Japan Reacts

Author: Japan Reacts Editorial

  • 82-Year-Old Tiger Jeet Singh to Guest at Megumi Kudo’s 40th Anniversary Show

    It’s been announced that 82-year-old Tiger Jeet Singh will make a guest appearance at “Jado-hime Densetsu” (“Legend of the Heel Princess”), the 40th-anniversary event on the 17th at Yoyogi National Gymnasium Annex for Zero1 GM Megumi Kudo (57), who built her name as FMW’s “Heel Princess.” Singh first appeared in FMW in 1992, feuding with heel wrestler Atsushi Onita, and shared the ring with Kudo back then. After the announcement, 5ch lit up with talk of Singh’s real-life gentlemanly side once he’s out of the ring, comparisons to fellow wrestlers from his generation who’ve since passed away, and plain astonishment that he’s still at it at 82.

    It’s been announced that “the Indian Madman” Tiger Jeet Singh (82) will make a guest appearance at “Jado-hime Densetsu,” the 40th-anniversary event (the 17th, at Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Gymnasium Annex) for Zero1 GM Megumi Kudo (57), who made her name as FMW’s “Heel Princess.”

    A legendary villain famous for his brutal clashes with the two titans Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba, Singh first appeared in FMW in June 1992, feuding with heel wrestler Atsushi Onita. At the time, Kudo — then FMW’s top female star — worked in the same promotion’s ring as him.

    Singh, together with his son and former WWE Superstar Tiger Ali Singh, posted a comment on Kudo’s YouTube channel, “Kudome Channel.” After announcing his trip to Japan with the words, “I’ve finally made up my mind. I can’t let the fans down,” he sent a message to the Heel Princess: “There’s only one reason we’re coming — to see you. You’re the best! You don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m not going to hurt you.”

    Source: tokyo-sports.co.jp / Original article here

    2AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:44
    Out of everyone who was around Onita back then,
    isn't this guy about the only one still doing okay?
    32AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:02
    Re: #2
    Masato Tanaka
    Mammoth Sasaki
    Ricky Fuji
    Tetsuhiro Kuroda

    These guys are still active
    4AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:45
    Apparently he's an absolute gentleman underneath it all
    65AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:53
    Re: #4
    Singh's the type who turns back into a gentleman outside the ring but stays locked into heel mode whenever fans are watching
    Abdullah the Butcher's the type who's a friendly old guy chatting with fans the second he's out of the ring
    5AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:46
    Tiger Jeet Singh wraps the tip of his saber in tape before swinging it around — what a thoughtful guy
    10AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:48
    Re: #5
    He started wrapping it after nearly putting Gypsy Joe's eye out with it


    https://youtu.be/cXINnGInLSo?si=yPoWcuSIjw6Hm8Yb
    8AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:48
    Such a gentleman — the tip of the saber has rubber on it for safety, and he hits guys with the handle instead of stabbing them
    9AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:48
    This reminds me of Tsurutarō's Tiger Jeet Singh parody on Hyokin Puroresu (the old comedy wrestling sketch show)
    11AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:49
    40th anniversary? Surely he retired ages ago
    13AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:50
    Zero1's had all kinds of drama over the years, but it just refuses to go under
    17AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:54
    These days

    Maya Yukihi

    and Saori Anno

    are the cute joshi wrestlers
    18AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:54
    Tiger's still alive?!
    Meanwhile Inoki's already gone!
    19AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:55
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HT07NR7bkAAIbye.jpg

    Pretty solid lineup they've pulled together
    24AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:57
    Re: #19
    Hayabusa's in there too…
    and Fujinami as well
    39AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:14
    Re: #19
    Wasn't Hayabusa left unable to stand on his own?
    58AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:41
    Re: #19
    Looking at that photo of Masakatsu Funaki…
    I can't help but hear "Funagiii~" (a crying voice) in my head
    There was a moment like that when Funaki got taken down by Hickson…
    But no, wait — thinking back, that "Funagiii~ (crying voice)" was actually Harada's anguished cry during the Nagano Olympics ski jump team event, lol
    I'm mixing them up…

    (sorry, just rambling to myself — nobody asked)
    22AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:56
    I love Tiger Jeet Singh's high-pitched grunting
    "Heh! Heyah! Heyah!"
    26AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:58
    He's basically turned into some kind of king at this point lol
    27AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:59
    Tiger Jeet Singh actually received an honor/decoration from the Japanese government
    33AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:03
    He was already getting spoofed in sketches like "Tiger Jeet Oshin" and "Narayama Busu-kou" (parodies of the drama Oshin and the film The Ballad of Narayama) on the variety show Hyokin-zoku — so that makes him a wrestler for something like 43 years now
    34AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:04
    Re: #19
    When did the second-generation Hayabusa show up?
    40AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:17
    The original Hayabusa has already passed away — the second-generation Hayabusa has been around since last year
    41AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:17
    Tiger Jeet Singh is still alive?! lol
    42AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:19
    Is that Hayabusa the 2nd-gen one or the 3rd-gen one, I wonder
    44AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:23
    There used to be a used bookstore called "Furuhon Jet Shin" ("Used Books Jet Singh") around Tsunashima, but it's probably gone by now
    45AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:25
    Killer Khan and Umanosuke Ueda have both passed away too, you know
    49AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:31
    Singh's genuinely a scary one
    That guy actually jabs people in the head with the pommel sticking out of his saber's handle
    68AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:56
    Oh, he's Indian? I thought he was Iranian
    70AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:59
    Re: #68
    Actually he's Indo-Canadian
    And back home he's a respected figure, big into charity work — even built schools
    81AnonymousOct 5, 2026 23:18
    Tiger BET Scene (a jokey mangling of his name)
    85AnonymousOct 5, 2026 23:37
    Re: #81
    Bad-breath prevention
    Colon care

    Background and Talking Points

    Tiger Jeet Singh debuted with All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1965, building his career on the villainous “Madman” gimmick, best remembered for attacking Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba with foreign objects. He joined FMW in 1992, and his feud with heel wrestler Atsushi Onita helped define an era for the promotion. In the thread, some posters mistook him for Iranian, but he’s actually Indo-Canadian, and a respected figure back home known for philanthropy, including funding school construction. His trademark saber was rigged for safety with a protected tip, and multiple posters noted he’s a genuine gentleman once he’s out of the ring — suggesting his heel persona was a thoroughly committed act. Megumi Kudo, who built her career as FMW’s top female star, now serves as Zero1’s GM, and this guest announcement for her 40th-anniversary show shows just how far her connections reach after such a long career.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[Pro Wrestling] Madman Tiger Jeet Singh (82) to Join Megumi Kudo’s 40th Anniversary Event — “There’s Only One Reason: To See You”.”

  • 70% of Pharmacists Report Customer Harassment — Health Ministry Says They Can Refuse Abusive Demands

    A news report on pharmacists struggling with unreasonable behavior from patients was picked up by 5ch’s News Express+ board. Pharmacists are bound by a “duty to fill prescriptions,” which bars them from refusing to dispense medication without a legitimate reason — reportedly making it hard for them to push back firmly. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has indicated that demands amounting to customer harassment (“kasuhara”) can be refused, and moves toward addressing the issue are now emerging. The thread showed sympathy for pharmacists, but also plenty of complaints about long wait times and poor customer service, as well as doubts about pharmacy staffing levels — with opinions split over how the term “customer harassment” is being used.

    There has been a string of cases where pharmacists struggle to deal with patients who make unreasonable demands or say abusive things over prescriptions. This is believed to stem from the fact that pharmacists are bound by a “duty to fill prescriptions,” which makes it hard for them to take a firm stand.

    In response, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has begun taking steps toward a solution, including stating that demands which amount to “customer harassment” can be refused.

