even a legal basis for calling it an 'executed' sentence in the first place? Calling it void since it wasn't completed makes a lot more sense
    105AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:34
    I feel like I've heard that if you survive an execution, the sentence just gets wiped out — is that not true?
    111AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:35
    Re: #105
    That's how it went in that Tsurube movie
    126AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:42
    Can't even properly carry out an execution, huh
    131AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:48
    Re: #126
    There are plenty of surefire ways to kill someone, but drug companies don't want their products associated with it, so nobody will supply them — leaving it to non-medical people to use sketchy drugs, which is apparently why this keeps happening
    148AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:56
    Since she's not dead, the execution technically never happened, so once she's back on her feet they'll just try again
    Honestly, dying this time around would've been the easier way out
    155AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:59
    Re: #148
    It's the opposite, genius
    She received the punishment — being executed — so that's the end of the penalty
    That's exactly why the prison gives her life-saving treatment when it fails
    By the way, it's the same in Japan
    Come back to life after execution and you walk free
    There's allegedly been one case that sort of resembled this
    162AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:02
    Re: #155
    The execution never actually happened, so they'll just carry it out again, genius
    166AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:04
    Re: #155
    She's not walking free
    They'll very likely try again next year
    By then it might be a firing squad
    164AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:04
    Maybe she's just got some unusual constitution
    I'd love to read her own account of what it felt like, physically and mentally, during the execution
    I want to believe surviving has to mean something
    171AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:06
    Re: #164
    Either the executioner missed the artery, or they simply never administered a lethal dose to begin with
    It's one of those two — there's no fateful meaning behind her being alive
    If an executioner's personal feelings could let someone dodge a death sentence, you might as well scrap the entire court system
    176AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:08
    Each state's own law probably determines the execution method.
    The former army medic whose firing-squad execution Trump signed off on was sentenced to death by court-martial, so he's being executed by firing squad under military (federal) law
    183AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:15
    Re: #176
    Apparently Tennessee only adopted lethal injection as its execution method in 1998
    The article calls it an execution method unused in 200 years — before that it was the electric chair, and apparently if the drugs aren't available, they revert to the electric chair
    So basically, next time it'll be the electric chair
    184AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:16
    Some people are saying 'she only killed one person, why the death penalty?'
    but Yamagami also only killed one person (the man who assassinated former PM Shinzo Abe), and he got life in prison
    199AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:23
    Re: #184
    In Nagoya's 'dark site' murder case (a crime arranged through an online site used to recruit accomplices), there was only one victim, yet the ringleader still got the death penalty
    185AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:17
    >The defense team is calling on Governor Lee to commute the sentence to life without parole.

    But I don't get this part
    Who exactly has the authority to arbitrarily overturn a court ruling like that?
    If a state government can just do that, what's even the point of having courts?
    190AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:18
    Re: #185
    Clemency is a system that exists in every country, though.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    Lethal injection remains the dominant method of execution in the US, but a growing number of pharmaceutical companies refuse to let their drugs be used for executions, pushing more states toward alternatives like the electric chair or firing squad. Posters on the thread noted that reliable methods do exist, but with no suppliers willing to cooperate, states end up resorting to “weird” improvised methods. The biggest point of contention was the legal status of an inmate who survives an incomplete execution: one camp argued “she already received her punishment, so it’s over,” while the other argued “since it was never completed, it’s void, and they simply try again.” Under US case law, the standard practice is that a second attempt does not count as double punishment as long as the first execution was never completed, so the notion that “a botched execution means automatic release” is closer to urban legend than fact. Because Japanese executions by hanging continue until death is confirmed, there’s almost no equivalent history of botched attempts there, which is part of why the discussion on the thread talked past itself at times.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[US] Death row inmate Christa Pike survives execution, regains consciousness and speech, defense team reveals.”

  • PS5’s Jailbreak Scene Advances to Run Switch Emulators Too — 5ch: “This Is Basically an Industry Crasher”

    A post on X (formerly Twitter) revealed that “Relapse,” a jailbreak tool for the PS5, works on consoles running firmware 7.00–13.60, and that emulators for other systems — including the Nintendo Switch — are being ported to it one after another, sparking discussion on 5ch. The hack is reportedly turning the PS5 into a machine capable of running software from multiple platforms. Opinions in the thread split: some worried about the spread of pirated software and the impact on backward-compatibility design for the PS6, while others argued the real damage to Sony — whose revenue centers on online subscriptions and microtransactions — would be minimal.

    A jailbroken PS5 is turning into an emulation monster. The Relapse jailbreak works on PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles running firmware 7.00–13.60.

    Developers have already ported the following emulators and ports:

    >Nintendo Switch

    Source: x.com / Original post here

    3AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:31
    You can even run Windows XP/7 eroge (erotic games) on it now
    Beats a censorship-riddled, barely-profitable console library — congrats, you horny PS5 owners
    5AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:33
    If you want to play XP eroge, buying a junk PC just for that is way safer than modding your PS5 and bricking it
    6AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:34
    Risking turning it into a paperweight (bricking it) and still going for it — gotta respect the dedication
    8AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:36
    Re: #6
    Guess it's got no other use anyway
    28AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:20
    Re: #6
    A paperweight would at least be stable — this thing wobbles whether you stand it up or lay it down
    35AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:40
    Re: #6
    No need to actually run PlayStation games on it anymore
    so bricking it isn't scary
    9AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:37
    Hurry up and build a Switch 2 emulator for it
    then it'll seriously become the ultimate console
    10AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:39
    People kept saying "if it could play Nintendo games it'd sell" — and now someone's actually gone and done it
    Back in the PSP days Sony said something like "it's not our games getting pirated," so I guess they still won't bother countering this
    11AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:39
    Doesn't this mean they can't give the PS6 backward compatibility anymore? They'll have no choice but to cut ties with the PS5
    13AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:40
    It Happens on PS5® — The impossible happens, on PS5.
    14AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:44
    Play Has No Limits (Beyond the Limits of Play)
    15AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:45
    Didn't this need like 10x the power of the original console?
    Even if a Switch 2 emulator runs, won't it be choppy?
    Apparently their crowd thinks 30fps makes your eyes rot, so they probably won't bother lol
    98AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:36
    Re: #15
    It's the PC and Xbox ("crap box" — a common derisive nickname for Xbox) crowd who hate 30fps
    16AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:50
    Once Xbox Series and Switch 2 emulators exist, we'll have the birth of a (illegal) console that can play literally everything
    17AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:52
    "Every game, gathered here."
    "Doing the impossible — that's the best part."
    "This is for the players."
    18AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:53
    The fact that Sony — whose first-party lineup was already weak and underselling — takes the least damage from this is incredibly messed up😠
    21AnonymousOct 7, 2026 07:57
    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA🤣 dying laughing ('kusa' — net slang for LOL) 🌱 cracking up, cracking up, cracking up
    26AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:09
    This is a straight-up industry crasher
    No real gamer could defend this
    27AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:20
    What's even fun about eroge anyway?
    You just want to get off but you're stuck reading walls of text first
    Having to slog through all that before the good part is a hard no for me
    93AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:31
    Re: #27
    All that long text is packed with the writer's personal quirks, that's what makes it interesting. Whether you can still enjoy it that way today, who knows.
    31AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:24
    "Now that the lineup's complete, you can buy a PS5 worry-free!"
    36AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:40
    Checked YouTube and apparently there's already an unofficial store up and running
    letting you download pirated games directly and easily
    With hackers mobilized en masse, app development is moving fast too

