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  • Yoshiaki Kanemura Voices Concern Over Hanshin’s Approval of Teruaki Sato’s MLB Bid — Also Weighs In on Coaching Staff Departures

    Sports Hochi commentator Yoshiaki Kanemura addressed, on the October 19 broadcast of MBS Radio’s “Kanemura Yoshiaki no Eekagen ni Se~!,” Hanshin’s decision to approve infielder Teruaki Sato’s bid to pursue a Major League career via the posting system this offseason. Sato, the team’s star hitter who won the Triple Crown this season, prompted Kanemura to voice anxiety about the team’s weakened lineup, saying, “What are they going to do without him?” He also touched on the departures of coaches Eiichi Koyano and Atsushi Fujimoto, declining to state a reason and merely commenting, “I can guess.” Reactions on 5ch were split over whether the coaches’ departures signal turmoil within the club or are simply routine personnel moves, and opinions also diverged over how much weight to give Sato’s Triple Crown.

    Yoshiaki Kanemura voices concern over Hanshin’s approval of Teruaki Sato’s posting bid: “What are they going to do without him? I have no idea what’ll happen!”… also says “I can guess” about coaches Eiichi Koyano and Atsushi Fujimoto’s departures

    Yoshiaki Kanemura, a Sports Hochi commentator who played for the Kintetsu Buffaloes and Chunichi Dragons during his playing career, appeared on MBS Radio’s “Kanemura Yoshiaki no Eekagen ni Se~!” on the 19th.

    Addressing Hanshin’s approval of infielder Teruaki Sato’s bid to pursue a Major League career via the posting system this offseason, he voiced concern over the team’s weakened lineup: “What are they going to do without Teru-teru? It’s shocking, I have no idea! Once the Triple Crown winner is gone…”

