Category: News

Akiyama Mao, a member of Hello! Project’s Tsubaki Factory, revealed that the company approved her graduation on the very same day she requested it, with no attempt made to talk her out of it. Comedian Akashiya Sanma responded to the revelation with “That’s sad.” Akiyama also shared that she moved to Tokyo alone at age 13 and used to cry every time she traveled back and forth to Osaka out of loneliness. Following her comments, discussion broke out on 5ch: some claimed Morning Musume’s Fukumura Mizuki was held back for about three years before being allowed to graduate, while others noted that Ikuta Erika, Ishida Ayumi, and Makino Maria were reportedly approached by the agency about their own graduation timing. Opinions split over Hello! Project’s graduation customs, with some arguing “there’s no such thing as being held back in the first place” and others countering that “the informal queue of roughly one graduation every six months is effectively a form of holding members back.”

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “[Sad News] Akiyama Mao: “I told the company I wanted to graduate and it was decided that same day, they didn’t try to stop me at all” — Sanma: “That’s sad”.”

A thread on 5ch’s “Newsspeed VIP” board features a 33-year-old man who says he’s genuinely fallen for a 19-year-old concept café girl (a maid-café-style hostess venue). He takes it as a sign she doesn’t dislike him that she told him where her side job at a family restaurant is, and he’s asking whether he should try asking her out. While plenty of posters offer sober warnings — “taking sales talk seriously is dangerous,” “you’ll just get drained for cash” — others push him to go for it, saying “some women do appreciate kindness” or “just ask her already.” The thread split over how much distance you should keep from the customer-service affection sold at concept cafés and hostess clubs.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Newsspeed VIP) thread “I’m a 33-year-old guy who’s genuinely fallen for a 19-year-old concept café girl”.

The thread starter asked the “Whatever Live” board (NanJ) for a job that’s “just driving a car, nothing else,” and suggestions poured in one after another: taxi driver, F1 racer, mobile supermarket driver, limousine driver, septic-tank truck driver, garbage collector, and more. But the OP shot each one down in turn, citing reasons like “day shifts barely get any days off,” “driving the same route over and over is mentally exhausting,” and “I’m scared of carrying passengers” — and the thread kept growing. At one point someone jabbed back, “OP’s really committed to finding reasons not to do anything.”

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Whatever Live) thread “Isn’t there a decent job that’s just driving a car?.”

A post on 5channel’s Newsoku VIP board drew attention after a user said someone had parked in their contracted parking spot without permission. The poster had just had their assigned spot changed at the management company’s request, but when they returned, they found a stranger’s car parked in the new spot as well. The management company was closed and couldn’t be reached, so they called the police and took down the license plate number — but were told it wasn’t clear whether anything could be done, since the jurisdiction on file didn’t match where the car was actually parked. The thread filled up with replies discussing the frustrating reality that someone whose spot has been taken over often has almost no real recourse.

67AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:31

Didn't you say something got posted on it yesterday or the day before
Even though you were parked properly in your contracted spot
Something's off with that parking lot, isn't it? Is it even legitimately run (as opposed to yakuza-run)?

70AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:32

Re: #67
Yeah, that happened
That's why my spot got reassigned, but when I got back there was a car parked in the new spot too. Rough.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Newsoku VIP) thread “Guy gets his contracted parking spot taken by someone else lolololololol.”

A confessional thread appeared on “Nandemo Jikkyo G” (a 5ch live-commentary board) after a poster admitted to losing big two days in a row at pachinko — ¥69,000 one day, ¥95,000 the next. The poster confessed to feeling “done with this” and even “wanting to die,” while explaining a habit of only playing machines they personally like, and a tendency to raise their bets when trying to win back losses. When they described losing ¥90,000 in three hours, some commenters did the math on the maximum number of balls that can be fired per minute and suspected the figure was exaggerated, while other hardened veterans came forward with their own tales of losing ¥120,000 or even ¥300,000. The discussion ended up being less about the exact amounts lost and more about how to deal with gambling itself.