    At this rate
    third parties won't be able to release offline-only games anymore
    and multi-platform titles on other consoles will stop selling too —
    it's going to do real damage
    37AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:41
    Stuff like this about PlayStation
    tends to get leaked on purpose whenever they want to clear out console inventory
    so that's probably what's going on here too
    41AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:51
    Apparently even if Wolverine gets updated to firmware 14.1,
    it can still be run via a backport of the 13.6 jailbreak,
    so there's a good chance GTA6 will be playable even if it requires firmware 14

    No wonder Amazon preorders just slammed to a halt
    46AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:56
    That said, PlayStation's sales are mostly driven by online games, including free-to-play titles, so this doesn't actually hurt much
    If anything, console sales might increase, so there's a real chance Sony just quietly looks the other way
    The logic being: sacrificing offline games is a cheap price to pay if it boosts console sales and sabotages the competition
    47AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:57
    Re: #45
    For "free spirits," pirating is just "normal," lol
    Though for some reason they go quiet when you point it out, lol lol
    48AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:57
    Exact same pattern as the PSP's CFW (custom firmware) scene, lol
    Guess that means PlayStation's already a dead franchise, lol
    54AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:05
    Re: #48
    Seriously, this
    it's basically become a pointlessly huge, pointlessly expensive home emulator box lol
    58AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:09
    Re: #55
    They say royalty and nobility are descended from bandits, so that tracks
    84AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:21
    Nintendo games run on the emulator now, so feel free to be salty about it

    Do I really need to explain why this doesn't bother me?
    86AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:21
    Re: #84
    Thanks for wasting your money, lol
    90AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:27
    The difference from the PSP is that the main revenue now comes from PS Plus subscriptions and free-to-play spending, so money still flows to Sony and some game companies either way
    Sony might just quietly let this slide
    107AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:41
    Re: #90
    Just like with the PSP and Vita,
    if free pirated games run rampant,
    third parties will pull out one after another,
    and as third-party titles dry up,
    PSN subscribers will drop right along with them

    Background and key points of this discussion

    The PS5 jailbreak tool “Relapse” only supports firmware versions 7.00–13.60, and carries the same risk as traditional console modding: a failed attempt can “brick” the console into a paperweight. The thread’s central disagreement is over how much real damage this does to software sales. Some worried about pirated copies of third-party offline-only games spreading, while others pointed out that since PS5 revenue now runs mainly on online subscriptions like PlayStation Plus, a rise in modded users could even work in Sony’s favor by boosting console sales and subscriber retention — leading some to suggest Sony might simply look the other way. Past precedents, like the custom-firmware (CFW) booms on the PSP and PS Vita, show that modding on its own didn’t collapse those console or handheld businesses. Whether this jailbreak ends up being a contained issue rather than an industry-wide blow remains the open question.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry “Geha”) thread “[Good News] PS5 Gets Modded, Becomes the Ultimate Console.”

  • Masahiro Kōmoto Opens Up About Daily Life with Brother Hiroto — 5ch: ‘Everyone Respects Each Other, What a Great Family’

    Actor Masahiro Kōmoto appeared as a guest on Fuji TV’s late-night show “Totsuzen desu ga Uranatte mo Iidesu ka?” (lit. “Sudden, but May I Read Your Fortune?”), which aired late on October 4, and revealed details about his everyday conversations with his older brother, Hiroto Kōmoto of The Cro-Magnons. He described their relationship as one where they “don’t really interfere much” with each other’s work. On 5ch, the discussion moved less toward the brothers’ relationship itself and more toward Hiroto Kōmoto’s career and school background going back to his Blue Hearts days, sparking a lively debate over the gap between his “hero of the dropouts” image and his actual academic record. Many commenters also found the siblings’ close bond heartwarming.

    Masahiro Kōmoto reveals “everyday conversations” with his brother Hiroto Kōmoto of The Cro-Magnons: “We don’t really interfere in each other’s work”

    Actor Masahiro Kōmoto appeared as a guest on Fuji TV’s “Totsuzen desu ga Uranatte mo Iidesu ka?” (airing Sundays at 1:00 a.m.), broadcast late on the 4th.

    During the show, he opened up about his “everyday conversations” with his older brother, Hiroto Kōmoto, vocalist of The Cro-Magnons.

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

    2AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:15
    Wait, they're brothers?
    4AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:16
    Re: #2
    Bit late to the party
    Though you probably knew that already
    5AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:17
    He sang songs like 'Go for it, dropouts!' but Hiroto Kōmoto is actually a Hosei University graduate.
    I'd been fooled into thinking 'a low-education delinquent (DQN) is cheering us on!'
    16AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:34
    Re: #5
    Yokohama Ginbae, who delinquents (yankii) used to idolize, also went to Yokohama National University
    36AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:54
    Re: #5
    He didn't even graduate, and at his elite prep school teachers nicknamed him 'Bokesaku' (something like 'Airhead') — he was a total dropout
    He only pushed hard on entrance exams as a pretext to move to Tokyo and win his parents over
    He moved to Tokyo together with his high school band buddies, so I doubt he ever intended to actually study
    62AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:29
    Re: #5
    Hiroshima's top prep school → Hosei University grad, singing 'Like a sewer rat~' (a Linda Linda lyric)
    High school/middle school dropouts: 'Hiroto's the best!!!'

    Sad but hilarious
    6AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:19
    I heard that in reality it's the younger brother who's the edgy one, and the older brother is surprisingly the considerate, caring type
    7AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:19
    That's just how eldest siblings turn out
    41AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:57
    Re: #7
    Well, second sons simply get spoiled more, especially when they're the youngest
    Source: my own kid
    8AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:24
    Just go tell him to hang in there
    49AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:08
    Re: #8
    Na na na na na na naa~ (the 'Linda Linda' chorus)
    9AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:26
    Fuji TV is still putting fortune tellers on shows?
    10AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:27
    Does Hiroto Kōmoto even watch Bayside Shakedown?
    11AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:27
    Re: #5
    He went to a national (kokuritsu) junior high, so his parents must've been pretty education-focused
    12AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:27
    Had no idea this guy was Hiroto Kōmoto's brother
    They don't look alike at all
    13AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:27
    Impressive that both of them made it in the arts
    15AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:30
    Same here
    Even when I occasionally see my own brother, we don't swap life updates — just talk about good restaurants to try
    17AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:35
    He just dropped out of a liberal arts program at Hosei — that's the kind of background people would normally get mocked for
    18AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:35
    Back then, manga like 'Jipangu Shounen' and 'Meisou-Ou Border' had characters modeled on The Blue Hearts, and he basically got deified as the hero of the dropouts
    But Hiroto Kōmoto himself is actually an elite Hosei University grad, so I thought, man, these guys got played
    20AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:39
    In an uneducated, hands-off household, usually only the firstborn turns out well, lol
    21AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:39
    'Doesn't it get tiring, Bro, always playing the weirdo?'
    24AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:41
    Re: #5
    Re: #16
    It suggests success requires a certain baseline of intelligence
    But there are also rare cases — like Machida Kō (aka 'Machizō'), who had almost no formal education yet still won the Akutagawa Prize — where sheer creative sensibility alone is enough to succeed
    25AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:41
    I imagined the two brothers just hopping around bouncing while they talk
    31AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:46
    Re: #25
    Pictured it and cracked up lol
    26AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:42
    Everyone respects each other — what a great family. Their mom's cheerful and full of energy too
    27AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:42
    To avoid ending up with bad grades, it helps to be born the eldest child. Of course, plenty of eldest kids still do badly in school too, lol
    32AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:46
    Is Hiroto part of the baby-boomer generation (dankai)?
    Going to a private university back then means he must've been a rich kid
    38AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:55
    Re: #32
    The dankai generation is the student-protest generation. The folk-music generation. Think Tetsuya Takeda
    He's way younger than that lol
    75AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:52
    Re: #32
    He's actually a dankai junior (a baby boomer's kid)
    There were a ton of exam-takers back then
    42AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:59
    A Blue Hearts-like band showed up in Rokudenashi Blues
    I wonder if they had any complaints with Shueisha about that
    68AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:42
    Re: #42
    Complaints? It was approved by the band itself
    The members even talked about it in interviews back when the series was running
    I'm pretty sure Kawa-chan had a thing for Chiaki lol
    80AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:58
    Do brothers this age even talk to each other regularly?
    81AnonymousOct 7, 2026 11:00
    Re: #80
    Apparently the Sō brothers (boxers Shinji and Kōki Sō) talk every day

