Category: Society

  • Prudential Life Insurance Accused of Another Money Scam Mid Sales-Suspension — 5ch Asks: “Does Being a Foreign Firm Mean Anything Goes?”

    A new allegation has surfaced that a Prudential Life Insurance sales employee in their 40s defrauded customers of money. The incident is believed to have occurred while the company was suspending new sales activity following the February revelation of improper investment solicitations, prompting a wave of “here we go again” reactions on 5ch. It was also reported that the employee in question has already died, sparking a flurry of unverified speculation on the thread.

    On the 24th, Prudential Life Insurance announced that a new suspected case of money fraud by a sales employee in their 40s had come to light. The incident may have occurred sometime after February, when the company suspended new sales following the discovery of improper investment solicitation and money fraud.

    Source: news.jp / Original article here

    27AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:48
    More like… it's not something new since the last discovery —
    this is probably just something the earlier investigation missed.

    Wouldn't be surprised if more of this keeps surfacing.
    174AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:14
    Re: #27
    After the previous incident came to light
    42AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:50
    Even with a fancy title like that, you just end up getting mocked
    46AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:52
    The lower-tier branches can't attract talent, so they should just shut them down
    51AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:52
    The employee involved is dead? That's way too creepy
    69AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:54
    This is basically the insurance industry's own Big Motor scandal at this point (Big Motor — the used-car dealer chain whose insurance-fraud scheme rocked Japan)
    75AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:55
    Re: #69
    Nah, this already tops Big Motor lol
    So a top-tier foreign firm can just get away with anything? lol
    This is insane
    82AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:57
    Seriously, they need to change their name already
    and then they'll just go and do the same thing again, forever
    98AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:59
    Re: #82
    Feels like it's one of two options: buy up some mid-size old-line life insurer and do a reverse merger to just swap out the shell,
    or sell the whole thing off to someone like Ping An in China
    95AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:58
    Insurance companies are basically a scam, right?
    That's why only old people sign up
    99AnonymousAug 24, 2026 17:59
    Re: #95
    Just assume anyone pushing investments and trying to get you to buy financial products is scum, and you'll be fine
    181AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:15
    Re: #1
    The employee who pitched it is dead
    https://www.sankei.com/article/20260824-KKENRXRHZRNCFBELNA4GFZCR3Y/

    > According to Prudential, the employee was assigned to a branch in Tama City, Tokyo. The employee has already died, and the company is continuing its investigation.
    193AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:16
    Re: #181
    Did someone "silence" them?
    197AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:17
    Re: #181
    A job that gets you killed is worse than a yami-baito (a shady, often crime-linked gig-work scam job)! 😡
    230AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:22
    There are "Pru-gorilla" YouTubers (slang blending "Prudential" with pushy hard-selling) teaching sales techniques,
    but if you were on the receiving end of that stuff you'd want to snap.
    Things like "never give them an opening to refuse," "never give them time to think,"
    or "if you catch them in a slip of the tongue, hammer that one point relentlessly."
    234AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:22
    Re: #230
    That sounds more suited to a poop-flinging contest scrawled on a bathroom wall
    236AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:23
    Re: #230
    But the guys who fall for those studio-apartment investment scams are exactly the timid men that kind of pressure works on 😎
    242AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:24
    Re: #230
    Sounds just like a scammer's manual
    260AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:29
    This is exactly why Japan values its "athletic club" jocks over the highly educated smart guys lol
    274AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:30
    Re: #260
    Because if you're in an athletic club and a senior recommends something, it's hard to say no.
    With life insurance sales too, the standard playbook is to get you to sign up your own family and friends first
    280AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:33
    Re: #260
    You lose out to jocks and still call yourself highly educated? Smart?

    The real problem is that nobody ever kept the "only good at studying" idiots out of school in the first place
    270AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:30
    People have no idea how many organized-crime front companies and former-gang-run businesses
    are out there, quietly raking it in, way more than you'd think lol
    278AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:32
    Re: #270
    Mediating and settling disputes is their real specialty. Wherever there's a shady business, there's a shadow of organized crime
    283AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:34
    Re: #270
    Of course nobody knows
    This is a country where as long as you claim to be "working," anything goes
    308AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:39
    Basically, insurance companies are nothing but bookies running the house.
    Even more so when they're foreign-owned
    315AnonymousAug 24, 2026 18:40
    Re: #308
    They make their living off people's anxiety after all
    Absolutely rotten

    Background and Key Points

    Prudential’s Japan unit has been a giant in the domestic foreign-insurer market for decades, built largely on face-to-face sales through career agents who cultivate lifelong client relationships — a model that trades on trust and personal obligation rather than product comparison. That trust-based structure is exactly what makes repeat scandals so damaging: this is not a rogue-employee story but the second disclosure in roughly six months, surfacing while the company was still under a self-imposed halt on new sales imposed after February’s revelation of improper investment solicitation and money fraud. In Japan, a “sales suspension” (販売停止) is a serious voluntary measure companies use to signal they’re getting their house in order before regulators or the Financial Services Agency step in; for a second case to emerge mid-suspension undercuts the credibility of that whole process.

    The thread’s actual disagreement isn’t about whether fraud occurred — everyone accepts that — but about what kind of problem it is. Some posters treat it as an isolated failure the first probe simply missed; others escalate it to a systemic indictment of the sales culture itself, comparing it to the Big Motor insurance-fraud scandal and even arguing it’s worse, framing Prudential’s scale and foreign-brand prestige as a shield that lets it “get away with anything.” Still others zoom out further, connecting the incident to broader gripes about aggressive insurance and financial-product sales tactics in Japan generally, and to “athletic club” (体育会系) hierarchical sales cultures where juniors are pressured to sign up family and friends.

    What the thread misses is procedural: Japanese regulators, notably the FSA, can compel corrective action or license restrictions on repeat offenders, so a second disclosure during an active suspension raises the real possibility of formal administrative punishment beyond reputational damage — something no poster raises, despite the speculation about the deceased employee and shadowy cover-ups.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “Prudential Life Insurance, Another Case of Money Extortion?”.

  • Anti-Prostitution Law Review Panel’s Draft Report: Majority Say Buyers Should Face Penalties Too — Justice Ministry

    A Justice Ministry expert panel presented a draft report on revising the Anti-Prostitution Law on the 24th. It emerged that a majority of the panel favored introducing penalties for buyers, sparking debate on 5ch over the fact that prostitution itself isn’t currently a punishable offense, the potential impact on existing sex industry businesses like soaplands, and whether such a change would be consistent with the Constitution.

    Anti-Prostitution Law Review Panel’s Draft Report: Majority Say Buyers Should Face Penalties Too — Justice Ministry (NTV NEWS NNN) – Yahoo! News

    8/24 (Mon) 11:14 JST

    On the 24th, a Justice Ministry panel of experts — set up in response to soliciting for prostitution becoming a social problem on the streets of Tokyo’s Shinjuku and elsewhere — presented a draft report summarizing its discussions to date.

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

    7AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:43
    Prostitution itself isn't even a crime to begin with
    31AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:48
    Re: #7
    >Prostitution itself isn't even a crime to begin with

    That's just because current law doesn't classify prostitution itself as a crime — the panel has actually floated making prostitution itself a criminal offense.
    63AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:53
    Re: #31
    Prostitution is illegal — penalties only apply to managed prostitution (pimping) and solicitation.

