Japan Reacts

Category: Business

  • Post About Quitting Hobbies and Spending for NISA Sparks Backlash — Some Call It ‘Just an Excuse’

    A post on 5ch’s “Live News G (Anything Goes)” board describes how, after starting Japan’s new NISA tax-free investment program, the poster quit weekend pachinko-slots, sold off a motorcycle and camera that used to be hobbies, and stopped upgrading their iPhone every cycle. The money saved, they say, now goes into high-dividend stocks and index funds. The thread sparked a values debate that kicked off with “what’s the point of having money once you’re old?” — opinions split over the balance between spending and building assets, with some arguing a pension plus investing surplus income is plenty, others sharing how their urge to spend shrank as their savings grew, and still others bluntly calling it just an excuse to justify a spending habit.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:17
    Stopped doing pachinko-slots on my days off.
    Sold my motorcycle and camera (used to be my hobbies) and put the money into high-dividend stocks and index funds.
    Also stopped buying the new iPhone Pro every two years like I used to.
    8AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:18
    What's the point of having money once you're an old geezer?
    10AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:19
    Re: #8
    Because being an old geezer with no money sounds worse.
    15AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:21
    Re: #8
    What about the guy who becomes an elderly geezer with no money — what's he supposed to do? I get regretting it if you end up like Kiritani (a famous Japanese investor known for living lavishly off stock shareholder perks), getting enough money to enjoy but still obsessing over growing it further. But a broke old man with no strength left, getting bossed around by young people, wrecking his body and never able to retire — that sounds like a miserable life to me.
    16AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:21
    Re: #8
    Just build your portfolio so you can draw it down along the way.
    13AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:20
    Forget the bike and camera, the rest was just pure waste to begin with — good that you quit.
    38AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:27
    Re: #13
    Bike prices shot up since COVID so selling that was a good call, but I regret the camera a bit.
    14AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:20
    Honestly it's harder NOT to waste money than to waste it.
    17AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:21
    Re: #14
    You broke past 20 million yen but then suddenly dropped back down — what happened?
    30AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:24
    Re: #14
    Honestly, getting this far probably kills your desire to buy stuff.
    18AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:21
    Look at the thread title.
    Some broke guy talking down to people in the replies — that's pathetic.
    24AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:22
    Re: #18
    I'm not talking down to anyone. I'm still plenty broke myself. If anything, I bet the people here have more money than me.
    19AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:22
    Re: #10
    Normally you've got a pension payout and savings, and if you invest your surplus income while working, you'll have money by the time you're old. Ending up "NISA-poor" just means you had the wrong goal to begin with.
    28AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:24
    Re: #19
    I'm useless so I'm never getting promoted anyway.
    43AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:28
    Re: #19
    "What's the point of having money once you're an old geezer?"
    ↓
    "Because being an old geezer with no money sounds worse."
    ↓
    "If you invest your surplus income while working, you'll have money by the time you're old."

    😅
    29AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:24
    Forget "NISA-poor" — spare cash and material desire are just inversely related. Once you have money, you start thinking "I can buy it anytime later, so it's fine for now," and before you know it you don't even want it anymore. Of course, if you still want something after all that time, you go ahead and buy it.
    35AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:26
    Re: #29
    Same here for me.
    33AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:25
    Individual stocks are the way to go these days.
    40AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:27
    Selling the bike and camera was overkill. The rest is fine though.
    45AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:28
    Re: #40
    A motorcycle eats money either way, so I don't think I would've kept it up regardless. But I do think I should've at least kept the lenses for the camera.
    47AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:29
    Up until your early 30s you don't need savings — just spend it. If you don't have kids, having money as an old geezer is genuinely meaningless. The return you get from spending money (things like a sense of accomplishment) drops to like a tenth of what it is when you're young.
    67AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:33
    Re: #47
    I moved out of my parents' place for a job in a regional city, so from my mid-20s I could play golf every week and still save 100,000 yen a month. If you keep your fixed costs down, you can have fun and build assets at the same time without having to pinch pennies.
    56AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:30
    Seriously, you should spend money on experiences.
    60AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:31
    Re: #56
    The camera gave me a lot of experience. The bike was so-so. The iPhone I regret.
    58AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:31
    A life spent worrying about the future while throwing away the present.
    62AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:32
    Re: #58
    But isn't it genuinely worth worrying about? I think the pension system is basically collapsing.
    68AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:33
    Re: #62
    Then you'd better cut back even more — you never know what'll happen in life.
    61AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:31
    In the end you just get exploited by the government and that's that.
    63AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:32
    Re: #61
    Even getting exploited beats having nothing.
    64AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:32
    Nothing but excuses to justify a spending habit.
    70AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:33
    Re: #64
    Investing your surplus income so you don't overspend, and ending up "NISA-poor," are completely different things though.
    92AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:38
    Re: #64
    For the record, I justify mine by telling myself figures count as assets.
    65AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:32
    Re: #38
    If you were using flagship gear that's one thing, but for mid-range you can get everything, lenses included, for under a million yen — just buy it all back.
    69AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:33
    Re: #65
    When you're deep in the camera rabbit hole it doesn't faze you, but paying hundreds of thousands of yen just for a lens is honestly insane.
    71AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:34
    Old man Buffett's words are more right than anything anyone here has said. You should spend money while you're young.
    76AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:34
    Re: #71
    I don't even know what to spend the money on.
    77AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:35
    Re: #71
    If you mean spending it on self-investment to raise your income, sure, that makes sense. But just blowing it for no reason doesn't.
    84AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:36
    Re: #71
    What it means is: get into a good-paying company where you can spend and invest at the same time.
    86AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:36
    If everyone started at the same time, that means a time will come when everyone quits at the same time too.
    89AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:37
    Re: #86
    People have been saying that for two years now.
    91AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:37
    Re: #86
    Is NISA's influence really that huge?

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    The term “NISA-poor” spread online as slang describing a state where, after Japan’s new NISA program expanded its lifetime tax-free investment allowance starting in 2024, people prioritize their contributions so heavily that they end up cutting out everyday pleasures. The program itself doesn’t force anyone to scrimp — how much to contribute is entirely up to the individual. What split the thread was a single question: is sacrificing the present for future peace of mind the right choice? Some pushed back, arguing that a pension payout plus regular savings already covers retirement, while others shared their own experience that assets and material desire move in opposite directions. A point readers can easily misread is that even though the original poster calls themselves “poor,” their finances aren’t actually in trouble — it was simply a deliberate choice to cut hobby spending and redirect it into investments.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Live News G) thread “[Sad News] I’m NISA-poor, I’ve Lost Too Many Things.”

  • Yuta Misaki: “If Self-Checkout Cut Labor Costs, Shouldn’t Prices Come Down Too?” — 5ch Fires Back: “Labor Isn’t the Only Expense”

    On September 24, 2026, entrepreneur Yuta Misaki — formerly known as the “Green Juice Prince” — posed a question on X: “If prices go up because labor costs rise, then shouldn’t prices also reflect the savings when self-checkout cuts labor costs?” The post sparked debate on 5channel. In the thread, many pushed back, arguing “it’s not simply about labor costs,” pointing out that even after switching to self-checkout, stores still need staff for shoplifting prevention and customer assistance, on top of the cost of installing and maintaining the machines. Others shared stories of crowded convenience-store checkout lines, or argued that self-checkout is precisely what makes 24-hour operation possible — with some commenters even questioning Misaki’s stance as a business owner.

    Sep 24 (Thu), 3:26 PM

    Entrepreneur Yuta Misaki, formerly known as the “Green Juice Prince,” updated his X account by the 24th, sharing his opinion on self-checkout.

    “If you’re saying prices go up because labor costs rise, then shouldn’t prices also reflect it when self-checkout cuts labor costs?” he asked.

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

    3AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:38
    There's always some employee just standing blankly by the registers,
    isn't that their labor cost right there?
    52AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:23
    Re: #3
    Yeah, no idea what he's even trying to say lol
    61AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:27
    Re: #52
    It was never that simple to begin with.
    So what happens if self-checkout disappears from the world entirely?

    First, 24-hour operation vanishes immediately,
    and every supermarket cuts its hours.
    Everyone piles into that shorter window, creating massive lines.
    Shelves stay permanently empty, and people who want to buy things simply can't.
    4AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:39
    Has anyone actually tried the green juice this guy used to sell?
    6AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:39
    In the first place, wages haven't even gone up — so what exactly is this "rising labor cost" everyone keeps talking about?
    7AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:39
    Companies that honestly say "we're raising prices to pay our employees more" are still better than most.
    Most companies just brazenly lie and blame it on "soaring raw material costs…"
    8AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:40
    At the end of the day, whether to raise or lower prices is entirely up to the store. And customers are free to choose whether or not to buy.
    9AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:40
    I bet whatever labor costs got saved by switching to self-checkout just got eaten up by an increase in shoplifting. Plus the system installation and upkeep costs must add up too.
    10AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:41
    Re: #9
    Even leaving aside intentional theft, things like checkout errors at self-checkout mean stores are already factoring in a certain amount of loss.
    19AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:45
    Re: #9-10
    Shoplifting is part of it, but on top of that, stores are often forced to station staff nearby just to help people use the self-checkout.
    Because of that, "semi-self" checkout — where only the payment step is self-service — has become the mainstream, and more stores are apparently ditching full self-checkout altogether.
    11AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:42
    Yeah, this guy really is just new money.