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Hiroto Kōmoto of The Cro-Magnons (formerly The Blue Hearts) has been portrayed since his debut as a kind of “voice for the dropouts,” but in reality he attended an elite prep school before going on to Hosei University. On the thread, this gap came up again and again, with many commenters describing the disconnect between the worldview in his lyrics and his actual academic record as feeling “deceived.” This isn’t really criticism aimed at Hiroto Kōmoto personally — it’s more an extension of a topic music fans have long discussed, the gap between a band’s image and the reality behind it, and the brothers’ joint appearance in the news simply brought it back up. At the same time, many reactions were positive, appreciating the brothers’ relationship — not interfering too much in each other’s work while clearly looking out for family — and taking it simply as a heartwarming glimpse into a celebrity family. Some exchanges about his education got heated enough to edge toward personal attacks, and those have been excluded from this article.

    ※This article excerpts and summarizes the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “[Entertainment] Masahiro Kōmoto reveals “everyday conversations” with his brother Hiroto Kōmoto of The Cro-Magnons: “We don’t really interfere in each other’s work”.”

  • Kansai Labor Shortage to Hit 3.36 Million by 2050 — Relying on Foreign Workers Has Its Limits

    According to the “Kansai Economic White Paper” released by an Osaka-based think tank, population decline and aging are set to push Kansai into a labor shortage starting around 2029, ballooning to roughly 3.36 million workers by 2050. Even with wage hikes and productivity gains, an estimated 1.18 million-worker gap would still remain, and demand for labor in the medical and welfare sector is projected to double between 2025 and 2050. On 5ch, opinions split over how far Japan should expand its acceptance of foreign workers, and how to view the fact that only about half of Kansai’s foreign residents are currently employed.

    The Asia Pacific Institute of Research (APIR), a private think tank based in Osaka, released its 2026 edition of the “Kansai Economic White Paper” on the 7th, projecting that Kansai’s labor shortage — driven by factors like population decline — will reach 3.36 million workers by 2050. Even with wage increases and productivity improvements, a shortfall of 1.18 million workers would remain, the paper says, calling for comprehensive measures including the acceptance of foreign workers and the cultivation of domestic talent.

    The white paper estimated labor supply and demand across six industries — including manufacturing, construction, medical/welfare, and accommodation/food service — based on demographic trends, wages, and productivity. According to the estimates, Kansai’s labor balance tips into a shortage of about 50,000 workers starting in 2029, widening to about 140,000 by 2030, 1.68 million by 2040, and 3.36 million by 2050. The number of employed workers is projected to fall from about 11.04 million in 2025 to about 8.77 million in 2050, while labor demand rises from about 10.73 million to about 12.13 million.

    Fueling the shortage further, demand for labor in the medical and welfare sector is set to double, from about 1.65 million in 2025 to about 3.32 million in 2050, as the population ages. Population decline is expected to accelerate in earnest from the 2040s onward, deepening the impact of the labor shortage on Kansai’s economy.

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

    10AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:51
    Just push white-collar workers into blue-collar work and make everyone work right up to the end of their healthy life expectancy. Bringing in immigrants will just turn Japan into France (i.e., the social friction France has over immigration).
    18AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:52
    > "We'd need about 4 times as many foreign workers coming in as we do now."

    Damn, that's… something else.
    22AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:53
    Re: #18
    That's the problem — people only think about what's right in front of them.
    26AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:54
    > As of 2025, Kansai has about 700,000 foreign residents, and only about half of them are actually employed.

    What's the other half doing to get by?
    31AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:55
    Step one: shut down the NPOs that skim money without doing any actual work.
    190AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:32
    Re: #31
    I'm actually counting on Katayama and Ishin (the Japan Innovation Party) for that. There are good NPOs out there, but the ones that just skim cash and line their own pockets really need to go.
    33AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:55
    Shut down the bottom-tier ("F-rank") universities, close the unnecessary convenience stores and restaurants, and redirect that labor to where it's actually needed. Start with that first.
    43AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:57
    Re: #33
    On TV too — ban romance dramas about liberal-arts office workers, since those jobs are getting wiped out by AI anyway. Do romance dramas about manual labor jobs instead. You've got to plan strategy down to that level. Universities should only teach STEM.
    37AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:56
    Re: #28
    Sure, some bad apples get mixed in, but without them the work just doesn't get done because of the labor shortage. Japanese people hate manual labor, they're not having kids, and everyone chases a university degree while refusing to do on-site work.
    44AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:57
    Re: #37
    It's a vicious cycle — bringing in foreign workers when only half of them end up actually working just makes the labor shortage worse.
    47AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:58
    Re: #44 Re: #45
    Then how about you guys go do the construction and civil engineering work yourselves and take that share back from foreign workers?
    64AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:01
    Re: #47
    No, mine isn't a criticism of foreign workers — it's a management problem. If you're going to bring them in, train them properly.
    69AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:02
    Re: #47
    That's because construction and civil engineering jobs aren't needed anymore — remember how public works spending got cut on the logic that construction firms should just go under?
    50AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:59
    Re: #46
    If wages go up any more than this, it'll just fuel more inflation and push prices even higher.
    70AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:03
    Re: #50
    Lol, real wages are already falling because of price hikes. You say "any more than this," but wages haven't properly risen in over 10 years.
    79AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:05
    Re: #70
    Forgot that the minimum wage got raised? Prices rise right along with it — the wage increase just gets tacked onto product prices. Good inflation comes from supply and demand; bad inflation is everything else.
    88AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:07
    Re: #70
    And on top of that, we're still in the middle of the 2-year basic deduction measure that [former PM] Ishiba put in place. That ends this fiscal year, so things get even worse from next year. The "income wall" fix the DPP pushed through riding on [PM] Takaichi's coattails will also largely fade away, since it was heavily tied to this Ishiba-era deduction.
    90AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:07
    There are plenty of Japanese NEETs and unemployed people too, you know — nobody wants those jobs because the working conditions are terrible.
    95AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:08
    Re: #90
    As a member of society you're not supposed to take a bad job — anyone who does it willingly must be with the yakuza ("anti-social forces").
    109AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:12
    Re: #90
    Exactly. I'm highly educated too, but I don't work. If the alternative is garbage working conditions, I'd rather just go for a walk — a billion times better.
    99AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:09
    You throw the Lost Generation (Japan's "employment ice age" cohort) away like trash, and only now you're worried about this?
    106AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:12
    Re: #99
    Now everyone's suddenly panicking that there's no one left to pass down shipbuilding skills. At this point we might just have to get Koreans to teach us — apparently we're already being overtaken by Korea on the technical side too.
    107AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:12
    Re: #99
    Looking back, if Japan was willing to hand Trump 80 trillion yen, it probably could've taken real countermeasures back then if it had actually tried. But I also think it's pretty pathetic to keep whining about it forever.
    140AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:19
    Re: #1
    Well, Ishin (the Japan Innovation Party) does take a tough stance on accepting foreigners.
    150AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:22
    Re: #140
    Ishin says there should be a cap, but they've never said what the number should be. They could just as easily set that cap based on this think tank's figures, so you can't really call their stance on accepting foreigners "tough."