    (Yuna Takada, Kyoko Mine)

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

    2AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:08
    Re: #1
    [Yomiuri Shimbun]
    2026/10/5 (Mon) 15:30
    46AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:20
    One pharmacist can only process 40 prescriptions a day, that's why they're moving so damn slowly lol
    51AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:22
    In-hospital dispensing is so much easier
    you get your meds right away and can just leave

    They just tell you "your medicine's ready" and you pick it up at checkout and walk out
    3AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:08
    That's why I'm saying — just go back to in-hospital dispensing already
    98AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:40
    Re: #3
    They get made to wait forever and then blow a fuse, I bet lol
    22AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:14
    Sure, customer harassment happens, but there are just as many staff with terrible attitudes toward customers
    Service workers got themselves a shield by coining the term "kasuhara" (customer harassment) — so customers are just supposed to swallow their frustration?
    45AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:20
    Re: #22
    Exactly
    I've had a doctor hurl abuse at me, and had a nurse be one-sidedly rude to me too
    My point is: stop acting like you're the only victims by screaming "harassment, harassment"
    55AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:24
    Re: #22
    Couldn't agree more
    Not just at pharmacies — sometimes you bite your tongue even when you've got something to say, because you're thinking about having to come back later
    31AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:18
    Can pharmacists even go against a doctor's diagnosis?
    88AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:36
    Re: #31
    There are cases where the doctor got the prescription wrong and the pharmacist caught it, so…
    116AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:44
    Re: #31
    If the doctor messed up a drug interaction or dosage, of course they'd call to confirm
    38AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:19
    I've never been annoyed at a pharmacist
    I think most of them are pretty decent
    Though I rarely go to the hospital — maybe people who go often start noticing the rough edges more
    42AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:20
    Pharmacists are such a hit-or-miss lottery
    48AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:21
    Re: #42
    Is there really that much variance?
    You're just picking up medicine
    57AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:24
    Re: #42
    There really is — there's a pharmacy near my place
    I faxed over my prescription and they hadn't done anything with it, then they casually told me they'd accidentally sent my prescription slip back with my stuff and asked me to bring it back, and on top of that they scolded me for forgetting my medication notebook (the booklet that tracks your prescription history). Even though it's right by my house, I will never go there again
    56AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:24
    >"I already explained it to the doctor, why do I have to go over the same thing again?!"

    I get the feeling
    And honestly, making you talk about your condition out loud with other customers right there is just crazy on the pharmacist's part

    But once I learned pharmacists ask the same things again as a double-check on whether the doctor made a mistake, I gave up complaining about it
    64AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:26
    Re: #56
    I've seen a pharmacist start criticizing the diagnosing doctor
    76AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:32
    Re: #56
    Even though they wouldn't understand it if you explained it to them
    Seriously, the local one is a no-go
    They probably just have no tact
    Like that part-time receptionist who lives in the neighborhood
    You'll lose customers that way
    83AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:33
    Re: #56
    Right?
    You just want them to hand over the medicine, but they go on and on and on — so annoying
    80AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:32
    I think pharmacists get looked down on because there are too many bottom-tier private pharmacy schools ("F-rank" schools, slang for the lowest-tier universities)

    Private pharmacy programs are where science-track kids who couldn't keep up with advanced calculus end up getting funneled

    Doctors don't get disrespected like that, because even the lowest-ranked private medical school is harder to get into than the science programs at "MARCH" (a group of mid-tier private Tokyo universities)
    85AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:34
    Re: #80
    There are pharmacy schools with an admission difficulty score (hensachi) of around 40
    Even the girl who was dead last in my class got into one
    129AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:47
    Re: #80
    Re: #85
    Half of today's private pharmacy schools have a difficulty score in the 30s

    Kawaijuku prep school difficulty rankings

    https://www.keinet.ne.jp/exam/ranking/2027/g_kei_s10.pdf

    70s: Medical schools (4)

    60s: Medical schools (27), Pharmacy schools (2)

    50s: Medical schools (none), Pharmacy schools (10)

    40s: Medical schools (none), Pharmacy schools (17)

    30s: Medical schools (none), Pharmacy schools (27)
    101AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:41
    No matter how you slice it, that's way too long to be kept waiting
    A first-time prescription, fine — but making someone wait 50 or 60 minutes just to pick up the same regular medication again is ridiculous
    102AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:42
    Re: #101
    Some old person who can't even book an app reservation?
    112AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:44
    Re: #101
    Pharmacist: "Sorry for the wait."

    Me: "Yep, I waited a full two hours — thank you so very much."

    Said it back with the biggest smile, looking them dead in the eye, and they just froze up
    126AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:46
    Re: #101
    Pharmacies in front of big hospitals, or near a pediatric or ENT clinic
    tend to have long wait times as a rule
    so it's often faster just to go to a different pharmacy
    though sometimes that one won't have the medicine in stock either
    186AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:31
    There's this one particular pharmacist who's super pushy about generics
    But stop trying to switch me to a generic even for medication my own doctor specifically didn't mark as generic-okay
    That's a drug where if I have an attack I could genuinely die, so I refused
    188AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:34
    Re: #186
    Doctors often don't even know a generic version exists. You're better off leaving medication calls to the pharmacist
    190AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:35
    Re: #188
    If you want to pay the higher price, sure, go ahead and refuse the generic
    218AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:53
    Re: #188
    It's not that they don't know generics exist
    Generics are made by all sorts of different companies, so there's no way to know which company's generic the patient's pharmacy happens to stock
    It could be the brand-name original, or it could be someone's generic
    These days a lot of outside prescriptions are written using the generic drug name specifically so the pharmacy doesn't have to check back every time
    204AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:46
    That said, there are more and more staff out there whose service is so genuinely awful it makes you want to yell
    Quality's dropped way too much
    209AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:47
    Re: #204
    Says the old man throwing a fit like a textbook customer-harassment case
    214AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:51
    Re: #204
    Pharmacies aren't staffed only by pharmacists, you know
    The reception staff probably aren't pharmacists
    It's only the ones who bring out your medicine and explain it who actually are

    Background and Key Points of This Debate

    Under Japan’s Pharmacist Act, pharmacists are bound by a “duty to fill prescriptions” that bars them from refusing to dispense medication without a legitimate reason — a legal position that makes it hard for them to push back against unreasonable demands. Responding to this reporting, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare indicated that demands amounting to harassment — abusive language, being forced to repeat the same explanation over and over, and the like — fall outside that duty and can be refused. On the thread, alongside sympathy for pharmacists and criticism of “customer harassment,” there was also persistent frustration over long wait times, inconsistent service between pharmacists, and pharmacy staff attitudes in general — with some pushing back that the term “kasuhara” (customer harassment) risks shutting down even legitimate customer complaints. One point the original article glosses over, worth flagging to avoid confusion, is that this “duty to fill prescriptions” is a rule specific to pharmacists and doesn’t apply to doctors in the same way.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Pharmacists] Struggling with “Customer Harassment” — 70% Have Experienced Abuse or Coercion… Rooted in the “Duty to Fill Prescriptions” — Health Ministry Says “Can Refuse Abusive Demands”“.

  • Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Goes to Three US Professors — 5ch: “Leave the Ig Nobel to Us!”

    On October 5, 2026, it was announced that the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine would go to three professors at Stanford University in the US. Their research on “optogenetics” and related work was recognized, but no Japanese researcher was among the winners. Reactions poured into 5ch’s “News Flash+” board right after the announcement, ranging from jokes about the Ig Nobel Prize, to worries over Japan’s shrinking basic-research funding and brain drain, to the now-annual running joke about Haruki Murakami “failing” to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, to the names of quantum-gravity researchers seen as future Nobel contenders.

    The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this year was just announced, going to three professors at Stanford University in the US for their research on “optogenetics” and related work.

    No Japanese researcher was among the winners.

