Category: Society

  • After License Leak, Fraud-Alert Filings Flood CIC/JICC and Delay Processing — 5ch: ‘Times Should Just File for Everyone at Once’

    Following the leak of member information from “Times Car,” it has emerged that a rush of self-notification filings — meant to prevent misuse of leaked driver’s license data — and disclosure requests — meant to check for unauthorized contracts — has overwhelmed credit bureaus CIC and the Japan Credit Information Reference Center (JICC), delaying processing. The leak, which included images of driver’s licenses, was only announced the day before, and the surge appears to reflect users moving preemptively to guard against future misuse. On 5ch, some argued that Times, as the source of the leak, should file the bulk notifications on users’ behalf, while others countered that filing and disclosure are separate procedures and companies have no obligation to act as an intermediary — and still others argued that even without a self-notification, victims of unauthorized contracts should be exempt from liability because of the lender’s inadequate screening, leaving reactions split over how effective the response really is.

    Credit bureaus CIC and the Japan Credit Information Reference Center (JICC) announced on September 29 that a surge of self-notification and disclosure requests via the internet and smartphone apps has caused delays in processing.

    The previous day, “Times Car” disclosed a large-scale data leak that included images of driver’s licenses. It appears people worried about their own license information being leaked are responding by filing self-notifications to guard against future misuse, or by requesting disclosure to check whether cards or loans have been fraudulently taken out in their name.

    IT media NEWS September 30, 2026, 09:54 AM

    Source: itmedia.co.jp / Original article here

    3AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:36
    Times should get everyone's consent and just file the notifications in bulk
    15AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:42
    Re: #3
    It'll just end up as a 'filed' (that actually wasn't) situation.
    149AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:48
    Re: #3
    They're not obligated to do that.
    164AnonymousSep 30, 2026 14:01
    Re: #3
    That's a disclosure request, not a self-notification filing.
    9AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:38
    Wouldn't it be way easier if Times just handled it in bulk?
    Why's that company acting like the victim here?
    11AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:40
    Surely you can't take out a loan with just a license photo.
    68AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:02
    Re: #11
    If a company can be this sloppy, you can bet there's equally sloppy lenders out there too.
    201AnonymousSep 30, 2026 14:32
    Re: #11
    Because you actually can get a loan with it.
    19AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:43
    If I registered with Times Car but renewed my license after that, am I in the clear?
    Someone tell me, this is scary.
    23AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:46
    Re: #19
    Are you gonna whip out your old pre-renewal license if you get pulled over at a checkpoint? Calm down a second.
    46AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:54
    Re: #19
    Get married and change your name, or move and change your address — unless the basic info actually changes, renewing doesn't help.
    20AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:43
    Don't tell me the Digital Agency hacked this themselves 'cause they want to kill off the driver's license as ID (lol)
    85AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:13
    Re: #20
    I like that theory lol
    25AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:47
    Won't the license centers get swamped with reissue requests too?
    This is causing a huge headache for everyone.
    41AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:53
    Re: #25
    That's scary too. If you report it lost, your license number changes, so at least you can say it's a different number now — though only the last couple digits of the 12-digit number actually change.
    87AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:14
    Re: #25
    The cost just gets spread around and diluted across the whole population in the end lol
    47AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:54
    The identity verification to pull your info from CIC sounds like a pain too.
    48AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:55
    Re: #47
    Just use your license… lol (the very thing that got leaked)
    83AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:10
    Re: #47
    Maybe some stranger's already done it in your name lol
    59AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:58
    Data leaks from Times Car are basically routine at this point, but apparently their careless retention of former members' data and their customer response after the leak are on a whole other level of terrible.
    113AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:29
    Re: #59
    Way too many companies hang onto former members' data. When I canceled DAZN it showed something like 'you can easily come back to the same account anytime' and it creeped me out. Stop storing addresses, phone numbers, emails, and credit card info.
    124AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:33
    Re: #113
    There are all sorts of laws requiring data to be kept for like 10 years, so it's also a hassle to delete only the unneeded parts once the time comes. Probably easier to just mark it 'withdrawn' in the database and keep the data forever.

    Note: Keeping former members' personal data for 10 years isn't uniformly required by the Act on the Protection of Personal Information, but in practice it's often justified by the statute of limitations on claims under the Civil Code or preservation obligations under tax law.
    • Civil Code (extinctive prescription of claims): Contractual rights generally expire after 10 years (or 5 years from when the right becomes exercisable), so data is kept as proof in case of disputes or re-contracting.
    • Corporate Tax Act (loss carryforward, etc.): Books and records must be kept for 10 years when claiming a net-operating-loss carryforward.
    127AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:35
    Re: #113
    Well, keeping transaction records — including for former members — for 7 years is required by law.
    89AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:15
    Could someone actually open a bank account with the license data?
    Maybe rewrite the address field and use it for trading/selling accounts lol
    95AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:18
    Re: #89
    If you're fine with rewriting that field in the first place, why not just swap out the photo and the license number too?
    108AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:28
    Re: #89
    A license probably won't work unless the photo matches your face. Though you might get some shady visitor showing up at a wealthy elderly person's address, or at some good-looking young person's place — there's various ways to misuse it.
    90AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:16
    I switched over entirely to the My Number driver's license.
    93AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:17
    Re: #90
    Does that mean you can just keep your My Number Card as-is?
    101AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:23
    I forgot the PIN — or was it a password — for my driver's license. I wrote it down when renewing at the license center, but I've forgotten it. Does everyone else remember theirs? I've also forgotten what the driver's license PIN/password is even used for. I've got a gold license so the course isn't that long, but maybe I still zoned out and forgot it.
    109AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:28
    Re: #101
    Weren't you handed a printed slip with it on the spot? Though I feel like that number almost never actually gets used. I looked into it before and found out it's needed to enter US military bases.

    On entry procedures using your driver's license (Camp Zama)
    https://americantown.co.jp/79/
    ① Enter the 8-digit PIN (two sets of 4 digits) you set when renewing your license. You should have set this yourself at renewal.

    What's the "printed data slip" that US forces in Japan require in addition to the driver's license?
    https://response.jp/article/2017/03/28/292737.html
    This printed data slip can be pulled up by the license holder themselves from a dedicated terminal, using the 4+4 digit PIN they set when renewing their license.
    In Atsugi City, Kanagawa (home to Naval Air Facility Atsugi), Atsugi Police Station handles this too.
    130AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:37
    Re: #109
    Apparently some rental car procedures require that PIN. Stores that don't support it are just refusing My Number licenses outright.
    155AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:51
    Re: #109
    I used my license password for something recently… now what was it again.
    154AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:51
    If you've filed the self-notification,
    any debt taken out without your knowledge gets waived.
    159AnonymousSep 30, 2026 13:53
    Re: #154
    Who compensates for the damages, then?
    199AnonymousSep 30, 2026 14:31
    Re: #154
    You're exempt even without filing — it's the lender's screening failure, not yours.
    174AnonymousSep 30, 2026 14:13
    Guess I've gotta get married and change my last name.
    180AnonymousSep 30, 2026 14:19
    Re: #174
    Congrats on finally breaking your streak of 'no girlfriend for as many years as I've been alive'!
    182AnonymousSep 30, 2026 14:20
    Re: #174
    FYI: your driver's license number doesn't change [when you change your name].

    Background and key points of this story

    CIC and JICC are designated credit bureaus that manage the personal credit information used to screen credit card and loan applications; the system handles two separate procedures — a “self-notification” for people who want to prevent contracts being taken out in their name without consent, and a “disclosure request” for those who want to check whether any unauthorized contracts already exist. Because the Times Car leak announced the previous day included images of driver’s licenses, it appears a flood of applications came in from users worried about identity-theft contracts. On the forum, some argued Times should handle the bulk filing on users’ behalf, while others pointed out that self-notification and disclosure are separate systems and companies have no obligation to act as an intermediary — leaving opinions split. Some also argued that regardless of whether a self-notification was filed, liability for unauthorized contracts falls on the lender for inadequate screening and is therefore waived — a point not covered in the original article, and one readers could easily get the wrong idea about.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread ‘Rush of Fraud-Prevention Filings Delays Processing at CIC/JICC, Right After the Times Car Data Leak‘.

  • Sendai’s Population Falls for the First Time Ever in the Census — City Insists ‘We’re Not in a Declining Phase,’ Pointing to a Tiny 0.05% Drop

    On September 29, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released finalized population figures from the 2025 census (as of October 1), revealing that Sendai’s population has declined for the first time since the census began in 1920. The city had previously projected its population would peak in 2028 at 1,101,000, and since this decline amounts to a mere 0.05%, officials maintain that “we do not view this as the start of a declining phase” at this stage. Looking at the breakdown, the population aged 65 and over grew 5.09% while those under 15 fell 9.47% — numbers that starkly reflect Japan’s ongoing trend of fewer children and more elderly people. On 5ch, threads buzzed not only with sarcasm over the city’s “not a declining phase” line, but also comparisons of population and vibrancy between Sendai and other government-designated cities like Kumamoto, the history of how mergers expanded Sendai’s city limits, and even broader discussion of the structural flow of people from Tohoku to the greater Tokyo area.