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    The Kansai Economic White Paper estimates labor supply and demand across six industries — including manufacturing, construction, medical/welfare, and accommodation/food service — based on demographic trends, wages, and productivity, projecting that the shortage will begin around 2029 and swell to roughly 3.36 million by 2050. The main driver cited for the widening gap is medical and welfare demand, which is set to double from 1.65 million in 2025 to 3.32 million in 2050 due to population aging. The thread split over whether expanding the acceptance of foreign workers is the right call or has already hit its limits: pointing to the fact that only about half of foreign residents are actually employed, some argued that expanding acceptance alone won’t solve the problem, while many others felt priority should go to developing domestic talent, supporting retention, and raising wages. It’s easy to overlook that the white paper itself calls for comprehensive measures covering both foreign worker acceptance and domestic talent development — it isn’t arguing for relying on foreign workers alone.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Kansai’s Serious Labor Shortage: 3.36 Million Short by 2050 — Relying on Foreign Workers Has Limits, Training and Retention Are Key.”

  • Yoshinobu Yamamoto Fires 7 Innings, 1 Run, 10 Ks — Dodgers One Win From NLDS Advance; 5ch: “Yamamoto Is a Gem”

    The Dodgers got a gem from starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto — 7 innings, 1 run, 10 strikeouts — and beat the Braves 3-1 in Game 3 of the NLDS (Oct. 6, Atlanta). That puts them up 2-1 in the series, one win away from advancing. The offense struck first in the fourth inning on a two-run homer from Kiké Hernández and a solo shot from Freddie Freeman, and Yamamoto made that lead hold up. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani, batting fifth, went 0-for-2 with a walk and couldn’t find his timing at the plate — threads lit up with both praise for Yamamoto’s outing and chatter about Ohtani’s recent slump.

    [MLB] Yamamoto dazzles with 7 innings, 1 run, 10 Ks as Dodgers move to the brink of advancing — Ohtani goes 0-for-2 with a walk

    NLDS Game 3 [Dodgers 3-1 Braves], Atlanta / Truist Park, Oct. 6 (Oct. 7 JST)

    The Dodgers headed into Game 3 of the NLDS on the road in Atlanta tied 1-1. Early on they couldn’t cash in against Braves starter Chris Sale, but a two-run homer from Kiké Hernández and a solo shot from Freddie Freeman in the fourth put them up 3-0, and starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto made that lead stand with 7 innings of 1-run ball.

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

    4AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:24
    Ohtani's stopped chasing wildly out of the zone, so it's not all bad.
    Hope he can build on this and heat up from here.
    36AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:29
    Re: #4
    Where, exactly? lol

    60AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:31
    Re: #36
    What's with that gun-shy, flailing swing — looks like he's doing the doggy paddle lol
    5AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:24
    Come check this one out too

    [LAD] Yoshinobu Yamamoto Support Thread part106
    https://lavender.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/mlb/1791323010/
    6AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:24
    Didn't expect him to out-duel Sale and win — got his revenge from last time.
    7AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:25
    Out-pitching Sale himself is huge — last time Yamamoto lost that matchup.
    8AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:25
    Ohtani's so washed up there's nothing left to talk about in baseball.
    24AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:27
    Re: #8
    Average people don't even know who Yamamoto is to begin with.
    10AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:25
    Ohtani reaching base twice — what a whirlwind of activity (lol).
    12AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:26
    His bat speed/vision is slipping —
    maybe he should switch careers to soccer, the ball's bigger there.
    17AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:26
    Yoshi is GOAT of GOAT!!!
    Shohei is High-quality goat…
    19AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:27
    I'm a soccer fanboy ("saka-buta"), but even I'll admit Yamamoto is something else.
    23AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:27
    Got some run support from his teammates today —
    without it, he could pitch his heart out and still lose lol
    26AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:27
    For the Braves, losing with their absolute ace Sale on the mound probably broke their fighting spirit —
    the Dodgers advancing is basically a lock now.
    65AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:32
    Re: #26
    Tomorrow's Glasnow's start, so there's still a puncher's chance.
    27AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:27
    Yamamoto's a gem — ice-cold in that totally hostile road atmosphere, tossing a High Quality Start.
    Meanwhile there's "Big Tako" (a snide nickname for Ohtani, playing on "octopus"), the saintly image the trash media built up, wasting an ABS robo-ump challenge on an 0-3 count and blowing it lol
    35AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:28
    Re: #27
    That was lame, Ohtani — everyone was cracking up at him.
    47AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:30
    Re: #27
    Meanwhile Muncy saved the ABS challenge for Díaz.
    30AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:28
    Yamamoto, a true gem —
    don't you dare go anywhere else.
    31AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:28
    It's wild that a pitcher like Yamamoto was basically a nobody back when he was playing in Japan.
    48AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:30
    Re: #31
    I think that's just because you didn't know about him.
    62AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:32
    Re: #31
    Baseball fans all knew he was amazing,
    it's just that he was with Orix, so his name recognition outside that circle wasn't great.
    32AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:28
    Pulled off quite a performance there with an appeal straight out of the old Tatsukawa playbook.
    45AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:30
    Re: #32
    I thought that was disrespectful to Tatsukawa,
    but then again Tatsukawa himself used to appeal for hit-by-pitches even when the ball clearly missed him, so maybe it's fitting lol
    33AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:28
    If Ohtani had been the starter today, they'd have lost —
    that was close, phew.
    74AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:32
    Ohtani was just Yamamoto's ticket in today —
    the gap in their postseason contributions is night and day.
    84AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:34
    Re: #74
    I feel like he once struck out 10 and hit 3 homers in the postseason though
    106AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:36
    Re: #84
    Was it this one? That dominant stretch where even Freeman was holding his head in his hands was so satisfying to watch…

    87AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:34
    Yamamoto is 10-1 in his 11 career postseason starts
    That's ridiculously clutch

    Guys like Skubal or Snell haven't won nearly that much in the playoffs.
    109AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:36
    Re: #87
    The Dodgers ("Dodger-kasu," a mocking nickname for the team) were always terrible in the playoffs to begin with —
    they're probably being carried a lot by Ohtani and Yamamoto.
    96AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:35
    Could he become the first Asian-born pitcher to win the Cy Young?
    107AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:36
    Re: #96
    Playoff stats don't count toward Cy Young voting, so probably not.
    100AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:35
    Congrats on the win, Yamamoto! (・∀・)
    —
    ★Dodgers 2026 Postseason Results

    ●NLDS "LAD vs Atlanta Braves"
    Game 1 Oct 4 W LAD 5-3 AB *Ohtani 1 hit
    Game 2 Oct 5 L LAD 2-3 AB *Ohtani 1 hit
    Game 3 Oct 7 W LAD 3-1 AB *Ohtani 1 walk, Yamamoto wins, 7 IP
    Game 4 Oct 8

    ●NLCS
    Game 1 Oct 11
    113AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:37
    Re: #100
    Sasaki's doing his best too, you know.
    103AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:36
    Once Ohtani's done, Japanese pro baseball is finished — that's pretty bad.
    Doesn't look like there'll be anything exciting in baseball for a while.
    115AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:37
    Re: #103
    No way anyone's ever getting hyped for that empty-stadium, tax-subsidized league.
    105AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:36
    Baseball's fun.
    Can't stand watching that "ball-kicking" sport (soccer) — way too boring.
    114AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:37
    Re: #105
    Can't help but drag soccer into every single thread — that soccer inferiority complex runs deep, huh.