    Nippon TV News, October 5, 2026, 18:38

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

    2AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:00
    Leave the Ig Nobel Prize to us!
    27AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:12
    Re: #2
    The Ig Nobel gets mocked a lot, but under its philosophy that "a joke is funnier the more seriously you do it," they actually put real Nobel laureates on the selection committee — so the picks are made pretty seriously.
    4AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:00
    Guess the sleep-researcher type didn't make the cut.
    Too bad.
    33AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:16
    Re: #4
    If a bunch more sleep-related brain hormones get discovered down the road, and their mechanisms and how they relate to each other get worked out, the day might come when Professor Masashi Yanagisawa's research gets honored as the discovery that first opened that door.
    7AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:01
    Japanese people have become completely disconnected from the Nobel Prize (sic — the thread keeps misspelling it as "Nopel Prize").
    Everyone's just living their whole world through AI and the internet now.
    There's no future in that.
    67AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:42
    Re: #7
    It's not just this year — Japan's always been disconnected from the Nobel anyway.
    8AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:01
    Guess it's that time of year again when Haruki Murakami gets humiliated 😗
    164AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:20
    Re: #8
    Japan's strongest contender has been Yoko Tawada for years now.
    11AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:03
    There are several Japanese names near the top of the odds, so it's a lock someone else wins within a few years.
    187AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:05
    Re: #11
    The toxic humanities-track bureaucrats (i.e., Ministry of Finance officials) have been slashing research grants hard, leaving basic research out in the cold, while the pool of promising young researchers flees into clinical medicine instead — and we're about to enter the generation shaped by exactly that. From now on, Japan's Nobel laureates will be limited to the rare brilliant ones who either deliberately skipped med school, or went to med school but got hooked on basic research anyway, and went on to do great work in the US. So the numbers are going to drop off a cliff.
    14AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:06
    Did Mounjaro — or GLP-1 drugs in general — get passed over again?
    Is it becoming the Haruki Murakami of physiology?
    174AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:27
    Re: #14
    There's a theory that GLP-1 has too many co-discoverers tied for credit, so they're just waiting for some of them to die off first (the Nobel can only be split among three living people at once).
    16AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:08
    Japan's Nobel wins up to now have mostly just been cases of "lending a hand" in someone else's overseas lab anyway.
    About the only one won with home-grown Japanese funding was Kamiokande.
    18AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:08
    Wasn't the rest of this year's lineup supposed to be Trump, [Okinawa Governor] Denny Tamaki, Murakami, and Jun-ichi Nishizawa?
    22AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:10
    Re: #18
    Mr. Nishizawa's already dead lol
    26AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:12
    Re: #22
    He probably resents the Patent Office so much he can't rest in peace — his soul's gotta still be wandering around.
    37AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:19
    Re: #26
    Did Shosaku Numa turn into a jibakurei too? (a "ground-bound" ghost said to haunt one fixed spot)
    29AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:13
    When's big brother Korea finally gonna win one? (a sarcastic nickname for South Korea)
    30AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:15
    Re: #29
    Given the timing of China and Korea's science investment, probably a bit further down the line?

    …wait, am I not supposed to give a serious answer here? lol
    34AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:17
    Re: #30
    It's merit-based, so wins in the science categories are probably a no-go for them…
    57AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:29
    Re: #30
    China and Korea still barely invest in basic research even now.
    32AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:15
    At least print the winners' names, you trash media ("masu-gomi," a slur blending "mass media" with "gomi"/garbage).
    Is whether they're Japanese or not literally the only thing you care about?
    90AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:02
    Re: #32
    Even if they printed the names, nobody'd care unless they were Japanese anyway.
    53AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:26
    The minimum requirements for winning a Nobel Prize:
    – Went to public school
    – Not from Tokyo
    54AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:27
    Re: #53
    Noyorin (Nobel chemist Ryoji Noyori's nickname) be like: "…"
    128AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:36
    Re: #53
    There's more:
    – Holds an undergrad degree from a national university
    And the ones who pulled it off coming from Nada or Doshisha high schools are legit greats.
    108AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:21
    Japan's top national-university science departments have basically given up on building homegrown AI too.
    They just can't get on the AI-building side of things.
    That's why they're resorting to sour-grapes lines like "true intellectuals don't build AI, they craft the prompts" lol
    115AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:26
    Re: #108
    There's Sakana AI, you know.
    You could become a seriously high-performance AI orchestra conductor with that.
    120AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:31
    Re: #108
    Even busting a gut now, there's no catching up to America.
    Apparently even China can't do it.
    Word is China's trying to copy its way there through hacking, but that's supposedly a lost cause too lol
    183AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:48
    Re: #108
    Hmm… the science and info departments at the old Imperial universities are weak right now.
    Tokyo University's Matsuo lab (AI researcher Yutaka Matsuo) has gone chasing money, and Kyoto University's got a handful of people doing somewhat interesting stuff here and there.
    124AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:35
    For Physics, there's the HaPPY code (Pastawski-Yoshida-Harlow-Preskill code) in quantum error correction — Beni Yoshida seems like a plausible future winner, though maybe it's still too soon.
    And it'd be great if Masamichi Kasa and Tadashi Takayanagi won for the Ryu-Takayanagi formula, the most important equation behind the holographic principle.
    130AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:39
    Re: #124
    If the holographic principle itself ever won, it'd be an absolute sensation.
    138AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:45
    Re: #130
    The holographic principle is still just a theoretical story for now, so that looks like a stretch.
    145AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:51
    Re: #130
    The holographic principle itself is hard to prove or disprove, much like superstring theory, M-theory, or multiverse theory, so it'd be tough for giants like Juan Maldacena, Leonard Susskind, or Edward Witten to win specifically for the holographic principle. But just like Roger Penrose won the Nobel in Physics for black hole research, Kasa and Takayanagi do have a real shot at winning for quantum gravity theory.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    “Optogenetics” is a technique that uses light to control the activity of specific nerve cells, and it has been widely used in basic brain-science research. On the thread, the lack of a Japanese winner sparked concern that cuts to basic-research funding and the flow of talented researchers into clinical medicine would mean fewer future Japanese laureates — though that claim drew pushback too, with some arguing that most past Japanese Nobel-winning work was actually done in overseas labs, so opinions were split. The running joke that Haruki Murakami “loses out” on the Nobel Prize in Literature every year is a seasonal fixture on this board, and this year posters also noted that a South Korean woman writer had already won it first. It’s worth noting that at the time of the thread, only the names and brief outline released in the initial news flash were available, so the details cited within the thread are limited to that scope.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “[Breaking] Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Goes to Three US Stanford University Professors — Researched “Optogenetics” and More“.

  • Leg Cramp Brings Idol Souma Yuume to Tears — Photo Sparks Reaction, 5ch Rallies ‘Hang in There, Yuume’

    A photo showing Souma Yuume, a member of a Hello! Project idol group, crying in pain after her leg cramped up during what appears to be a dance lesson was posted by the group’s official account, sparking discussion on the 5ch forums. While many called her pained expression “shocking,” sympathetic and supportive comments poured in alongside tips for dealing with leg cramps. The thread also featured debate over whether it was appropriate to publicize someone in visible pain, as well as stories of other members experiencing the same thing during past live performances — offering an unexpected glimpse behind the scenes of idol life.