    Constitutionally, prostitution can't be legalized. Since the Constitution bans discrimination based on lineage, status, and sex, prostitution that exploits sex can only be treated as illegal.
    It's just that simple prostitution — where the person doesn't solicit — carries no penalty, out of consideration for protecting women.
    17AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:46
    Women turn to prostitution way too easily these days.
    Schools should teach against it from a young age, like anti-smoking education.
    30AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:48
    Re: #17
    Teaching kids about prostitution from a young age? That's monstrous.
    25AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:47
    Wait, isn't it the buyer who gets arrested right now? Isn't that backwards?
    48AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:50
    Re: #25
    That's only when they buy a minor.
    28AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:47
    I doubt casinos can function without prostitution on the side.
    67AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:54
    Re: #28
    Honestly agree with this one. Sure, copy America on the tax side, but stuff like loan collection would need to ignore the law entirely to work — no idea which mafia ends up moving in.
    38AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:49
    Might as well punish shoplifting victims too, then.
    And murder victims should get penalized as well.
    49AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:51
    Re: #38
    We're talking about buying and selling here (it takes two).
    43AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:50
    Just shut down host clubs, sex work, pachinko, and hostess clubs while you're at it.
    90AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:57
    Re: #43
    That would make us no different from America or China.
    What makes Japan a standout among developed nations is that entertainment here is kept within a certain order.
    100AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:58
    Re: #90
    Private gambling dens and managed-prostitution establishments are both clearly illegal, though.
    242AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:26
    Re: #90
    Japan isn't even a developed country anymore.
    61AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:53
    It's illegal under the law, so buyers shouldn't complain about being punished too.
    They're probably dragging their feet on penalties because there are powerful people among the buyers.
    75AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:55
    Re: #61
    Most people struggling under this cost-of-living crunch don't have money to buy women anyway. Meanwhile, the powerful and wealthy have plenty of cash, so the ones with raging libidos might actually be in trouble if this gets regulated.
    62AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:53
    Just regulate both buyers and sellers, and make sure names get reported even for minors.
    65AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:53
    Re: #62
    For kids, just make it so the parents get arrested instead.
    77AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:55
    Re: #63
    There's no constitutional basis for discriminatory enforcement under the banner of "protecting women." The Justice Ministry probably can't even read the Constitution's Japanese.
    92AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:58
    Re: #77
    When the Constitution was drafted, prostitution for survival was pretty common…
    Even after it was enacted, there were "akasen" (red-line districts, areas where prostitution was tacitly tolerated).
    101AnonymousAug 24, 2026 11:59
    More important than any of that pointless stuff —
    will the women selling be okay financially?

    Are the judges going to help support them out of their own pockets?
    106AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:00
    Re: #101
    Judges are out of touch with the real world, so they'll say "just go on welfare" with a straight face.
    109AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:00
    Re: #92
    The concept of "protecting women" and the current Constitution are about as compatible as oil and water — basically not at all.
    112AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:01
    It's laughable to ban prostitution while also busting soaplands for managed prostitution.

    If they're going to do that, they should try wiping out soaplands entirely. Between the brothel-style shops and the delivery-health (call-out) services, what they're doing is plenty enough to count as prostitution already. The "we don't insert the penis" pretext lets anything go — they can openly advertise anal as an option, and nobody thinks that's insane? lol

    Even with some garbage law revision, everyone knows the police can't actually do their job properly.
    129AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:05
    Re: #112
    Actually, the direction is to phase out soaplands.

    Dating-app sugar-daddy arrangements ("papa-katsu") are juicier turf for police interests. Since all the data stays on record, they can crack down whenever they want a trophy case, and the amakudari (retired-bureaucrat) landing spot becomes "self-proclaimed IT company advisor."

    More appealing than the small change soaplands used to kick back.
    115AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:02
    Regulating both buying and selling should reduce the total number of women who end up miserable, so I say go for it.
    That said, I also think it'll push things further underground and increase the number of women who end up even worse off than now.
    138AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:06
    Re: #115
    So the number went up in the end, huh.
    136AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:06
    If you told the police that soaplands nationwide are doing prostitution, would they actually act on it? lol
    What a joke.
    144AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:07
    Re: #136
    That's because a foreign employee snitched.

    Background and Key Points

    Japan’s Anti-Prostitution Law (売春防止法) dates to 1956, when it abolished the licensed “akasen” red-line districts inherited from the pre-war brothel system. Its core compromise, still in force, is that prostitution itself carries no penalty for the person selling sex, while soliciting, managing, or profiting from someone else’s prostitution (pimping) does. That asymmetry was deliberate: lawmakers treated sellers as women needing protection rather than offenders. The Justice Ministry panel now reviewing the law was convened because of the very visible “tachinbo” street-solicitation problem around Shinjuku’s Okubo Park, and its draft leans toward finally penalizing buyers — and possibly criminalizing the sale itself.

    The thread’s real disagreement isn’t over whether buyers “should” face consequences, but over consistency: posters debated whether it’s absurd to punish only one side of a two-party transaction, whether the reform would gut the gray-zone sex industry (soaplands, delivery-health services) that survives on the legal fiction that no cash changes hands for penetrative sex, and whether treating sellers as protected but buyers as criminals can be squared with the constitutional equality clause the “protecting women” logic leans on.

    What the thread doesn’t spell out is that buyers of sex from minors are already punishable under separate child-welfare and anti-child-prostitution statutes — the “buyers currently walk free” framing some posters use only applies to adult transactions. It also skips the practical reason for the panel’s timing: the police and Justice Ministry have shifted attention toward regulating “papa-katsu” sugar-daddy dating apps, which leave digital transaction records ideal for prosecutions, over harder-to-track cash-based soapland trade.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “Anti-Prostitution Law Review Panel’s Draft Report: Majority Say Buyers Should Face Penalties Too — Justice Ministry.”

  • Man who live-streamed himself climbing Taira no Masakado’s burial mound apologizes, sacred site in the heart of Tokyo in uproar — 5ch: “If you don’t anger him, he’ll protect Kanto”

    A male livestreamer broadcast himself climbing onto and hugging the burial mound enshrining the head of Taira no Masakado (Masakado-zuka) in Otemachi, Tokyo, and was forced to apologize after facing backlash.

    On 5ch, the discussion ranged from whether the curse is real, to observations that earthquake epicenters overlap with Masakado’s former territory, to other famous vengeful-spirit legends like Sugawara no Michizane and Emperor Sutoku.

    At Masakado-zuka in Otemachi, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo — a site dedicated to the head of Heian-era warlord Taira no Masakado (903-940) — a male video streamer climbed onto the stone monument and later apologized on social media after facing criticism. Masakado-zuka is designated a historic site by the Tokyo metropolitan government, and because of its “vengeful spirit” legend, disrespectful behavior there has long been avoided.

    On the 19th, the man livestreamed himself on the streaming platform Kick, climbing onto and hugging Taira no Masakado’s stone monument while making strange noises. His actions could potentially constitute trespassing on a structure or desecration of a place of worship; a representative of the Historic Masakado-zuka Preservation Society, which manages the site, said, “We have already consulted with the Marunouchi Police Station.”

    Taira no Masakado declared himself “Shinno” (New Emperor) independently in the Kanto region, becoming an enemy of the imperial court under Emperor Suzaku, and was ultimately killed by Fujiwara no Hidesato and Taira no Sadamori. Because his death was said to be against his will, and because his head was put on display in Kyoto, various legends arose. According to one legend, his head flew back toward his homeland and fell in what is now Otemachi — and enshrining it there is said to be the origin of Masakado-zuka.

    Source: sankei.com / Original article here

    6AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:33
    Too late now
    That earthquake the other day was just a warm-up greeting
    193AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:55
    Re: #6
    It'd be wild if this turns out to be the flag for the Great Kanto Earthquake or the Nankai Trough megaquake
    226AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:58
    Re: #6
    True, the epicenter really does line up with Masakado's old territory.
    13AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:34
    Thinking about it, I don't actually know what Lord Masakado was so resentful about
    27AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:36
    Re: #13
    There's no real "wronged/betrayed, tragic death" backstory — he just died in battle like anyone else
    265AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:02
    For starters, there's no body or head actually buried in the Otemachi mound
    That site was originally an ancient burial mound predating even Masakado's era