    Background and Talking Points

    This was Game 3 of the NLDS. The Dodgers had dropped Game 2 and headed into Atlanta tied 1-1. Yamamoto went toe-to-toe with the Braves’ ace Chris Sale and reversed the result from their last meeting — where Yamamoto had come out on the losing end — by holding the Braves to 1 run over 7 innings. The “10 wins, 1 loss across his postseason career” figure mentioned in the thread, if accurate, is a striking stat, but it’s worth noting that Cy Young voting is based solely on regular-season performance, not postseason results. As for Ohtani, he showed some grit by drawing the walk that set up the fourth-inning scoring, but he didn’t look sharp at the plate overall, and the thread’s comments were a mix of praise and criticism of his slump. Note that replies making personal attacks on Ohtani’s appearance or character have been excluded from this article.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisokuho+) thread “[MLB] Yamamoto dazzles with 7 innings, 1 run, 10 Ks — Dodgers one win from advancing in NLDS! Ohtani, batting 5th, goes 0-for-2 with a walk.”

  • GTA6 Cloud Streaming Goes Xbox-Exclusive — but Extra Charges After 15 Hours Spark Debate

    According to IGN, Xbox has secured exclusive rights to cloud-stream “GTA6.” While overseas gaming communities greeted the news in a celebratory mood, Japan’s 5ch hardware/industry (“Geha”) board erupted into debate over just how practical the deal actually is. Buying the Xbox version of the game and paying for a monthly Game Pass subscription gets you cloud play, but only 15 hours are free — go over that and you’ll need to pay extra. Some praised it as a way to jump into the game early without waiting for the PC release, while others, comparing it to PS5’s cloud features and GeForce Now, dismissed it as a “hollow exclusive.” Opinions were split.

    It’s a party overseas

    Source: x.com / Original post here

    9AnonymousOct 7, 2026 08:55
    But seriously, is there really anyone who'd buy the Xbox version just to play on PC, sign up for Game Pass, AND pay extra once they blow past the 15-hour mark?
    17AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:02
    Re: #9
    It's for the PC-master-race types who don't own a PS or Xbox but are desperate to force their way into playing GTA6 on PC from launch day.
    21AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:04
    If you want to stream it on PC, Microsoft's service is the only way to do it.
    26AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:07
    Re: #21
    Well, GeForce Now isn't even an option in the first place since there's no PC version yet.
    Wasn't PS's cloud streaming limited to its own hardware anyway, like the PS Portal?
    So this "exclusive" doesn't really amount to much either way.
    25AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:07
    I'm pretty sure PS5 does have cloud streaming.
    This is probably just about GeForce Now not being an option regardless.
    Though Xbox's cloud has a time limit, so it's kind of pointless anyway.
    89AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:10
    Re: #25
    PS's cloud service feels so flaky that even ToHeart2 (an old visual novel) had hours-long queue waits — can it really handle GTA's load?
    I thought MS figured it couldn't handle it and moved to a separate service for that reason.
    28AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:08
    Re: #26
    Yeah, that's probably it.
    And the thing is, Xbox's own cloud service is garbage anyway, so this whole exclusive thing is pointless.
    32AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:11
    Re: #28
    Nah, the quality isn't actually bad.
    They're splitting it off into its own cloud plan, so…
    Then again, maybe they had no choice but to separate it from Game Pass precisely because it can't handle GTA's load.
    33AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:12
    So: buy the Xbox version of GTA6 for $80, pay $14/month for Game Pass PC…
    but that only gets you 15 hours, so you need the cloud plan on top of that too.
    And of course once the PC version drops you'll have to buy it all over again, plus there's no disc so you can't even resell it, bro.
    Hmm, the target audience for this seems pretty tiny lol
    82AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:59
    Re: #33
    Even setting aside the flaws everyone's already pointed out, there's still a decent number of people without the right hardware who just want to dip a toe in.
    For a title this huge,
    some of them might end up buying an actual Xbox console too — so regardless of whether the exclusivity deal's cost was worth it, there's upside for both the game and the hardware side.
    38AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:14
    Whether people will shell out full price for the Xbox version just for cloud streaming — hard to say, since I can't gauge how hyped Western fans really are.
    44AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:16
    Re: #38
    There'll be queue waits, it'll probably end up metered, and since it's running on xCloud the graphics will be downgraded too.
    You'd be better off just buying a PS.
    46AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:18
    Re: #44
    But they don't own a PS5 — that's the whole point.
    49AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:21
    Ah, I see — so this is actually useful for people who own neither an Xbox nor a PS.
    But if you're willing to wait that long anyway, feels like you might as well just buy a console.
    54AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:25
    Re: #49
    No, the whole point is you no longer have to wait for the PC version.

    But still — you buy the game at full price, pay for the cloud service itself, and then pay even more past 15 hours a month.
    And for anyone who already owns a PC, cloud streaming is basically all downside since it's at the mercy of your internet connection.
    Whether anyone actually picks cloud under these conditions remains to be seen.
    61AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:30
    Wait, does that mean you can't play it on the PS Portal?
    63AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:32
    Re: #61
    I doubt streaming straight from the console itself would be restricted, but it could still throw a wrench into any marketing built around "works with just the Portal."
    64AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:35
    Re: #61
    Remote Play isn't cloud streaming, so it wouldn't be affected by this restriction.
    There's no real way to restrict it anyway.
    67AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:37
    Didn't Sony have some kind of cloud service too?
    Surely they'd sign some kind of deal.
    Though I don't really know.
    74AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:44
    Re: #67
    Right now only two platforms are even planned, and one of them is reportedly getting exclusive rights.