    1AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:24
    Rosy Chronicle@Rosy_Chronicle
    This is what happens to humans when they cramp up.
    #おとどけロージー (“Delivering Rosy”)
    4AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:26
    I thought she was crying because Dakarin (a fellow member's nickname) stole her underwear
    5AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:26
    Kyaaa!!
    7AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:27
    So cute
    Like a little kid
    8AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:27
    She's already in high school, isn't she
    9AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:27
    This'll do for today
    Sorry, Yuume-chan
    10AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:30
    You're just dehydrated
    11AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:31
    I thought she was being tortured
    12AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:32
    I can't wrap my head around the mindset of posting someone crying and suffering in pain like this
    that's just mean-spirited
    13AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:33
    Yeah, this is the kind of thing you'd want to post
    14AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:33
    The instant you feel a cramp coming on, yank your big toe toward you hard and it won't cramp
    using your hand to pull the big toe toward you guarantees it, but just flexing the big toe in that direction works too
    18AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:34
    That's a shocking photo
    25AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:36
    She's probably desperate in the moment, but
    sorry Yume-chan, even your pained face is way too cute
    26AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:37
    I've been watching a lot of Vietnam War documentaries lately,
    so now all I see is Souma-chan crying amid the ravages of war
    28AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:37
    So-man forced into a "scorching dogeza" (meme reference to kneeling in apology on a red-hot surface)
    31AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:39
    Cramping up during a lesson means they're really pushing her hard
    Hang in there, Yuume
    32AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:39
    Flexing your toes back can ease it, but that's tough when you're wearing those chunky stage shoes
    33AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:40
    Wasn't it supposed to help if you press around the Achilles tendon?
    36AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:42
    Eat two bananas
    monkeys don't get leg cramps, right?
    37AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:43
    Hello Pro members cry over the littlest things way too much
    38AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:44
    Crying over it probably means it's her first time
    once you're used to it, it's nothing
    41AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:45
    Now that I think about it, I've almost never seen a Hello Pro member cramp up during an actual live show
    though you'd think it'd happen a fair bit given how hard they're pushed in lessons and performances
    52AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:57
    Re: #41
    There's a Juice=Juice live Blu-ray where Eba talks in the MC about cramping up right at that moment
    it's on the bonus live disc for Juice Story or whatever it was called
    54AnonymousOct 5, 2026 23:01
    Re: #41
    Ishiyama Sakura mentioned during an MC that her leg cramped up too
    45AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:48
    That sad face looks AI-generated
    53AnonymousOct 5, 2026 23:00
    With Sayu, stuff like that was practically part of the drama too
    55AnonymousOct 5, 2026 23:01
    Does it hurt?
    It'll be over soon, just hang in there
    56AnonymousOct 5, 2026 23:04
    There's something white dripping from her eyes, what is that?
    64AnonymousOct 5, 2026 23:13
    Re: #56
    Makeup melted by the tears
    59AnonymousOct 5, 2026 23:08
    Souma Yuume, moved to tears by a first-time experience
    60AnonymousOct 5, 2026 23:09
    65AnonymousOct 5, 2026 23:15
    If the words are blurred by tears,
    please understand (echoing the lyric of a famous Japanese love-letter song)
    66AnonymousOct 5, 2026 23:16
    Quite the shocking photo
    like, would an idol group really put this out there?

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Leg cramps, or “muscle spasms,” are typically caused by overexertion or a lack of water and minerals, and can occur during intense dance lessons as well as actual live performances. In the thread, some pointed out that members like Ishiyama Sakura and Juice=Juice performers had described similar experiences during past live MCs, suggesting such incidents aren’t unusual in the idol world. What sparked debate this time, however, was the fact that the official account itself posted an image of a member in visible pain. While most of the response was supportive and sympathetic, some comments expressed discomfort with publicizing someone’s pained expression, showing that fans’ reactions weren’t all the same. Practical advice also emerged, such as the tip that pulling the big toe back toward you can prevent a cramp — making the thread more than just a simple reaction roundup.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “[Image] Souma Yuume bursts into tears after her leg cramps up lolololololololololololololololololol.”

  • Track-Meet Entry Blunder: Governor Yoshimura Steps In, but Japan Athletics Federation Says ‘No Special Treatment’

    The Osaka Junior High School Athletic Federation, run by middle school teachers across Osaka Prefecture, failed to complete the entry procedure for this month’s Junior Olympic U16 Track and Field Championships in Mie Prefecture, leaving eight middle and high schoolers who had been selected to represent Osaka unable to compete. Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura asked the Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) to make an exception, but the federation pointed to system logs showing the staff member had logged in just one minute before the entry deadline, and refused any special treatment. On 5ch, opinion split between sympathy for the blameless kids and a principle-driven argument that granting an exception would break consistency with past precedent.

    JOC Track Meet Entry Oversight: Governor Yoshimura’s Request Denied, Japan Athletics Federation Says ‘No Relief Measures’

    Eight middle and high schoolers from Osaka Prefecture have been barred from competing in this month’s national championship because of a late entry submission by Osaka’s athletics federation, and the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, which hosts the event, has announced it will “not implement relief measures.”

    The eight students, who live in Osaka Prefecture, were selected to represent Osaka at a meet held in Osaka City last month and were set to compete in this month’s Junior Olympic U16 Championships in Mie Prefecture — but it came out that the Osaka Junior High School Athletic Federation (made up of middle school teachers from around the prefecture) had never actually completed the entry paperwork.

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

    12AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:08
    If they let this slide, every deadline the federation sets from now on becomes meaningless, so it can't be allowed.

    If the delay was actually caused by some flaw in the entry guidelines themselves, that'd be a different story and should be excused.
    19AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:13
    Re: #12
    Exactly this.
    Plus it'd set a precedent that stuff gets waved through if the governor just asks.
    27AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:18
    I get the sentiment, but granting relief would just make for a nice feel-good story, nothing more.
    It's weird to turn around and paint the Japan Athletics Federation as the villain just because they didn't bend the rules. Must be infuriating for them.
    29AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:20
    Feel bad for the kids, but making an exception isn't good either.
    Everything has to be handled the same way across the board, or you lose consistency with both past and future cases.
    38AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:25
    Re: #29
    'We didn't grant relief before, so we won't now' is a weird excuse.

    Isn't it more important to not create new victims, even if you catch flak for it?
    30AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:20
    Re: #27
    Being cast as the villain is just unavoidable here.
    They simply prioritized the rules over everything else.

    That said, the students did originally have the right to compete, and since they're not at fault, it might've been fine to make an exception.
    Just punish whoever actually screwed up and call it settled.
    35AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:24
    Re: #30
    This is fundamentally the junior-high federation's own problem to begin with.

    I get that the junior-high federation runs on volunteer teachers, so there's that context too — but when the timeline is laid out this clearly, blaming the athletics federation for refusing is a textbook case of 'might makes right' trumping reason.

    I get asking 'can't you make an exception?' But attacking them for the answer being no is beyond unreasonable.
    Makes you wonder if that means however Hara or Aoyama Gakuin (famous for the Hakone Ekiden relay) run things is just fine too.
    40AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:25
    Re: #35
    It wasn't the middle schoolers or high schoolers who messed up — it was the adults.
    Making kids shoulder the consequences of an adult's mistake isn't education.
    Protecting kids is what adults are supposed to do.
    55AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:29
    Re: #35
    I don't know enough about how Aoyama Gakuin operates, so no comment there.
    Getting criticized for sticking to the rules is just something you have to accept.

    You call it unreasonable, but holding the line on rules sometimes takes the conviction to stand firm even under criticism.
    36AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:25
    They cut it way too close, lol ('草' = net slang for LOL, literally 'grass').

    • The prefectural athletics association contacted the federation saying their staff member tried to submit the entry through the system around 17:50 on September 24, but the submit button wouldn't appear, and asked them to look into it.

    • When the Japan Athletics Federation checked the system logs, it turned out the prefectural staff member had logged into the entry system for the first time about one minute before the application period closed at 18:00 on September 24, and was mid-way through the entry process when the clock passed 18:00 — at which point the submit button disappeared from the system. This was that staff member's very first login; there was no login history at all from the start of the application period (from noon on August 21, 2026) until that moment.
    47AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:27
    Re: #36
    Can't even do the job right AND has a habit of lying about it — might as well fire the guy.
    48AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:27
    Re: #36
    What is this, a last-second auction bid?
    45AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:27
    It's a good chance to teach them that rules exist — that you should leave yourself enough margin to not blow a deadline.
    63AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:32
    Re: #45
    The kids already followed the rules — there's nothing for THEM to learn here.
    46AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:27
    Re: #40
    They're just using the kids as a shield to erase an adult's screwup.
    Just tell the kids not to trust foolish adults.
    54AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:29
    Re: #46
    Just punish the adults properly — pay cuts, demotions, whatever.
    The kids genuinely did nothing wrong here.
    80AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:42
    Re: #55
    That's a line the Japan Athletics Federation gets to say — not something we get to say.
    I think speaking up is fine, and personally I'm okay with pushing for relief through political pressure in a case like this too.

    But still complaining after they've already reached that conclusion is a different matter. You're aiming at the wrong target.
    Especially since the federation laid out the whole timeline and their response in detail. If there were some flaw like too short a window, fine — but that's not what happened here.
    If you force them to say yes to this, you open the door to anything going. Surely you get that making a big fuss carries that risk too.
    82AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:45
    Re: #80
    Making a decision means taking on responsibility —
    so of course you'll face criticism for it.