    Finalized population figures from the 2025 census (as of October 1) were released on the 29th, revealing that Sendai’s population has turned to decline for the first time since the census began in 1920. The city says it “does not consider this the start of a declining phase” at this stage, and plans to keep a close watch on future population trends. The city had previously estimated its population would peak in 2028 at 1,101,000, and expected the 2025 figure to reach 1,100,275 — a slight increase.

    By sex, the male population fell 0.38% to 529,609, while the female population rose 0.26% to 566,537. By age group, the elderly population aged 65 and over rose 5.09% to 270,319, while those under 15 fell 9.47% to 116,474 — a clear sign of the ongoing trend of fewer children and an aging population. The working-age population (15-64) was essentially flat at 673,328 (up 0.03%).

    Among the city’s five wards, a “decline in the north, growth in the south” pattern emerged. Miyagino Ward fell 1.34%, marking its first-ever decline, while Izumi Ward declined for a second consecutive time. The other three wards all saw increases.

    Source: kahoku.news / Original article here

    3AnonymousSep 30, 2026 07:56
    Genuine question for anyone who really knows this stuff —
    will the falling birthrate shrink work for small and mid-size regional sash (window frame) manufacturers? Will they go under?
    12AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:02
    Re: #3
    Is this the sash-maker's prefecture???
    10AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:02
    Don't want to admit that the subsidy grants are going to drop?
    14AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:03
    Even at rock bottom, it's still one of the 'Big Four' (Sapporo/Fukuoka/Hiroshima/Sendai) government-designated cities, yet Kumamoto — a newer, lower-ranked designated city — somehow feels livelier.
    19AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:06
    Re: #14
    Kumamoto has like 200,000 fewer people than Gifu Prefecture, right? Even fewer than Mie Prefecture.
    180AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:37
    Re: #14
    Sendai's basically just Kumamoto x1.2 at best.
    The areas near the Yamagata border are basically nothing but untouched forest wilderness.

    Honestly though, western Japan just has a lot of big, lively cities.
    15AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:03
    I think I heard on the radio this morning that Sendai's an easy city to live in, so a lot of people move there.
    27AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:11
    Re: #15
    Supposedly it's got the second-most good-looking guys, right after Ibaraki.
    32AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:13
    Re: #15
    Present-day Sendai got huge from repeated mergers.
    That includes areas that are basically farming villages.
    48AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:26
    Re: #15
    Outflow to the Kanto region has started outpacing inflow from the rest of Tohoku.
    Probably true for Hiroshima too, not just Sendai.
    36AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:16
    Sapporo City/Hokkaido: 196/498 (40%)
    Fukuoka City/Fukuoka Pref.: 167/508 (33%)
    Hiroshima City/Hiroshima Pref.: 117/268 (44%)
    Sendai City/Miyagi Pref.: 110/220 (50%)
    155AnonymousSep 30, 2026 11:17
    Re: #36
    Kyoto's even more lopsided — Kyoto City alone makes up 56% of the prefecture.
    42AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:22
    In the West, a city of even just 300,000 people is a respectable city with real cultural and economic presence.
    But Japan is so consumed by Tokyo-supremacy thinking
    that people brainwash themselves into believing nothing else matters.

    Well, Japan's in its shrinking phase now, so consolidating into a multi-polar network of designated cities is probably the way to go.
    47AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:25
    Re: #42
    The way cities are built in the West, especially Europe, is just fundamentally different.
    Those cities started out as walled fortress towns, so they were compact cities from the get-go, where you can live your whole life within walking distance.
    Japanese cities sprawl out sloppily and assume everyone drives. That's exactly the urban form that takes the worst hit from a shrinking, aging population.
    43AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:23
    Sendai stayed at 600,000-700,000 people for a long time.
    Then mergers suddenly turned it into a million-person city.
    150AnonymousSep 30, 2026 11:08
    Re: #43
    It was just small to begin with — the current built-up area is a perfectly reasonable size for a designated city.
    44AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:24
    Outside of Sendai, Miyagi's cities are all pathetically weak, huh.
    Is Natori supposed to be Miyagi's #2 city?
    That's way too lame…
    54AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:30
    Re: #44
    Realistically, Miyagi's real #2 city is Kakuda.
    60AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:33
    Re: #44
    Sendai basically IS Miyagi to begin with —
    the other cities were originally just 'towns' and 'villages.'
    135AnonymousSep 30, 2026 10:32
    Re: #44 https://www.gleasin.jp/population/prefecture/miyagi/
    Natori's actually #4.
    #2 is Ishinomaki, #3 is Osaki.
    46AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:24
    People overlook that mergers expand a city's area, which means more money spent on infrastructure and administrative services.
    49AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:26
    Re: #46
    If they hadn't merged, a lot of these towns wouldn't even have had the fiscal base to function as independent municipalities in the first place.
    61AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:35
    Sounds desperate.
    Guess if they admit the decline, they'll end up like Kobe with endless net outflow?
    66AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:38
    Re: #61
    Thanks to Fukushima, Yamagata, and Iwate residents moving to Sendai,
    its population is being propped up.
    That's Sendai City for you.
    86AnonymousSep 30, 2026 08:57
    https://imgur.com/mUK2qdh.png

    In the 2025 census, Tokyo is now the only prefecture whose population is still growing.
    But since its growth rate is a mere 1%, a decline is clearly visible on the horizon eventually.
    Okinawa has already fallen into decline.
    100AnonymousSep 30, 2026 09:11
    About 30 years ago, Sendai used to pull in a fair number of people from across Tohoku.
    But then everyone realized 'huh, it's not as big a city as I thought' and started aiming for Tokyo instead.
    They'd land a job in Tokyo and end up living in Chiba or Saitama.
    When someone from Tohoku says 'I've got relatives in Tokyo,' it's usually actually Saitama or Chiba, occasionally Kawasaki.
    Nobody's interested in Yokohama.
    Nobody knows anything about Nagoya.
    Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara were a one-time school trip destination, and that was enough.
    Kyushu might as well be some imaginary region that doesn't really exist in Japan.
    It's not that people are looking down on it — they genuinely don't know anything about it and don't even try to.
    Probably only about 1 in 20 people from Tohoku has ever traveled abroad.
    102AnonymousSep 30, 2026 09:15
    Re: #100
    Don't you know it's actually the old folks out in the countryside who travel abroad the most?
    103AnonymousSep 30, 2026 09:17
    Tohoku
    Of its 215 municipalities, 165 — or 77% — are classified as 'potentially disappearing municipalities,' the highest count and rate in the country.

    The report notes that 'the majority of these municipalities need countermeasures for both social decline (migration outflow) and natural decline (falling births, rising deaths).'

    141AnonymousSep 30, 2026 10:45
    Net migration into the greater Tokyo area (Tokyo + 3 neighboring prefectures) by region, October 2022 to October 2023:
    Tohoku: -18,902
    Kansai: -25,499
    Chugoku: -10,833
    Shikoku: -4,490
    Kyushu: -12,570

    Isn't it western Japan that's really fattening up Tokyo?
    144AnonymousSep 30, 2026 10:58
    Re: #141
    Even so, Saitama and Chiba are both losing population.
    In Saitama, even though the south is growing, the north and the Chichibu area are seeing sharp declines.
    In Chiba, the northwest is growing, but the northeast and south are declining sharply.
    Even Ichihara — the only city east or south of Chiba City with a population over 200,000 — is also losing population.
    146AnonymousSep 30, 2026 11:03
    Re: #141
    Over the 50 postwar years of the high-growth era, inflow into the capital region totaled 1.1 million from Tohoku, followed by 700,000 from northern Kanto and 600,000 from Kyushu.

    Those numbers are big enough that hometown associations (kenjinkai) exist for them.

    And on top of that, inflow from Kansai has been exploding at an accelerating pace over the past 20 years.
    157AnonymousSep 30, 2026 11:21
    https://www.eiseigazo.jp/images/image_640/1-B-VGL487.jpg

    Once you look at Kyoto Prefecture's habitable land area, it makes total sense.
    164AnonymousSep 30, 2026 11:33
    Re: #146
    Is there actual data backing that up?
    170AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:12
    Re: #164
    Ministry of Internal Affairs Basic Resident Registration data, 1956-2008


    Inflow to the capital region:
    Tohoku 2,757,331; Northern Kanto 1,050,757; Kyushu 1,320,572

    Brutal.
    175AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:25
    A designated city actually shrinking — that's rough.
    177AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:29
    Re: #175
    Everyone dies eventually.
    Why would you assume designated cities don't have elderly people in them?
    178AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:35
    Re: #175
    A city with a giant abandoned ruin right by the station is obviously done for. It's just the biggest regional city within the vast countryside that is Tohoku. That's all it really is.
    183AnonymousSep 30, 2026 12:42
    Re: #175
    Yokohama and Kobe are seeing population declines too, you know.