    If you're going to pray for anything, you'd have better odds hoping IGN, Tom Warren, and Wario64 are all high and having a mass hallucination.
    68AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:38
    If they'd just support Play Anywhere, you'd get licenses for both and it wouldn't go to waste once the PC version ships.
    72AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:43
    Re: #68
    They're specifically making people buy through the Microsoft Store, so maybe they're planning to flip on Play Anywhere the moment the PC version launches?
    69AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:39
    Even Xbox-aligned influencers are at the point of saying "don't even bother with multiplayer," though singleplayer would probably be playable with some setup-dependent quirks.
    But would people really be okay buying the game and only being able to play it via cloud? The high-spec-PC master race is just going to buy it all over again once the PC version comes out anyway.
    71AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:41
    Re: #69
    Given this whole push, it's hard to imagine they wouldn't steer people toward the Microsoft Store version — but then again, this is Rockstar we're talking about.
    Oh wait, didn't they sign some kind of blanket deal with Take-Two?
    85AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:07
    So say someone tries the 15 free hours, decides "I can't wait for the PC version!" and goes "guess I'll buy a console" — which one ends up winning, Xbox or PS5?
    91AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:11
    Even with disc-less digital downloads, the game data still sits on your hard drive —
    but with cloud gaming, nothing is left behind at all.
    98AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:18
    Re: #91
    Even the data sitting on your hard drive is basically a rental — you don't actually own it either way.
    Have people even stopped talking about Sony's situation at this point?
    95AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:14
    I mean, people keep saying "Sony too," but Sony's cloud infrastructure runs on Microsoft anyway.
    96AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:15
    Re: #95
    They use Amazon's too, you know.
    100AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:19
    Re: #92
    Do you even need to buy the Xbox version of the game in the first place?
    And how's cloud gaming these days anyway — is it actually comfortable to play?
    102AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:21
    Re: #100
    I'd think your own home internet connection would be a factor too, though.
    103AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:22
    Even if the time limit were removed entirely, it still wouldn't catch on.
    It's functionally the same thing as GeForce Now,
    and that's already proven not to take off.
    104AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:22
    Well, as far as Japan goes, Xbox may as well not exist here, so it'll probably just end up being the censored version anyway.
    108AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:27
    Ah, I see — so playing via cloud on PC still gets you the uncensored version?
    Kind of a shame that the ones stuck behind the barrier only get the censored one.
    110AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:28
    Re: #108
    It's the time limit that's the real restriction.

    Background and Key Points of Debate

    Cloud gaming works by running the game on the provider’s servers and streaming only the video output to your device, so a stable, always-on internet connection is essential to play. The thread’s complaint that “GeForce Now isn’t an option” actually stems from a separate technical issue: since the PC version of GTA6 hasn’t been released yet, there’s nothing for NVIDIA’s service to license in the first place — unrelated to Xbox Cloud Gaming’s exclusivity deal itself. Xbox’s cloud service has also long had a free-play time cap, and this GTA6 cloud offering is expected to operate within that same limit, which is why much of the thread’s frustration centered on this “double cost” of buying the game and then being charged again by the hour. Meanwhile, PS5’s cloud features are built mainly around streaming to Sony’s own hardware, like the console itself or the PS Portal, so its positioning differs from Xbox’s, making a straightforward comparison of which is “better” difficult. It’s worth noting that the details and duration of the exclusivity deal hadn’t been disclosed at the time of reporting, so some of what’s discussed in the thread is speculation.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, aka “Geha”) thread “Xbox Secures Exclusive GTA6 Cloud Rights.”

  • Yoshinobu Yamamoto Dazzles in Postseason Start: 7 IP, 1 Run, 10 Strikeouts

    On October 7, 2026, the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto turned in a dominant postseason start — 7 innings, 1 run allowed, 10 strikeouts — sparking a live-reaction thread on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” (a board for real-time sports commentary). According to post #57, this makes five straight postseason outings in which he’s held opponents to one run or fewer, an impressive run of consistency. The thread was divided on what to credit: some pointed to the calming effect of having Shohei Ohtani on the bench, while others pushed back against claims that Yamamoto was “mediocre” back in Japan, citing his career 1.82 ERA as proof otherwise.

    1AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:24
    He's really earning his keep
    10AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:25
    Well, Ohtani's the one who brought him over, so this is basically Ohtani's doing too
    13AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:26
    Wait, is this guy the greatest pitcher in Japanese baseball history?
    He was supposedly "meh" in Japan — how'd he level up this hard…
    55AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:40
    Re: #13
    Reminder: in his final NPB season he swept the pitching sextuple crown and left Orix a third straight pennant as a parting gift
    80AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:53
    Re: #13
    You're probably just trolling, but for the record Yamamoto's career ERA in Japan was 1.82
    14AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:26
    Must be the good kind of pressure Ohtani gives him
    16AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:26
    He's turned into an absolute 7-innings-1-run-10-strikeout machine, drooling good
    19AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:27
    Having Ohtani in the dugout probably makes a huge difference
    Shows just how much Ohtani contributes even off the mound
    20AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:27
    Yamamoro's (fan nickname for Yamamoto) only flaw used to be 'no nickname' — but now that Yamamoro IS his nickname, he's officially flawless
    21AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:27
    How is he getting outs this easily
    Is this guy a god or what
    22AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:27
    Apparently there was a whole forum calling this guy worse than 'Pitcher Ohtani'
    28AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:31
    7 innings, 1 hit? Ohtani did 10 innings, 2 hits!! (exaggerating for effect)
    29AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:31
    Unlike Darvish, this guy's a postseason beast
    41AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:36
    Re: #29
    Ma-kun (Masahiro Tanaka) wasn't quite on Yamamoto's level, but he still pitched pretty well in the postseason
    Meanwhile Darvish, who's supposedly better than Ma-kun, was pathetic in the postseason
    31AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:32
    Starting Skubal first, fine, whatever — but going with Snell for Game 2 just to be contrarian, what was that about
    40AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:35
    Re: #31
    Saving Yamamoro for Game 3 takes 'losing' off the table entirely
    32AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:32
    Ohtani's on-base percentage is .500, that's absurd!!
    39AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:34
    Re: #32
    Catcher's interference doesn't count toward OBP, you know
    34AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:33
    MLB kind of worships the postseason, so guys who show up big in October basically become gods
    36AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:34
    Basically him saying 'I've already called next year's Cy Young'
    38AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:34
    Not finishing the game is basically getting KO'd
    So who's closing it out, then?
    47AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:37
    Re: #38
    That'd be your double-closer combo, Diaz and Tanasco
    43AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:36
    7 innings, 1 run — total meltdown (sarcasm)
    Be grateful for all that run support from his teammates
    45AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:37
    Re: #40
    If you're down 0-2 and Yamamoro still takes the loss, at least you can live with it
    46AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:37
    Yamamoro — World Series MVP
    Freeman — World Series MVP
    Kiké Hernández — Mr. October

    Right on the money
    48AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:37
    He's only about 180cm (5'11") yet pitches like a power guy — hard to make sense of him
    49AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:37
    Trumpet Guy (Diaz, named for his trumpet-blaring entrance song) has been lights-out ever since he came back, so no need to worry
    50AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:38
    Saw something about the Braves struggling against lefties, not sure if that's actually true
    51AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:38
    It's unfair that the Dodgers get to just have this guy
    52AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:39
    Dominating in both the regular season and the postseason — the man's basically a god
    Landing a literal god for something like ¥4 billion (~$27M) a year, the Dodgers really lucked out
    57AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:42
    Yoshinobu Yamamoto — Postseason

    10/14/25: 9.0 IP, 7 K, 1 ER — Complete Game Win
    10/25/25: 9.0 IP, 8 K, 1 ER — Complete Game Win
    10/31/25: 6.0 IP, 6 K, 1 ER — Win
    11/01/25: 2.2 IP, 1 K, 0 ER — Win (on zero days' rest)
    10/7/26: 7.0 IP, 10 K, 1 ER — NEW