    You say it's the wrong target, but it's simply wrong for people who followed the rules to be the ones punished.
    98AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:54
    Re: #82
    That's the outcome after weighing all of that. They even put the junior-high federation's negligence on the table for consideration.
    The kids are undeniably victims, but granting this could spiral out of control.
    From a consistency standpoint, adults need to respect that they had no choice but to decide this way.
    And aiming that decision at the Japan Athletics Federation is still wrong — they're following the rules too, same as anyone.

    If you're a kid saying this as a kid, I get it as an emotional reaction, and fair enough.
    111AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:00
    Re: #98
    Getting criticized isn't unfair at all —
    making a decision naturally carries the risk of criticism.

    Also, your argument contradicts itself.
    You're saying it's fine for the middle schoolers who followed the rules to be barred, but not fine for the federation that followed the rules to be criticized — that's the exact opposite logic.
    93AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:51
    Ignoring their own screwup and holding the kids hostage to force a concession —
    that's basically yakuza (gangster) tactics, honestly.
    96AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:53
    Re: #93
    That said, the kids are completely blameless, no?
    If they won't even budge on something this small, that side's being yakuza too.
    Yakuza vs. yakuza — both sides suck.
    100AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:55
    'We never granted relief before, so we never will' is a shaky stance too.
    Go by that logic and you'd never be able to fix any bad practice or outdated rule, ever.
    105AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:57
    Re: #100
    If it's going to change, it can only change for future cases from here on.
    On the other hand, I think the 'no exceptions, period' stance carries real weight given everything that led to it.

    If they had decided to grant relief, that would've been a bold call and a lucky break — but treating that as something you're entitled to demand is strange.
    That said, I totally get that it's unbearable from the perspective of the people actually affected.
    101AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:55
    Grown adults have no business wrecking a kid's future.
    If they can't even make an exception for something this minor, the federation should quit running kids' competitions altogether.
    Putting kids first should be obvious, idiot.
    102AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:56
    Re: #101
    Go tell that to the teachers, lol.
    103AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:57
    Re: #98
    Stripping away the future of a kid who did nothing wrong over some vague excuse like 'it'll spiral out of control' — there's no justifying that.
    If they can't even tolerate that much, they should quit running a federation for kids.
    109AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:59
    Re: #103
    What about past cases, then?
    Does it get approved just because it blows up into a big enough fuss? There are similar cases outside track and field too — are you saying nothing should be done about those either?

    If relief is the right call, how exactly would you carry it out? I don't know how far back the old cases go, but what happens to all the ones that didn't get relief?
    Is there no answer to that? Are you going to go back and rerun this year's meet retroactively?
    114AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:01
    Re: #109
    Going forward, you just make sure whoever actually screwed up gets punished. That's it.
    116AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:01
    Re: #109
    Setting aside the question of what even letting adults run the JOC accomplishes — by your logic, you'd never be able to change or revise any rule, ever.
    107AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:57
    Re: #96
    Sport means competing within the rules — asking to bend them just this once because it's convenient means you don't deserve to compete.
    108AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:59
    Re: #107
    That logic only applies if the kids themselves were at fault.
    Of course Osaka's side needs to be held accountable for this — but that's a separate matter.
    113AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:01
    Re: #63
    There's a lesson here too: leave things to incompetent people, and this is what happens.
    120AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:03
    Re: #113
    Don't need a 'lesson' that teaches you not even teachers can be trusted, lol.

    Background and Key Points of This Debate

    The Junior Olympic U16 is a national championship for middle and high schoolers hosted by the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, in which each prefecture’s athletics association submits entries through an online system. The core issue here is that although the application window ran for more than a month — from noon on August 21 through 18:00 on September 24 — the Osaka Junior High School Athletic Federation’s staff member logged into the system for the very first time just one minute before that deadline. The Japan Athletics Federation has published its system logs, making it all but certain this was a delay on the staff member’s end rather than any technical outage. The thread’s core disagreement pits those who argue an exception should be made since the kids bear no responsibility against those who argue that granting even one exception would undermine consistency with past and future decisions — and no consensus was reached on which side is right. It’s also worth noting that the Osaka Junior High School Athletic Federation is reportedly run by teachers as an unpaid, volunteer side duty, hinting at a weak organizational structure behind the scenes — though the thread didn’t dig deeply into that angle.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch Nandemo Jikkyo G board thread “Governor Yoshimura: ‘The kids did nothing wrong! Let them compete!’ — Athletics Federation: ‘No way! We can’t make a one-time exception here!’“

  • Announcer Rio Kitagawa to Host Show With Kanjani∞ Members — 5ch: “From Morning Musume’s Ace to TV Tokyo’s Ace”

    TV Tokyo announcer Rio Kitagawa has been tapped to host a program featuring Kanjani∞ members Shingo Murakami, Shota Yasuda, and Ryuhei Maruyama, former AKB48 member Haruka Shimazaki, and Kis-My-Ft2’s Wataru Yokoo — a casting choice that became a hot topic on 5ch’s “Hello! Project” board. Kitagawa, a former Morning Musume member, is in her first year at the network, and many praised the fact that she’d already landed a Johnny’s prime-time show as “amazing.” Others, however, questioned her actual role, arguing “she’s not really the MC to begin with,” leading to a split in opinion over her true position on the show.

    1AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:12
    Rio Kitagawa, nailing it.
    Went from being Morning Musume's ace to being TV Tokyo's ace.
    3AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:14
    Kanjani∞ and Kis-My-Ft2 are already on board,
    so Hey! Say! JUMP is probably next.
    Going by the order, JUMP's turn is coming up.
    8AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:17
    TV Tokyo has a lot of female announcers who take summer vacation and get stand-ins, even though they're not even regulars on a daily show.
    9AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:18
    Kanjani8
    Kis-My-Ft2
    AKB48
    — every generation in the country knows these, they're all genuinely national idol groups.
    13AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:19
    True that.
    Announcer Rio Kitagawa has a ton of unbelievable material to work with.
    She can hold her own against Kanjani∞, Kis-My-Ft2, and AKB48.
    15AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:19
    It's also a crossover of
    Kanjani∞,
    Kis-My-Ft2,
    AKB48,
    and Morning Musume.
    17AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:20
    Kanjani∞ has actually been pretty kind to Morning Musume over the years, they've appeared together a lot.
    20AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:22
    How long are you gonna keep bringing up Ryosuke Yamada?
    You'd already switched your favorite to BE:FIRST ages ago, right?
    23AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:23
    Re: #20
    It's not switching — it's adding. I've just got more favorites now ("oshi-mashi," as opposed to fully switching).
    27AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:26
    Is there any announcer at another network who could host a prime-time Johnny's show in her first year on the job?
    62AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:40
    Re: #27
    The national key stations have their own flagship shows with Snow Man or SixTONES lol
    TV Tokyo getting excited over some middle-aged Johnny's guys is just lame lol
    67AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:42
    Re: #27
    Kitagawa isn't even the show's MC to begin with?
    Are you fans seriously that clueless about how the industry works?
    Even a middle schooler could figure that out.
    35AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:29
    Apparently TV Tokyo is short-staffed, so work comes around to people faster there.
    39AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:31
    Re: #35
    Oh wow! Lucky break for announcer Rio then.
    41AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:32
    Kanjam used to favor Morning Musume and Hello! Project, didn't it
    it was a good show.
    76AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:46
    Re: #41
    Just because they featured Hello! Project, is that really favoritism?
    They cover all kinds of acts
    including universally popular ones everyone agrees are big hits.
    54AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:37
    Say what you want, but Rio Kitagawa
    is doing the most right now to get the Morning Musume name out there to the public.
    Maria Makino might be next.
    60AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:40
    Re: #54
    Once you notice things like that,

