Yukari Kono (26), a former regular on the quiz show “Todai King” and a graduate of the University of Tokyo’s School of Medicine, posted on X that she encountered an elderly woman standing frozen at a train station after wetting herself. Kono wrote that although she tried to help, communication was difficult, station staff couldn’t respond, and no one spoke to the woman for 20 minutes — a post that became a hot topic on 5ch. Rather than debating the point of the post itself, discussion mostly centered on remarks like “wasn’t the person watching for 20 minutes the calmest one there?” and fact-checks noting the incident took place not in Tokyo but in Chiba Prefecture.
Tue, Sep 1, 12:12 PM
Yukari Kono (26), who was a regular on TBS quiz show “Todai King” until it ended in September 2024 and graduated from the University of Tokyo’s School of Medicine, updated her X account by the 1st, writing about a “scary” incident she witnessed at a train station.
Kono opened by describing the scene: “There was an old woman standing in the station, and she’d wet herself.” She explained, “She wasn’t carrying anything, so I was worried and tried talking to her, but communication was difficult. I told a station attendant, but they seemed busy and couldn’t respond right away, so I handed her a Pocari [Sweat, a sports drink] for the time being and called the prefectural police.” She also wrote about the indifference of the people around her: “What’s scary is that not a single person even glanced at this old woman for the entire 20 minutes, even though it was a big station with tons of people around.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
Does that mean you were watching her for 20 minutes too?
I just happened to witness it right at the 20-minute mark.
and about half of them are staring dead at their phones
Respect to you, though
I once saw an old woman who was dressed really nicely but walking around soiling herself
Couldn't just ignore it, so I handed her some tissues and let her know
Telling someone that is rough on you too, honestly
Tokyo really is like that
That's pretty cold of you
I still can't stop wondering whether that other story — "saw a girl in a wheelchair being carried off screaming by some strange man" — was even true
In Osaka everyone would be checking on her, like "You okay, ma'am?"
Keisei-Funabashi Station is in Chiba Prefecture
The media keeps going on and on about how kind Tokyoites are, but that's the kind of town it actually is
Why do you keep saying Tokyo?
It happened in Chiba Prefecture
Handed her a Pocari Sweat and did some people-watching
What are you even talking about
Once saw a blind person on the subway, and when the train pulled in
I made sure to guide them properly to a seat
This happened in Osaka
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
Kono is a talent and University of Tokyo School of Medicine graduate who was a regular on “Todai King” until the show ended in 2024, and this post was an eyewitness account she shared on X. What split opinion in the thread wasn’t agreement or disagreement with the post’s actual point — the indifference of bystanders — but skepticism about the framing itself: what did the person who spent 20 minutes observing actually do? Social media anecdotes tend to leave out details of timeline and action, and these unexplained gaps are exactly the kind of thing that draws suspicion on 5ch. There was also a string of replies criticizing the incident by assuming it happened in “Tokyo,” when the station was actually in Chiba Prefecture — later replies corrected the record. It’s worth keeping in mind, when reading topics that originate on social media, how easily a misidentified location can spread unchecked.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “Yukari Kono witnesses at a station: “There was an old woman standing there who’d wet herself,” “What’s scary is that not a single person even glanced at her for these 20 minutes”.”