    Even by a conservative read, the man's a god
    58AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:42
    Good thing there was this absurdly expensive 'Ohtani' coupon that came bundled with a Yamamoto redemption
    60AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:43
    Reddick: 'Why would you hand $325 million to a guy who hasn't thrown a single pitch in MLB?'
    62AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:45
    The mindset of 'on the road, just let Moro (Yamamoto) handle it'
    64AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:46
    Let the other team have a Yamamoro of their own too, this is unfair
    65AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:46
    I bet there are fans out there saying 'pay Yamamoto with the money deferred from Ohtani's contract'
    70AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:47
    Looking forward to another year of fake 'Yamamoto quotes' (a meme format of lines he never actually said)
    73AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:49
    Wait, they're bringing in Diaz??
    That's terrifying, he's been garbage since joining the Dodgers
    83AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:56
    Re: #73
    Since coming back he's returned to his old form
    75AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:50
    The fact that guys like Yamamoto and Imanaga can put up solid MLB numbers even without having had standout NPB stats really shows how much NPB's level has risen
    92AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:00
    Re: #75
    Winning the Sawamura Award three years running is about as standout as it gets

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers in December 2023 without ever having thrown a pitch in MLB — a deal many called a “gamble” at the time. That skeptical take is echoed in this very thread, quoted from commentators. On the other hand, his NPB résumé — three straight Sawamura Awards (NPB’s equivalent of the Cy Young) and a career 1.82 ERA — tells a very different story, making posts calling him “mediocre in Japan” inconsistent with his actual record. The thread split over whether to credit his strong outing to the psychological boost of having Shohei Ohtani on the bench, or to Yamamoto’s own ability — neither claim has objective backing, and both remain speculation. It’s also worth noting, based on the pitching log cited in post #57, that his run of strong postseason starts traces back to the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series title, meaning this outing is part of an ongoing trend rather than a one-off.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[BREAKING] Yoshinobu Yamamoto (a god), 7 IP 1 ER 10 K lmaoooooooooooooooooo.”

  • Older Guy Calls Sweatpants ‘Lame’ — 5ch Erupts Into Generational Debate

    On 5channel’s “Nandemo Jikkyo” (Live Commentary) board, a user posted images of the “sweatpants” fashion currently trending among young people, and another user who called it “lame” sparked a debate over the generational gap in taste. The thread saw a wave of pushback — “sweats have come back into style again and again since the Ice Age Generation and yankee-culture eras,” “young people today wear cheap fast fashion, not brand-name stuff” — with many commenters agreeing less about the fashion itself and more with the point that “trends just repeat across generations.”

    1AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:44
    lol (lit. "grass" — 5ch/2ch slang for laughing)
    3AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:45
    Re: #1

    This is the sweatpants fashion trending with young people right now




    11AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:48
    Re: #3
    Looks like they just rolled out of bed and walked straight outside.
    14AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:49
    Re: #3
    Saw this on the train earlier too — both the guys and the girls, college-age, all wearing it.
    59AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:58
    Re: #3
    The old guy's right, it's lame.
    7AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:47
    Sweats look stylish when young people wear them. When middle-aged men and women wear them, it reads as either 'lazy day off' or 'off-duty gangster.'
    8AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:48
    Sweatpants were already trendy back when the Ice Age Generation (Japan's 'lost generation,' who graduated into the brutal 1990s–2000s job market) were in high school.
    26AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:51
    Re: #8
    That trend came out of hip-hop and the dancer scene, so this is just that era's style having a revival.
    31AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:52
    Re: #8
    I'm 46, and back then it was sagging, low-slung pants (koshi-pan).
    9AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:48
    Jeans got the same treatment back in the day.
    It's the same story in every era.
    10AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:48
    Even this whole sweatpants culture is just a hand-me-down from an older generation 🤣
    12AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:48
    Nothing new here — the kids who've always hung around Don Quijote (the discount chain that's a classic youth hangout) have been wearing sweats with sandals forever.
    18AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:49
    Re: #12
    That makes it even more lame.
    Can't this generation even invent its own trend?
    13AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:49
    There's an old guy in my neighborhood who's gotta be 80, and he dresses exactly like this.
    25AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:51
    Did everyone already forget jogger pants were trendy just a few years back?
    34AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:52
    Re: #25
    Those were proper joggers, though.
    What's trending now is basically loungewear — honestly just pajamas.
    27AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:51
    It's true that kids today are broke.
    Back when us old guys were young, we wore suits and jackets from the 'DC brands' (Japan's premium 1980s designer labels, like Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto).
    40AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:54
    Re: #27
    Actually it's the opposite — young people aren't poor when you look at wages, and their raises come faster than previous generations got.
    Compared to the old Ice Age Generation now in their 40s and 50s, today's 20-somethings are genuinely earning more at this stage in life.
    29AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:52
    They themselves caught plenty of grief from the out-of-touch elders of their day when they were young…
    In the end they're just losers who can only repeat history.
    36AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:53
    Re: #29
    History repeats itself.

    'Typical Gen Z…'
    'Typical yutori generation…' (Japan's so-called 'relaxed-education' millennials)
    'Typical millennials…'
    'Typical shinjinrui…' ('new breed,' a 1980s label for the youth of that time)
    'Typical dankai junior…' (children of Japan's baby boomers)
    'Typical kids these days…'
    'Typical moga and mobo…' (1920s Japanese flappers and dandies)
    32AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:52
    Sweats have been trendy in yankee (delinquent-style) fashion for a good while now —
    isn't this just that spreading to regular people?
    45AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:55
    Re: #32
    They were trendy as outdoor fashion 30 years ago.
    35AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:52
    The sweats 20-somethings wear around the city easily run 10,000 yen or more.

    That's a completely different thing from the 2,980-yen top-and-bottom set some old guy would buy.
    42AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:54
    Re: #35
    So what?
    Does being expensive make a garbage outfit acceptable?
    55AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:57
    Re: #35
    Most of them are actually wearing cheap clothes, though.
    Uniqlo sweats run under 3,000 yen.
    Kids like this actually think expensive branded sweats are lame.
    People just don't spend much on clothes anymore.
    66AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:00
    Re: #35
    Aside from the tiny minority in luxury brands, most of them are broke — it's not even Uniqlo, it's dirt-cheap overseas fast fashion like SHEIN.
    41AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:54
    When jeans first got trendy with young people back in the day, people trashed them too — 'workers' clothes! clothes for the bottom rung!'
    Nobody says a word about them now, though.
    46AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:55
    Re: #41
    Fashion trends just change with the times, that's all it is.
    51AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:56
    Back in the day, young people only hung around other young people, so even if someone thought you looked lame, they rarely said it to your face.
    Now, with everyone thrown together on the internet and social media, getting called out directly is honestly kind of sad.
    58AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:58
    Re: #51
    And the biggest victim of that is middle-aged guys, honestly.
    57AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:58
    Where did this fashion even come from?
    The Korean wave?
    87AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:06
    Re: #57
    Yeah, it's from dancers' practice wear.
    63AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:59
    More than anything, pairing it with a skin-tight T-shirt is seriously lame.
    94AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:08
    Sweats have been trendy since way back in this era, you know.

    99AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:10
    Re: #94
    The elastic cuff at the ankle is so lame.

    Background and Key Points of This Debate

    Sweatpants and jogger-style pants first spread to Japan in the 1990s through the hip-hop and outdoor-fashion booms, so this isn’t really a brand-new trend — it’s a textbook case of an old trend coming back in a new shape. The spending power behind the youth market isn’t luxury brands but low-price fast fashion like GU, Uniqlo, and SHEIN, which lines up with the thread’s point that these aren’t expensive branded items. Also, before social media, communities were split by generation, so opinions about someone’s clothing rarely reached them directly — but now that timelines mix every generation together, differences in values surface as direct clashes much more easily. It’s worth noting that this generational tug-of-war over ‘lame vs. stylish’ isn’t unique to this case — the same pattern played out before, with jeans and with sagging pants.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo) thread “[Bad News] Man Who Called ‘Sweatpants’ Fashion Lame Gets Mob-Dunked by Gen Z.”