    So even though everyone keeps saying "Masakado, Masakado," it's really the dwelling place of something else — something more sinister
    A burial mound of a clan that predates the Yamato people
    280AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:03
    Re: #13
    Maybe there's a legend that Lord Masakado is holding something else down?
    287AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:04
    Re: #13
    See Re: #265
    Probably what's actually angry is the ancient people who were wiped out by the Yamato
    15AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:34
    What is this, the Stone Age?
    Just pave over old graves already, they're a waste of land
    35AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:37
    Re: #15
    Fair point
    It's smack in the middle of the city, it really is nothing but wasted space
    100AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:45
    Re: #15
    You're gonna get cursed, buddy
    121AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:48
    Only idiots who fall for religion actually believe in curses
    129AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:48
    Re: #121
    Idiot! Don't say that!
    161AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:51
    Re: #121
    But even you wouldn't piss on a torii gate, would you?
    127AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:48
    And no reference image, so here
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQJcyXbboAARLK1.jpg
    172AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:52
    Kaze to Kumo to Niji to ("Wind, Clouds, and Rainbow" — a 1976 NHK taiga drama about Masakado)
    Is it any good?
    290AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:05
    Re: #172
    It's surprising how packed it is with gorgeous men and women
    Go Kato, Takashi Yamaguchi, and Masao Kusakari
    There's no one that handsome in the Reiwa era
    And the actresses — Sayuri Yoshinaga and Yumi Takigawa are unbelievably beautiful
    Kiwako Taichi is incredibly sexy too
    318AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:07
    A real-life Genpei Touma Den (the old arcade game)
    Re: #290
    Zundoko-beroncho (a nonsense chant/meme phrase)
    339AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:10
    Re: #290
    For some reason, Ken Ogata's performance as Fujiwara no Sumitomo really stuck with me
    209AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:56
    The late "Sada-san" also once kicked Taira no Masakado's stone monument, and died in a fall a few years later
    212AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:57
    Re: #209
    Oh yeah, I remember that guy
    229AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:59
    Re: #209
    If it was years later, it's probably unrelated
    211AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:56
    If it's such an important burial mound, manage it properly so people can't get near it, right? The people going on about the curse are totally inconsistent between what they say and what they do
    217AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:57
    Re: #211
    Even trying to put up a fence is supposedly cursed, so nothing can be done
    227AnonymousAug 24, 2026 12:59
    Re: #211
    That's because he was originally Kanto's guardian deity
    If you don't anger him, he'll protect Kanto
    245AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:00
    There are as many grudges in the world as there are people, so why does Taira no Masakado's resentment get special treatment?
    It's not fair
    294AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:05
    Re: #245
    Emperor Sutoku is way scarier than that
    310AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:06
    Re: #245
    Well, there's also Lord Sugawara no Michizane, whose grudge was so intense he ended up worshipped as a god…
    285AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:04
    315AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:07
    Atlus always goes to pay their respects (at Masakado-zuka) whenever they make a Megami Tensei game
    325AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:09
    Re: #315
    Huh, they still do that today
    That's pretty diligent of them
    342AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:11
    Re: #315
    Wasn't it that they skipped it once, made [Shin Megami Tensei] IV, and then went bankrupt?
    They're under Sega now, but it seemed rough back then
    341AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:11
    Curses/vengeful thoughts are real, you know
    I wished misfortune on a neighbor I hate, and over the past two years, two people and one pet have died
    I mean, radio waves are invisible too, and they still get transmitted 📡
    348AnonymousAug 24, 2026 13:12
    Re: #341
    Curse someone and you dig two graves
    Better be careful

    Background and Key Points

    The site at the center of this story, Masakado-zuka in Otemachi, sits in the middle of Tokyo’s most valuable real estate — the financial district a few minutes from the Imperial Palace and the National Tax Agency headquarters, ringed by bank towers and brokerages. Taira no Masakado was a 10th-century Kanto warlord who rebelled against the Heian court, declared himself “New Emperor,” and was killed in battle in 940; his head was displayed in Kyoto but, per legend, flew home and landed where the mound now stands. That backstory matters for non-Japanese readers because it plugs into a specific religious category, onryo (vengeful spirit) worship, the same tradition that turned Sugawara no Michizane and Emperor Sutoku, both mentioned in the thread, into deities after wrongful deaths. Tokyo still treats the mound as a protected historic site precisely because of that tradition, which is why climbing it triggered a police consultation over trespassing and desecration, not just etiquette.

    The thread’s real fault line wasn’t believers versus skeptics so much as a dispute over what the mound actually is: several posters argued no head or body is buried there at all, and that the earthwork predates Masakado, making the “curse” possibly older and unrelated to him specifically. That claim went unresolved and unverified in the thread itself.

    What outside readers likely miss is scale: this isn’t a rural shrine but a fenced mound worth, by location alone, an enormous fortune, which is exactly why postwar redevelopment pressure on it has repeatedly stalled — a fact the thread only gestures at through jokes about “wasted land.”

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Speed+) thread: “[Topic] Man live-streams himself climbing Masakado-zuka, apologizes — a site people have long avoided disrespecting… even the National Tax Agency’s website mentions “rumors of a curse”“

  • Chinese Tourist Numbers “Halved,” Yet Japan’s Inbound Spending Still Beats Last Year — 5ch: “Turns Out They Weren’t Spending Money Here Anyway”

    Following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Diet remarks on a possible “Taiwan contingency,” Chinese travelers began widely avoiding trips to Japan, and the number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan reportedly fell by nearly half — wiping out an estimated 521 billion yen in spending. Yet overall inbound tourist spending in Japan actually came in higher than the previous year. On the thread, posters speculated that “Chinese tourists were only using Chinese-owned hotels, shops, and unlicensed cabs, so the money wasn’t really flowing into Japan to begin with,” while others welcomed the change, saying tourist spots have become pleasantly less crowded.

    Japan-China relations cooled sharply after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Diet testimony regarding a possible “Taiwan contingency,” causing the number of travelers from mainland China to Japan to plummet. As the Chinese government urged its citizens to avoid trips to Japan, concerns mounted over serious damage to the tourism industry — with one November 2025 estimate putting the economic losses from the drop in visitors from mainland China and Hong Kong at 1.79 trillion yen.

    About nine months later, the actual numbers show that Chinese tourists — who once made up a large share of Japan’s inbound market — have indeed declined. But looking at inbound tourism as a whole, the picture looks quite different from what was originally feared.

    ■ The Chinese Tourists Who Vanished After PM Takaichi’s “Taiwan Contingency” Remarks

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

    2AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:57
    Japan depends on imports for nearly all of its three major chemical fertilizer raw materials — urea, ammonium phosphate, and potassium chloride.

    Broken down by fertilizer type, Japan still relies heavily on specific sources for certain materials, such as sourcing about 72% of its ammonium phosphate from China.
    197AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:22
    Re: #2
    Cheap, that's why. If they ever ban exports, we'll just get it from another country.
    3AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:58
    Re: #1
    (Written in Chinese) Chinese people, don't come to Japan.
    Chinese people, don't come to Japan.
    Chinese people, don't come to Japan.
    46AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:06
    Re: #3,17,20,42
    Exactly — facing a shrinking consumer base from Japan's low birthrate and aging population, our country chose the path of growing demand from overseas instead (exporting more food, bringing in more foreign tourists). 🌏 Globalization 🤗 Welcome
    And on the flip side, /Newsplus posters got to skip the rush-buying before prices go up, thanks to the inflation our government is so happily pushing. 🙆 Safe
    259AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:30
    Re: #3
    I think that means "don't come"?
    8AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:59
    Honestly, I'd rather they just stopped coming altogether than have them "drop money" here.
    11AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:59
    The remarks don't even matter at this point —
    they're just keeping citizens from leaving because letting them out means money leaves too.
    19AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:01
    Genuine question for anyone who actually knows this stuff —
    does actively accepting more foreign workers/tourists cut into work for small regional sash (window frame) manufacturers? Could it put them out of business?
    22AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:01
    Great that this exposed the reality — they did their shopping and stayed at Chinese-capital-owned hotels, so the money never actually made it into Japan's economy in the first place.
    31AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:03
    Re: #22
    That's Abe's achievement at work.
    Which makes it anti-Takaichi, then.
    44AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:05
    Re: #22
    Actually it's the opposite — look at Kyoto hotel prices, they've crashed hard, which exposes the "it was all Chinese-capital spending" claim as false.
    24AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:02
    The assumption is that profits would've been even bigger with Chinese tourists still coming, but that completely ignores all the hassle that comes with dealing with them.
    198AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:22
    Re: #24
    It's been said a lot that Chinese tourists only visit places run by other Chinese people,
    so the money never reaches Japan anyway —
    meaning them not coming is actually a net plus for Japan.
    33AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:03
    The way hotel rates at tourist spots — which had shot through the roof — are now crashing back down really makes it look like something fishy was going on.
    57AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:07
    Re: #33
    It was just Chinese operators jacking up prices to fleece other Chinese tourists, and everyone else got dragged into it.
    80AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:10
    Seeing those unlicensed Chinese cabs really gets on my nerves —
    they don't pay a single yen in tax.
    103AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:12
    Re: #80
    I remember hearing they were using 5-series-plated Alphards (Toyota Alphard minivans).
    122AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:14
    Re: #80
    To begin with, if payments go through Chinese platforms, Japan's National Tax Agency can't trace the money flow,
    so even while running an illegal cab service, they're probably still registered as a tax-exempt household in Japan like it's nothing.
    150AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:17
    Re: #122
    Even a white-plated car could just be legit ride-sharing, so we need to actually check whether it's a real unlicensed cab before assuming — otherwise it's just spreading a bad rumor.
    Let's be careful!
    168AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:19
    Re: #150
    Shouldn't that reply have gone to Re: #80?
    147AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:17
    Even if Chinese tourists came, it wouldn't be profitable, right?
    Because the money just flows back to their own country anyway.
    169AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:19
    Re: #147
    The results say otherwise.
    If Chinese tourists really weren't spending money here to begin with, overall spending should've jumped by a lot more than it did — something doesn't add up.
    292AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:33
    Re: #147
    There's not much of that "bulk-buying" frenzy either.
    How much money was actually just circulating within the Chinese community itself is still anyone's guess.
    207AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:23
    Re: #191
    Does this guy seriously not understand how economics works, saying the money "flows to the Chinese"?
    251AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:29
    Re: #207


    219AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:24
    The leftist media (パヨ, derogatory slang for left-leaning outlets) was something else too —
    going on about how losing Chinese tourists would cause massive economic losses,
    how the tourism industry would be devastated.
    Honestly sounded just like Chinese state media.
    And this is the actual result.
    No apology, of course.
    243AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:27
    Re: #219
    I've never actually seen any media outlet say that.
    Sounds like you're making it up.