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

    3AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:56
    Re: #3
    Teru's transfer was probably already priced in, but the coaches leaving feels closer to an actual crisis.
    19AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:02
    Re: #1
    Re: #3
    Next year they'll lose even more than this year, and he'll probably be throwing tantrums nonstop.
    26AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:08
    Re: #1
    Re: #3
    Only idiots who've never played a sport in their life think the manager or coaches actually matter that much in baseball.
    8AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:58
    What's with the "I can guess" comment?
    29AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:09
    Re: #8
    If he says that, he'll get banned from Koshien again and end up with nothing but Orix commentary gigs.
    42AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:16
    Re: #29
    Kanemura's not exactly popular in Nagoya either, you know.
    15AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:59
    Teru's Triple Crown was only possible because Murakami and Okamoto weren't around, though.
    66AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:34
    Re: #15
    The numbers are still impressive though.
    80AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:39
    Re: #15
    By that logic, Murakami's Triple Crown was only because Seiya Suzuki wasn't around either.
    Even Kiyohara said Seiya Suzuki was the strongest player in Japan.
    83AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:39
    Re: #15
    Murakami and Okamoto rack up homers playing in a dome and the tiny Jingu Stadium.
    Both their home run counts would tank if they played at Koshien.
    21AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:04
    Honestly, doesn't Hanshin kind of not want to win the championship?
    Because salaries would skyrocket.
    30AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:09
    Re: #21
    The Murakami Fund got caught up in the insider trading scandal involving Livedoor and Nippon Broadcasting System shares, and when its founder was forced to step down (he later made a comeback), the fund sold off its Hanshin Electric Railway shares. Hankyu Holdings (now Hankyu Hanshin Holdings) bought up those shares, putting Hanshin under Hankyu's umbrella — so maybe that salary-suppression thing isn't really an issue anymore?
    35AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:12
    With Okamoto and Murakami gone it was already easier to win the Triple Crown, and now if Sato's gone too, Maki and Morishita have a huge shot at the Triple Crown next season lol
    39AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:14
    Re: #35
    If those two head to MLB as well, we'll be left with even smaller fry.
    38AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:13
    This guy has nothing to do with Hanshin at all.
    He's annoying, wish he'd just disappear.
    43AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:16
    Re: #38
    We're probably even less connected to Hanshin than Kanemura is lol
    41AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:15
    Even Orix's manager Nakajima said the team and players had gotten totally slack by the time he left. I guess it's tough to keep motivation up over a long season.
    But the bigger problem is the farm team, not the first team — it's nothing but scrubs. Even watching their pregame practice, their focus level is shockingly low.
    53AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:22
    This guy's desperately trying to stay relevant by name-dropping Hanshin, but Hanshin couldn't care less about him.
    56AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:24
    Does this guy even have any connection to Hanshin?
    Fujikawa (the manager) is shutting out even Hanshin alumni right now, so I doubt Kanemura actually knows what's going on inside the team.
    60AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:26
    Re: #18
    I mean, seriously
    what are the odds both of them conveniently came down with health issues at the same time lol
    68AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:35
    Re: #1
    Fine, keep it vague, but at least tell us what he was putting up with, Kanemura.
    Though if you think about it normally, it's probably Fujikawa.
    72AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:36
    Re: #60
    They're playing six days a week, over three hours a game every day.
    On top of practice too — everyone's body is wrecked.
    76AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:37
    Re: #72
    They could've just rested him during the meaningless end-of-season games.
    79AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:39
    Re: #76
    They prioritized Teru's shot at 40 home runs.
    Put another way, that's about all the Climax Series is worth — it's just a sideshow.
    84AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:40
    Re: #76
    There's a title on the line, after all.
    And Hanshin fans are coming out to see SatoTeru and Morishita, so they can't afford to rest them.
    That's probably why he pleaded directly to get treatment time worked into practice hours.
    77AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:37
    Murakami and Okamoto are both heading over too, so it's fine.
    It's sad to see star players leave Japan, but there should be some balance.
    82AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:39
    Re: #77
    He's not really star-player level though.
    85AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:40
    Re: #79
    The opponent isn't (soft-tossing) Aoyagi, so there's no way he can hit lol
    90AnonymousOct 20, 2026 00:41
    A win rate just a bit over .500 and advancing in 3rd place is plenty good enough.
    If an overqualified player wants out, just let him go.
    Especially if he can't deliver when it matters most.
    Using the money from the posting fee to reinforce the roster with multiple players is absolutely the better move.
    Of course the coaches have to resign and take responsibility lol
    It'd be scarier if they just quietly stuck around.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    The posting system lets a player, with his team’s consent, gain the right to negotiate a move to Major League Baseball; Teruaki Sato is the Hanshin Tigers’ star hitter who won the Triple Crown in the 2025 season. Kanemura’s phrase “shiran de” is Kansai dialect roughly equivalent to “I can’t vouch for what happens next,” and reads as a blunt expression of concern over losing a key asset. Meanwhile, the club has given no official explanation for the departures of coaches Eiichi Koyano and Atsushi Fujimoto, and since Kanemura himself avoided stating anything definitive — saying only “I can guess” — speculation about internal circumstances spread through the thread. Readers should note that two competing takes on Sato’s Triple Crown coexist here: that he “only won it because Murakami and Okamoto weren’t around,” and that it was simply “an impressive record” — neither backed by any objective statistical analysis, both remaining purely impressionistic opinions from 5ch.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Sokuhou+) thread “[Baseball] Yoshiaki Kanemura voices concern over Hanshin’s approval of Teruaki Sato’s posting bid, “I have no idea”… “I can guess” about coaching staff departures.”

  • Even the Kamakura Shogunate Mnemonic Changed: 5ch’s Running List of ‘Things That Used to Be Called Something Else’

    A 5ch thread listing things whose names have changed over the years — like “jeans are now ‘denim’” and “Georgia used to be ‘Gruzia’” — blew up with replies. Topics ranged from official renamings of countries and dog breeds to barely-alive slang for toothpaste and bell-bottoms, and partway through, posters started objecting that “some of these aren’t renamings — they’re just different things.” Plenty of people were also surprised to learn that the mnemonic for founding the Kamakura shogunate had changed from “Nice Kingdom (1192)” to “Nice Box (1185).”

    1AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:51
    Everyday items & names
    Rewind ⇒ Fast-reverse (as media moved from tape to DVD/streaming)
    Jeans (jiipan) ⇒ Denim / jeans
    2AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:54
    Gruzia → Georgia
    Kiev → Kyiv
    Shiba-ken, Akita-ken → Shiba-inu, Akita-inu (old vs. new reading of "dog" in the breed names)
    3AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:57
    Bald → 'Natural'
    5AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:01
    Diamond 4 → Rito Kyame
    7AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:02
    Reira → Layla
    62AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:18
    Re: #7
    🐹<Still at it, huh
    9AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:04
    Nosebleed (hanaji) used to be written 'hanadi' (鼻血/はなぢ)
    Ground (jimen) was also written 'dimen' (地面/ぢめん)
    The voiced form of 'chi' (ち) is technically 'di' (ぢ), but so many idiots kept misspelling it 'ji' (じ) that 'ji' got officially allowed too.