    Background and Key Points of This Story

    Sendai’s projected population peak is 2028 (1,101,000), so this decline of 0.05% could arguably fall within the margin of error for that long-term projection. Part of why the city is emphasizing that this “isn’t a declining phase” is that it wants to stay consistent with that forecast. The populations of Japan’s government-designated cities have historically fluctuated significantly due to municipal mergers, and as posters in the thread point out, Sendai itself grew from roughly 600,000 to around a million through mergers. When a merger expands a city’s boundaries, it often absorbs rural farming areas along with it, which tends to split growth and decline trends between the urban core and the outlying districts. This time’s “decline in the north, growth in the south” pattern is one example of that, with Miyagino and Izumi wards declining while the other three wards grew. What readers might easily miss is that behind the modest 0.05% overall figure lies a much faster-moving shift in age structure — the under-15 population fell by 9.47% while the 65-and-over population grew by 5.09%. The thread’s discussion expanded into debates about Tokyo’s over-concentration and population outflow from Tohoku, but these are being read less as something unique to Sendai and more as a structural problem shared by regional hub cities across Japan.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[Sendai] Population Declines for First Time in Census — City Says “Not a Declining Phase,” Emphasizes 0.05% Decline Rate.”

  • Flu Cases Surge 1.5x in a Week, 13 Straight Weeks of Growth — Okinawa Tops Chart at 26.27 Per Clinic

    The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported that the number of flu patients per fixed-point medical institution nationwide reached 8.48 for the week ending September 20, up about 1.5 times from 5.54 the previous week. This marks the 13th consecutive week of increases. By prefecture, Okinawa topped the list with 26.27, followed by Tokyo at 15.21, Aichi at 15.12, and Kanagawa at 14.71. On 5ch threads, various theories flew back and forth over why Okinawa’s numbers stood out — from the impact of foreign tourists to a rebound effect from insufficient indoor ventilation during the COVID pandemic — alongside ongoing exchanges about vaccine effectiveness, side effects, and personal experiences.

    The number of flu patients reported per medical institution is up about 1.5 times from the previous week.

    According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, a total of 31,428 patients were reported from fixed-point medical institutions nationwide during the week ending September 20, working out to 8.48 per institution.

    That’s roughly 1.5 times the 5.54 recorded the previous week, marking 13 consecutive weeks of increases.

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

    2AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:42
    Anti-vaxxers, assemble!
    153AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:56
    Re: #2
    Wasn't Okinawa — the highest number — also the one with a low vaccination rate?
    4AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:43
    Influenz-encer! (a pun blending 'influenza' and 'influencer')
    It'll all work out, Okinawan-style! (nankurunaisa — Okinawan dialect for 'it'll be fine')
    30AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:50
    No friends, live out in the boonies, pretty much always alone, so I probably won't catch it…
    Though I do have some contact with people at work.
    32AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:51
    Re: #30
    You'll catch it from a delivery package.
    31AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:51
    Influencer, influenza — which is which?! So confusing!
    47AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:00
    Re: #31
    Neither one lasts very long, right?
    93AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:15
    Re: #31
    Influencers do more damage.
    39AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:54
    This one feels like COVID, must be some new strain.
    The infection rate is terrifying.
    41AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:58
    Re: #39
    Have you gotten the so-called 'COVID vaccine'?
    If you haven't yet, please help protect your loved ones by getting the so-called '~mRNA COVID vaccine~'. Let's all achieve herd immunity together 💪
    42AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:58
    Compared to COVID, the flu's infectiousness is laughably weak.
    51AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:02
    Don't worry, everyone! Just get the so-called 'flu vaccine' and you'll be fine! Safe and sound!
    56AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:02
    Why is Okinawa so far ahead of everyone else?
    64AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:06
    Never gotten a flu shot in my life, and never caught the flu either.
    Though I might've just been asymptomatic.
    86AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:12
    Re: #64
    I used to catch the flu almost every year.
    My kid would bring it home from kindergarten or school,
    and I'd catch it on the train too.
    Since COVID, I think I've maybe had it once.

    Flu shots were mandatory when I was little, but I haven't gotten one since becoming a working adult.
    65AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:06
    I feel like I saw news a while back about Chinese hospitals getting swamped with patients again…
    But wasn't that about some new strain of COVID?
    109AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:31
    Re: #65
    Just check hospital parking lots via military satellite, you'll know right away. (a nod to the early-COVID meme of spotting outbreaks from satellite images of packed hospital lots)
    87AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:13
    The fact that they stopped doing COVID forecasts is probably a factor too.
    Nobody wears masks or sanitizes their hands anymore these days — that's probably contributing as well.
    89AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:13
    Re: #87
    COVID's been spreading year-round anyway.
    92AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:14
    Re: #87
    Lately I actually feel pressure to take my mask OFF, if anything.
    105AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:29
    It's a mystery why it's spreading so much in Okinawa —
    people move around just as freely in Tokyo.

    According to the Okinawa Times:
    'Kids didn't catch the flu during COVID'
    'Because we kept the windows closed'
    111AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:32
    Re: #105
    Wait, did they seriously print that??? Wasn't it an Okinawan doctor or scholar early in COVID who kept saying 'ventilation, ventilation is everything!'?
    198AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:29
    Re: #105
    > By prefecture, Okinawa had the most at 26.27, followed by Tokyo at 15.21, and so on.

    Tokyo's spreading too.
    Guess Miyazaki really is its own isolated island (despite being on the mainland).


    Flu 'advisory' drawing near — up 1.5x from last week, increase continues
    https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/518452
    …31,428 cases were reported during that period.
    By prefecture, the highest per-clinic count was Okinawa at 26.27, followed by Tokyo at 15.21, Aichi at 15.12, and Kanagawa at 14.71.
    All 46 prefectures except Miyazaki have now exceeded 1, the threshold marking the start of an epidemic.
    162AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:01
    Flu cases were rising, so they shut down widespread flu vaccination programs.
    Already forgotten after 30 years?
    166AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:05
    Re: #162
    It's not that they forgot — they probably never knew in the first place.
    80% of people only care about celebrities and athletes; there's no way truly important information ever reaches them.
    186AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:22
    Re: #162
    Don't talk nonsense — routine vaccination for the elderly was resumed back in 2001.
    167AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:06
    I'm in the anti-flu-shot camp, but I'm currently down with Influenza A.
    First time I've ever had the flu, and it's rougher than COVID.
    Nearly 40°C fever, joint pain, and crushing fatigue.
    Everyone wash your hands.
    170AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:07
    Re: #167
    If you'd gotten the shot, your symptoms would've been milder.
    Well, that's the flu for you.
    173AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:10
    Re: #170
    Oh wow, what devout faith lol
    Keep it up and go get the so-called mRNA COVID vaccine too lol
    175AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:11
    Re: #170
    That's beside the point.
    It only helps prevent severe illness, nothing more.

    Background and key points of this topic

    The flu’s fixed-point reporting system tracks the average number of patients reported by roughly 5,000 medical institutions nationwide per institution, with a reading above “1” marking the start of an epidemic. This time, 46 of Japan’s 47 prefectures (all except Miyazaki) have crossed that threshold, with especially high numbers in urban areas and the southwestern islands such as Okinawa, Tokyo, Aichi, and Kanagawa. Posters in the thread never reached a consensus on why Okinawa stands out so much — theories ranged from the movement of foreign visitors to a rebound effect from avoiding indoor ventilation during the COVID pandemic — but it’s worth noting none of this is confirmed by actual reporting. There was also plenty of back-and-forth over vaccination and side effects, but the flu itself produces a certain number of complication cases every year, and there’s no medical evidence of a recent sudden surge. The oft-cited “10 times last year’s level” figure may also simply reflect the fact that last year was a record low, which makes a straightforward comparison misleading.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Flu case numbers over 10 times the same period last year, up about 1.5x from the previous week, 13 straight weeks of increase, Okinawa highest at 26.27, followed by Tokyo at 15.21.”

  • “Nowhere to Spend My Final Years”: Single Women’s “Adult Dorm” Draws a Flood of Applicants From All Over Japan

    The “Adult Women’s Dorm,” where single women who feel they have “nowhere to spend their final years” come together, is drawing attention. It’s a setup where unmarried women in their 40s to 80s live in an apartment complex built around community. On the day of reporting, the session was limited to repeat visitors, and 13 people took part — coming not just from Osaka but from outside the prefecture too, including Hyogo and Fukui. Behind this lies the reality that elderly people living alone are often turned down when they try to rent. On the thread, some welcomed it as “making perfect sense,” while others raised doubts about the roughly ¥200,000-plus monthly cost, and about the condition that residents who can no longer live independently — say, due to dementia — must “graduate” to a care facility. Whether a men’s version could ever work was also a hot topic.

    (Omitted)

    The “Adult Women’s Dorm” is a project in which single women roughly in their 40s to 80s come together to build an apartment complex with a built-in community. The day of the interview was a session limited to repeat visitors, with 13 people attending in total — coming not only from Osaka but from outside the prefecture too, including Hyogo and Fukui.