    The real goal of all this is pushing the public toward cashless payments
    and getting rid of cashiers along with all the headaches that come with them, right?
    12AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:42
    Re: #1
    Come back once you've clearly defined what counts as "war" and what counts as "complicity in war."
    13AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:43
    If it managed to delay even one round of price hikes,
    that's effectively a price cut.
    14AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:43
    Whatever free time gets created just goes toward work that wasn't getting done before anyway.
    18AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:45
    Last month the consumer price index rose 1.9% year-on-year, while the corporate price index rose 7.6%.
    Where's that gap supposed to get made up?
    20AnonymousSep 24, 2026 15:46
    That reminds me, the other day I bought beer at MyBasket and it popped up "call an employee."
    Turned out it was some kind of age-verification button.
    If they just showed customers how to do it themselves, that would actually save labor.
    58AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:26
    Re: #20
    Only staff are allowed to press that button.
    89AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:43
    Re: #20
    That one HAS to be confirmed by an employee lol
    What's the point of age verification otherwise lmao
    21AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:02
    The wholesale price of the products themselves has gone up.
    Shipping costs like trucking have gone up.
    And "labor costs" isn't just the register — stocking shelves and everything else needs manpower too.

    If self-checkout alone could avoid price hikes, nobody would be struggling like this.
    22AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:03
    Re: #19
    Just standing around does look bad, though.
    I bet there's a gap between what the staff are actually doing and how it looks to customers.
    I'm on the customer side, so watching it does annoy me.
    23AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:03
    Do the math on how much the installation costs before you say that.
    24AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:03
    Does this guy seriously think labor is the only expense there is?
    25AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:03
    I went to a convenience store for the first time in a while, and there were two rows of registers — about 7 people were lined up at the staffed one on the left, and zero at the self-checkout on the right.
    You guys doing okay over there?
    28AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:04
    Same goes for the cashless payments you all use.
    It's about time you realized you're strangling yourselves with it.
    29AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:04
    In places like America, it's actually the opposite — costs went up so much there's a movement back toward staffed registers.
    30AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:06
    With self-checkout, you still need someone stationed there watching for shoplifting, helping people who are fumbling around, and rushing over the moment a register stalls.
    Guess you really can't make it fully unmanned after all.
    64AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:28
    Something about (his thinking) just feels shallow.
    67AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:29
    Re: #64
    How about next time you post, you try deleting every single bracket first?
    75AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:33
    Re: #61
    No self-checkout = 24-hour operation disappears
    ↑
    That leap in logic is a stretch, which is why people are calling you an idiot.
    82AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:39
    Re: #75
    It's not a leap, it's just a fact.
    Actually, there's a behind-the-scenes reason closing is the harder option.
    Every supermarket is effectively running 24 hours internally anyway.
    Staying fully open ends up being more efficient.
    Self-checkout is a huge help in making that happen.
    Even stores that close at 8 or 9 work the same way behind the scenes.

    The fact that supermarkets can still exist the way they do today is already proof that society is benefiting hugely from this.
    Thanks to self-checkout.
    76AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:34
    Does this guy actually run a company?
    94AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:47
    Nobody said it gets passed back to the consumer.

    He's a businessman — he probably already knows that, no?
    95AnonymousSep 24, 2026 16:48
    Re: #94
    That's exactly the point — the benefit comes from keeping essential infrastructure running.
    For supermarkets, self-checkout is literally a survival strategy.
    It's not even a matter of profit and loss anymore, it's life or death.
    That's why this guy's take is so strange, given he's supposed to be a businessman.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    Self-checkout isn’t only about cutting labor costs — it’s also meant to shorten checkout wait times, save floor space, and lower the cost of running 24-hour operations, so it doesn’t fit neatly into a simple “less labor cost = lower prices” equation. In practice, on top of installation and maintenance costs, stores also have to absorb losses from checkout errors and shoplifting, and many still need to station staff to help customers unfamiliar with the system — meaning full unmanned operation hasn’t been achieved at many stores. As the thread pointed out with the gap between the corporate price index and the consumer price index (7.6% versus 1.9% year-on-year), how much of the rise in wholesale prices and logistics costs can be passed on to retail prices varies by industry, which limits the value of comparisons that isolate labor costs alone. While Misaki’s comment offered an easy-to-grasp contrast, the main point of contention in the thread was that many felt it failed to account for the complexity of the underlying cost structure.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Yuta Misaki: If “Labor Costs Rise → Prices Go Up,” Then Shouldn’t “Self-Checkout Cutting Labor Costs” Mean “Prices Should Reflect That Too? Doesn’t Add Up, Does It?”“.

  • Zero Bids for Expo Site Redevelopment — 5ch: ‘Whoever Set That Price Is to Blame’

    According to a Nikkei feature report, the public call for a developer to redevelop the former Osaka Healthcare Pavilion site — the first plot offered up for reuse at the Osaka-Kansai Expo grounds on Yumeshima — ended with zero bids. Osaka Prefecture and the city have also opened bidding since July for a developer to build out roughly 420,000 square meters (about 9 Tokyo Domes) that will form the core of “Yumeshima Phase 2,” with the planned sale price reportedly set at ¥92.1 billion, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun. On 5ch, opinions crossed paths: some blamed the high asking price for the lack of bids, others noted that hotel operators for the IR (such as MGM Osaka) have already been decided, and still others brought up the rivalry with Suzuka Circuit over hosting rights for Japan’s F1 race.

    Zero Bids for Expo Site Redevelopment: “This Is No Laughing Matter” — International Tourism Hub Still Shrouded in Fog

    In-Depth Report: The Legacy of the Osaka Expo (Part 2)

    September 24, 2026, 2:00 AM

    Source: nikkei.com / Read the original article here

    2AnonymousSep 24, 2026 05:44
    See? Even the casino operator is pulling out.
    5AnonymousSep 24, 2026 06:22
    Can we stop burning national tax money just to soothe Osaka's inferiority complex toward Tokyo?
    7AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:14
    The Asahi Shimbun reported that a group including Obayashi Corp. and Kansai Electric is expected to bid, though?
    15AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:38
    Did they ever actually fix that awful smell problem out there?
    16AnonymousSep 24, 2026 09:04
    They're hardly going to announce that to the press, are they.
    18AnonymousSep 24, 2026 09:56
    I mean, the bidding hasn't even opened yet — is this reporter dumb or what?
    19AnonymousSep 24, 2026 10:18
    Re: #18
    The article actually says:

    >In July, Osaka Prefecture and the city opened bidding for developers of the roughly 420,000 sq m (9 Tokyo Domes) core area of "Yumeshima Phase 2."

    >The earlier bidding round for redeveloping the former Osaka Healthcare Pavilion site got zero bids.

    That's literally what it says.
    20AnonymousSep 24, 2026 10:21
    Wasn't that place crawling with bugs?
    Who'd want to use it, lol
    25AnonymousSep 24, 2026 10:25
    Why not just stick a giant pachinko parlor there?
    27AnonymousSep 24, 2026 10:32
    Down to 2%? What's with reporters who spin the framing depending on their angle — is that even acceptable?
    30AnonymousSep 24, 2026 10:44
    Just lease it out to USJ, lol
    31AnonymousSep 24, 2026 10:45
    Will F1 Leave Suzuka? Contract Runs Through 2029, but Osaka Bid Has Locals on Edge
    (Chunichi Shimbun, March 25, 2026)

    In mid-October last year, as a coalition government between the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party looked increasingly likely, Suzuka Mayor Noriko Suematsu spoke with a grave look on her face.
    "The connection between the IR (integrated resort) and the F1 bid may be becoming real. I feel a very strong sense of crisis about it."
    The IR the mayor referred to is the casino-inclusive facility planned for the former Osaka-Kansai Expo site.

    From 2025 onward, the Japanese Grand Prix looks set to become a head-to-head contest between Suzuka and Osaka.
    And even for Suzuka, this fight won't be a simple one.
    If you think of F1 as entertainment, a street race in a major city could draw huge crowds and deliver a major economic boost — a win-win for fans, organizers, and F1 alike.
    32AnonymousSep 24, 2026 10:46
    Yeah, no thanks — not somewhere crawling with bugs like that.
    33AnonymousSep 24, 2026 10:48
    [Investment Scale of Major IRs Worldwide]

    ■ Yumeshima IR (Osaka, Japan)
    ¥1.5 trillion
    ■ CityCenter (Las Vegas, USA)
    ¥855.6 billion
    ■ Resorts World Sentosa (Singapore)
    ¥522 billion
    ■ Marina Bay Sands (Singapore)
    ¥487 billion
    ■ Sands Cotai Central (Macau)
    ¥402.9 billion
    34AnonymousSep 24, 2026 10:58
    Re: #33
    >■ Yumeshima IR (Osaka, Japan)
    >¥1.5 trillion
    >■ CityCenter (Las Vegas, USA)
    >¥855.6 billion

    That one opened back in 2009, so the gap is basically explained by the weak yen — and once you adjust for inflation, it's actually smaller than it looks.
    35AnonymousSep 24, 2026 11:13
    Just turn it into a pachinko parlor already.
    36AnonymousSep 24, 2026 11:22
    Re: #29
    The hotels are already settled too.