    Everybody was already predicting that overall numbers wouldn't drop even with fewer Chinese tourists, since Japan was already over capacity to begin with.
    246AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:28
    Re: #219
    Japan's legacy media is basically half a Chinese PR bulletin these days.

    Background and Key Points

    Some background: Japan’s post-pandemic tourism boom has leaned heavily on China, historically its single largest source market by spending, even as inbound arrivals from South Korea, Taiwan, the US and elsewhere have also hit records amid a historically weak yen. PM Sanae Takaichi’s Diet remarks raised the possibility that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could count as a “survival-threatening situation” allowing Japan to exercise collective self-defense — a marked departure from Tokyo’s usual ambiguity on Taiwan, which prompted Beijing to issue a travel advisory and Chinese arrivals to collapse. The 521 billion yen and 1.79 trillion yen figures come from official and industry estimates of lost Chinese-tourist spending, based on Japan Tourism Agency consumption survey data.

    The thread’s real disagreement isn’t about whether relations soured — it’s about why national spending didn’t fall to match. One camp insists Chinese tourists’ money never really entered Japan’s economy, since it allegedly flowed through Chinese-owned hotels, shops and unlicensed cabs paid via Chinese apps. Others point out that if that were fully true, overall spending should have risen far more than it did once Chinese visitors vanished, meaning the “closed-loop economy” theory is likely exaggerated, not proven.

    What’s likely missed: Japan strictly licenses taxis, so the “unlicensed cabs” posters describe are illegal white-plate operations, not legal ride-share — a legal, not just cultural, issue. Also unmentioned is that Japan’s inbound market was already near overcapacity, meaning other nationalities and a still-weak yen could plausibly absorb the shortfall regardless of any China-specific spending patterns.

    ※ This article was compiled by excerpting and summarizing the 5channel (Newsplus) thread “‘Halved’ Chinese Tourists Wipe Out 521 Billion Yen — Yet Overall Spending Still Beats Last Year, and Total Visitor Numbers Barely Dropped.”

  • 17-Year-Old Who Beat Elderly Man with a Crowbar Sent to Juvenile Detention Without Adult Trial — 79-Year-Old Victim Speaks Out

    In a robbery case in which a 79-year-old man suffered serious injuries after being struck in the head with a crowbar, it was reported that the 17-year-old assailant was sent to a juvenile detention center without “gyakuso” — referral to an adult criminal trial. The news drew a wave of reactions on 5ch. Alongside comments criticizing the leniency of the punishment, the discussion also expanded into the rehabilitative effectiveness of juvenile detention centers and generational friction between baby boomers and younger people.

    Can such a lenient punishment really stop kids from running wild?… 17-year-old who committed robbery by “striking the victim’s head with a crowbar” sent to juvenile detention without referral for an adult trial — the 79-year-old victim’s thoughts

    Mon, 8/24, 6:01 AM — Nikkan Shincho

    A painful photo of Mr. A (79), taken just after the incident

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

    5AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:00
    Japan's soft on criminals because it's such a 'kind' country
    113AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:31
    Re: #5
    There was a talk recently about a parent whose daughter was brutally murdered by a high schooler — when they spoke up to the judge about the sentence being only 9 years, the judge just said 'well, that's your personal values' and hurried out of the courtroom.
    9AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:01
    Terrifying to think this monster will be back out in society in just a few years
    261AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:25
    Re: #9
    And then he'll go compete on Breaking Down (a popular amateur fight show), boost his notoriety, and cash in big — that's the whole package these days.
    10AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:01
    Genuinely want to ask someone who really knows — where would this rank on the Be-Bop High School scale??? (a classic delinquent manga/movie used as a benchmark for toughness)
    15AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:02
    Re: #10
    'Want some canned peaches? No? …I see.' (a famously intimidating line from the Be-Bop High School films)
    140AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:43
    Re: #10
    About 'Bop' level (referring to the tougher 'Bop' characters in Be-Bop High School)
    25AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:06
    Re: #1
    Beating someone up is just unforgivable… it's blasphemy against God, seriously nurupo (an old meme that's supposed to be answered with 'Gah!')
    50AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:11
    Re: #25
    Don't even have the energy to pull up the AA (ASCII art) comeback.
    41AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:10
    Re: #1
    When kids commit crimes, it's society's fault — you adults need to get your act together.
    44AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:10
    Re: #41
    Seriously, exactly this — this is what happens when the Ice Age generation (Japan's 'employment ice age' cohort) raises kids.
    49AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:11
    Lesson learned: if a robber breaks in, just claim self-defense and go for it?
    278AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:33
    Re: #49
    That's just common sense — if a robber breaks into your house, even killing them won't get you charged with much.
    71AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:19
    Out in the countryside there are still bosozoku biker gangs around — are they not cracked down on because they're minors?
    73AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:20
    Re: #71
    They don't rush to arrest all the yakuza and hangure (semi-organized crime groups) crawling around the cities either — same deal.
    78AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:21
    Re: #71
    You just gotta protect yourself so they don't mess with you lol
    85AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:24
    Re: #71
    The further out into the countryside you go, the more wax-clogged the cops' ears get lol — they can't hear the noise regular citizens can hear. Even in Fussa, Tokyo, none of the cops noticed, right? And they're supposed to live in the same town lol
    80AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:22
    The fact that violent crime among young people just won't go away means the upbringing and education went wrong somewhere — teachers and the perpetrators' parents need to face consequences too.
    131AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:38
    Re: #80
    And the reason those parents raised him wrong is because their own parents raised them wrong — go punish them instead. The parents are victims too.
    104AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:30
    But hold on, today's baby boomer retirees are basically robbing 50% of young people's wages — for elderly social security spending.
    108AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:31
    Re: #104
    A 17-year-old isn't paying taxes though.
    189AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:04
    To begin with, given the reoffending rates, aren't there basically no real cases of someone actually being rehabilitated by juvenile detention? It's strange that this system just keeps being left as-is despite that.
    197AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:09
    Re: #189
    Basically impossible — both juvenile detention and prison are full of guys one-upping each other over what they did to end up there.
    237AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:19
    Re: #189
    Actually juvenile detention has a higher rehabilitation rate than adult prison — I'm pretty sure the data clearly shows that.
    192AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:06
    The state's basically saying 'even idiots like this can be rehabilitated,' happily throwing money at tattoo-covered delinquents — it's practically recommending kids become criminals while they're young.

    Background and Key Points

    Japan’s Juvenile Act treats offenders under 20 (the age was 20 until 2022, when it was lowered to 18, though 18–19-year-olds remain “tokutei shonen” with a modified process) through family courts rather than criminal courts by default. “Gyakuso” (Article 20) is the mechanism by which a family court can hand a case back to prosecutors for adult trial — it is effectively mandatory for intentional homicide committed at 16 or older, but for robbery resulting in injury (goto chishou), which under adult law carries a minimum of six years up to life imprisonment, referral is discretionary. Here, the family court chose institutional treatment at a shonenin (juvenile training school) instead, a placement that in principle runs until age 26 for serious cases but is often exited well before that on review.

    The thread’s actual fault line was not really “is this punishment too light” versus “no it isn’t” — nearly everyone agreed the outcome felt inadequate. The split was over what to do about it: some blamed the juvenile system’s design and pushed for harsher, adult-style consequences; others reframed it as a rehabilitation-efficacy question, arguing (post 237) that shonenin recidivism data actually compares favorably to adult prison; and a third thread pivoted into generational blame, tying the offender’s upbringing to the “Employment Ice Age” cohort and to boomers’ share of social-security spending — a tangent with no real connection to the case.

    What’s missing from the discussion is the legal standard itself: no poster explained why gyakuso wasn’t triggered, i.e., that Article 20’s near-automatic referral only applies to fatal offenses, not injury cases like this one, which is precisely why the outcome was legally unsurprising rather than an aberration.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “Can such a lenient punishment really stop kids from running wild?… 17-year-old who “struck the victim’s head with a crowbar” sent to juvenile detention without referral for an adult trial — the 79-year-old victim’s thoughts.”