    ■ Elderly people living alone are often refused rental contracts

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

    10AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:31
    Nice… but a men's version of this would never work.
    You'd need someone with a fastidious personality like Shin Sakagami (TV personality famous for being a neat freak) who actually cleans up properly…
    89AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:00
    Re: #10
    A lot of guys have that immature "I'm the boss, put me first!" mentality.
    It's wild that dudes are still doing the "I'm the alpha here!" thing even in a nursing home.
    12AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:32
    The real hell starts once you run out of things to talk about.
    135AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:18
    Re: #12
    Funny thing is, conversation never seems to dry up between women.
    Doesn't work that way between men.
    24AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:38
    > Having a helper come in is fine, but if you develop dementia or otherwise can't live independently anymore, you "graduate" to a care facility.

    "Graduate," lol.
    33AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:42
    ¥250,000 a month, huh.

    Well, I guess you'd have to charge that much for it to be a viable business.
    166AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:32
    Re: #33
    Seriously?
    There's no way I could pay that much.
    That's basically the same as my mortgage.
    36AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:43
    So the deal is, if you get dementia or otherwise can't manage on your own, they promptly ship you off to a care facility.

    Guess that can't be helped…
    40AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:45
    Re: #24
    Re: #36
    Care facilities aren't free — how can they just unilaterally send someone off like that?
    42AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:45
    Re: #36
    On that front, my hometown of Mibu, Tochigi is reassuring, since it's a leading region for elder care and medicine.
    Even a corporate slave like me managed to take care of my crappy old man almost single-handedly.
    38AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:44
    Re: #1
    That's exactly what public housing is for.
    Can't qualify on my current income, but once I'm living off my pension I'll be able to get in.
    49AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:47
    Re: #38
    This place is only for people with money, so it's a totally different thing, lol.
    44AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:46
    I like the idea of a share-house type setup, but honestly,
    even when I go to the living room, I've got nothing to talk about.
    52AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:48
    Single women all gathering together, how wonderful (eyes rolled back).
    131AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:17
    Re: #52
    I wish they'd make something like this for men too, but maybe it's just harder to pull off with guys.
    53AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:48
    Re: #44
    Even when elderly men want someone to talk to,
    nobody wants to talk to an elderly man —
    including other elderly men, lol.
    59AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:50
    Re: #53
    I mentioned this briefly before, but when I visited my father's facility,
    the men's table was just dead silent.
    Hit a little too close to home.
    175AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:36
    Re: #59
    I don't think there's anything wrong with sitting in silence.
    Forcing people into group activities is basically harassment.
    Better to just let people read on their own.
    57AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:49
    Is it strictly women-only, no men allowed?
    63AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:51
    They say a world of only women is hell, but maybe it's different once you're an old lady?
    69AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:54
    Re: #63
    There was a gathering of retired Japanese women who'd moved to Chiang Mai —
    it was hell, capital H.
    70AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:54
    Sounds exhausting, everyone one-upping each other every single day.
    101AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:07
    Re: #70
    It's game over the moment one strong "office queen bee" type moves in.
    Get on her bad side and you'll be forced out in no time.
    71AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:55
    I think it makes a lot of sense.
    It really is hard to rent when you get older.
    80AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:56
    Re: #71
    People who can afford to get into a place like this could probably just buy a condo or a house outright, though.
    81AnonymousSep 29, 2026 16:57
    So how much is it?

    Something like ¥180,000 a month for 70 square meters?
    88AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:00
    Re: #81
    18 square meters for ¥250,000 a month.
    Deposit: 14 months' rent. Key money: 2 months' rent.
    105AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:07
    I got my forever home nine years ago — a brand-new house 🤣
    107AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:09
    Nursing care and dementia are the biggest issues here, but stories like this just toss that part aside and only talk about the nice-sounding stuff.
    115AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:12
    Re: #107
    Isn't "graduation" just code for going to a facility?
    No idea if they've partnered with one, but between savings plans and whatnot, it seems like it could work out somehow.
    142AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:21
    Re: #107
    Isn't the point that there are already people struggling at the stage before that?
    111AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:11
    A single 70-year-old woman apparently can't get anyone to rent to her.
    Her current apartment is old and she's reportedly being evicted because of it.
    120AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:13
    Re: #111
    At that age, if she talks to city hall, she'd get top priority for public housing.
    Public housing gives priority to people 60 and over.
    121AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:14
    Re: #111
    If she consults her local government, something can usually be worked out.
    Even single elderly men manage to sort it out that way.
    159AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:30
    Getting kicked out the moment you can't live independently anymore — isn't that just idiotic?
    173AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:35
    Re: #159
    Kind of pointless, right?
    What are they supposed to do?
    People who never marry and end up with no next of kin get cut off even by their own siblings.
    187AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:40
    Re: #159
    Wouldn't it already be something if they just properly take you to the hospital and get you diagnosed?

    Background and Key Points of This Story

    Elderly people living alone are often turned down as tenants because landlords worry about risks like solitary death or unpaid rent, and single elderly women — who often struggle to line up a guarantor — tend to find their options especially limited. This “Adult Women’s Dorm” is an attempt to fill that gap, but opinions on the thread split mainly along two lines. One was cost: commenters pointed to the burden of a monthly fee said to run over ¥200,000. The other was the condition that residents must “graduate” to a care facility once they can no longer live independently — several questioned whether the people who actually struggle most are precisely those hovering right at the line of being able to live independently or not. Some also asked whether a men’s version could work, though the original article itself only covers this women’s case and doesn’t mention any equivalent effort aimed at men.

    ※This article is an excerpt and summary based on the 5channel (News Speed+) thread “‘Nowhere to Spend My Final Years’: The ‘Adult Women’s Dorm’ Where Elderly Single Women Gather — ‘Newly Built, Near the Station,’ ‘Independent Living Required’… Why Supporters Are Flooding in From Across Japan.”

  • Average Private-Sector Salary Hits Record ¥4.87 Million for 5th Straight Year, Tax Agency Says

    According to the National Tax Agency’s Statistical Survey of Private Sector Salaries, the average salary for 2025 came to ¥4,866,000 (up 1.9% year-on-year, an increase of ¥91,000), marking a record high for the fifth consecutive year. By industry, the electricity, gas, heat supply, and water sectors stood out with notably high pay levels. On 5channel threads, commenters repeatedly pointed out that this figure is an overall average including part-timers and temp workers, with many arguing that “the median, not the mean, should be used” to reflect reality — noting that the average for regular full-time employees alone is ¥5.59 million, and for male regular employees it tops ¥6 million.

    The average annual salary last year for employees at private companies hit a record high of roughly ¥4.87 million, marking five straight years of increases.

    According to the National Tax Agency, the average salary last year for company employees and part-timers rose ¥91,000 from the previous year to ¥4,866,000 (up 1.9% year-on-year) — the fifth consecutive year of growth.

    It’s the highest figure since the survey began, likely reflecting the impact of wage hikes.

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

    14AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:57
    ¥4.87 million

    Let's convert that to dollars…
    50AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:09
    Re: #14
    Exactly $30,000, huh
    That's a fifth of what a part-timer makes over there
    Rough.
    65AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:13
    Re: #14
    Re: #50
    What are you even saying, ignoring cost of living? lol
    16AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:57
    That's just an amakudari landing spot (a cushy post-retirement gig for ex-bureaucrats) — a Showa-era monopoly company.
    20AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:58
    Re: #16
    Yeah, the type that's got infrastructure locked down.
    17AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:58
    So when energy prices spike, the employees at these companies are just sitting pretty?
    26AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:00
    Re: #17
    Basically, when energy prices go up, they just pass it straight onto customer rates
    (with a bit of a time lag)
    because they can.
    18AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:58
    Salaries only go up at the big companies

    Doesn't apply to us at the small-fry bottom
    Guess we'll keep working weekends for peanuts.
    30AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:01
    Re: #18
    A "large company" just means big in size
    A "major company" means high status or name recognition
    Even among large companies, the ones that barely qualify pay about the same as a small-to-mid-sized firm.
    23AnonymousSep 29, 2026 17:59
    It's private sector (top-tier companies), that's why
    Swap this for your average small-to-mid-sized company and it'd instantly drop to less than half.
    34AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:03
    Re: #23
    Half? That's basically part-timer pay.
    35AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:04
    Re: #23
    No way it drops that much (lol)
    67AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:14
    Re: #23
    This is the average for private companies, so if we're being real — some of them probably over-report their numbers out of fear of getting raided by the Labor Standards Office, the Tax Agency, or the Pension Office…
    27AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:00
    At ¥1,000/hour, even working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, you'd only clear about ¥3.6 million a year — that's brutal.
    41AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:06
    Re: #27
    Even out in the Kanto countryside, most My Basket (a convenience store chain) jobs pay at least ¥1,330/hour, so working that schedule gets you ¥4.79 million a year — way more than enough
    You could even max out ¥100,000 a month into NISA (Japan's tax-free investment account) on that.
    44AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:06
    Averages are meaningless
    A handful of high earners are just dragging the number up — it's nowhere close to reality.
    90AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:24
    Re: #44
    You're literally the one dragging the average down, so maybe sit this one out.
    48AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:08
    That ¥4.87 million average includes part-timers, you know
    If you're a full-time employee earning less than that, REALLY think hard about whether that's okay!!
    51AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:09
    Re: #48
    Seriously, this
    Makes you wonder what people earning less than that are even thinking while they work.
    49AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:08
    It's probably just data from big corporations anyway — the bulk of ordinary workers earn way less.
    55AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:10
    Re: #49
    It literally says part-timers are included
    If you're a full-time employee not even clearing ¥4.68 million and still posting stuff like that, seriously go change jobs or demand a raise.
    59AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:11
    Excluding non-regular workers it's ¥5.5 million — and people still say wages are low?
    72AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:16
    Re: #59
    Breaking it down by gender: men's average rose ¥100,000 from last year to ¥5,967,000, while women's rose ¥86,000 to ¥3,418,000.