    [Hotels] MGM Osaka, MGM Osaka Villas, MUSUBI Hotel
    37AnonymousSep 24, 2026 11:31
    Wait, did they scrap the IR or something?
    38AnonymousSep 24, 2026 11:48
    Just slap up some kind of takoyaki-stall building and let it sit there quietly between the skyscrapers.
    39AnonymousSep 24, 2026 11:48
    A plot of land with the potential to become a "secondary capital," and yet nobody wants to touch it. Kind of unsettling. What's really going on there?
    40AnonymousSep 24, 2026 11:49
    That's the separate Phase 2 land sale, not the casino itself.
    There's just no bids because the price is too high. They'll probably end up lowering it.

    Whoever set that price is the one to blame.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Development of an IR (integrated resort) is already underway on the former Expo site at Yumeshima, and hotel operators such as MGM Osaka have already been named in reports. What’s easy for readers to confuse is that this “zero bids” result applies not to the IR itself, but to the separate public call for redeveloping the former Osaka Healthcare Pavilion site, which was offered up first. In the thread, comments blur this bidding round together with the newly opened (as of July) call for developers for Yumeshima Phase 2 (roughly 420,000 square meters), and with the IR project itself — so it’s worth keeping straight which project is actually being discussed. Some posters argue the asking price (¥92.1 billion, per Yomiuri reporting) is simply too high, while others say it’s too early to judge since the bidding process has only just begun — opinion on the thread is split. The rivalry with Suzuka Circuit over hosting Japan’s F1 race is a separate topic tied to the broader IR development, and should be considered apart from whether the Expo site redevelopment itself succeeds or fails.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Business News+) thread “Zero Bids for Expo Site Redevelopment: “This Is No Laughing Matter” — International Tourism Hub Still Shrouded in Fog / In-Depth Report: The Legacy of the Osaka Expo (Part 2).”

  • Okinawa’s “JUNGLIA” Racks Up a ¥17.3 Billion Loss in Year One — 5ch: “It’s All About Location”

    JUNGLIA Okinawa, the theme park that opened in the northern part of Okinawa’s main island last July, was expected to be a catalyst for the local economy. But the first earnings report since opening, released by the parent company of the operating firm, showed a net loss of over ¥17.3 billion. On 5ch, some pointed to the war in Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East for driving up construction and operating costs, but many pushed back, arguing the real problem was simply the lack of visitors. Discussion ranged over both location and content issues — poor access from Naha Airport, unfavorable comparisons with the nearby Churaumi Aquarium, and difficulty attracting repeat visitors.

    JUNGLIA Okinawa’s parent company posts over ¥17.3 billion loss

    The parent company of the firm operating JUNGLIA Okinawa — the theme park that opened last July amid high hopes it would be a catalyst for Okinawa’s economy — has released its first earnings report since opening, revealing a net loss of over ¥17.3 billion…

    Source: news.web.nhk / Read the original article here

    3AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:41
    Did they seriously think this concept would work…

    A jungle… in Okinawa??
    11AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:45
    Re: #3
    That's it!
    Get Hamada and Komuro to do the commercial! (comedian Masatoshi Hamada and producer Tetsuya Komuro)
    4AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:41
    If it weren't for the Middle East and Ukraine situations, I bet this would've been profitable
    Costs are climbing across the board for running big facilities like theme parks these days
    25AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:51
    Re: #4
    This is way beyond a cost problem — the number of visitors is just abysmal
    36AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:54
    Re: #4
    Any attraction with no repeat visitors is going to die out fast
    5AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:41
    Feels like they'll just keep this running until it collapses
    Is this basically just a way to keep milking cash out of investors forever?
    42AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:56
    Re: #5
    Cool Japan (the government's pop-culture export campaign)
    7AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:42
    Basically, nobody expected the world to be in this kind of state right when they were opening
    8AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:43
    Nobody's actually asking for a theme park in Okinawa, are they
    14AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:46
    They say the guy revived USJ (Universal Studios Japan), but all he really did was bring in Mario and call it a day
    17AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:47
    Re: #14
    And on top of that they faked being popular for a while too
    16AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:47
    As an actual theme park it was pretty fun, honestly — the location's the real problem
    18AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:48
    Re: #16
    That stuff you can find anywhere, the place on Okinawa's coast is way better
    24AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:50
    Re: #18
    You can find it anywhere? Everything there was a first for me
    97AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:16
    Re: #18
    Which place? I want to go
    21AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:48
    Feels like when a YouTuber trashed it, they went out of their way to fly the guy back to Okinawa just to make a show of "we want your feedback"
    38AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:55
    Re: #21
    That's the Biwako guy, right? (a YouTuber known for scathing, low-rated reviews)
    Calling in someone who got famous for bashing places — you can really tell they're cornered
    26AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:51
    Doing a dinosaur theme at this point isn't going to get anyone excited
    Those dinosaur park booms only happened back when games and CG couldn't really depict that stuff yet

    "I want to trek all the way out to the middle of nowhere in Okinawa for a dinosaur experience" is such an old-man idea
    31AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:53
    Re: #26
    Okinawa and dinosaurs just don't click together in people's heads
    28AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:52
    It was weird how influencers, YouTubers, and celebrities all dropped "I went there" videos around the same time
    and none of them were tagged as sponsored
    Makes you wonder if they all really went on their own
    78AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:10
    Re: #28
    It makes for good content, so they might go even without a paid deal
    And with stealth marketing, as long as both sides keep their story straight, there's no proving otherwise
    30AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:52
    Same story with the J.League and the Seibu Lions — bad access goes straight to poor attendance
    Junglia's a non-starter too, when it takes a ridiculous amount of time by rental car from the major airport
    47AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:57
    Re: #30
    But isn't boosting the northern region also part of the point?
    50AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:58
    Re: #30
    It's right by the Churaumi Aquarium, so if people can't decide, they'll just go there instead
    Giant whale sharks, gorgeous ocean right nearby, and the sightseeing to and from is a lot more straightforward too
    41AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:56
    The classic compliment you hear about a struggling facility:
    "the staff are so kind and warm"

    That's just because they're not busy, so they can spend more time on each customer
    46AnonymousSep 24, 2026 07:57
    Re: #41
    Same with KFC — it's worst on Christmas and best on a weekday morning when the veteran staff are on shift
    56AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:01
    I do think it's a problem for the prefecture itself that Okinawa's tourism potential is going to waste
    61AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:03
    Re: #56
    The governor changed, so maybe that'll shift things a bit?
    65AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:03
    Even on YouTube it's nothing but negative videos about how disastrous and how deep in the red it is
    Kind of sad, really
    69AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:05
    Re: #65
    Japan really does love piling on someone once they're down or failing
    Such a nasty habit, honestly
    79AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:10
    For people from mainland Japan, all of Okinawa is basically one giant theme park already — so why bother going to some artificial facility while you're on an Okinawa trip?
    82AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:11
    Re: #79
    Just a reminder that the Churaumi Aquarium is still massively popular
    87AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:13
    The place that took over after Venus Fort closed down ended up shutting too
    95AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:15
    Re: #87
    They could've just thrown up an AEON Mall without overthinking it, added a Ferris wheel and a hot spring as a package deal, and been fine — why'd they build that thing instead
    88AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:13
    There are tons of dinosaur museums like that all over the country now
    My prefecture's even got two of them
    And since they're publicly run, admission's cheap too
    96AnonymousSep 24, 2026 08:16
    Re: #88
    The Fukui dinosaur museum is on a completely different level in every way — you should go once

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    JUNGLIA Okinawa is a theme park developed with involvement from Katana, the company led by marketer Tsuyoshi Morioka, known for turning around Universal Studios Japan — local expectations were high even before it opened. This ¥17.3 billion loss comes from the parent company’s earnings, not the operating company itself, and is likely to reflect upfront investment and depreciation typical of a park’s first year. On the thread, opinions split between those blaming rising costs tied to the Middle East and Ukraine situations, and those who argued the bigger issues were the park’s poor location in northern Okinawa and the sheer lack of visitors. The long drive from Naha Airport was a concern raised even before the park opened. Judging a theme park’s success or failure from a single year’s loss may be premature — visitor trends and repeat-customer strategies going forward will be what to watch.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “JUNGLIA Okinawa Posts a ¥17.3 Billion Loss lol.”

  • Subordinate Declares ‘I’m Going to the Labor Bureau’ — 5ch Reacts: ‘I’ll Come With You’

    A feature introducing management consultant Junya Honda’s book “The Complete Guide to How Leaders Should Behave” (published on diamond.jp on September 23, 2026) sparked a discussion on 5ch’s Business News+ board about how a boss should respond when a subordinate says, “I’m going to the Labor Standards Bureau.” Some posters recommended staying calm, with comments like “I’ll come with you” and “Report it to HR first,” while many others pointed out that “anyone who’s actually going wouldn’t bother announcing it — they’d just go quietly.” The thread also brought in practical opinions about how much the Labor Bureau really does in practice, turning it into more than just a joke thread.