  • Osaka Rents Skyrocket, Old Danchi Housing Estates Get a Second Look — 5ch: “They Even Had Shopping Streets and Clinics Built Right In”

    News that rents for family-sized rental apartments in Osaka City have climbed to an average of ¥170,000 a month — the highest level in the Kansai region — made the rounds on 5ch. When the thread highlighted a family of five who sold their house and moved into a danchi (a public/semi-public housing estate), commenters piled in with their own experiences: “There was even a shopping street, a clinic, and a pool right on the grounds,” and “Some danchi have had elevators retrofitted.”

    At the same time, others raised concerns about aging pipes, noise, and the buildings’ structural lifespan, making for a thread that covered both the perks and the pitfalls of danchi living.

    Published 8/23 (Sun) 12:00 PM

    Kansai TV

    In recent years, rents for rental apartments in city centers have kept climbing. Properties in Osaka City have seen sharp increases too, with average rent for family-sized apartments in particular reaching roughly ¥170,000 — the highest level in the Kansai region.

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

    8AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:28
    But the thing about danchi is a lot of them don't have elevators.
    177AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:18
    Re: #8
    Some danchi have been renovated recently and had elevators retrofitted.
    17AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:31
    If it's an old-design danchi, once you factor in eventual demolition, you probably can't live there another 10 years.
    73AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:46
    Re: #17
    They get sold off to private companies and keep standing.
    Even if they're past their service life as public housing, that doesn't matter once they're private.
    19AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:32
    Re: #1

    If you live somewhere that inconvenient, you'll lose money on gas and bus/train fares anyway.
    104AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:55
    Re: #19
    Still better than a "rabbit hutch" apartment (slang for Japan's notoriously cramped housing).
    21AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:32
    I've heard concrete has a 100-year lifespan, but with proper maintenance can it last way longer than that?
    33AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:36
    Re: #21
    The rebar inside rusts and corrodes, so if there are cracks, it'll deteriorate even faster.
    55AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:42
    "Don't play with the kids from the danchi!" — that's what I got told as a kid.
    68AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:44
    Re: #55
    Figured out what that meant later.

    There were these two guys, Numata and Watanabe, who were exactly that.
    130AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:03
    Re: #55
    Never got told that myself, but I understood the meaning once I grew up.
    I grew up in a danchi for national civil servants, and looking back, the Tokyo metropolitan housing estate right next door had a lot of… let's say "characters."
    165AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:16
    Re: #55
    City- or prefecture-run ones are no good.
    The old public-corporation (kōdan) estates were fine.

    Weird how you could tell the difference even in the same new town, built in the same era.
    84AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:49
    Nah, nah.
    There's gonna be noise complaints for sure.
    Wouldn't live there even if you paid me.
    136AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:06
    Re: #84
    My parents live in one, and it's full of old folks with no kids around, so it's pretty quiet.
    Pets aren't allowed and people seem to actually follow that rule, so no dogs either.
    143AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:09
    Re: #84
    Kōsha and UR estates are reinforced concrete buildings, so unless some brat is literally jumping around, you barely hear anything from next door.
    Not like those flimsy rentals from builders such as Daito Kentaku.
    90AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:52
    > Sold their house and moved in as a family of five

    Bringing up such a niche example doesn't really prove anything…
    100AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:54
    Re: #90
    Probably rates went up and their mortgage blew up.
    109AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:58
    I've lived in a renovated old danchi, and the room itself was fine.

    The problem is the bathroom and toilet — structurally, you can't change them. The type where the bath drains into a canal-like groove cut into the floor is the worst.
    It gets slimy right away, and just knowing dirty water is running through there is gross.

    And then there's that fat toilet pipe — you can hear the poop from the floor above falling down it.

    If none of that bothers you, it's fine though.
    114AnonymousAug 24, 2026 07:59
    Re: #109
    If that's the case, I'd rather renovate an old farmhouse out in the sticks.
    129AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:03
    Re: #109
    There's no dedicated pipe space, so the drain stack runs right through the room. A bare steel pipe with no soundproofing wrapped around it is the worst.
    117AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:00
    There's just something great about a shopping street being right inside the danchi grounds.
    There was a post office, a clinic, a park too —
    you could handle basically all of daily life without ever leaving the property.
    There was even a kids' pool on-site, managed by the danchi itself.

    Granted, a lot of these places needed a bus ride to reach the train station.
    But with the aging population and falling birthrate, the shopping street ended up all shuttered.
    158AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:14
    Re: #117
    The Tokyo metropolitan danchi near me even has something like a small gym.
    For sports lovers, having facilities right on the property must be amazing.
    210AnonymousAug 24, 2026 08:30
    https://chintai.r6.ur-net.go.jp/chintai/img_madori/80/80_234/80_234_0-00-0052_TxA_RA_01_00001.gif

    For this kind of "nikoichi" layout (two units merged into one) — if you use the right side as the bedroom and sleep there, do you have to step out onto the balcony to get to the sink/washroom?

    Background and Key Points

    Danchi (団地) are the large-scale concrete apartment blocks built from the 1950s through the 1970s by the Japan Housing Corporation (日本住宅公団), predecessor to today’s UR (Urban Renaissance Agency), along with parallel projects run by municipal and prefectural governments. They were Japan’s postwar answer to housing shortages and rural-to-city migration, standardizing the 2DK “dining-kitchen” floor plan that became the template for the modern nuclear-family home. Many estates were built as self-contained “new towns” with their own shopping streets, clinics, and schools — which is why posters recall being able to live without ever leaving the grounds. Crucially, UR rentals require no key money, no guarantor, and no agent commission, so their rents sit well below the ¥170,000 figure driving the original story, which is part of why families are looking at them again.

    The thread’s real fault line wasn’t “danchi good or bad” in the abstract — it was old kōdan/UR-built concrete versus municipal public housing and cheaper private apartments. Posters treated UR-lineage buildings as solidly built and quiet, while flagging unfixable structural quirks (exposed drain pipes, canal-style bath drains, merged “nikoichi” units) as the real cost of that age.

    What outsiders will likely miss is the social history behind the “don’t play with the danchi kids” comment: postwar public housing carried a class stigma in Japan that has nothing to do with the buildings’ current appeal to young renters. Also unmentioned: UR housing has income and household-size eligibility screening, which shapes who can actually access these bargains.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “Some Sold Their House and Moved In as a Family of Five — The Appeal of “Danchi” Housing as Occupancy Rates V-Shape Recover, Popular with Younger Generations Too, for the “Resident Community,” Reiwa-Era “Danchi Living”.”

  • Chinese Rare-Earth Magnet Exports to Japan Cut in Half — 5ch Reacts: ‘Japan’s the Only One Left Hanging’

    According to China’s General Administration of Customs, rare-earth magnet exports to Japan in July totaled 111 tons — down by half compared to January, before the restrictions began. In the thread, data showing that exports to the US actually increased over the same period sparked comments like “Is Japan being singled out?”, while others pushed back with more level-headed takes focused on refining technology and profitability.

    [Beijing, Kyodo] According to trade data released on the 20th by China’s General Administration of Customs, exports of rare-earth magnets to Japan in July totaled 111 tons, down by half year-on-year. This is believed to reflect export restrictions on Japan imposed in response to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Diet remarks on a Taiwan contingency. The figure was also down by half compared to January this year, when the restrictions began, and down 13.6% from the previous month.

    Rare-earth magnet exports had exceeded 200 tons every month from last July through this February, before dropping into the 180-ton range in March. By May and June, they had fallen further to around 120 tons. This is believed to be due to strict export controls on materials such as dysprosium, which is used to enhance magnet performance.

    Global exports of rare-earth magnets in July totaled 5,375 tons, down 4.9% from the previous month.

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

    4AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:32
    Japan relies on imports for nearly 100% of its three major chemical fertilizer raw materials (urea, ammonium phosphate, and potassium chloride).

