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The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from relatives — including a brother — of Kosuke Nozaki, known as “Kishu Don Juan” (who died in 2018 at age 77), who had argued that his will leaving roughly ¥1.3 billion to Tanabe City in Wakayama Prefecture was invalid. In a ruling dated September 30, the top court upheld the lower and high court decisions, finalizing the will’s validity. The relatives had claimed the handwriting looked unnatural and that Nozaki had no clear motive for the donation, but both the district and high courts found no evidence suggesting forgery. On 5ch, discussion centered on a quirk of inheritance law: even with a valid will, Nozaki’s ex-wife retains the right to claim her “reserved portion” (iryubun, a guaranteed minimum share), while siblings have no such reserved portion at all — and posters argued over exactly how the shares would break down.

In a lawsuit over the validity of a will leaving roughly ¥1.3 billion — the estate of a wealthy man known as “Kishu Don Juan” — to charity, the Supreme Court has decided to reject an appeal from relatives who argued the will was invalid. The decision, dated September 30, finalizes the first and second trial rulings that upheld the will.

The case involved relatives of Kosuke Nozaki (77 at the time of his death), a wealthy resident of Tanabe City, Wakayama Prefecture known as “Kishu Don Juan,” who died in 2018. They sought to have invalidated his will, which left approximately ¥1.3 billion of his estate to Tanabe City.

The relatives argued that “the handwriting looks unnatural, and there’s no reasonable motive for donating to Tanabe City.” But the Wakayama District Court, in the first trial, ruled the will “valid,” finding “nothing unreasonable, since the handwriting shows characteristics and quirks unique to Nozaki.” The Osaka High Court, in the second trial, likewise rejected the relatives’ appeal, stating that “even if the characters closely resemble those in another document written by Nozaki, that does not imply the will was forged.”

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

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Supreme Court] “Kishu Don Juan’s” will leaving approx. ¥1.3 billion to Tanabe City, Wakayama ruled valid — relatives’ appeal to invalidate it rejected.”

On October 2, the Agency for Cultural Affairs released the results of its fiscal 2025 “Public Opinion Survey on the Japanese Language.” A notable share of respondents said they now have fewer chances to write by hand in daily life, and the survey also found that words such as “funpan mono” (lit. “something that makes you spit out your rice laughing,” now often used to mean “outrageous” or “infuriating”) and “nagare ni sao sasu” (lit. “to pole a boat along with the current,” meaning to ride the momentum of the moment, but widely misread as going against it) are spreading with meanings that differ from their original ones. On 5ch, a thread lit up with chatter about the merits of keeping a diary with a fountain pen, other commonly misused words like “shiodoki” (the right time to act, often misused to mean “the time to quit”) and “yakubusoku” (underqualified for a role, often misused to mean the opposite), and firsthand accounts of forgetting how to write kanji — all feeding a lively discussion about how the meanings of words drift over time.

“Everyday Handwriting” at 70% — Meanings of “Funpan” and “Nagare ni Sao” Shifting: National Language Survey, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Jiji.com

Published October 2, 2026, 17:00 JST

On the 2nd, the Agency for Cultural Affairs released the results of its fiscal 2025 “Public Opinion Survey on the Japanese Language.” The survey found that opportunities for handwriting in daily life have declined, and that many people understand words such as “funpan mono” and “nagare ni sao sasu” in a sense different from their original meaning.

Source: jiji.com / Read the original article here

180AnonymousOct 2, 2026 18:30

'Keiteki o narasu' (sounding a horn/whistle) sounds kind of dumb

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[Japanese Language] “Everyday Handwriting” at 70% — Meanings of “Funpan” and “Nagare ni Sao” Shifting: National Language Survey, Agency for Cultural Affairs.”