  • Real Wages Rise for 8th Straight Month — 5ch Reacts: “Plastic Wrap Is Now ¥498”

    According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s preliminary August Monthly Labour Survey released on the 7th, real wages—adjusted for price changes—rose 1.5% year-on-year, marking the 8th consecutive month of gains. Total cash earnings, the nominal wage figure, also rose 3.8% to ¥311,364, meaning growth has topped 3% for 7 straight months—the first such streak since March 1992, or 34 years and 5 months ago. On 5ch, this strong data sparked a clash between those saying “price hikes hurt more than this shows, I don’t feel it” and those arguing “by the numbers, wage growth is outpacing inflation,” with the discussion citing price hikes on plastic wrap and convenience-store rice balls as examples before expanding into a debate over what the real-wage indicator actually means.

    According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s preliminary August Monthly Labour Survey (covering businesses with 5 or more employees) released on the 7th, real wages—excluding the effect of price changes—rose 1.5% year-on-year.

    This marks the 8th straight month of gains. Thanks to the spread of wage hikes and other factors, nominal wage growth outpaced price growth.

    Total cash earnings per employee, the figure representing nominal wages, rose 3.8% to ¥311,364. This is the first time growth has exceeded 3% for 7 consecutive months since March 1992—34 years and 5 months ago.

    Source: nikkei.com / Original article here

    14AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:28
    Then why is everyone struggling with rising prices?
    16AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:29
    Re: #14
    They're on pension, welfare, or mooching off their parents, so they're not working — wage growth doesn't apply to them.
    20AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:31
    Re: #14 You know how people with money still say they have no money?
    Same thing here. They're just putting on the "I'm struggling" act for now, lol
    22AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:32
    But then why isn't consumption increasing?
    24AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:32
    Re: #22
    Can't help it — the generations that actually want to buy things keep shrinking because of the aging population.
    36AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:38
    This whole "excluding the effect of price changes" thing…
    does that even mean anything? lol
    40AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:40
    Re: #36
    "Excluding" doesn't mean "not factoring it in" — it means "factoring it in and subtracting it," so that's the opposite of what you're thinking.
    39AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:40
    Personal financial assets are at an all-time high.
    The gap is definitely widening.
    The haves get to keep enjoying this boom going forward, while the have-nots just keep getting squeezed.
    50AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:45
    Re: #39
    Basically, it means people who can invest are the ones making money.
    Makes working an actual job feel pointless.
    80AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:01
    Re: #39
    Probably just like the bubble era —
    people who are earning keep swimming in more and more cash, while people without money just keep getting left behind by inflation.
    54AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:46
    Does the nominal wage figure even mean anything as an indicator?
    56AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:48
    Re: #54
    If you don't calculate nominal wage growth, you can't calculate real wage growth either —
    real wage growth is just nominal wage growth minus price growth.
    58AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:48
    Re: #54
    The rest of the world compares nominal figures.
    If you're saying it's meaningless, then that means never comparing Japan to other countries again.
    59AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:49
    Prices are now about 1.5 times what they used to be, so if you used to spend ¥3 million a year, it now costs ¥4.5 million.
    Even if your pay went up by ¥1.5 million, it just gets swallowed by living costs.
    61AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:51
    Re: #59
    Not sure what point you're calling "before," but compared to 2020, prices are up just under 12%.
    60AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:50
    This is probably all riding on the gasoline and electricity subsidies though.
    66AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:52
    Re: #60
    According to a private think tank's estimate, those subsidies are only suppressing inflation by about 0.5% at most, so even without the subsidies, the 8-month streak of gains apparently wouldn't change.
    67AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:52
    Re: #60
    If we didn't need them in the first place, we wouldn't need the subsidies either —
    real wages would actually be growing more than they are now.
    65AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:52
    Some people are in brackets where taxes rise progressively as nominal wages rise, so comparing take-home pay to price increases, doesn't it roughly even out?
    70AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:54
    Re: #65
    Japan's income tax progression works on an excess-bracket basis — only the portion above a certain line gets taxed at the higher rate, so it doesn't actually change that drastically.
    68AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:53
    Meanwhile, you guys are out here calling ¥2,000 for 5kg of new-crop rice "expensive, expensive."
    Is this board seriously packed with elites all pulling in over ¥10 million a year? lol
    71AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:54
    Re: #68
    Users of this board are 20% genuinely well-off, 30% at the bottom, and 20% who just feel superior in their own heads.
    76AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:57
    Re: #74
    Places like that will just go under from the labor-shortage bankruptcies that are trendy right now, so it's not an issue.
    82AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:01
    Re: #76
    Honestly, worst case I can just bail, so whatever.
    77AnonymousOct 7, 2026 09:58
    Price indices don't factor in shrinkflation, you know.
    They say food prices are up 1.2x or 1.3x, but with lower quality and smaller portions, it's effectively doubled.
    85AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:01
    Re: #77
    The CPI actually does account for shrinkflation normally.
    https://www.stat.go.jp/info/today/127.htm
    84AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:01
    Plastic wrap that cost about ¥258 not long ago is now ¥498, the plastic bags at the supermarket went from ¥3 to ¥7, food prices have shot up across the board, and convenience store rice balls are over ¥200 now — I can't believe it's only up 12%.
    87AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:02
    Re: #84
    The stuff that isn't rising isn't rising by much at all —
    those items are just the ones dragging the average down.
    93AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:06
    "Real wages aren't rising! This country is finished!"
    ↓
    "Real wages don't even mean anything!!"
    94AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:06
    Did the Engel coefficient (the share of household spending that goes to food) go down…?
    98AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:09
    Re: #94
    Can't say for sure across the board, but that's probably the indicator closest to how life actually feels.
    97AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:08
    Meanwhile, people holding "Orukan" (the popular all-world index fund) or the S&P haven't seen any gains in months.
    Huge win for the cash-is-king crowd.
    100AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:09
    Re: #97
    The Nikkei's exploding.
    Besides, nobody does Orukan these days anyway —
    it's all Nikkei now.
    99AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:09
    Why does it move in months other than July?
    Once the "bea" (the annual base pay hike) and regular raises are reflected, shouldn't there be no more wage increases after that?
    103AnonymousOct 7, 2026 10:10
    Re: #99
    The month raises happen depends on the company, so statistically there's no choice but to track it every month.
    Mine does raises twice a year, in April and October.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Real wages are calculated by subtracting consumer price growth from nominal wage (total cash earnings) growth. Because it’s an average across all households, it doesn’t necessarily match how any individual actually experiences their finances. Many commenters in the thread said “the numbers are improving but life still feels hard” — this reflects both the fact that price increases vary widely by item, and the widening gap between those who hold assets and those who don’t. Changes in demand structure driven by an aging population came up as a factor behind sluggish personal consumption, but the “gap between nominal pay and take-home pay” caused by rising taxes and social insurance premiums — something real wages alone don’t capture — wasn’t explored in much depth within the thread.

    *This article is composed of excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyō G) thread “[Good News] Real Wages Rise for 8 Straight Months. Wage Hikes Keep Outpacing Inflation 😇.”