    Broken down by fertilizer type, Japan still depends heavily on China for certain materials — for example, about 72% of its ammonium phosphate comes from China.
    25AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:43
    Re: #4

    Do they even check for heavy metals?
    6AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:33
    Sana's [Takaichi Sanae, PM] out here starting a fight and talking about going to war with China, yet China's still exporting rare earths for civilian use anyway — pretty generous of them.
    30AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:45
    Re: #6
    If they cut it off completely, that's exactly when Japan would come and take it by force.
    64AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:52
    Re: #6
    Re: #48
    Funny how the same crowd losing their minds over Rakuten's interceptor drones is totally fine with China's dual-use (military/civilian) rare earths. Bit of a contradiction.
    7AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:33
    Let's just bow down and grovel to China already — there's no way we're winning this.
    94AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:59
    Re: #7
    Their robotics tech really is impressive — humanoid robots running marathons and playing soccer, that level. If Japan can't beat China on tech, we really will end up groveling, so I hope Japan somehow pulls through.
    10AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:35
    Having to rely on rare earths — cutting-edge technology is really precarious, huh.
    12AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:36
    Re: #10
    If it's that precarious, maybe don't start a fight in the first place.
    13AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:37
    Re: #1
    Inflating GDP by 20% — China's been pulling this kind of stunt for years.

    "One Rebuke from Xi and GDP Gets Revised" — Liaoning Province's nominal GDP drops 20%
    https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLASGM21H99_R20C17A8EA2000/
    208AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:28
    Re: #13
    28AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:44
    The more they pull stunts like this, the more the world gets wary and pulls away from China.
    45AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:49
    Re: #28
    What do you make of this?

    > Exports to the US were 647 tons, up about 33% from the previous month and about 5% year-on-year
    https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/a8ae08a183fd9b88e5bca54e52684d96a4b3fed8
    66AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:52
    Re: #45
    lol (草 = 'lol')

    Japan's the only one who got the ladder pulled out from under them. That's rough.
    153AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:13
    Re: #131
    Per Re: #45, US imports of rare earths from China are actually increasing.
    35AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:47
    They're still exporting civilian-use stuff for now, but it feels like even that's gradually being cut back.
    46AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:49
    Re: #35
    Makes you wonder how much longer BYD owners will even be able to get repair parts…
    51AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:50
    Re: #35
    Whether it's actually being "cut back" is unclear. The amount approvable per application review has gone down, but that seems to be a deliberate move to prevent stockpiling and force inventories to be drawn down — so as long as economic activity keeps consumption flowing, you could just as easily call it "normalization" rather than a cut.
    81AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:57
    This table gives you a rough idea of the rare-earth situation:
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G3huZOQWQAARKF2.jpg

    China keeps bragging "Our rare-earth refining tech is #1 in the world!!!" but 🇯🇵 Shin-Etsu Chemical achieved ultra-high-purity 6N (99.9999%) purity back in 2024. In other words, Japan has the technology — it's just not profitable enough to mass-produce. Team up with the US and full rare-earth self-sufficiency is well within reach.
    84AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:58
    Re: #81
    Apparently the US is fine just importing from China — see Re: #45.
    93AnonymousAug 23, 2026 23:59
    Re: #81
    > "not profitable enough"

    That's the most important part right there.
    102AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:02
    Re: #81
    And that same America buys from China too. Why do you think that is? Because doing the refining themselves would wreck the environment. It's precisely because they've outsourced the dirty work to China that things became so concentrated there in the first place. You're skipping way too much of the backstory and letting personal wishful thinking take over. The question is whether this is actually feasible, not whether it props up the Takaichi administration's approval ratings. Please, let's talk about reality here.
    131AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:10
    Japan is China's biggest export destination for rare earths, so this is a game of chicken — they're taking on just as much of a loss as we are.
    137AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:10
    Re: #131
    Though it looks like the US is stepping in to make up the shortfall.
    157AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:15
    If they cut us off, we'll just source it from somewhere else. China's the one who loses out on sales lol
    167AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:17
    Re: #157
    Meanwhile, it looks like the US is importing huge amounts from China lol
    173AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:19
    Re: #167
    Then just import it from America instead. These days only idiots and the trash media [マスゴミ, a slur blending "mass media" and "garbage"] still blindly believe in economic sanctions.
    198AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:25
    Re: #173
    You sound like something out of Otokojuku 🤣 (an over-the-top macho manga/anime famous for absurd bravado)
    210AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:28
    Re: #173
    Idiot lol. Every single rare-earth export from China comes with strings attached.
    163AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:16
    Trade with Japan is only 5% of China's total, but if that stopped, China would grind to a halt too — so they have no choice but to keep exporting rare earths to Japan.

    Is China some kind of masochist, strangling itself like this? And with their maritime expansion — planting flags near Guam, the Mariana Trench, picking fights with US territories left and right — they're really no different from Russia.
    172AnonymousAug 24, 2026 00:19
    Re: #163
    That's what people keep saying, but if you average out nominal and real GDP, Japan's growth rate has basically been hovering around 0% in real terms. By the way, when exactly is China supposed to collapse? People have been saying "it's over" since 2008 and it's still going. Can you give an actual year? Why not run on that in an election, take power, and decouple from China? Because the LDP sure isn't going to decouple from China. Do you have any idea how many Japanese companies operate in China? There's no way the LDP can pull that off.

    Background and Key Points

    Rare-earth magnets — alloys of neodymium, dysprosium, and other heavy rare earths — are essential for the high-strength, heat-resistant motors used in EVs, wind turbines, and defense hardware. China controls roughly 90% of global refining and separation capacity, not just mining, which is the real chokepoint: countries like the US and Australia have deposits, but lack the industrial capacity to process ore into usable magnet material. Since 2023, Beijing has run export controls as a licensing system — shipments require case-by-case government approval — rather than an outright ban, which is why “restricted” exports can still flow, just at reduced and unpredictable volumes. Japan’s July figure (111 tons, half of January’s level) is widely read as retaliation for PM Takaichi’s Diet comments implying Japan could respond militarily to a Taiwan contingency.

    The thread’s actual fault line wasn’t over whether China is squeezing Japan — that’s taken as given — but whether Japan is being singled out specifically, versus experiencing a broader, deliberate drawdown policy China is also applying elsewhere. The counterpoint citing rising US imports (up ~33% month-on-month) fueled the “only Japan got cut off” reading, while skeptics noted approval throttling is also framed by some posters as inventory-management “normalization,” not a targeted political weapon.

    What the thread never engages with: China’s own July global rare-earth magnet exports fell 4.9% overall, meaning some tightening is happening across all buyers, not just Japan — a data point that complicates the “singled out” framing but wasn’t raised. Readers should also know that Shin-Etsu’s 6N-purity breakthrough, mentioned as proof Japan “has the technology,” addresses refining purity, not the mining/separation infrastructure gap that actually drives Japan’s dependence.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “China’s Rare-Earth Magnet Exports to Japan Halved in July, Compared to Before Restrictions”.

  • ¥300 Million Monument: Speaker Kurauchi Says ‘It Will Be Appreciated in the Future’ — Kengo Kuma Collaborated

    A roughly ¥300 million monument called the “One Health Carbon Gate,” built in Chikugo City, Fukuoka Prefecture with the cooperation of architect Kengo Kuma, has sparked heated debate on 5ch following an Asahi Shimbun report. Assembly Speaker Kurauchi said the monument “will be appreciated in the future,” but thread posters repeatedly questioned whether the construction cost was justified and raised concerns about maintenance expenses.

    ¥300 Million Monument: Speaker Kurauchi Says “It Will Be Appreciated in the Future” — Kengo Kuma Collaborated [Fukuoka Prefecture]: Asahi Shimbun