    So if you're just talking about male salarymen, it might actually be over ¥6 million.
    70AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:15
    Blue-collar workers tied to essential infrastructure are going to be the strong ones in tomorrow's society.
    77AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:17
    Re: #70
    Fields women can easily break into tend to see wages drop
    Infrastructure-related blue-collar work is probably one of the last sanctuaries left for men.
    74AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:16
    If you see this and actually believe it's the real average for Japanese people, go take a look at a job listing site.
    81AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:19
    Re: #74
    Oh, so now job listing sites are the standard for "average"!?
    91AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:25
    This statistic includes executives in the calculation, so of course it's high.
    164AnonymousSep 29, 2026 20:35
    Re: #91
    It also includes part-timers and temp workers who got paid for a full year, though.
    104AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:34
    Re: #1
    Like every single time, stop reporting this as an average
    Report the median instead.
    113AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:38
    Re: #104
    You need to look at the rate of change broken down by income bracket and industry.
    162AnonymousSep 29, 2026 20:20
    Re: #104
    You're the reason both the average AND the median are lower, aren't you
    So don't go lecturing anyone.
    107AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:36
    Take-home pay was actually higher and life was more comfortable like 30 years ago, huh
    Even temp workers were pulling in ¥400,000 a month back then.
    120AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:48
    Re: #107
    But temp workers don't get bonuses, right?
    111AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:37
    • Estimate based on official National Tax Agency / Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data: median for all full-time, regular male workers works out to about ¥5.07 million (average is ¥5.87 million)


    Median annual income for men by age bracket (per doda survey)
    • 20s: ¥3.7 million
    • 30s: ¥4.8 million
    • 40s: ¥5.5 million
    • 50s and up: ¥6 million
    114AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:39
    Re: #111
    Yeah, that sounds about right.
    139AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:09
    An average that lumps in part-timers and temp workers is meaningless
    Just give us the average for full-time employees only.
    145AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:18
    Re: #139
    It's right there
    Full-time employees: ¥5.59 million
    Non-regular: ¥2.10 million

    Male full-time employees are over ¥6 million.
    147AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:33
    Re: #139
    Looks like Re: #145 just hit you with even more reality~
    You doing okay~?

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    The National Tax Agency’s “Statistical Survey of Private Sector Salaries” covers salaried workers employed throughout the year, and is calculated including not just full-time regular employees but part-timers and temp workers too. This year’s ¥4,866,000 figure is likewise an overall average — for regular employees alone it’s ¥5.59 million, and for male regular employees it tops ¥6 million. The debate raised in the thread over “which is closer to reality, the average or the median” comes down to a statistical quirk: the more income distribution skews toward the top, the higher the average tends to run, so the view that the median feels closer to lived experience has real statistical merit. Meanwhile, the reason the electricity, gas, heat supply, and water sectors post such high figures appears to be rooted in regionally monopolistic business structures and how easily they can pass costs on to customers — a point the original article doesn’t mention, even though it means the numbers can’t be chalked up to wage-raising effort alone.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (News Express+) thread “Average Private-Sector Salary Hits Record ¥4.87 Million, Up for 5th Straight Year — Highest by Industry: “Electricity, Gas, Heat Supply, and Water,” Says National Tax Agency.”

  • Toys “R” Us to Exit Japan as Don Quijote Buys Up All 150 Domestic Stores

    Toy retail giant Toys “R” Us has decided to withdraw from store operations in Japan, it has emerged. The company operates roughly 150 stores nationwide, but has posted consecutive net losses in recent years, and the operator of discount chain “Don Quijote” is expected to acquire the business. The first Japanese store opened in 1991, and the U.S. parent company went bankrupt in 2017. On 5ch, users pointed to the falling birthrate and the growth of online shopping as contributing factors, with comments ranging from “where do kids even buy toys nowadays?” to “what will the selection look like if it gets converted into a Don Quijote?” Many posts also expressed nostalgia for toy store chains that have already closed.

    It emerged on the 29th that toy retail giant Toys “R” Us plans to withdraw from operating stores in Japan. The company currently has about 150 stores nationwide, and according to sources, the operator of discount chain “Don Quijote” will acquire the business. According to official gazette filings, Toys “R” Us Japan has posted consecutive net losses in recent years, thought to be the result of the falling birthrate and the growth of online shopping.

    Toys “R” Us’s first store in Japan opened in 1991. The U.S. company, founded in 1948, went bankrupt in 2017. In Japan, Toys “R” Us Japan (headquartered in Kawasaki) had continued operating the business. According to its website, the company employs 6,000 people in Japan, including part-time staff.

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

    4AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:13
    Toys "R" Us's selection is awful
    41AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:30
    Re: #4
    Back when it opened they had everything, even model trains.
    They even had the Atari Lynx, let alone the 3DO.
    182AnonymousSep 30, 2026 03:21
    Re: #4
    Around 2000 they had toys that even middle and high schoolers could enjoy,
    but now it's like a store just for preschoolers — nothing but little-kid stuff.
    That's what I've noticed since I started going with my own kid.
    6AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:15
    Does Japan even need Toys "R" Us?
    8AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:16
    Re: #6
    It's not needed anymore, that's why they're pulling out of the Japan business — and Don Quijote's operator is buying up the existing stores.
    65AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:49
    Re: #6
    Even the American parent company went bankrupt ages ago
    7AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:16
    Is there really any benefit to a hamburg-steak joint buying a toy store?
    16AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:20
    Re: #7
    Well that's a shocker ("bikkuri")
    55AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:42
    Re: #7
    You mean Biku-Don? (a pun combining "bikkuri" with Bikkuri Donkey, a Japanese hamburg-steak chain, and "Donki")
    75AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:51
    Re: #7
    Taking over the world with candy toys!
    10AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:18
    Kids really have been disappearing fast.
    Bet every store gets turned into a MEGA Don Quijote.
    52AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:41
    Re: #10
    Like what happened with am/pm and Circle K?
    Though stores too close to an existing Don Quijote probably can't be reborn as one…
    11AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:18
    Guess business aimed at kids is drying up thanks to the falling birthrate.
    17AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:21
    Re: #11
    Probably right.
    Toy makers keep trying every trick to get people to buy their stuff, but with prices so high parents aren't buying toys for their kids anymore.

    Game software's expensive too, software in general is expensive.
    Might just be over.
    13AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:18
    Kids are declining and this can still turn a profit?
    15AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:19
    Re: #13
    They're getting older, but there are more "big kids" (grown adult toy/hobby enthusiasts) now
    178AnonymousSep 30, 2026 03:18
    Re: #13
    People just buy online these days anyway
    22AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:23
    Where do kids even buy toys nowadays?
    85AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:55
    Re: #22
    AEON malls maybe?
    They've got toy stores inside them
    87AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:55
    Re: #22
    Electronics superstores sell a ton of them
    134AnonymousSep 30, 2026 02:23
    Re: #22
    This exactly.
    You can't do the whole "go look and pick one out for your birthday or Christmas" thing like you used to.
    61AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:47
    Electronics stores started selling toys too and wiped out the neighborhood toy shops
    76AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:51
    Re: #61
    Those big-box electronics chains are about to wipe out the neighborhood electronics shops the same way
    66AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:49
    Isn't it really just that they want the real estate?
    70AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:50
    Re: #66
    They probably want Toys "R" Us's toy retail know-how
    68AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:50
    150 stores, huh —
    don't need that many toy retailers in this era of falling birthrates
    79AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:52
    Re: #68
    Well, birthrate aside, the U.S. parent went bankrupt ages ago regardless
    78AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:52
    I wanna stay a kid
    forever a Toys R Us kid
    surrounded by all my favorite toys
    games and bicycles,
    they've even got trains
    Wow!
    Don't wanna grow up into an adult
    we're the Toys R Us kids (parody of the classic "I Don't Wanna Grow Up, I'm a Toys R Us Kid" jingle)
    81AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:53
    Re: #78
    That's basically the anthem for grown-up "big kids"
    90AnonymousSep 30, 2026 01:56
    Hello Mac died. Now Toys "R" Us died too. (Hello Mac was a now-defunct Japanese toy store chain)
    105AnonymousSep 30, 2026 02:05
    Re: #90
    Hello Mac lives on in the hearts of middle-aged guys…
    Toys "R" Us… no idea about that one.
    108AnonymousSep 30, 2026 02:06
    Heh, not yet! I've still got Kiddy Land on my side! (Kiddy Land is a long-running toy store in Harajuku, Tokyo)
    110AnonymousSep 30, 2026 02:06
    Re: #108
    Don't forget about Hakuhinkan either (a historic toy store in Ginza, Tokyo)
    113AnonymousSep 30, 2026 02:08
    Re: #108
    Hasn't that place got fewer toys and turned more into a character-goods shop?