    you'll understand firsthand the kind of structure a group has when its former members are scattered all over the entertainment industry.
    64AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:41
    Being a female announcer gives you way more chances to meet celebrities, athletes, and entrepreneurs than being an idol does, so you've got your pick when it comes to marriage partners.
    71AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:43
    I wasn't around back then — what was Konno like when she was a rookie?
    81AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:48
    Re: #71
    She debuted in July and immediately started a late-night daily show with another rookie from her class.
    From October she was a sub-caster on the evening sports news and did hands-on, throw-yourself-into-it segments on the show.
    She'd wanted to do sports, and things went smoothly for her through about her first or second year.
    80AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:47
    This show seems like the kind that would out Kitagawa's past as a Morning Musume member.
    There's usually a segment where every guest shares a personal story totally unrelated to the VTR clip, so the flow will probably land on Kitagawa too.
    85AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:50
    Re: #80
    She's not exactly hiding it anyway.
    90AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:53
    Wanting to do news reporting but getting stuck doing variety shows instead — that's not what she signed up for.
    95AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:58
    Re: #90
    That's just how TV Tokyo is.
    Even after years on the job, announcers there don't look much different from when they were rookies.
    93AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:56
    On this show Haruka Shimazaki is the star — Kitagawa doesn't need to push herself into the spotlight.
    94AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:57
    Re: #93
    Must be tough to admit, huh~ lol
    103AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:00
    Hope she makes it onto a favorite-announcers ranking someday.
    105AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:02
    Re: #103
    That's impossible unless you're already an announcer who appears on Lavit! (a popular TV Asahi variety show).
    110AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:03
    Re: #103
    Kitagawa?
    That's a dream harder to pull off than winning the lottery.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Rio Kitagawa is a former member of Morning Musume now said to be in her first year as a TV Tokyo announcer. In the thread, some pointed to the network’s internal situation — “TV Tokyo is short-staffed, so even rookies get handed work” — as the backdrop for why a new announcer would be cast in daily programs and specials so early on. At the same time, posters were divided over whether Kitagawa is the show’s official host or just one of its cast members, so her actual title should be taken with some caution. There was also a post noting that former Morning Musume member Asami Konno served as a sub-caster on sports news right after her debut, cited as an example of the pattern of former idols being given important roles at TV Tokyo.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Announcer Rio Kitagawa is amazing! Hosting a show with Kanjani∞’s Murakami, Yasuda, and Maruyama, AKB48’s Haruka Shimazaki, and Kis-My-Ft2’s Wataru Yokoo.”

  • Saki Kagami (41) Rushed to Hospital with Blood Disease — Once Told She Had ‘3 Months to Live’

    Actress and model Saki Kagami (41) revealed on her YouTube channel on October 5 that she has been rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment due to a blood disease. She had previously been diagnosed with leukemia and given “3 months to live,” and had gone into remission at the time — but she explained that this latest hospitalization is due to a different blood disease. On 5channel threads, many commenters wished her well, while others questioned the credibility of her account of going from diagnosis to remission, and some pointed to a possible link with vaccines — reactions were mixed.

    TV Asahi, October 5, 2026, 17:32

    Actress and model Saki Kagami (41) updated her YouTube channel on the 5th to reveal that she will be hospitalized on an emergency basis due to a blood disease.

    She opened her message with “I have an announcement.” She wrote, “I was once told I had leukemia and wouldn’t survive more than 3 months. I did go into remission — but I’ve now had to be rushed into the hospital again, this time for a different blood disease.”

    Source: news.tv-asahi.co.jp / Original article here

    8AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:07
    Not even sure if it's "Kaga" or "Kagami," but hang in there anyway.
    9AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:07
    No idea who she is, but that sounds rough — impressive that she pulled through.
    10AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:08
    They always give you a shorter life expectancy than reality.
    Say 3 months, and you'll probably live 6.
    If you die sooner than the prognosis, that turns into complaints.
    21AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:11
    Re: #10
    Three people around me died of pancreatic cancer recently, and every single one of them died well before the prognosis they were given.
    12AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:09
    The past-timeline Queen from Kamen Rider Kiva.
    13AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:09
    She was in Kamen Rider Kiva, wasn't she.
    18AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:10
    Huge fan! She played Takuya's girlfriend in Itsutsugo Go — absolutely stunning.
    20AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:10
    Is it "Kaga Misaki" or "Kagami Saki"?
    24AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:13
    Can't say if there's any connection, but
    my old boss started feeling unwell after getting the vaccine, went to the hospital, and was diagnosed with a blood disease.
    25AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:13
    She does the occasional TikTok Live.
    Still really gorgeous even now.
    27AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:13
    Was that in 'Tokyo House with a Garden'? I think she played Reijiro's little sister.
    31AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:15
    Takuya's a doctor, isn't he?
    Kaori's sick — go cure her!
    32AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:15
    I have a connective tissue disease myself, and for that too it's called "remission," not a full cure.
    35AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:17
    Could this be a relapse…
    37AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:21
    Wasn't sure who she was so I googled her — she's the bus guide in 'The Man Who Can't Get Married' who doesn't know much, and gets reduced to tears by all the trivia from Abe-chan's (Hiroshi Abe's) character. Hang in there.
    38AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:21
    Re: #35
    Wait, does leukemia even come back?
    49AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:28
    Re: #38
    I see —
    so as long as it doesn't relapse within a few years, it counts as remission.
    So this must be a brand new illness then.
    55AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:36
    Re: #49
    For most cancers, no relapse within 5 years counts as remission.
    For leukemia, depending on the type, it can even be treated as a full cure.
    40AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:22
    Ah, I actually remember this person.
    I recall she was pretty cute.
    42AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:24
    She was getting pushed by her agency but never quite broke through.
    43AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:24
    She played Ai Yoshikawa's aunt.
    https://image-cdn.tver.jp/w=800/images/content/thumbnail/series/xlarge/srknngmqsv.jpg
    48AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:26
    Re: #43
    I misread that as 'Mikon Ana Sisters.'
    54AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:36
    Re: #43
    The second one from the right in the back is super cute.
    44AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:24
    I think she was also in the drama adaptation of 'Doubutsu no Oisha-san' (The Animal Doctor).
    45AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:24
    I know her as "Shuna."
    69AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:03
    Re: #45
    That's the one.
    Wonder if she's already retired.
    53AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:35
    That frail, sickly-beauty look was her whole appeal.
    57AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:39
    She was such a stunning beauty — why didn't she ever make it big?
    85AnonymousOct 5, 2026 22:41
    Re: #57
    Bad luck that her first role's image stuck to her so hard.
    59AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:40
    I thought she'd retired, but guess she made a comeback.

    Background and Discussion Points

    A “3 months to live” prognosis is a rough estimate drawn from past statistics, not a guarantee of how any individual patient’s case will actually progress. Doctors are also said to tend toward harsher timeframes than what’s likely, so plenty of cases don’t go as predicted. Additionally, “remission” differs from a full “cure” — it refers to a state where no abnormalities show up on tests, and it’s possible to relapse years later or develop an entirely new blood disorder. On the thread, most comments expressed concern for her health, but some voiced doubt about the credibility of her account, and others pointed to a possible vaccine connection — though all of this remains speculation, and with no detailed explanation yet from Kagami or her medical team, there’s no basis at this point for pinning down a diagnosis or cause. This thread is a textbook example of how a celebrity health disclosure can spark both sympathy and skepticism at once.

    *This article excerpts and summarizes the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Actress and model Saki Kagami (41) rushed to hospital with blood disease, also reveals she was once told she had “3 months to live”.”

  • VTuber Questions Why Game Streaming Needs Permission — 5ch Asks: “What Was the Point of Buying It?”

    A VTuber’s remark — “Why does game streaming even need permission? What was the point of buying it?” — sparked discussion on 5ch’s Hardware & Industry (Geha) board. Commenters repeatedly pointed out that what streamers buy is the “right to play” the software, not the “right to broadcast” it. The thread also brought up the Niconico era, when streaming in open defiance of terms of service was rampant, as well as the current system where rights holders are notified the moment a stream goes live, letting them demonetize or take it down almost instantly. Opinions were split on whether streaming hurts sales and on whether a permission system is justified in the first place.