    August 21, 2026, 7:30 PM

    Paid article — Ryo Sasaki

    Source: asahi.com / Original article here

    2AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:20
    Any excuse to hire Kengo Kuma, huh.
    No doubt about it.
    27AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:28
    Re: #2
    It's Kuma everywhere you look, literally (a pun: 隈なく/kumanaku means "thoroughly, everywhere," playing on the "Kuma" in his name).
    194AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:35
    Re: #2
    You know his buildings are designed so you can't get any repairs done without going through his own firm, right?
    4AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:21
    Guaranteed to keep raking in maintenance fees for years to come, huh.
    7AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:22
    It'll rot away within three years, guaranteed.
    63AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:39
    Re: #7
    Uh, it's already in its 4th year though?
    28AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:28
    I don't get what's so great about Kengo Kuma.
    34AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:30
    Re: #28
    He gets to keep skimming off the ongoing maintenance costs.
    45AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:33
    And it's needlessly made of carbon fiber, too.
    52AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:35
    Re: #45
    Wait, it's NOT made of wood?!
    47AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:34
    https://www.asahicom.jp/imgopt/img/95697e0a31/hd640/AS20260821002969.jpg
    The One Health Carbon Gate, built at a cost of about ¥280 million — Chikugo City, Fukuoka Prefecture
    102AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:55
    Re: #47
    So THIS is what ¥300 million buys.
    103AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:55
    Re: #47
    Looks like about ¥30 million worth to me.
    They're skimming so much it's almost impressive.
    109AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:58
    Re: #47
    Why not just slap a gold plaque on it that says "¥280 Million Monument by Kengo Kuma"?
    I'll even chip in about ¥5 million for it.
    71AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:42
    Of all people, Kengo Kuma? It's guaranteed to rot and collapse within ten years.
    86AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:47
    Re: #71
    That's what you'd think, right?
    But this one's even worse.
    90AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:49
    Kengo Kuma again?
    There's gotta be some kind of racket going on with these guys.
    98AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:53
    Re: #90
    He's got a track record, so everyone knows what they're getting and it's easy to work with him.
    Track record of what, you ask?
    110AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:58
    Since it's carbon fiber, it probably won't rot away anytime soon, but
    it's painted, so after a while they'll rack up costs repainting it (´・ω・`)
    123AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:03
    Re: #110
    Since it's painted, I'm skeptical it's actually carbon fiber.
    115AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:00
    Re: #103
    Stuff like this factors in "idle time" costs for the periods with no work coming in, so of course it's pricier.
    If you've got a problem with it, you could've just started your own company and bid lower.
    That's about the intellectual ceiling of the "it's all skimming" crowd 😩
    122AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:03
    Re: #115
    Well, what's built is built, so how about we put up a plaque listing:
    the cost paid from taxes,
    who decided to place the order,
    and the representative of the company that got the contract.
    124AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:03
    My city has a Kengo Kuma building too,
    and it's notoriously unpopular because it's such a pain to actually use.
    126AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:05
    Re: #124
    Fun fact: Kengo Kuma actually lost the competition for his own hometown Kamakura's new city hall building.
    132AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:10
    Kengo Kuma again lol
    Pick your jobs more carefully, man.
    139AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:12
    Re: #132
    What if "Kengo Kuma the architect" doesn't actually exist, and it's just a public front name for the government to embezzle money?
    137AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:12
    "One Health" is the magic word.
    146AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:16
    This isn't about future value — it's about whether the construction cost is reasonable.
    If it's reasonable, there's nothing to fear.
    156AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:19
    Re: #146
    They set a budget estimate and put it out for bid, so of course it's "reasonable."
    And since the amount would've needed assembly approval to contract, who exactly is supposed to be afraid here?
    152AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:18
    A playground structure like this would run about ¥500,000 to ¥1 million.
    171AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:26
    This… actually looks like it could be a decent thrill, not bad.

    You can walk through it, right?
    204AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:43
    Kengo Kuma, the disaster incarnate.
    207AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:47
    Re: #204
    Who even is this guy? His name keeps popping up everywhere —
    the Expo, some regional city hall…
    Is he like a big shot in the construction world or something?

    Background and Key Points

    Kengo Kuma is Japan’s most prominent contemporary architect, known internationally for the wood-and-organic-material aesthetic of projects like the Japan National Stadium (2020 Olympics) and V&A Dundee. That reputation is why his name recurs across Japanese public projects, from World Expo pavilions to municipal buildings — local governments treat a Kuma-designed structure as a branding win, a way to signal design credibility for a relatively modest architectural fee. The “One Health” concept in the gate’s name refers to a public health framework, popular in Japanese local government messaging, that links human, animal, and environmental health; Chikugo City has promoted it as a civic theme, which is the stated rationale for commissioning a landmark structure at all. Fukuoka Prefecture assembly budgets for such symbolic public works are approved through prefectural assembly votes, meaning the roughly ¥300 million (about $2 million) figure was disclosed and authorized in advance, not a hidden overrun.

    The thread’s actual disagreement was not over Kuma’s involvement itself but over value for money: whether the finished carbon-fiber gate looks like it cost anywhere near ¥280 million, with posters comparing it unfavorably to inexpensive playground equipment, versus a smaller group arguing that competitive bidding and idle-capacity costs baked into public contracts make the price defensible on paper.

    What the thread never engages with is that “reasonable per the bid process” and “good use of public funds” are separate questions — a budget being procedurally approved doesn’t resolve whether the chosen design concept was worth funding in the first place. Also unaddressed: ongoing maintenance liability for painted carbon fiber in outdoor conditions is a real recurring cost, not just cynical speculation about “skimming.”

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly] ¥300 Million Monument: Speaker Kurauchi Says ‘It Will Be Appreciated in the Future’ — Kengo Kuma Collaborated”.

  • More Farmers Are Shutting Down Unmanned Vegetable Stands — ‘Missing Money’ Losses and Tax Office Rumors

    A growing number of farmers are closing their unmanned vegetable stands, where customers could buy freshly harvested produce. On top of losses where “no matter how many times I count, the money doesn’t add up,” rumors have even spread that “the tax office is moving in.”

    The thread ranged from speculation about who’s responsible, to proposals for switching to coin-locker-style vending machines, to terms describing how thoroughly different industries get taxed, like “kuroyon” and “togosanpin.”

    8/22 (Sat) 8:00

    Daily Shincho

    Being able to buy freshly harvested vegetables is a blessing, but…

    Source: topics.smt.docomo.ne.jp / Read the original article here

    4AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:06
    Those boomer old-timers steal without a second thought, saying it's the stand's own fault for making it 'free to take.'
    8AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:07
    Re: #1
    Crime keeps rising because idiots who believe 'humans are basically good' keep setting these things up.
    Everyone has some evil in their heart.
    These idiots are just handing people a stage to show it off.
    They're the reason there are more criminals now.
    95AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:24
    Re: #8
    The Showa era grew its economy on the belief that people are fundamentally good, you know.
    258AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:03
    Re: #8
    You're misunderstanding what 'people are inherently good' (性善説) actually means. It says everyone is born good but can turn bad due to later influences — it acknowledges the existence of evil too. For the sake of Mencius, who died 2,400 years ago, let me stress that point.
    10AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:08
    The tax office isn't that bored, lol
    35AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:14
    Re: #10
    They go after whoever's easiest to squeeze. They're too incompetent to touch the people raking it in through asset management.
    106AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:26
    Re: #35
    There are whole industries where you just know nobody's filing taxes. Makes you wonder what the tax office is even looking at.
    151AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:37
    Re: #35
    Like tutors raking in serious cash — they start it as a side gig but end up pulling in a lot. Same with housewives listed as dependents. Since it's all private, individual work, there's no paper trail. And it's not just tutoring.
    28AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:13
    If you're serious about running this as a business, go with the coin-locker type.
    260AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:03
    Re: #28
    Coin-locker type sounds good. Why doesn't everyone just do that?
    68AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:20
    You can tell just by watching people online — Japanese people's character keeps getting worse.
    93AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:24
    Re: #68
    Even here it's all 'tax evasion' this and 'stop complaining' that — full of insults you can barely stand to read.
    74AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:21
    Even rich people shoplift over small change or skip paying their kids' school lunch fees. Farmers work foreigners like slaves too. Feels like Japanese people as a whole have lost their sense of dignity — or shame.
    80AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:22
    Re: #74
    Enslaving other people was never tied to any sense of shame to begin with — there was no concept of human rights.
    79AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:22
    Re: #1
    Isn't it even questionable whether this is humans doing it at all? Japan's got crows, that bear that's been famous lately, wild boars charging around — plenty of suspects to go around, no?
    108AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:27
    If you're not used to unmanned-stand culture, it's only natural someone might think, 'just take it, and if you feel like it, drop some money in out of the goodness of your heart.'
    115AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:28
    Re: #108
    Someone unfamiliar with it might just assume it's a 'help yourself, free to take' kind of setup.
    124AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:30
    Re: #108
    They really should install security cameras.

    That said, even free bento shops with security cameras have people trying to cheat the system. You see them getting caught all the time in those TV station YouTube clips.
    143AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:35
    >Some people say 'it's foreigners doing this,' but who knows — it might well be locals.