    Background and Points of Debate

    Since opening its first store in 1991, Toys “R” Us Japan has been a leading force in domestic toy retail, but foot traffic has thinned amid the falling birthrate and the spread of online shopping, with official filings reportedly showing continued losses. The U.S. parent company went bankrupt in 2017, and this “withdrawal from Japan” is being seen as an extension of that same trend. The operator of Don Quijote, the buyer in this deal, has a track record of acquiring struggling retail chains and converting them into formats like “MEGA Don Quijote,” and many thread posters predicted a similar conversion this time. On the other hand, some argued the main cause isn’t the falling birthrate itself but a shift in shopping habits toward buying online in the first place, and opinion was split over which factor to blame. Note that the acquisition target is the operating company, and it remains unclear at this stage whether all 150 stores will be converted to the Don Quijote format.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Toys “R” Us to Withdraw from Japan Business — Don Quijote to Acquire, 150 Domestic Stores.”

  • Foreign ‘Specified Skilled Worker’ visa holders hit record 440,000 — 5ch reacts: ‘Low-wage slaves’

    On September 29, Japan’s Immigration Services Agency announced that the number of foreign nationals residing in Japan under the “Specified Skilled Worker” visa status reached a record 444,256 as of the end of June 2026. That’s up 13.8% from the end of 2025, six months earlier, with the advanced “Type 2” category surging 2.3-fold to 18,295 people. Because Type 2 has no cap on renewals and allows family members to accompany the worker, threads on 5ch raised the question of whether this amounts to de facto immigration. While some see it as a necessary fix for labor shortages, others questioned working conditions using the phrase “low-wage slaves,” criticized lax entry screening, or proposed taxing companies that hire foreign workers, Singapore-style.

    The Immigration Services Agency announced on the 29th that the number of foreign nationals residing in Japan under the work-related “Specified Skilled Worker” status reached a record 444,256 as of the end of June 2026.

    That’s a 13.8% increase from six months earlier, at the end of 2025. Of these, the “Type 2” category, which requires advanced skills, rose 2.3-fold to 18,295 people.

    (Omitted)

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

    20AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:34
    Even if you cut the numbers, what are you going to do about the labor shortage?
    49AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:39
    Re: #20

    Just let the companies go under — then you won't need the workers either.
    57AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:41
    Re: #49
    If the economy shrinks accordingly, just cut social security spending to match. No problem.
    44AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:38
    Bringing in foreigners is fine, but raise the bar and tighten up entry screening.
    It makes no sense that people showing up saying 'Nihongo wakarimasen!' (I don't understand Japanese!) are getting approved.
    There's no way you can work in a foreign country without speaking the language.

    Even Australia, which used to be super lax, has gotten really strict on foreigners now — Japan's the only one still wide open.
    55AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:40
    There just aren't enough workers, so they want to borrow foreign hands too.
    70AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:43
    Re: #55
    Nah, that's not it.
    Companies could've borrowed money at near-zero interest and invested in equipment, but they were too chicken to do it. That's why labor productivity never rises, and they keep whining about worker shortages forever.
    58AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:41
    It's probably Keidanren — Toyota and the rest — pushing to bring in foreigners.
    They pay plenty in political donations, after all.
    Aichi's now the prefecture with the 2nd-highest foreign resident ratio in the country.
    91AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:48
    Re: #58
    Uh-huh, sure??

    >﹤Keidanren Vision 2015﹥
    >- Raise the consumption tax to 19% by fiscal 2025
    >- Cut the corporate tax rate to 25% by fiscal 2021
    >- Actively accept foreign workers and grow the labor force by 6 million
    >www.keidanren.or.jp/policy/2015/vision.html
    60AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:41
    Well, it's a country where 60 million workers keep voting for the LDP, a party for corporations.
    65AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:42
    Re: #60
    But it'd also be a problem if some welfare-expanding leftist party got voted in.
    75AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:43
    Re: #60

    Which party do you even vote for to reduce the number of foreigners?
    66AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:42
    27 cities/wards/towns where the foreign resident ratio has topped 10%
    67AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:42
    Why doesn't Japan tax companies for hiring foreign workers, like Singapore does?
    Or is it the opposite — are they handing out subsidies instead?
    90AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:48
    Re: #67
    They should make companies put up a deposit against the risk of a foreign worker disappearing — forfeited if the worker runs off.
    Companies with lots of runaways would rack up bigger costs, so the garbage companies would get weeded out.
    I'm totally fine with being as strict as Singapore.
    81AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:44
    Got rejected from a part-time job 😭
    Hire Japanese people already!
    84AnonymousSep 29, 2026 19:45
    Re: #81

    Because companies get bigger subsidies for hiring foreigners lol
    114AnonymousSep 29, 2026 20:01
    Seriously, demolition and construction sites have gotten absurdly full of foreign workers.
    Might be great for management — cheap 'slaves' and all — but these guys aren't stupid.
    One day they're going to revolt.
    146AnonymousSep 29, 2026 20:11
    Re: #114
    Demolition work is apparently in a bubble right now — annual salaries of 20-30 million yen.
    Even the foreign workers are clearing over 10 million yen a year.
    The foreigners in Kawaguchi are even driving luxury cars.
    120AnonymousSep 29, 2026 20:03
    Whoaaa! Permanent residency! World's fastest track! 😉👌


    132AnonymousSep 29, 2026 20:08
    You've all outlived your usefulness.
    140AnonymousSep 29, 2026 20:09
    They did a zero-based review and just landed back on 'yeah, we actually need it.'
    'Zero-based' isn't about basing things on reducing them to zero.
    147AnonymousSep 29, 2026 20:11
    Re: #140
    So I guess any increase from here on counts as Takaichi's achievement, lol

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    The “Specified Skilled Worker” status was created in 2019 to address labor shortages, covering 14 designated fields including nursing care and construction. Unlike the Technical Intern Training Program, which is officially framed around skills transfer, this system is explicitly designed with securing labor as its stated purpose — though the two are often confused with each other. The “Type 2” category that surged this time has no cap on visa renewals and allows family members to accompany the worker, giving it a character close to de facto permanent residency or immigration. The government maintains that this is “not an immigration policy,” and the gap between that stated position and the reality on the ground is likely to remain a point of contention going forward. Opinions in the thread split into three camps: a pragmatic view that this fills labor shortages, concern over reliance on low-wage labor, and calls to tighten entry screening — painting a picture too complex for a simple for-or-against framing.

    ※This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Newsplus) thread “‘Specified Skilled Worker’ foreigners hit a record 440,000 — up 13.8% from six months ago, as of end of June.”

  • Toyama City Faces Population-Padding Scandal, Ministry Launches On-Site Inspection — 5ch: “Just to Save Face?”

    In Toyama City’s national census, suspicion has emerged that city officials treated households the census takers had struck off — for having no actual residents — as “existing,” without any basis. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications views this as an inflation of the population count and has launched an on-site investigation; media outlets have also reportedly received a tip alleging similar padding occurred in the census five years ago. On the forum, opinions were split over whether the motive for the padding was to boost local allocation tax grants, or to protect the 400,000-population threshold required for core city status, and over whether the Ministry or Toyama City bears the responsibility.

    Regarding the over-reporting in Toyama City’s national census, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has indicated “there is suspicion the population was padded.” It states that households which census takers had struck off for having no actual residents were treated by city officials as existing, without any basis.

    Source: 47news.jp / Original article here

    9AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:28
    They run two separate counts — the census and the resident registry — so of course it's going to get caught
    16AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:29
    Re: #9
    The numbers won't add up anyway
    Plenty of people never transfer their residency records
    The census also counts homeless people who have no residency record at all
    114AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:43
    Re: #9
    Yeah, I think so too
    Once a gap shows up it looks suspicious — there's not much upside to doing it
    13AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:29
    What's even the reason for padding the numbers?
    Does it change grant money or something?
    24AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:30
    Re: #13
    It changes the grant amount
    29AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:31
    Re: #13
    The population share probably weighs heavily in the local allocation tax grant
    There's a ton of subsidies that get paid out based on population ratio

    A while back a municipality in Aichi Prefecture padded its count — it had about 49,800 people and inflated it by 200 to hit 50,000 so it could become a city
    167AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:49
    Re: #13
    Simply put, the grant money goes up
    Someone mentioned the ratio increasing around the time of that recent news, but I can't find the source
    The subsidy amount changing seems plausible though
    Below is based on the resident registry count, but it's a 10-million-yen jump

    https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001631102.pdf
    4. Self-Reliance Support Consultation Program
    Population 300,000–under 400,000: ¥40,000,000
    Population 400,000–under 500,000: ¥50,000,000

    *Population here refers to the number of people recorded in the resident registry as of January 1 of the prior year in each municipality, as reported to the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications under the Ministry's "Survey on Population, Vital Statistics, and Number of Households Based on the Resident Registry."