    Junya Honda

    The Complete Guide to How Leaders Should Behave, by the pro who has resolved 3,000 workplace management problems

    September 23, 2026, 6:50 AM

    Source: diamond.jp / Original article here

    3AnonymousSep 23, 2026 19:42
    "I'll come with you" works fine, no?
    4AnonymousSep 23, 2026 19:53
    Report it to HR.
    Some low-level manager has no business acting on their own.
    5AnonymousSep 23, 2026 19:55
    Hand in your resignation first.
    6AnonymousSep 23, 2026 19:58
    If they're not breaking any laws, just let them go.
    7AnonymousSep 23, 2026 19:59
    Just let them go, who cares.
    8AnonymousSep 23, 2026 20:09
    Send them off with a cheerful "have a good trip."
    After that, they'll only be able to move through official channels.
    It's basically a farewell.
    9AnonymousSep 23, 2026 20:11
    Normally you wouldn't announce it — you'd just quietly go.
    10AnonymousSep 23, 2026 20:18
    Most bosses would probably think, "oh crap, I went too far" (lol)
    11AnonymousSep 23, 2026 20:19
    I went ahead of them, explained the situation, and told my section chief, "Someone like this is coming, please take care of it."
    12AnonymousSep 23, 2026 20:21
    After that, just have them do simple grunt work. They'll quit eventually.
    13AnonymousSep 23, 2026 20:37
    I haven't received the complaint yet, so I'll withhold comment (a stock non-answer companies/celebrities use when accused of something).
    14AnonymousSep 23, 2026 20:43
    Ignoring it is best.
    Engage carelessly and they might be recording you — turns into a real headache.
    16AnonymousSep 23, 2026 20:49
    Re: #14
    By the time it's gotten to that point,

    they've already built up enough recorded evidence and such, so it's pointless anyway.
    15AnonymousSep 23, 2026 20:48
    Because when someone's really going, they go without announcing it.
    17AnonymousSep 23, 2026 21:30
    They could've just gone quietly, but the fact that they're bothering to announce it means they're probably recording you too.
    Yell at them over it and you only make your own position worse.
    Honestly, anyone who even has the concept of "going to the Labor Bureau" in their head is reasonably sharp — handle them carefully or you'll get fired.
    18AnonymousSep 23, 2026 21:35
    Falsify the time cards.
    19AnonymousSep 23, 2026 21:56
    Does anyone actually do that?
    They'd just go quietly (lol)
    20AnonymousSep 23, 2026 21:57
    Shouldn't the first move be "why?"
    Telling you before going — what a considerate subordinate.
    21AnonymousSep 23, 2026 22:20
    Just ask ChatGPT (nicknamed "Chappy" in Japan).
    37AnonymousSep 23, 2026 23:56
    Re: #21 These days it's simpler for both sides to just ask AI.
    Keeps you from getting jerked around by bogus info online.
    Though sometimes you get people who believe the lies and think that means they can do whatever they want.
    22AnonymousSep 23, 2026 22:21
    Consulting the Labor Bureau just ends with them listening to you vent.
    Unless you say upfront that you're filing a formal complaint, they won't take you seriously.
    32AnonymousSep 23, 2026 23:40
    Re: #22 Right, a lot of the time it really is just "they listen and you go home."
    Surprisingly, the local Labor Bureau ("Roki," a common nickname for 労基署) sometimes even has ties to the local companies.

    You need to be clear about what outcome you actually want before you go.
    23AnonymousSep 23, 2026 22:22
    Honestly, people who don't even know labor law shouldn't be in management. Not that I'd know, of course.
    24AnonymousSep 23, 2026 22:34
    I manage day-to-day within lines I know I can win on, so all I can say is "go ahead."
    25AnonymousSep 23, 2026 22:40
    Send them off properly.
    26AnonymousSep 23, 2026 22:54
    Subordinate: I'm going to the Labor Standards Bureau.
    Boss: Sure, go right ahead.

    Subordinate: I'm going to the Labor Bureau.
    Boss: Let's actually talk this through.

    Subordinate: I'm filing for a labor tribunal.
    Boss: Sorry, please forgive me.
    27AnonymousSep 23, 2026 23:11
    You're better off going to Yamamoto than to "Roki" (the Labor Bureau).
    28AnonymousSep 23, 2026 23:26
    Announcing it on purpose is basically a threat — they want some response or concession. Just hear them out and respond sensibly.
    29AnonymousSep 23, 2026 23:27
    Re: #1
    They just let them go, that's it (lol)
    There's no stopping someone who's already gotten to the point of saying "I'm going."
    I'm not the company president, so who cares (lol)
    30AnonymousSep 23, 2026 23:27
    "Typical of the yutori generation" (Japan's so-called "relaxed education" cohort, often stereotyped as soft/entitled).
    "Typical Gen Z."
    And that's the end of it.

    They never take responsibility for what they say — instead of actually going to the Labor Bureau, they'll just fly into a rage instead.
    31AnonymousSep 23, 2026 23:38
    First you'd go to your superior and ask for improvements, right?
    Next up is the Labor Bureau — but by the time you're actually at the point of going there,
    you wouldn't bother saying "I'm going" each time. Not after it's gotten that far.

    Also, if you go and just "consult" without more, they'll listen and that's the end of it,
    so you should go in having already made clear what you actually want done about it.
    33AnonymousSep 23, 2026 23:41
    Also, those free labor-lawyer consultation hotlines — it's a classic thing where you call right when you need it and nobody picks up for the loooongest time.

    It's worth finding a place to consult ahead of time, before you actually need it.
    Also had cases where labor-and-social-security consultants ("shakuroshi") wouldn't take you seriously if you went to them after you'd already quit.
    34AnonymousSep 23, 2026 23:42
    Isn't that just destroying evidence?
    35AnonymousSep 23, 2026 23:52
    Going to the Labor Bureau is pointless.
    It just ends with a warning.
    36AnonymousSep 23, 2026 23:53
    Outside of workplace safety, pay, or paid leave, they won't really take anything else seriously.
    38AnonymousSep 24, 2026 00:12
    Re: #1
    Go with them.
    Playing the pathetic middle manager is your best bet.
    39AnonymousSep 24, 2026 00:19
    Just go to the Labor Bureau quietly.
    40AnonymousSep 24, 2026 00:19
    I'm Mr. Compliance.
    The law is on my side.
    All I'll do is smile and send them off with a "have a good trip."

    Honestly, if you're really going to the Labor Bureau, you shouldn't tell anyone beforehand.
    And if you're prepared to quit and actually fight, you should be talking to a lawyer, not the Labor Bureau — in practice, the Labor Bureau isn't much use.
    41AnonymousSep 24, 2026 00:23
    Thought this would turn into a joke thread, but there are surprisingly a lot of serious replies.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    The Labor Standards Inspection Office is the government body that handles violations of labor law — unpaid wages, illegal overtime, workplace safety, and the like — and how it responds depends on whether the person consulting wants an actual correction made or just wants something on record. The comment that consultations “end with just being heard out” reflects real cases where people go in without clearly stating what they want done. The Labor Standards Inspection Office, the Labor Bureau, and labor tribunals are also separate channels with different roles: generally, if talks don’t resolve the issue, things move on to systems like individual labor dispute resolution or a labor tribunal — and the thread’s “Labor Standards Office → Labor Bureau → labor tribunal” comment reflected that progression. A recurring theme in the thread was the claim that “anyone who’s really going doesn’t announce it beforehand — they just go quietly,” with many posters treating advance notice (or the lack of it) as a way to gauge how serious someone actually is.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Business News+) thread “The Best Move for a Boss When a Subordinate Says They’re Going to the Labor Bureau.”

  • Scaffolding Contractors’ Bankruptcies Top 100 for First Time in 16 Years, on Pace for Record High

    In the world of “tobi” scaffolders — the tradespeople who erect and dismantle scaffolding at construction sites — bankruptcies are on pace to hit a record high. According to Tokyo Shoko Research, bankruptcies among scaffolding contractors are set to top 100 in a single year for the first time in 16 years, and the trend shows no sign of slowing despite a severe labor shortage reflected in a job-openings-to-applicants ratio of 7.94. Beyond the difficulty of hiring, the nature of a skilled trade that takes years to master is proving to be a barrier to training the next generation. On 5channel, users debated whether wages match the harshness of the work, along with women’s participation in the trade, reliance on foreign workers, and generational differences in values.

    Published 9/23 (Wed) 7:04 AM

    Tokyo Shoko Research

    Headwinds are blowing through the world of tobi scaffolders, often called the “stars of the construction site.” Indispensable for everything from scaffolding to steel framing and support-post work, the trade is now seeing bankruptcies at a record pace. In an industry already gripped by a severe labor shortage — with a job-openings-to-applicants ratio of 7.94 — the difficulty of hiring, combined with the high skill and experience required, is holding back the training of young workers. Tokyo Shoko Research (TSR) analyzed bankruptcies in the scaffolding contracting business.