    The old geezers on 5ch always spin things to suit themselves, so this is a preemptive warning, lol. They've got us completely figured out, lol.
    153AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:37
    Re: #143
    They add that disclaimer because otherwise some people lose it. It's just a stock preface — deep down they probably still think it's foreigners.
    184AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:42
    Re: #143
    There are old folks who convince themselves 'it's probably just B-grade stuff, so I don't need to pay.' People on small pensions or without jobs could be stealing too. If you've got a yard, just grow your own — I bought two 100-yen packs of seeds last year, scattered some cucumber seeds in a corner of my yard, and so far I've harvested and eaten three.
    218AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:53
    Just switch to vending machines.
    229AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:56
    Re: #218
    Vending machines have really increased, huh.
    236AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:58
    Re: #218
    The ones near me are coin-locker-type vending machines. No electricity needed either — this is the best option. You can get blemished peaches, 4 for 200 yen, and they're super popular.
    222AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:55
    Young people probably don't know this, but there are terms for how well the tax office actually tracks income by occupation: 'kuroyon' (9:6:4) and 'togosanpin' (10:5:3:1). Under kuroyon, 90% of salaried workers' income gets caught, 60% for the self-employed, and 40% for agriculture/forestry/fishing. Under togosanpin, it's 100% for salaried workers, 50% for the self-employed, 30% for agriculture/forestry/fishing, and just 10% for politicians.
    230AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:56
    Re: #222
    Never heard of it. You an old man or something?
    231AnonymousAug 23, 2026 21:56
    Re: #222
    Correction:
    ✕ 'gotousanpin'
    ◯ 'togosanpin'
    278AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:07
    Why not just sell them through vending machines — the kind where you put in 200 yen and a clear door pops open.
    286AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:09
    Re: #278
    I heard there are people who force them open, and the repair costs end up being pretty steep.
    287AnonymousAug 23, 2026 22:09
    Re: #278
    I don't feel like buying if I can't actually touch the produce. Honestly, this isn't the kind of business worth sinking equipment investment into anyway.

    Background and Key Points

    Unmanned vegetable stands (無人販売所, mujin hanbaijo) are a fixture of rural Japan: a farmer sets out surplus produce by the roadside with a coin box and no attendant, trusting buyers to pay on the honor system. They’ve long been cited abroad as a symbol of Japanese trust and low crime, and several posters explicitly invoke “seizen-setsu” (性善説), the idea that people are fundamentally good — one corrects the popular reading by noting this is a mistranslation of Mencius, who held that people are born good but can be corrupted, not that they stay good regardless of circumstance. The tax terms that come up, “kuroyon” (9:6:4) and “togosanpin” (10:5:3:1), are decades-old shorthand in Japan for how unevenly the tax agency can actually verify income across job types — salaried workers are withheld at the source and nearly fully captured, while cash-based farm income is the hardest category to trace, historically estimated at only 30-40% reported accurately.

    The thread doesn’t converge on who’s actually taking the money — commenters float shoplifting locals, cash-strapped pensioners, and even foreign workers, but no one offers evidence, and several posters call out the reflexive “must be foreigners” framing as bias rather than fact. The more concrete disagreement is over fixes: whether coin-locker-style vending machines (already spreading, and cited as popular even without electricity) solve the problem, versus the risk that people will just pry them open, making the investment questionable for what is a low-margin side business.

    What’s easy to miss is that the “tax office” angle is speculative — no post cites an actual audit or crackdown. It reads as dark humor built on the reputation of togosanpin, i.e., a suspicion that authorities are more likely to chase easily-verifiable farm-stand cash than the frequently-cited “real” money in asset management or under-the-table tutoring.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “More farmers are closing their ‘unmanned vegetable stands’ selling freshly harvested produce… alongside losses where ‘no matter how many times I count, the money doesn’t add up,’ rumors are also spreading that ‘the tax office is moving in’.”

  • “We Wanted to Feel That Sense of Unity”: Fukuoka Biker Gang Ditches Motorcycles (Wallets and All) Mid-Chase, Then Turns Themselves In

    In Miyama, Fukuoka Prefecture, four men aged 18 to 19 were referred to prosecutors after repeatedly weaving through traffic and running red lights on motorcycles. When a patrol car gave chase, they abandoned their bikes—wallets and all—and fled on foot, but it later emerged that they turned themselves in to police, saying they “figured they’d give it back.” On 5ch, the discussion ranged from exasperation at the young men’s selfishness, to whether penalties should be toughened, to whether the responsibility for discipline lies with the family or the schools.

    This footage was filmed in Miyama, Fukuoka Prefecture.

    A motorcycle weaves back and forth, drifting into the oncoming lane. Another bike then appears, and together they ride straight through a red light at an intersection.

    Four men aged 18 to 19 were referred to prosecutors on suspicion of this kind of reckless driving.

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

    3AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:06
    Bet he's got a tattoo
    82AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:30
    Re: #3
    He might not even have 5,000 yen on him
    5AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:08
    Isn't this guy just too dumb?
    Also, his buddies are probably gonna rough him up for this later
    8AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:09
    Re: #5
    I bet his buddies are on the same level
    23AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:13
    Why not just make the penalties harsher?
    They should confiscate modified bikes and make traffic prison the default sentence
    49AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:21
    Re: #23
    Rather than harsher penalties, it'd be better to write clear legal standards for measuring noise levels, and revise the law so police can force a stop—even by methods that risk a fatal accident—on people who ignore a stop order and try to flee.
    Harsher punishment doesn't really deter crime.
    What works is making sure they get caught, that they can't get away.
    If getting caught is guaranteed, the crime stops being worth it, and fewer people will do it
    111AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:40
    Re: #49
    No way you can allow forced stops for something that won't even get harshly punished once you catch them.
    Harsher penalties have to come first
    26AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:15
    IQ of zero, probably
    45AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:19
    Re: #26
    Zero is impossible, though
    90AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:31
    Re: #26
    It's negative! ("yaken" — Kyushu dialect for "because")
    58AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:24
    Kids with no place to belong, driven to despair by unfair adults, huddling together and feeling that bond as they race down the one-way street of youth, right?
    77AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:28
    Re: #58
    If you want to huddle together, go do some charity work instead 😜
    70AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:27
    Let's not create any differences, let's make everyone equal.
    Teachers mustn't scold kids because it might count as harassment.
    Let's protect the kids who are bad at sports.
    The result: kids with dulled intellect and ability get mass-produced—less like bean sprouts and more like thin, flimsy processed konjac noodles. Well, you could see this coming a mile away… 😮‍💨
    76AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:28
    Re: #70
    That's exactly why it's not a teacher problem, it's a family problem—it's on the parents. You're missing the point
    72AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:27
    Classic case of getting a job at a local construction firm and turning into a delinquent ("DQN")
    91AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:31
    Re: #72
    Decent paycheck, a pretty wife and kids,
    owns a home, living happily
    lots of hometown friends too
    102AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:34
    Re: #76
    Decent parents don't teach their kids to misbehave. You're missing the point
    119AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:42
    Amazing, isn't it—schools treat young people like customers these days, so they just keep acting like customers no matter what
    132AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:49
    If the police were serious about catching them, I bet they could identify the culprits just by analyzing the footage—but they're actually pretty soft on bosozoku (biker gangs).
    When someone waltzes in to turn themselves in like this, all they can do is roll up the rest of the gang one by one
    137AnonymousAug 23, 2026 18:51
    Re: #132
    They cover their faces though—usually wrapping a bandana around their mouth or wearing a mask
    150AnonymousAug 23, 2026 19:01
    So, do they actually get the stuff the police seized back?
    184AnonymousAug 23, 2026 19:16
    Re: #150
    Evidence items generally get returned once the whole investigation wraps up and the sentence (or disposition) is finalized

    Background and Key Points

    In Japan, gangs of young motorcyclists who weave through traffic and run lights are called bosozoku — a subculture that peaked at roughly 40,000 registered members nationwide in the early 1980s and has shrunk to a small fraction of that today as police crackdowns and an aging youth population thinned the ranks. Miyama is a quiet, semi-rural corner of Fukuoka Prefecture, not a nightlife district, which is part of why dashcam-style footage of bikes running a red light there drew attention. Because the four men are 18 or 19, they fall under Japan’s “specified juvenile” (tokutei shonen) category, created when the Diet lowered the age of adulthood to 18 in 2022 but kept a modified juvenile-law track for 18- and 19-year-olds — they can be named and tried more like adults than younger teens, yet the case still moves through prosecutors rather than an immediate criminal trial.

    The thread’s real disagreement wasn’t over whether the riders were foolish — that was assumed — but over what would actually stop this behavior: posters calling for harsher sentences and confiscated bikes clashed with posters arguing that certainty of being caught, not severity of punishment, is what deters, with one reply noting that legalizing forcible stops requires harsher penalties to already be in place first. A second, separate fault line was whether this reflects failed parenting or a school system too afraid to discipline students.

    What outside readers may not realize: abandoning wallets and turning themselves in doesn’t guarantee leniency, and as one poster noted, seized items are typically returned only after the case is fully resolved — turning yourself in speeds up processing, not necessarily the outcome.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Fukuoka] “Wanted to feel that sense of unity as we all rode wild together”—Bikers flee patrol car, ditch motorcycles with wallets still inside…turn themselves in, saying “I figured they’d give it back”.”