    1AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:13
    True that.
    2AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:15
    Back when it didn't make anyone money, nobody complained.
    So this is basically just jealousy.
    21AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:49
    Re: #2
    Even back in the Niconico days, playing new releases got you complaints as a matter of course, no?
    36AnonymousOct 5, 2026 15:19
    Re: #2
    When FF11 launched, even posting screenshots of your own gameplay online was against the terms of service.
    4AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:15
    What you bought was only the right to play it.
    5AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:15
    They never sold you the right to stream it, after all.
    6AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:16
    Having different licenses for personal use versus commercial use is completely normal.
    7AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:17
    Keep getting this cocky and they'll pass a law like they did for movies.
    This is a courtesy they're turning a blind eye for — act humble about it.
    8AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:18
    No way anyone's actually saying something that clueless these days.
    9AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:26
    Re: #1
    Combattler V would never say something like that! (Combattler V — a classic giant-robot anime hero, riffing on "V" as in VTuber)
    31AnonymousOct 5, 2026 15:11
    Re: #9
    But what about Taekwon V? (another giant robot named "V," from a Korean anime — keeping the pun going)
    10AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:30
    TV dramas and movies get you sued immediately, after all.
    16AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:39
    Re: #10
    Now that you mention it, all those short-film-style videos disappeared en masse, didn't they.
    19AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:45
    Re: #16
    You can still find them if you look.
    24AnonymousOct 5, 2026 14:59
    Re: #21
    Back in the Niconico days people were strict about overlapping content too, it had that whole closed-village vibe, so yeah, pretty rough lol
    Can't help it though, it was still the early days.
    40AnonymousOct 5, 2026 15:43
    Re: #24
    Back when everyone was fighting over just 50 streaming slots, people would coordinate over Skype to avoid overlapping.
    30AnonymousOct 5, 2026 15:10
    Games aren't the same as video content though.
    There's no point unless you play it yourself, so it's not like streaming makes it lose any value.
    33AnonymousOct 5, 2026 15:13
    Re: #30
    A lot of people say "I watched the stream so I don't need to buy it," but…
    are you sure nothing's really lost there?
    34AnonymousOct 5, 2026 15:14
    Re: #33
    "Oh I totally played it! …via the playthrough video."
    35AnonymousOct 5, 2026 15:15
    Re: #33
    People like that wouldn't buy the console or the game anyway, stream or no stream.
    Followers who follow the streamer rather than the game itself won't buy anything no matter what the VTuber plays or does —
    they only spend money on Super Chats and memberships.
    41AnonymousOct 5, 2026 15:45
    Re: #30
    No way.
    Whether or not you already know what's going to happen completely changes how the game feels to play.
    46AnonymousOct 5, 2026 15:51
    Re: #41
    Playing it already knowing what happens just changes how you enjoy it — it doesn't mean the game's value is lost.
    58AnonymousOct 5, 2026 16:50
    This is probably a uniquely Japanese issue, since Japan has no concept of fair use. Overseas, people probably just do whatever they want.
    64AnonymousOct 5, 2026 17:12
    Re: #58
    Judging by what's coming out of the White House lately, "fair use" as a concept doesn't exactly leave a good impression on me.
    69AnonymousOct 5, 2026 17:28
    Couldn't they just do it like anime "watch-along" streams and not show the screen?
    71AnonymousOct 5, 2026 17:35
    Re: #69
    Anime watch-alongs need permission too, you know?
    72AnonymousOct 5, 2026 17:37
    Re: #69
    Exactly.
    Or they should build a system where only people who bought the game can see the same screen as the streamer.
    79AnonymousOct 5, 2026 17:48
    Didn't know watch-alongs needed permission.
    Is it really necessary when you're not even broadcasting the video or audio?
    81AnonymousOct 5, 2026 17:59
    Re: #79
    Even if there's no legal issue,
    getting permission anyway leaves a better impression with the rights holder,
    and it can lead to sponsored work down the line.
    83AnonymousOct 5, 2026 18:16
    Publishers never sold the right to stream in the first place.
    A permission system makes total sense — otherwise unrelated third parties just rake in profit without giving anything back to the publisher.
    85AnonymousOct 5, 2026 18:23
    Re: #83
    In B2B, a permission system is standard practice.
    Setting aside tiny individual streamers, the popular ones run themselves as registered sole proprietors, and agency VTubers are backed by actual companies — so even more reason.
    86AnonymousOct 5, 2026 18:29
    Up until around 2020, people ignored the terms of service and streamed illegally without a second thought.
    Even now there are people with a "if I don't get caught it's fine, I'll just delete it if I do" attitude, so they should crack down harder.
    87AnonymousOct 5, 2026 18:35
    Re: #86
    Nowadays, the moment you start streaming, the rights holder gets notified automatically.
    So if they feel like it, they can zero out the stream's monetization or get it taken down almost instantly.
    89AnonymousOct 5, 2026 18:47
    Most people probably follow the rules, but if you're making income off a game, maybe they should collect usage fees like JASRAC does. (JASRAC is Japan's music-royalty collection agency)
    Squeeze the big earners and major companies for money, and go easy on small-time streamers who just do it for fun without ads.
    At the end of the day, streamers have nothing left once you take away the "game commentary" card.
    95AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:15
    Re: #89
    If anything, publishers are the ones paying streamers for promotion lol. Your thinking's completely backwards, it's hilarious — what era are you even living in?

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Japan has no fair-use provision like the United States does, so the underlying premise is that game streaming is only permitted within the bounds of the individual “guidelines” each publisher sets. While many major publishers allow non-commercial use, a system is now in place where rights holders are notified the instant a stream begins, letting them demonetize or remove it almost immediately. The thread was split between the view that “people satisfied by watching a playthrough weren’t going to buy the game anyway” and the view that “whether or not a playthrough exists changes the publisher’s revenue opportunities.” Some commenters were also surprised to learn that even formats like screen-free watch-alongs are sometimes expected to get permission first.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware & Industry / Geha) thread “VTuber: “Why does game streaming even need permission? What was the point of buying it?”“

  • ‘Sekkaku Gourmet’ Location-Shoot Interruption Sparks Controversy — 5ch: ‘So Pushy’

    During a street interview filmed in Kochi City for the October 4 broadcast of TBS’s “Bananaman’s Sekkaku Gourmet!!”, a group of female middle and high schoolers was asked to recommend a local restaurant but couldn’t come up with an answer — so a separate group of passersby jumped in and suggested one instead. This “interruption” sparked controversy online, with 5ch users split between those who suspected “scripted staging” and those who saw it as simply “helping out the flustered schoolgirls.” Criticism also piled up calling the group that butted in “pushy,” fueling an even broader debate.

    Mon, Oct 5, 16:24

    Footage from a location shoot for the TBS variety show “Bananaman’s Sekkaku Gourmet!!,” aired on the 4th, is causing a stir online. During a street-interview segment, a separate group of ordinary people stepped in to “interrupt,” and viewers are now sharply divided over the scene.

    The scene in question happened during a shoot in Kochi City featuring Snow Man’s Tatsuya Fukasawa and the twin comedy duo “The Tucchi.” Fukasawa and the others approached a group that appeared to be female middle and high schoolers and asked them to recommend some local food, but the group was stumped and couldn’t answer.