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

    2AnonymousSep 23, 2026 12:57
    30% of Japanese salarymen work at big corporations.
    The remaining 70% work at small and mid-sized firms.
    ↑ So the gap is 2x?
    41AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:09
    Re: #2
    You keep posting that same copypasta, but if you're going to talk about the "gap," you need to use total employed persons as the denominator, not just regular employees.
    There are all kinds of ways people work out there — big-company employees aren't as common as you think.
    9AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:02
    – Ban tattoos and body art
    – Don't hire people with criminal records
    You've got to do at least these two things or it's a no-go.
    16AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:04
    Re: #9
    I think those two groups make up most of the workforce. That said, if your tattoos are visible, you'll probably get shut out of major contractors' sites.
    10AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:02
    Working odd-job part-time gigs on a tobi crew was heaven. From 8 to past 3, it was picking up and sorting trash, organizing wires and ropes, and running out to buy drinks and snacks. Whenever I tried to actually do something, I'd get told to keep my hands off it — more like "just hang around here" vibes. And for that, 12,000 yen a day.
    134AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:32
    Re: #10
    Back in the Ice Age job market, "there's always someone else to replace you" was the assumption across every industry, so there was none of this safety-conscious "just stand by and don't touch anything" treatment.
    13AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:03
    Wasn't there a period where women entering trades like tobi and construction laborer work ("dokaman") was being hyped up?
    25AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:06
    Re: #13
    Not a lot, but I think it's become fairly normal. Probably about the same ratio as male nurses.
    33AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:08
    Re: #13
    Just the other day I saw a female painter on a job site.
    14AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:03
    Just pay wages that match the work. End of story.
    20AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:05
    Re: #14
    I think that's tough. With tobi work, the result doesn't really change depending on who does it. But a plasterer who can do decorative finishing work adds value, so there's room for higher pay there.
    166AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:47
    Re: #14
    Stick with it for 10 years and you'll out-earn a salaryman — though 90% quit before that.
    24AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:06
    Why is it that rough-looking guys end up becoming tobi workers?
    35AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:08
    Re: #24
    Isn't it the other way around? Tobi work is about the only job that'll take rough-looking guys.
    27AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:07
    It's just zombie companies that can't pay proper wages getting weeded out. There's no problem at all, since demand for tobi work itself is there. If you want to hire, just pay enough.
    46AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:10
    Re: #27
    The reason proper wages can't be paid is that Japanese consumers aren't paying proper prices.
    Make housing start at a minimum of 100 million yen — something ordinary people can't afford — and then you'll be able to pay proper wages.
    30AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:07
    I'm a working tobi guy myself, and my daily rate went up from 17,000 to 24,000 yen — stoked lol.
    My annual income's around 9.5 million yen.
    67AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:13
    Re: #30
    And do you get days off on rainy days like today too? Don't know where you live, but that sounds like a solid, non-exploitative ("white") company.
    37AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:08
    Banning tattoos, lol.
    Tattoos are exactly what you need to piece the body back together if you fall and get torn apart.
    196AnonymousSep 23, 2026 14:01
    Re: #37
    Is that a serious point or a joke? Which is it?
    Now I'm picturing jigsaw puzzle pieces.
    50AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:10
    If delinquent kids ("yankii") aren't becoming tobi workers anymore, what are they doing instead?
    58AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:11
    Re: #50
    Working as a "kakeko" (the caller who phones victims) in a scam operation out in Southeast Asia.
    63AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:12
    Re: #50
    Semi-gangster "dark part-time jobs" (shady, often criminal gig work recruited via social media).
    64AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:12
    Re: #50
    You and I are both around-50 old geezers, so we can get nostalgic about the yankii era, but there aren't really delinquent kids like that anymore lol. My own kid, early 20s, grew up without a single millimeter of delinquency in him lol. The harshest I've ever lectured him was when he was laughing his head off watching TikTok or whatever at dinner, and the one time I scolded him was when he dropped his iPhone.
    51AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:10
    I've done construction labor ("dokata") myself, but tobi-style physical work in construction — no way, or rather, I couldn't hack it. Even 20-plus years ago there were plenty of dokata sites that weren't that brutal or dirty. The gear is different too — tobi guys wear their own thing. If I were young, I'd think you're better off learning to operate a backhoe than doing tobi work. With how computerized things have gotten, you can now earn money on sites totally different from what old-school backhoe operators used to work, and the same goes for grader operators.
    77AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:15
    Re: #51
    Whatever you call it, dokata work has gotten more mechanized, so it's a bit easier than other manual trades in some ways. Though even digging holes, some sites still make you hand-dig, and that's brutal.
    98AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:20
    I occasionally see guys commuting on the train still wearing their nikkabokka (the baggy work pants tobi workers wear). Please don't sit down on the seats in dirty work clothes. I get that you're tired, but if you want to sit, change into clean clothes first. Doesn't anyone come pick you up by car?
    103AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:21
    Re: #98
    Maybe just lay down a handkerchief for them.
    102AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:21
    It's a "women's empowerment society," so just have women do tobi work, no?
    107AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:23
    Re: #102
    Making women carry heavy loads violates Japan's Labor Standards Act.
    105AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:22
    Gen Z is pickier than the Employment Ice Age generation ever was 😫
    What's going to happen to Japan's infrastructure down the road?
    110AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:24
    A shortage of tobi workers means fewer people to handle the very first and very last steps of construction, including for apartment buildings — putting up and taking down scaffolding. In other words, even if you leave the countryside and graduate from a MARCH-level university or better (a group of solid mid-tier Tokyo private universities), you still won't be able to properly own a condo in Tokyo's 23 wards. Construction costs are so high that moving to Tokyo, graduating from a decent university, and landing a solid company job still isn't enough to buy a home in the city — that's rough. Meanwhile, plenty of manual laborers are out there working for proper wages. And these days, even job sites end up strict about compliance once the project's big enough to be an apartment building.
    124AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:28
    Re: #105
    Most of the public buildings the old guard built like crazy by issuing endless government bonds are unnecessary anyway — they'll just have to be returned to nature.

    Re: #110
    I seriously wonder what's going to happen to all those tower condos that got built like crazy. Repairs on detached houses can be sorted out if a handful of owners agree, but with a tower condo, you could easily end up waiting five years.
    168AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:48
    "There's always someone else to replace you" — I wonder if any companies still say that.
    174AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:50
    Re: #168
    Well, that hasn't changed since forever and won't going forward either.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    It’s worth noting that the rise in scaffolding-contractor bankruptcies doesn’t mean demand in the industry itself has dried up. As the 7.94 job-openings-to-applicants ratio shows, work is actually in surplus — this looks more like small and mid-sized firms being weeded out because they can’t secure workers, or can’t pass rising material and labor costs on through their contract prices. On the thread, the view that “raise wages and people will come” clashed with the view that “there’s no money to raise wages unless the construction costs clients are willing to pay go up first” — neither side fully engaged with the other, since each was only looking at one side of the supply-and-demand equation. Because the trade takes years to master, it also doesn’t mesh well with a short-term-hiring mindset that wants workers who are productive from day one, which deepens the “skilled-worker shortage” even further. Opinions were also split on accepting foreign workers, with some seeing it as one way to manage costs and others arguing it doesn’t solve the underlying problem.

    *This article was compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (Newsplus) thread “[Young People Turning Away from Tobi Work] Scaffolding Contractors Struggling, Bankruptcies on Pace for Record High — Over 100 for First Time in 16 Years, Worker Shortage and Cost Pressures the Sticking Points.”

  • Food Tax Cut Won’t Spur Economic Growth, Say 54.5% of Firms: Teikoku Databank Survey

    The government rolled out a 1-point cut to the consumption tax on groceries as a countermeasure against rising prices, but a Teikoku Databank survey of roughly 10,000 companies found that 54.5% said the cut “will not lead to economic revitalization.” Only 18% said it “will lead to revitalization.” Reacting to these results, 5channel’s Business News+ board saw comments arguing the tax cut was never meant to stimulate the economy in the first place but to fight rising prices, worries about the cost of upgrading cash registers and the added burden on restaurants, calls to fund the shortfall by taxing big corporations and the wealthy, and demands that the weak yen be tackled alongside the tax cut.

    September 22, 2026, 9:30 PM

    Play Video

    On the government’s decision to cut the consumption tax rate on groceries for a limited two-year period, half of companies say it “will not lead to” economic revitalization.

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

    2AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:31
    Let's make "Tax the Rich" our election slogan.

    The best way to fight rising prices — and boost consumption and the economy along with it — is to cut or abolish the consumption tax. Rather than leaning on more government bond issuance, we need "fair taxation" to generate revenue. Japan's tax system has real unfairness baked in: big corporations pay a lower effective tax rate than small and medium-sized businesses, and there's the "100-million-yen wall," where the tax burden rate actually starts dropping once income tops ¥100 million.

    Japan should follow Mamdani's lead too.
    3AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:33
    Will cutting the consumption tax actually make groceries any cheaper? The limits of "tax cut effects" in an age of inflation
    https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/b87d312cf2557d4cf9181f0526d7fc2d2aa569c6
    4AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:34
    Let's have the big corporations and the wealthy do their part for Japan for once.
    35AnonymousSep 23, 2026 12:26
    Re: #4-6
    Uh, sure, okay??