※This article is composed from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Lost ¥69,000 at the pachinko parlor, then ¥95,000 the next day.”

A thread on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board went up discussing people who only ever say “Japan is over” or “Japan has no future.” In response to the original poster’s question, “Is that actually true?”, some commenters agreed, citing the declining birthrate, aging population, and sluggish GDP, while plenty of others pushed back hard with lines like “That’s just people shouting their wishes online” and “You’re the only one who’s over.” Replies invoking entrepreneur Takafumi Horie’s comments and others pointing to the real struggles of the “Employment Ice Age” generation kept the thread from turning into a simple back-and-forth of doom and gloom.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (“Nandemo Jikkyo G”) thread “[Ultra Bad News] Guys Who Only Ever Post “Japan Is Over” or “Japan Has No Future” lol.”

Sakurai Rio, personality on MBS Radio’s ‘Young Town Saturday,’ revealed in a blog post ahead of the September 19 broadcast that “the Yantan studio is going to change.” Her post, reflecting on the wistfulness of leaving a studio she’d visited for over two years, drew reactions in the 5ch live-thread as well. This episode featured Tsubaki Factory’s Akiyama Mao as a guest, and talk also turned to the fall programming shake-up — including word that the “Ero Corner” segment will return souped-up in October, and that Novel Core will take over the slot from Ihara Rikka.

radiko

Young Town Saturday

@yando_staff

Source: radiko.jp / Original article here

14AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:15

IT'S HEEERE (ﾟ∀ﾟ)!!
IT'S HEEERE (ﾟ∀ﾟ)!!
IT'S HEEERE (ﾟ∀ﾟ)!!

15AnonymousSep 19, 2026 22:15

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello Project) thread “■ Sakurai Rio, Yugeta Shukoto, Guest: Akiyama Mao ■ MBS Radio (Osaka 1179kHz) ‘MBS Young Town Saturday’ ■ 22:15–23:45 ■“.

Yahoo News broke the story on the night of September 19, 2026 that Botan, one half of the comedy duo Nakata Kaus-Botan, had died at age 78. According to reports, he had been fighting lung cancer and had effectively been retired since 2023. On 5ch, alongside shock at the news, posters reminisced about Botan’s 1988 arrest on gambling charges in Fujiidera, Osaka Prefecture, the “debt jokes” that defined his act for decades, and stories about his relationship with comedy legend Akashiya Sanma.

9AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:11

Which one was he again?

13AnonymousSep 19, 2026 20:12

Re: #9
The one who's NOT the yakuza guy ⬅

※This article is compiled by excerpting and summarizing the 5ch (Hello!Project board) thread “’†“cƒJƒEƒXEƒ{ƒ^ƒ“ ƒ{ƒ^ƒ“‚³‚ñi78jŽ€‹Ž.”

On 5ch’s Newsspeed VIP board, a thread about choosing a browser took off. Posters noted that where people once stayed up all night arguing over the distinct merits of browsers like Opera and Firefox, nowadays extensions and other core features come standard in every browser, leaving little reason to bother switching. The conversation soon turned to frustration over Google Chrome tightening its restrictions on ad-blocking extensions, and eventually spiraled into a debate over the very definition of “freedom” on Google’s services.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Newsspeed VIP) thread “The Age of Chrome’s Total Dominance Is Over Too.”

The thread kicked off with a confession: “I always thought Shinjuku and Shibuya wards were the top-tier areas of Tokyo.” As replies piled up, commenters argued that Chiyoda ward — home to the Imperial Palace and the National Diet Building — and Minato ward — packed with embassies and upscale residential districts — are the “true elite” of the capital. Others pushed back, noting that Shinjuku and Shibuya still beat them in name recognition as entertainment districts, and the debate split over what standard should even be used to measure a ward’s "status." The conversation gradually drifted into tangents about Saitama’s Isetan department store, NHK’s relocation, and historical trivia involving Ota Dokan and Emperor Meiji.

※This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “I’m just a dumb country bumpkin, so I mistakenly thought Tokyo’s top-tier areas were “Shinjuku” and “Shibuya”.”