    Toyama City "over-reported" its census population — suspicion the padding was "to protect the 400,000 milestone" — Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications conducts on-site inspection — media also received a tip that "the survey five years ago was padded too"
    https://www.fnn.jp/articles/-/1114091
    14AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:29
    And we call ourselves a functioning country
    18AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:30
    Re: #14
    It's not even functioning as a country anymore at this point
    34AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:32
    Re: #14
    It wasn't the national government that did it, it was the municipality
    19AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:30
    This thread title makes it sound like the Ministry itself did the padding lol
    Put "Toyama City" in there properly
    33AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:32
    Re: #19
    Same thing though
    Toyama City just sends the data
    It's the Ministry that compiles, finalizes, and publishes it
    The responsibility is on the Ministry
    123AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:44
    Re: #19
    The Ministry normally wouldn't be the one actually carrying out population padding
    53AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:35
    Does padding the numbers actually get you extra subsidies or something?
    70AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:37
    Re: #53
    The local allocation tax grant is based on population ratio
    109AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:42
    Re: #53
    The local grant money goes up
    68AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:37
    I haven't trusted Japanese statistics for a long time now
    76AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:38
    Re: #68
    LOL that's got nothing to do with Oita (wordplay: "大分" can mean both "Oita Prefecture" and "quite a while") — this is Toyama, do you even know your geography?
    129AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:44
    Re: #68
    The almighty GDP per capita
    Japan's the only country in the world still calculating it that way lol
    What kind of idiot includes people who aren't even working in the per-capita GDP count
    Oh wait — that idiot is Japan lol
    151AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:47
    Re: #68
    America's stats are way more of a mess lolol
    112AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:43
    A civil servant did it, so that's a crime, right?
    119AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:43
    Re: #112
    There's technically already a criminal complaint filed
    120AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:43
    Re: #112
    It genuinely is a crime
    In the Higashiura Town census-padding case, the civil servant involved was properly arrested
    145AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:46
    Sure, population is the base figure used to calculate grants, but a difference of around 2,000 people doesn't feel like it would change things all that dramatically
    If anything, it feels more like they just wanted to save face by holding onto the 400,000 mark?
    150AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:47
    Re: #145
    If 400,000 turns out to be the true number, losing core city status would be a serious problem, right?
    179AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:51
    Re: #145
    According to Mr./Ms. Itsushima's explanation,
    maintaining a population more than double the 200,000 threshold required for core city status apparently increases the budget scale for subsidy and grant allotments to businesses.
    164AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:49
    Japan's population's probably dropped below 100000000-man people (the garbled, absurdly inflated number is a deliberate joke mocking how unreliable the stats are)
    174AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:50
    Re: #164
    The total population figure comes inclusive of foreign residents
    176AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:50
    Re: #164
    It has dropped below that (´・ω・)
    182AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:51
    Re: #151
    The employment stats came out bad, so they fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics — that's hilarious
    189AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:54
    Re: #182
    Isn't it the other way around?
    I recall Trump was furious because they kept making the numbers look good and never cut interest rates
    190AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:54
    Re: #182
    There's no such thing as a "Bureau of Labor Statistics" here
    Don't go inventing fictional organizations

    It'd be the Labor Force Population Statistics Division, Statistical Survey Department, Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
    Or the Employment, Wages and Welfare Statistics Office, under the Director for Policy Planning, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
    216AnonymousSep 29, 2026 18:59
    Re: #182
    That one had me cracking up lol
    With the government shutdown, they just had zero data for an entire month — totally unchecked.

    Background and Key Points of Debate

    Part of the local allocation tax grant is calculated in proportion to population, so padding population figures can serve as a financial incentive for municipalities. At the same time, Toyama City’s population sits around 400,000 — well above the core city designation threshold (population of 200,000 or more) — which led some on the forum to argue that “the goal wasn’t the grant money so much as preserving the city’s standing as a core city and its subsidy allotments for businesses.” Additionally, while the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is responsible for compiling and publishing census results, the actual survey work is carried out by municipalities as a “statutory entrusted function,” leaving the question of where responsibility for errors lies somewhat murky under the current system. There have been past cases of a municipality in Aichi Prefecture padding its numbers to meet the population threshold for becoming a city, and of a civil servant in Higashiura Town being arrested for padding census figures — whether the Toyama City case similarly turns into a criminal matter will depend on how things develop.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Suspicion of population padding and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications….”

  • Japan’s Population Falls to 122.97 Million, Down 3.17 Million in 5 Years — 5ch Reacts

    On the 29th, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released finalized results from the 2025 national census, showing Japan’s total population — including foreign residents — stood at 122,972,528 as of October 1, 2025. That’s a drop of 3,173,571 people (2.5%) from the previous 2020 census. On 5ch, threads also cited a separate statistic based on the Basic Resident Register showing that, counting Japanese nationals only, the population fell below 120 million for the first time in 42 years — leading to confusion over why the two figures differed. Opinions on what counts as an “appropriate” population ranged from the 50 millions to the 80 millions, with posters split between those unconcerned about population decline itself and those worried about maintaining infrastructure and tax revenue.

    Japan’s Total Population: 122.97 Million | NEWSjp — Kyodo News

    Published 2026/09/29 14:16:36

    According to finalized results from the 2025 national census released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on the 29th, Japan’s total population — including foreign residents — stood at 122,972,528 as of October 1, 2025. That’s a decrease of 3,173,571 people (2.5%) from the previous census in 2020.

    Source: news.jp / Read the original article

    3AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:34
    There are probably around 3.5 million foreigners in there —
    so that really puts it under 120 million.
    19AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:37
    Re: #3
    Yeah, pretty much.

    Japan's Population Falls Below 120 Million for First Time in 42 Years — Down 910,000 to 119.7367 Million; Foreign Residents Up 350,000
    https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/20260729-GYT1T00324/

    On the 29th, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released population figures based on the Basic Resident Register, as of New Year's Day this year.
    The number of Japanese residents fell by 916,744 from the previous year to 119,736,483, dropping below 120 million for the first time in 42 years.
    Foreign residents rose by 353,696 to 4,031,159, a record high.
    74AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:51
    Re: #19
    Thought it hadn't dropped as much as expected…
    turns out this is why.
    76AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:51
    Re: #19
    910,000 people — that's basically an entire Kagawa Prefecture (aka "Udon Prefecture," pop. ~950,000) disappearing every year.
    6AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:34
    50 million would be the right size for Japan.
    255AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:42
    Re: #6
    The problem is there's no real reason to think it'd stabilize at 50 million.
    Say there are about 700,000 births this year —
    even if every single one of them lived to 90, that's only about 63 million total.

    Where does this fantasy of the population leveling off at 50 million even come from?
    9AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:35
    It's shrinking at a no-joke pace, but are we really going to just keep coasting on this warped social structure?
    Forget immigration — until we stop propping up the elderly and start spending on the younger generation instead, the root problem isn't getting solved.
    12AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:36
    Re: #9
    Thank Heizo Takenaka for that (the economist-politician behind Japan's labor deregulation reforms).
    75AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:51
    Re: #9
    It's because companies won't hire young Japanese for blue-collar work that immigrants end up filling the gap.
    224AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:35
    Re: #9
    You say "cut them loose" like it's nothing, but if we just abandon the elderly, we'll end up with bodies piling up everywhere — you fine with that?
    And you think the young could actually live normally in a world like that?
    32AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:40
    If they properly counted the tribes living in remote, unexplored areas, wouldn't the number go up a bit more?
    142AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:15
    Re: #32
    Some super-rural prefecture, maybe?
    Isn't that the one supposedly hidden somewhere between Saitama and Gunma? (a running joke about a mythical "secret" prefecture)
    37AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:41
    Re: #19
    There are 4 million of them??
    That's 1 in every 30 people.
    190AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:28
    Re: #37
    Among people in their 20s, 1 in 10 is a foreign national.