    <Keidanren Vision 2015> (Keidanren = Japan's biggest business lobby)
    ・Raise the consumption tax to 19% by FY2025
    ・Cut the corporate tax rate to 25% by FY2021
    ・Actively bring in foreign workers to grow the labor force by 6 million
    www.keidanren.or.jp/policy/2015/vision.html
    5AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:35
    I really wish they'd pair the consumption tax cut with some action on the weak yen.
    6AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:35
    Japan was doing better back before the consumption tax even existed.
    7AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:41
    Why is the 1% food tax cut driving small shops out of business? An interview with Sanseito's Yutaka Ando
    https://japan-indepth.jp/?p=92615

    [Key points]

    ・Ando points out that for restaurants, the 1% food tax cut is effectively a tax hike, since it shrinks the deduction they can claim on their purchases.

    ・By Ando's estimate, honest takeout food shops that actually lower their prices could run out of cash before the refund ever arrives.

    ・Ando warns this creates a setup where the smaller shops that can't afford to cut prices end up looking like they're "price gouging." (rest omitted)
    8AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:45
    [Economic Focus: An Expert's Eye] Consumption tax cut won't bring "prosperity"…
    Just delays the reckoning on rising prices
    September 21, 2026, 5:00 AM
    https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/economy/global/20260920-GYT8T00046/

    The cabinet has approved a tax reform outline that includes the grocery consumption tax cut.
    Concerns have been raised about the burden falling on specific businesses — a headwind for restaurants, and a heavy cost for retailers upgrading their registers —
    and economist Ryutaro Kono also flags worries about the impact on the economy as a whole.
    9AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:45
    Takaichi needs to be ready to ditch her own campaign pledge without hesitation if a better path shows up.
    10AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:48
    Better than a tax hike, I guess.
    11AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:48
    Isn't taxing big corporations and the wealthy the obvious way to fund scrapping the consumption tax?
    13AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:53
    1% consumption tax cut on groceries, and shop owners are still crying: "The register upgrade will bankrupt us," "In two years it'll feel like a tax hike"
    Sun, Sep 20, 9:40 AM
    Bengo4.com News
    https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/750321357ae7c2855a7d61573dec469c71818bc6

    When Bengo4.com News asked readers for their thoughts on the grocery tax cut, it got hopeful responses — but also plenty of business owners' complaints.
    14AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:55
    Re: #12

    From the article in Re: #1

    In a Teikoku Databank survey that collected responses from about 10,000 companies last month, only 18% said cutting the consumption tax on groceries to 1% would "lead to the revitalization" of Japan's economy.

    Meanwhile, 54.5% said it "would not lead to revitalization."
    15AnonymousSep 23, 2026 10:57
    Then why are people making all this noise demanding a tax cut?
    16AnonymousSep 23, 2026 11:05
    The opposition figured the LDP would never actually cut taxes, so they kept demanding one anyway — and then it actually happened, so now they really can't oppose it. Well played.
    17AnonymousSep 23, 2026 11:10
    It's not like it was ever meant to boost the economy anyway.
    18AnonymousSep 23, 2026 11:11
    Of course a grocery tax cut isn't gonna boost the economy lol
    19AnonymousSep 23, 2026 11:14
    So then what's the point of doing it?
    36AnonymousSep 23, 2026 12:26
    Re: #19
    It was originally meant as a countermeasure against rising prices, right?
    It's still a relief if at least food gets the consumption tax knocked off.
    And after two years it switches over to cash handouts anyway.
    27AnonymousSep 23, 2026 11:52
    It just tanks trust in the yen,
    weakens the yen, and cancels out the price relief —
    total garbage.
    Lip service just to shut up the opposition
    must be their life's dream, huh.
    28AnonymousSep 23, 2026 12:01
    For real though, does this even mean anything?
    If the base price of goods goes up anyway even with no consumption tax, isn't the whole thing pointless?
    If they're gonna do something, cutting social insurance premiums or resident tax would actually help more.
    30AnonymousSep 23, 2026 12:07
    Re: #28
    If prices stay high and then they bump the rate back up to 8% after two years, it'll spike even more and make things even worse.
    29AnonymousSep 23, 2026 12:07
    If they'd just slapped a high consumption tax on luxury and premium goods for two years,
    that would've covered the cost just fine.
    Like a 30% consumption tax on cars over ¥10 million —
    that would've kept things fair too.
    31AnonymousSep 23, 2026 12:09
    They probably want to trigger a "Sanae Shock" instead of a Truss Shock,
    so their name goes down in history. (Sanae = PM Takaichi Sanae; Truss Shock = the market meltdown under UK PM Liz Truss)
    37AnonymousSep 23, 2026 12:29
    Re: #31
    They've been yelling "Takaichi Shock" this whole time and nothing's actually happened lol
    The Truss Shock was a triple whammy — weak currency, weak bonds, weak stocks —
    but Japanese stocks keep climbing, and dollar-yen is capped out around 160.
    Rates might rise, sure, but that's happening worldwide anyway.
    34AnonymousSep 23, 2026 12:14
    If you're supermarket-hopping for deals, don't drive there lol
    Walk or bike it lol
    Gas money will cost you more than the couple yen you're saving.
    38AnonymousSep 23, 2026 12:35
    Well, of course companies would say that.
    39AnonymousSep 23, 2026 12:50
    We went crying to Uncle Sam,
    and thanks to the joint intervention the dollar-yen rate
    is already creeping back up lol
    41AnonymousSep 23, 2026 13:02
    It's basically just a subsidy for retailers.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    This 1% cut to the consumption tax on groceries is a two-year, time-limited measure written into the tax reform outline as a response to rising prices — it was never meant to serve as economic stimulus in its own right. Reporting has flagged that the cost of upgrading cash register systems weighs heavily on small and medium-sized retailers and restaurants, and that combined with the existing reduced-tax-rate system, the change could effectively amount to a tax hike for the restaurant industry. On the thread, some used the survey finding that it “won’t lead to revitalization” to question the tax cut itself, while others countered that it was never meant as stimulus but as support for households. There were also calls to recoup the lost revenue through taxes on big corporations and the wealthy, and views that the real problem is import prices being driven up by the weak yen. On the whole, the debate centers less on whether the tax cut is good or bad and more on a mismatch over what the tax cut was ever supposed to achieve.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Business news+) thread “[Survey] Consumption Tax Cut “Won’t Lead to Revitalization,” Say Half of Respondents — Teikoku Databank Survey.”

  • Disney Family Outings Enter the ¥100,000 Era — USJ Fires Back with Free Admission for Kids

    Tokyo Disney Resort will raise its one-day passport’s top price to ¥12,400 starting in October, and Premium Access fees were also partially increased in September. Ticket prices — which stood at ¥3,900 for an adult when the park opened in 1983 — have been climbing especially fast since the variable pricing system was introduced in 2023. USJ, meanwhile, has rolled out a limited-time pass that makes admission free for one child, a strikingly different pricing strategy. On 5ch, users traded complaints about the price hikes, comparisons with local amusement parks, and wry remarks about how attendance still isn’t dropping.

    Disney Enters the “¥100,000 for a Family of Four” Era — As Price Hikes Pile Up, USJ’s “Free Kids” Offer Widens the Price Gap

    Starting in October, Tokyo Disney Resort is raising the top price of its one-day passport, and from September, Premium Access fees were also partially increased.

    USJ, meanwhile, is selling a limited-time pass that makes admission free for one child. The two parks’ pricing strategies are diverging when it comes to family outings…