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

    2AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:48
    They were enjoying watching the schoolgirls (JC/JK, slang for middle/high schoolers) squirm — don't go ruining that.
    4AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:49
    Bananaman themselves are unpleasant to begin with.
    5AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:49
    Don't get so worked up about it.
    It's all scripted anyway.
    86AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:53
    Re: #5
    Exactly that.
    6AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:50
    They're schoolgirls who came from the future.
    7AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:50
    This show did the same thing before too — I think it was the Akita episode — some old lady butted in and it was annoying.
    8AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:50
    Is it fake news that they were plugging their own restaurant?
    11AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:52
    Sekkaku Gourmet once came to a shop I used to work part-time at — Himura just showed up out of nowhere and told us directly, 'We'd like to film here.'
    12AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:53
    If they actually aired it, then it must've been fine by the show's own standards.
    13AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:53
    They're calling it an 'interruption,'
    but was it some kind of queue situation?
    Makes no sense.
    14AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:54
    Asking random passersby for restaurant recommendations and then having them whip out a phone to Google it on the spot defeats the whole point.
    15AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:54
    They probably just wanted to advertise some insider's restaurant on TV.
    16AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:55
    Nah, stuff like this is all arranged in advance.
    Though I didn't actually watch it, so take it with a grain of salt.
    17AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:55
    Okamura (comedian): 'If you don't like it, just don't watch it.'
    18AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:55
    Ah, I missed it, too bad.
    But that doesn't mean 'you have to watch or you'll miss stuff like this'… no.
    19AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:56
    Like during the pandemic, it might've been better to set up a monitor and ask remotely.
    Himura-bot, Gal Sone-bot (a famous competitive eater), and Mendy-bot…
    23AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:58
    Re: #19
    Even with the robot/remote setup, interruptions happened a lot.
    Especially when a Johnny's (major idol agency) talent was on.
    20AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:56
    Last time too, they were asking some old guy and someone else jumped in partway through.
    22AnonymousOct 5, 2026 19:58
    Middle/high schoolers wouldn't know a good restaurant to recommend anyway — the staff just wanted an excuse to interact with them.
    26AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:01
    Re: #22
    That reminds me — after Himura's underage-conduct scandal, he suddenly stopped approaching schoolgirls (JC/JK) at all, even though he used to do it constantly before. The segment itself stopped running for a while too.
    30AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:03
    TV runs on a schedule timed to the second — there's no room for anything unplanned to slip in.
    This too is just part of the staging.
    Understanding that and still enjoying it is what watching TV is about.
    34AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:08
    Re: #30
    No way that's true.
    It's just filler to pad out the broadcast slot.
    37AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:15
    If they're just going to Google it on their phone anyway, having some lady butt in from the side actually makes more sense for the show.
    38AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:15
    Whether an old lady's meddling is welcome depends on the time and place.
    39AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:15
    When they came to my hometown, the restaurant pick felt off somehow.
    It reeked of being staged.
    58AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:55
    Anyone complaining about this on TV can safely be written off as bottom-of-the-barrel trash.
    61AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:02
    Re: #58
    Remember that you and I — everyone on 5ch, really — rank even lower than that.
    63AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:07
    I thought Sekkaku Gourmet only worked when someone volunteered, like 'Oh, I know a place!'
    But here they put the first group on the spot, someone threw them a lifeline, and now people are saying 'poor first group!' I don't get it — were they supposed to just leave them hanging?
    66AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:14
    Re: #63
    That's adorably naive, I'm almost jealous.
    84AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:49
    Someone stepped in for the schoolgirls (JK) who couldn't answer — what's the problem?
    Do you have some twisted desire to watch them squirm instead?
    85AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:50
    Re: #84
    Maybe it's because that particular restaurant just didn't feel right?
    The Kochi episode was a mess overall — they even revisited the same restaurant more than once.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    “Sekkaku Gourmet” is a variety show format in which cast members ask locals on the street to recommend a “hidden gem” restaurant, and some posters note that similar “poaching” reportedly happened on a previous episode too (the Akita one, by some accounts). Since viewers only ever see the edited broadcast, there’s no way to tell from the footage alone whether this scene was scripted or genuinely unplanned. The thread split between those who read it as “helping out the flustered schoolgirls” and those who saw it as “butting in just to grab the spotlight,” and little evidence exists to settle which reading is correct. Sympathy for the schoolgirls who couldn’t answer and one-sided criticism of the group that interrupted circulated side by side — and it’s easy to overlook that neither side actually knows what the producers intended.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisokuho+) thread “‘So pushy,’ ‘Felt like they were throwing them a lifeline’ — ‘Sekkaku Gourmet’ location-shoot ‘interruption’ sparks controversy, snowballs into a major online debate.”

  • Juice=Juice’s Fan Club Tour DVD Gets 6 Dislikes Within 2 Hours — 5ch Buzzes with Theories

    Juice=Juice’s fan club tour DVD, “Osaka Senshu × Juice=Juice FC Tour ~Honma EeToko Osaka Senshu Meguri~,” racked up 406 likes but also 6 dislikes within just two hours of going public. Because a video from Angerme released around the same time had zero dislikes, the gap became a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. In the thread, two theories collided without resolution: that a single person was behind the dislikes as a one-man campaign, or that fans of Akari Uemura — whose scenes were reportedly left out of the DVD — were behind the backlash.

    What on earth is going on here… Angerme’s got zero dislikes and this one doesn’t

    DVD “Osaka Senshu × Juice=Juice FC Tour ~Honma EeToko Osaka Senshu Meguri~”

    Likes: 406　Dislikes: 6

    Source: imgur.com / Original post here

    2AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:30
    You can't even see the dislike count anymore, can you?
    9AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:32
    Re: #2
    You can if you install a browser extension.
    12AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:33
    Wasn't it an Uemura fan who hit the dislike button? Those guys were salty about her being the 'secret guest.'
    14AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:34
    Nobody even watches the FC channel, and yet here they are grinding away at their grassroots campaign, lol.
    15AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:34
    It's just a handful of haters getting desperate.
    66AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:57
    Re: #15
    Not a handful — it's one guy. One dude single-handedly mashing dislike, then making a sock-puppet post on 2chan/5ch to hype up his own thread.
    22AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:38
    So now we know the hater headcount: six.
    23AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:38
    It's because you guys kept trash-talking Uemura's appearances, that's why.
    24AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:40
    There were actually quite a few fans upset that Akari Uemura's scenes got left out.
    25AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:40
    Being envied isn't even a bad thing, but stirring the pot over it is just dumb.
    28AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:41
    Re: #25
    That's basically just rival-fanbase bait at this point.
    26AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:40
    But honestly, the fact that OP installed an extension just to check the dislike count and then made a whole thread about it is kind of creepy. Didn't they used to use Safari too? You start piecing together a lot about this person…
    27AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:40
    Oh look, Anchan-su (the notorious antagonizer) has made an appearance here too. Dedicated, huh.
    29AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:41
    The mere fact that a thread like this exists tells you everything, lol.
    31AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:41
    Oh, here we go.
    32AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:43
    Re: #31
    More like the unveiling event is giving it a real run for its money.
    33AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:44
    Juice=Juice's just unpopular, that's all. This is what public opinion looks like.
    34AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:45
    Face it — Angerme only gets the kind of views you'd expect from a Kobayashi/Eguchi bar livestream.
    35AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:48
    Isn't it the Uemura fans? The song with Aarii wasn't even included, was it?
    36AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:50
    No matter how frustrated you are, normal people don't go out of their way to watch a video like this. For six people to hold that much of a grudge is something else.
    37AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:51
    This agency is as focused on nickel-and-diming as ever, I see.
    38AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:51
    Well, this is more like a legitimate protest than hater harassment, honestly.
    42AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:52
    Has to be fans of some other group who hate Juice, there's no other explanation.
    44AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:53
    Why was Uemura cut out in the first place?
    46AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:55
    Re: #44
    Because she's with a different agency, obviously.
    47AnonymousOct 5, 2026 20:58
    Re: #44
    Maybe out of consideration for new fans who just discovered Morié?
    61AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:26
    Re: #44
    They didn't want to pay her appearance fee.
    54AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:07
    Guess they've made an enemy of the Uemura fanbase now… Juice fans are already disliked for hyping up Juice while trashing other groups, and now they can't even get along within their own fandom.
    57AnonymousOct 5, 2026 21:10
    Re: #54
    Everyone already knows it's Anchan-su's doing, but this one guy keeps desperately insisting it's not Anchan-su's fault, lol.

    Background and Key Points of the Discussion

    Since 2021, YouTube has hidden dislike counts from the general public, meaning they can normally only be checked with a browser extension. The exchange in posts 2 and 9 — “You can see it if you install an extension” — shows that whoever started the thread tracked down the number that way. A dislike count of six is a tiny fraction of the video’s total views, but among idol fans, even small numbers like this tend to get read into heavily. Both the “it’s a single person’s one-man campaign” theory and the “it’s a reaction from Akari Uemura fans whose scenes were cut from the DVD” theory circulated without any supporting evidence. Worth noting: nothing in the thread actually identifies who cast the dislikes, so the whole discussion remains firmly in speculation territory.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “[Sad News] Juice=Juice’s FC tour announcement mysteriously racks up 6 dislikes within just 2 hours of release.”