    That's Abe's parting gift.
    https://bbs68.meiwasuisan.com/news/img/17890130880018.jpg

    Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced at the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy on the 5th that Japan would expand its acceptance of foreign workers. A new residency status covering five labor-starved industries — including construction, agriculture, and elder care — was set to launch in April 2019. It opened the door to simple labor, previously off-limits in principle, with a goal of getting over 500,000 foreign workers employed by 2025.
    https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO31413180V00C18A6MM8000/
    56AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:46
    What's so bad about the population shrinking? Just build a country that can run fine with around 80 million people. Plenty of countries manage it. Sure, it'll probably be rough in some ways, but still.
    59AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:47
    Re: #56
    A lot of what was built here assumed the number of users would just keep growing forever.
    69AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:49
    Re: #56
    More like — in the age of IT and AI,
    having a smaller population is actually an advantage.
    144AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:15
    Re: #56
    But… this is Japan we're talking about (´・ω・`)
    81AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:53
    Something like 50-60 million seems about right.
    The UK and France are roughly that size too.
    120AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:04
    Re: #81
    You can say "seems about right" all you want, but that doesn't mean the decline actually stops there.
    133AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:08
    Re: #121
    If the population shrinks, there are fewer people producing garbage too, so it evens out, right?
    145AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:15
    Re: #133
    You're not getting it.
    The real problem is Japan's population structure.
    The number of elderly people who can no longer work is only going to keep climbing.
    That trend isn't reversing.
    The number of people around to even collect the garbage keeps shrinking too, and broken roads and bridges just staying unrepaired forever is going to become the new normal.
    149AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:16
    Re: #145
    Then just thin out the number of roads and bridges, no?
    154AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:18
    Re: #149
    But that makes travel and logistics less efficient,
    so wouldn't you need even more manpower as a result?
    159AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:19
    Re: #149
    I can already picture a future where bridges that couldn't be reinforced and got closed off somehow still end up being accident hotspots (´・ω・`)
    170AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:23
    Fewer old folks — ain't that a good thing?
    174AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:24
    Re: #170
    Sure, fewer old folks, but the kids aren't increasing either —
    so who's going to pay the taxes?
    177AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:24
    Re: #170
    This is a country where 1 in 3 people is elderly now.
    Try actually looking at the statistics for once.
    181AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:26
    Re: #170
    It's the kids who are shrinking.
    The elderly population peaking out is still a ways off.
    238AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:39
    Other developed countries are seeing population decline too, so it's not like Japan is uniquely disadvantaged.
    Downsize the country smartly, and population decline doesn't automatically mean getting poorer.
    245AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:40
    Re: #238
    We've let ourselves become the country with the world's highest elderly ratio —
    that's downsizing in about the least smart way possible.
    246AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:40
    Re: #238
    > Downsize the country smartly, and population decline doesn't automatically mean getting poorer.
    Not happening. Japan's income level is already about half that of the US/Europe. It's already getting poorer.
    Even King Bombii was living large back when it was 300 yen to the dollar. (King Bombii — the poverty-god character from the "Momotaro Dentetsu" board game series, invoked here as a joke about how weak the yen has become)
    250AnonymousSep 29, 2026 15:41
    Re: #238
    Japan has no natural resources and barely any flat land — how exactly is it supposed to downsize "smartly"?

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    The figures released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications are the finalized results of the 2025 national census (as of October 1, including foreign residents), showing a decline of 3.17 million from five years earlier. Meanwhile, the figure cited in post #19 — based on the Basic Resident Register — is a separate count as of January this year, covering Japanese nationals only, showing a year-on-year drop of 910,000 and a fall below 120 million for the first time in 42 years. Because the two statistics use different reference dates and different scopes (whether foreign residents are included), seeing both numbers side by side in the same thread led to the mistaken impression that the decline was “smaller than expected.” As for what counts as an “appropriate” population, opinions ranged anywhere from 50 million to 80 million, but as post #255 points out, with roughly 700,000 births a year, there’s little basis for thinking the population would actually level off in that range over the long run. On causes and solutions, opinions split over immigration, elderly welfare, and the cost of maintaining infrastructure, with no consensus reached.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Japan’s Total Population: 122.97 Million.”

  • Employment Rate Among Seniors 65+ Hits Record High of 26.0% — 5ch: ‘Working Helps Keep Dementia at Bay’

    According to statistical topics released by the Statistics Bureau of Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the employment rate among people aged 65 and over reached 26.0% in 2025, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous year. Employment rates hit record highs across every age bracket — 65–69, 70–74, and 75 and over — meaning roughly one in four people 65 or older is now working. On 5ch, opinions split between those who see the figure as evidence that more elderly people are being forced to work just to get by, and those who view it as a matter of choice — working to stay healthy and maintain a sense of purpose. The thread also sparked discussion about the rising pension eligibility age and the changing shape of Japan’s retirement system.

    (…)

    The employment rate for people 65 and older is 26.0%. All three brackets — 65–69, 70–74, and 75+ — hit record highs.

    Let’s start with the overall picture. According to statistical topics released by the Statistics Bureau on September 20, 2026, the employment rate for people 65 and older in 2025 was 26.0%, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous year. That means roughly one in four people 65 or older is working.

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

    2AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:29
    Single men past 30 should work until the day they die
    3AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:29
    Welfare payments cost ¥3 trillion a year.

    Just scrap the whole system already and cut taxes instead.
    9AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:32
    Re: #3
    Welfare cases among young people are 7 times what they were 20 years ago.
    32AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:37
    Re: #3
    A ¥3 trillion tax cut isn't nearly enough to let elderly people stop working.
    8AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:32
    Proportionally speaking, Japan has the hardest-working elderly population in the world.
    And yet the country is still poor and in decline — think about it for a second and it's obvious whose fault that is.
    11AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:33
    This country is finished.
    Retirement used to be at 60, but the government keeps moving the goalposts because it doesn't want to pay out pensions.
    It's a country where the wealthy never have to work a day in their lives, while others are still working part-time jobs at 90.
    17AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:34
    Re: #11
    Retirement used to be at 55.
    144AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:25
    Re: #11
    I bet that number includes people who are already drawing a pension but still working.
    218AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:20
    Re: #11
    Life expectancy used to be shorter back then.
    It's crazy that they never raised the retirement age even as people started living longer.
    21AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:35
    Man, retirement used to be at 55.
    54AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:42
    Re: #21
    Apparently Namihei (the dad from the classic anime Sazae-san, drawn as an old man) is only 54.
    177AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:49
    Re: #21
    And back then people could actually live on their pension alone — even though they hadn't paid in all that much.
    24AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:36
    You guys can complain all you want, but working really does help stave off dementia.
    Even if you're financially set, working a little — doesn't have to be full-time — helps keep your mind sharp.
    82AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:48
    Re: #24
    You'd be better off hiking mountains than working — nobody knows how much time they've got left, so you might as well enjoy life.
    27AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:36
    Re: #21
    Then again, back then people would drop dead pretty much across the board once they hit their 70s.
    62AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:44
    Re: #27
    Being 55 back then meant you were already a frail old man.
    73AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:47
    Re: #62
    These days plenty of single 55-year-old guys still think of themselves as young.
    Then the moment their parents die, these guys get lonely and start hunting for a much younger wife.
    This is what's now being called an 'oji attack' (an older guy's aggressive push into the dating pool for young women), and it's become a real social problem.
    37AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:38
    58AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:43
    Re: #37
    I want to smack him with everything I've got.
    Get a job already, you useless mooch of a relative.
    38AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:39
    I once had a Yu-Pack (Japan Post parcel delivery) driver show up who was shockingly old.
    55AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:43
    Re: #38
    Same with taxi drivers — every now and then you get one who's shockingly old, like, 'this guy's gotta be over 90.'
    70AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:46
    Re: #55
    A lot of taxi drivers earned low wages during their working years, so their pensions are small too — not enough to live on by themselves.
    Low wages meant they couldn't save, and low wages meant a smaller pension — so what exactly are people in that spot supposed to do?
    This country's system is broken.
    102AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:56
    Re: #55
    People like that scare me — their view of the world is way too narrow.
    43AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:40
    Poor people should work and pay their taxes till the day they die lol
    90AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:52
    Re: #43
    Whatever taxes poor people pay doesn't amount to much of anything —
    it doesn't even fully cover their own healthcare and social security costs.
    44AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:40
    They keep young people distracted with dancing videos, social media, and games so nobody notices problems like this.
    Old people are half senile anyway, so elections are an easy win.
    185AnonymousSep 29, 2026 13:51
    Re: #44
    Social media is basically an idiot-manufacturing machine.
    Pay influencers huge sums and it's a pyramid scheme where idiots breed more idiots.
    ( ̄∀ ̄)
    80AnonymousSep 29, 2026 12:48
    So poor people keep working even into old age?
    Rough life, huh lol
    Interest rates are finally climbing again.
    Maybe I'll dump ten million yen into government bonds since I've got nothing else to do with it.
    Keeping all your savings in yen alone is just dumb lol
    205AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:11
    There's a huge difference between 'I have no choice but to work just to survive' and 'I don't need to work, but I do a little to keep my mind sharp.'
    206AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:12
    Re: #205
    I think a lot of the bubble generation partied their money away and are now drowning in debt.
    211AnonymousSep 29, 2026 14:17
    Re: #205
    I'm from the countryside, so pitching in on more than just your day job — local community work, basically — is just normal, and I've seen firsthand how directly that ties into public safety lol

    Background and Key Points of the Discussion

    Retirement used to typically come around age 55, but revisions to the Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly Persons have since made a 60-year-old retirement age with employment secured up to 65 the norm, while the age at which pension payments begin has also been raised in stages. In the thread, opinions split between seeing the statistic as evidence that more elderly people are being forced to keep working just to make ends meet, and seeing it as a voluntary choice to keep working while still healthy — and neither explanation alone fully accounts for the trend. In practice, the rising employment rate likely reflects both a growing number of people whose pensions alone aren’t enough to live on, and a growing number of healthy elderly people who are able to keep working thanks to longer healthy life expectancy. It’s also worth noting that the growth in non-regular employment is concentrated among people in their early 70s — a reflection of the fact that post-retirement rehiring is often structured as non-regular work, which is a different phenomenon from simply ‘staying on’ as a full-time regular employee.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “Employment rate for people over 65 rises to 26.0%, with the increase in non-regular work concentrated among those in their early 70s.”