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

    9AnonymousSep 23, 2026 01:44
    Wait, I thought it was all-inclusive — turns out they nickel-and-dime you inside too?
    Why are they so desperate to squeeze out every yen?
    49AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:18
    Re: #9
    It's like paying tribute at a temple (お布施 — a religious offering).
    Your faith is being tested.
    10AnonymousSep 23, 2026 01:46
    This has become a country where neither kids nor adults get to dream anymore.
    We used to go every year, back in the day…
    11AnonymousSep 23, 2026 01:47
    Like hell I'm paying tens of thousands of yen just to look at some filthy mouse!
    12AnonymousSep 23, 2026 01:48
    Disneyland: a place poor people will never get to visit in their lifetime.
    13AnonymousSep 23, 2026 01:51
    JUNGLIA Okinawa
    1-Day Ticket
    Adult: ¥6,930
    Child: ¥4,950
    14AnonymousSep 23, 2026 01:51
    Can guys actually enjoy Disney too?
    40AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:12
    Re: #14
    Not really — you just enjoy watching the women and kids enjoy themselves.
    16AnonymousSep 23, 2026 01:52
    If paying more means shorter lines, that's better, honestly.
    No idea how it is now, but back in the day you'd wait 2-3 hours for a single ride, so you barely got on anything anyway.
    17AnonymousSep 23, 2026 01:52
    Dreams don't come cheap (smirking).
    19AnonymousSep 23, 2026 01:52
    Just let me pay ¥100,000 a person to skip the line on every single ride and I'm fine with that.
    20AnonymousSep 23, 2026 01:53
    So she's telling me about this place with a mouse and a dog walking on two legs, dancing around.
    Dude, that's Disney! That's literally Disneyland you're describing lol
    I thought so too, but then my mom said admission was like ¥4,000.
    Guess it's not Disneyland then… lol There's no way you get into Disneyland for ¥4,000 lol
    37AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:06
    Re: #20
    Your mom's favorite amusement park is probably Hirakata Park (a much cheaper local park in Osaka).
    23AnonymousSep 23, 2026 01:56
    If I'm going to drop over ¥10,000 at Disney, I'd rather buy 30kg of rice online — that's the level these price hikes have reached.
    28AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:01
    Honestly, just an admission ticket plus a couple of E-tickets (ride-specific tickets from the old coupon-book system) would be enough for me.
    29AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:02
    USJ just can't beat Disney.
    Women go to Disney,
    and men get drawn to wherever the women are.
    30AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:03
    If kids never get taken as children, will they still go as adults?
    Won't they just skip taking their own kids too?
    Doesn't matter if inbound tourist demand keeps it afloat, though.
    32AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:04
    I honestly don't get what's fun about it.
    My school was in Tokyo so we went to Fuji-Q Highland (a thrill-ride park near Mt. Fuji) on a field trip instead,
    and that was 10,000 times more fun.
    No comparison when it comes to roller coasters.
    33AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:04
    No but seriously, even the Mickey musical show inside now costs extra.
    It's just too expensive.
    43AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:15
    A guy from Niigata said it costs him ¥500,000.
    44AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:16
    Why would you pay that much money just to stand there making a dumb face at a mouse (lol)
    45AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:17
    Senso-ji Temple → Hanayashiki (Japan's oldest amusement park) → Tokyo Skytree is good enough.
    Let's enjoy it together with the foreign tourists.
    46AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:17
    Let's be real — a family probably only goes like twice in their whole life.
    47AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:18
    (Adult One-Day Passport)
    1983 (opening year): ¥3,900
    1996: ¥5,100
    2006: ¥5,800
    2011: ¥6,200
    2015: ¥6,900
    2019: ¥7,500
    2020: ¥8,200
    October 2023–: ¥7,900–¥10,900 (variable pricing introduced)
    October 2026–: Top price raised to ¥12,400
    48AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:18
    Disney just isn't a place for poor people.
    The poor man's theme park is the local AEON mall.
    50AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:18
    Disney was insanely packed on September 22nd — the Frozen ride wait alone hit 260 minutes.
    Let's be honest, Disney lets in way too many people.
    Prices are too low, so you get crowds like this — they should raise prices even more and cut down attendance.
    51AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:20
    Wait times on September 22

    Frozen: 260 min
    Soarin': 240 min
    Toy Story Mania: 200 min
    Tower of Terror, Center of the Earth, Rapunzel's Lantern Festival Dance: 180 min
    Beauty and the Beast, Raging Spirits, Peter Pan's Flight: 160 min
    Splash Mountain, Pooh's Hunny Hunt, Monsters, Inc.: 100 min
    Haunted Mansion: 90 min
    Big Thunder Mountain: 80 min
    Mickey's PhilharMagic: 70 min

    Are you kidding me.
    57AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:33
    It bugs me that it's in Chiba but calls itself 'Tokyo' Disney.
    65AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:40
    Re: #57
    There are plenty of 'Chiba but calls itself Tokyo' cases,
    but I've never heard of a 'Kanagawa but calls itself Tokyo' one.
    67AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:40
    Everyone demands higher wages for Japanese workers, but then complains about the price hikes needed to actually support that.
    74AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:45
    Re: #67
    A stronger yen is what would actually raise Japanese wages, but instead they weakened the yen, wages fell, and now they're using that to justify rising prices — makes no sense.
    75AnonymousSep 23, 2026 02:46
    Re: #67
    People are complaining because that money never actually shows up in their paychecks.
    91AnonymousSep 23, 2026 03:01
    This will probably be remembered as the era when Disneyland became a place only the 'elite class' could afford, and visitor numbers will just keep declining from here.
    96AnonymousSep 23, 2026 03:04
    Re: #91
    It's Japanese citizens who get turned into weak-yen poverty slaves — that has nothing to do with other countries, so I think inbound tourists will keep coming.
    From their perspective, everything in cheap, weak-yen Japan looks affordable no matter where you go.
    The only ones who think it's expensive are us slave-citizens.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Tokyo Disney Resort’s one-day passport cost ¥3,900 for an adult when the park opened in 1983, but the pace of price increases has sped up since a variable pricing system — where prices shift depending on the visit date — was introduced in 2023, with the top price set to reach ¥12,400 in October 2026. The article’s headline figure of “¥100,000” appears to be based on a family of two adults and two children hitting this top price bracket once food and merchandise are added in. USJ, meanwhile, has released a limited-time pass that makes admission free for one child, pursuing a strategy of securing family visitors even at the cost of lower prices. While complaints about the price hikes stood out in the thread, one post noted that as of September 22 the longest attraction wait time had reached 260 minutes, showing that attendance hasn’t slowed down even after the price increases. Opinions were split over the relationship between price hikes and visitor numbers, and over how the weak yen’s effect on the cost of living is hitting household budgets.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Disney Enters the “¥100,000 for a Family of Four” Era… As Price Hikes Pile Up, USJ’s “Free Kids” Offer Widens the Price Gap.”

  • Massive complex opens in Jiyugaoka — 5ch reacts: “Feels overdue”

    On September 17, 2026, a large mixed-use complex called “JIYUGAOKA MUSE SQUARE” opened in front of Jiyugaoka Station on the Tokyu Toyoko and Oimachi Lines. The operators say they’re looking toward “the next 100 years,” and have positioned Futako-Tamagawa as a rival. On 5ch, opinions were divided: some worried the new complex would siphon customers away from independent shops and erode what makes Jiyugaoka distinctive, or questioned the timing given that large commercial facilities in Tokyo have struggled in recent years, while others argued that Futako-Tamagawa and Jiyugaoka differ so much in location and clientele that treating them as rivals doesn’t really make sense.

    9/20 (Sun) 5:55 AM

    BUSINESS INSIDER JAPAN

    A large mixed-use complex, “JIYUGAOKA MUSE SQUARE,” opened on September 17, 2026, in front of Jiyugaoka Station on the Tokyu Toyoko and Oimachi Lines.

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

    2AnonymousSep 22, 2026 06:07
    Oh no…

    the new mega commercial complex is going to suck up all the demand, and the independent shops that make Jiyugaoka what it is are going to decline.
    6AnonymousSep 22, 2026 08:14
    Re: #2
    Isn't that on the independent shops themselves, for being less appealing than the mass-produced chain stores?
    3AnonymousSep 22, 2026 06:46
    But apparently Jiyugaoka sits in a low-lying basin,
    so maybe they should nail down the basics of urban planning first.
    Doing disaster-prevention work after the buildings are already up just means doing everything twice.
    4AnonymousSep 22, 2026 07:33
    The next 100 years?
    Give it about 40 and won't it end up like Sugamo (Tokyo's famous district for elderly shoppers)?
    5AnonymousSep 22, 2026 07:39
    Nobody even knows about Midorigaoka (a quieter, lower-profile neighborhood right next door)
    7AnonymousSep 22, 2026 08:14
    Feels overdue.
    Big commercial facilities in Tokyo keep failing one after another, and now Jiyugaoka is doing this?…
    The era when a large commercial facility could draw crowds on novelty alone is over.
    8AnonymousSep 22, 2026 08:36
    It'll just be chain retailers anyway, so nobody from outside is going to bother coming.
    9AnonymousSep 22, 2026 08:47
    The rise and fall of Sweets Forest (a dessert theme park that once stood in Jiyugaoka and later closed)
    10AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:18
    If we're talking stylish neighborhoods, Kuhonbutsu beats it (a quieter area nearby)
    11AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:31
    Was Jiyugaoka even that kind of town to begin with?
    12AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:33
    Unlike rural areas, it's not like there's a shortage of young people around here.
    13AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:36
    It's packed with people and it's honestly depressing.
    Wonder when things will calm down.
    14AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:48
    The streets are so narrow it's kind of scary.
    21AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:06
    Re: #14
    Most areas along the Toyoko Line have narrow streets like that, and sidewalks? What are those?
    15AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:00
    Jiyugaoka feels cluttered and messy — not really my thing.
    18AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:13
    "Jiyugaoka girls"

    That was a trend decades ago, back when I was young.
    There was a woman who kept saying she was going to become a manga artist,
    and for some reason she was a total Jiyugaoka girl.

    These days I guess they call it "Minato-ku girls."
    19AnonymousSep 22, 2026 11:21
    It used to be a stylish town —
    like the Amsterdam that the Parisian poet Charles Baudelaire
    admired as more beautiful than Paris itself.
    20AnonymousSep 22, 2026 12:05
    Jiyugaoka and Hiyoshi
    are places you can only live if you're an upper-class woman from a good family out in the regions, they say.
    Even picking an outfit for tea with the other moms is apparently a whole ordeal.
    26AnonymousSep 22, 2026 13:32
    Re: #20
    The truth about Jiyugaoka: it's just Meguro Ward residents who get hit by disasters every time there's heavy rain.
    28AnonymousSep 22, 2026 13:59
    I don't think this is the image people actually want from Jiyugaoka.
    29AnonymousSep 22, 2026 14:32
    So a Starbucks is opening in the big commercial complex.
    These days it's Starbucks that women love —
    the area around Jiyugaoka Station always did cater to women's tastes.

    Back in the Showa era, it was the only place in Japan
    with a directly-run L.L.Bean store.
    30AnonymousSep 22, 2026 14:33
    I only know the Jiyugaoka from when I lived in Tokyo, up through the 2000s, but that local, low-key vibe was so good.
    31AnonymousSep 22, 2026 16:18
    They covered this on Bura Tamori (a TV show about local geography and history)
    — it used to be a low-lying wetland, which sounds pretty risky.
    32AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:18
    Both Jiyugaoka and Naka-Meguro are super chaotic, honestly.
    Like, the whole town has no cohesive look, so it comes off a bit grubby.
    "Stylish town" lol, that's a good one lolol.
    33AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:46
    They just redeveloped one corner into a mixed-use building because more and more buildings there were old and needed rebuilding.
    That "next 100 years" line is just marketing fluff to help them recoup the cost.
    34AnonymousSep 22, 2026 17:52
    Jiyugaoka ("Freedom Hill") is about to get hit with the nickname "Jugaoka" — "Gun Hill" (a pun swapping "jiyu," freedom, for "ju," gun).
    35AnonymousSep 22, 2026 18:22
    No… Jiyugaoka has a totally different kind of charm from Futako-Tamagawa, so if it throws that away it'll just fade into the background.
    Personally I like Jiyugaoka, Shimokitazawa, and Kichijoji a lot more than Futako-Tamagawa.
    40AnonymousSep 22, 2026 19:26
    Wealthy people live up the hill, while ordinary folks gather down in the basin near the station.
    42AnonymousSep 22, 2026 19:49
    There used to be a Nagasakiya here, right? (a now-defunct discount store chain)
    That was fine as it was.

    Background and key points of this discussion

    Jiyugaoka is known as a shopping district along the Tokyu Toyoko and Oimachi Lines, valued more for its cluster of independent boutiques than for large facilities. Futako-Tamagawa, by contrast, sits near the intersection of the Kanpachi Ring Road and Route 246, a location it has leveraged to succeed as a suburban-style shopping hub with “Futako-Tamagawa Rise.” That contrast is likely why the operators are singling it out as a rival. As several posters on the thread noted, the area around Jiyugaoka Station lies in a low-lying basin spanning Meguro and Setagaya wards, a topographical feature sometimes flagged for flood risk during heavy rain. In Tokyo in recent years, opening a large commercial facility hasn’t guaranteed a crowd the way it used to, and the “feels overdue” sentiment voiced in the thread appears to reflect that trend.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Business News+) thread “Jiyugaoka’s long-awaited large commercial facility opens. “Our rival is Futako-Tamagawa” — one of Tokyo’s premier stylish districts makes its move for the next 100 years.”

  • New-Crop Koshihikari Rice Down ¥2,000 From Last Year — ‘We Lose Money Growing It,’ Say Rice Farmers in Crisis

    It’s been reported that the selling price of new-crop Koshihikari rice in Niigata Prefecture has fallen by roughly ¥2,000 from last year amid what’s described as a historic “rice glut,” leaving farmers in dire straits with “we lose money if we grow it.” While some see it as a relief for household budgets, the thread saw criticism of the agriculture ministry for misreading supply and demand, disagreement over the timing and volume of the stockpiled-rice releases, and comments pointing to an accelerating shift away from rice — underscoring how both farmers and consumers end up unhappy whether prices rise or fall.

    “We Lose Money If We Grow It” — Rice Farmers in Crisis as Prices Plunge; New-Crop Koshihikari Selling Price Down ¥2,000 From Last Year Amid Record “Rice Glut” — Though a Relief for Household Budgets — Niigata

    Tue, 9/22, 6:00 AM JST

    BSN Niigata Broadcasting

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

    4AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:52
    You can get 1kg of domestic wheat flour for ¥240 tax included. Plus you get 10% back in points.
    11AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:54
    Re: #4
    Apparently one wheat farmer got a ¥30 million subsidy lol
    16AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:54
    My bad, are people still out there eating rice, uninformed as ever? 🥺

    29AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:56
    If there was actually enough rice, shouldn't they have investigated why prices spiked in the first place and taken countermeasures other than just "grow more"?
    The fact that they couldn't do that is exactly why guys like Suzuki and the agriculture ministry were incompetent.
    66AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:01
    Re: #29
    Exactly. And here I thought the agriculture ministry actually had a handle on the flow of rice. This is a country that basically used to run on a rice standard — it's the backbone of our food supply and economy. Guess once you make it to elite bureaucrat, all you think about is how to slack off lol
    31AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:57
    Wait, the Captain Tsubasa author became a rice farmer?
    46AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:58
    Re: #31
    Beggar-thy-neighbor policy lmaooo
    47AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:58
    Re: #31
    Didn't you know? He couldn't make a living off manga alone, so he took up rice farming too. "Rice is my friend — nothing to be scared of," I guess (a riff on his famous manga line "the ball is my friend")
    64AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:01
    Re: #31
    The company's name is "Ozora," so it's 100% definitely him (Ozora Tsubasa is the manga's main character — that gives it away)
    35AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:57
    Whatever happened to "We won't sell it cheap!" 😤 lol 🥺

    55AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:59
    Re: #35
    Last year's rice is expensive, so the price has flipped relative to the new crop.
    42AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:58
    Bought it last year and it was ridiculously good, so I bought 60kg of brown Mine Asahi rice off an acquaintance for ¥30,000. It's so good the price barely matters anymore.
    51AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:59
    The rice-farmer bubble just popped, that's all.
    43AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:58
    There's no real fix in place, so it's just going to spike again and again.
    Get out of rice while you can!!
    53AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:59
    Re: #43
    Just eat sweet potatoes like it's wartime.
    49AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:59
    I think of farming as national defense, so I eat domestic rice — but if you'd rather have pasta, go for it.
    I'm staying on good terms with rice farmers now so I don't starve down the road.
    61AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:00
    Re: #49
    If it ever comes to starving, you'd need to be on "marry off your daughter to them" levels of close, or they still won't share any with you.
    50AnonymousSep 22, 2026 09:59
    It'd be better for everyone if the rice industry just disappeared and they scrapped the tariffs.
    62AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:00
    Re: #50
    And then the big rice wholesalers rake in a fortune importing it all over again.
    60AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:00
    If farmers hadn't gotten greedy and sold to private traders instead of going through JA, none of this would've happened.
    67AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:01
    Re: #60
    Blame the guys who were quietly pocketing cash thanks to the new invoice tax system lol
    65AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:01
    Re: #62
    Why do you assume they only handle wholesale?
    During the rice shortage, retailers were importing directly without even going through wholesalers, remember?
    76AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:02
    Re: #65
    Hint: pretty much every other imported food has gone up in price too.
    69AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:02
    This happens because wholesalers hoard the stock.

    The shift away from rice is accelerating too.
    85AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:03
    Re: #69
    Feels like the shift away from rice was already underway, and the price spike was the final nail in the coffin.
    70AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:02
    Eggs used to be ¥100 a pack, now they're ¥280.
    Getting back to pre-COVID prices just isn't happening.
    107AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:06
    Re: #70
    Domestic natto too —
    they shrank each pack down to 40g
    and jacked the price up a lot on top of that.
    ¥150–200 for a 3-pack, tax included.
    Natto's basically a luxury food now.
    Guess I'll just eat domestic soybean kinako powder instead.
    114AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:07
    This is really going to kill their motivation…😭

    117AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:07
    It's Ishiba and Koizumi's fault for releasing the stockpiled rice with no restraint.
    Even if it was meant to bring prices down, the timing was way too late and the volume way too much.
    124AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:08
    Re: #117
    That's because Eto and JA were deliberately dragging their feet.
    130AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:09
    Re: #117
    And it tasted bad on top of that.
    Bought 2kg of stockpiled rice, cooked up two go of it (about 300g), and fed the rest to my chickens.

    Even the chickens looked unimpressed eating it.
    206AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:19
    Still ridiculously expensive.
    Rice isn't worth buying at all unless it's under ¥1,500 for 5kg.
    208AnonymousSep 22, 2026 10:20
    Re: #206
    Enough already — go eat pasta for the rest of your life.

    Background and Key Points of This Story

    This sharp price drop comes as a reaction to 2025’s record-poor harvest and speculative hoarding, which had pushed prices up to a socially disruptive “over ¥5,000 for 5kg” and turned into a major issue. The government tried to rein in prices by releasing stockpiled rice, but the thread was split over whether the agriculture ministry or JA bears more blame for the volume and timing of that release — criticism that “the Ishiba/Koizumi administration’s release came too late” ran alongside criticism that “JA treated the stockpiled rice as ordinary rice and was slow to put it on the market.” Since rice prices hinge on multiple factors — weather, speculation, distribution inventories — it’s easy to mistakenly pin either the spike or the crash on a single culprit. Worth keeping in mind too: farmers’ “we lose money if we grow it” predicament is a structural problem born of persistently high material and fuel costs colliding with falling sale prices — the flip side of the “relief for household budgets” story on the consumer end.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Niigata] “We Lose Money If We Grow It” — Rice Farmers in Crisis as Prices Plunge; New-Crop Koshihikari Selling Price Down ¥2,000 From Last Year Amid Record “Rice Glut”.”