    In other words, it's the bottom of society running the world.
    20AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:21
    Re: #9
    The 'ji' in 'jimen' (ground, 地) isn't a voiced version of 'chi' (ち) at all — it was always its own separate reading, 'ji' (じ). Same deal as in 'nunoji' (fabric), 'kiji' (dough/cloth), and 'jihada' (bare skin).
    10AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:07
    When did people start calling brake discs 'disc rotors'?
    11AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:09
    Re: #1
    It's less that the names changed and more that some of these are just different things entirely.
    12AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:10


    13AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:11
    'Railway Memorial Day' quietly became 'Railway Day'
    14AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:12
    So what happens to 'Confession Memorial Day,' then?
    15AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:13
    Savile Row → sebiro (business suit; one theory traces the Japanese word to the London street)
    Waishatto ('white shirt') → Y-shirt (shortened after 'white' got misheard as 'Y')
    16AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:17
    Takamatsunomiya Cup → Takamatsunomiya Kinen (horse race renamed)
    17AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:18
    MD (MiniDisc) ⇒ data files / audio tracks / streaming subscriptions

    That's not a renaming, that's just everything being completely different
    18AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:18
    If 'tokkuri' (turtleneck) counts, so should 'rappa zubon' (bell-bottoms, lit. 'trumpet pants')
    19AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:20
    Even some young people still say 'chakku' for zipper
    22AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:21
    Someone really should update 'hamigakiko' (tooth-polishing powder) by now — it hasn't been powder in decades
    31AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:28
    Re: #22
    → 'nerihamigaki' (toothpaste paste)
    60AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:17
    Re: #22
    Choco-mint
    23AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:23
    Vincent van Gogh (anglicized 'Binsento') ⇒ Vincent van Gogh (Dutch pronunciation, 'Finsento')
    24AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:23
    'Nuke it in the microwave' (renji de chin) still works as an expression, but modern microwaves don't even make that 'chin' (ding) sound anymore, right?
    25AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:24
    I still use an old microwave, so I still say 'chin'
    26AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:25
    I bet the adults who called every home game console a 'Famicom' have finally died out
    33AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:28
    Denim is technically just the name of the fabric, not the pants — but Ayumi Hamasaki saying odd things like 'wearing denim' caught on as a misunderstanding and spread from there
    36AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:30
    Re: #33
    Kind of like 'spaghetti' vs. 'pasta'?
    34AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:29
    'Nice Kingdom (1192), the Kamakura Shogunate' ⇒ 'Nice Box (1185), the Kamakura Shogunate' (the mnemonic for the founding year changed)
    38AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:33
    Jitterin'Jinn → Whiteberry
    51AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:51
    Different angle from OP, but where I'm from we said 'buruuma' for gym shorts and 'shumiizu' for a slip/chemise
    52AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:53
    Re: #20
    What's that theory actually based on?
    Not clear how you'd even prove something like that
    55AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:10
    'Boin' (slang for big boobs) → 'kyonyuu' (big breasts)
    Then again, isn't 'kyonyuu' old-fashioned too by now?
    56AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:14
    Millibar and hectopascal aren't a case of 'the name changed,' lol (they're just different units)
    67AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:23
    Morning Musume → Morning Musume '26 (the group tacks on the year now)
    69AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:24
    Okama/homo/lez, etc. → LGBTTQQIAAPO2S

    Background and talking points

    Each change raised in the thread has its own backstory. “Gruzia → Georgia” reflects a 2015 change by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made to move away from the Russian-derived name. “Kiev → Kyiv” followed Russia’s 2022 invasion, as major media switched to honor the Ukrainian pronunciation. “Nice Kingdom → Nice Box” stems from textbooks adopting the theory that the Kamakura shogunate’s founding should be dated to 1185, when real control was established, rather than 1192, when the shogun was formally appointed — the year itself didn’t change, just which year counts as the founding. Some replies argued these aren’t cases of “the name changing” so much as “one thing being swapped for an entirely different thing” (>>11), and the same objection came up around brake discs vs. disc rotors, where a difference in part terminology was being treated as a mere renaming. The ji/di spelling rule comes from modern kana usage conventions, and other replies pushed back on the accuracy of the popular theory behind it.

    ※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread「Wow, there really are a lot of things whose names changed between then and now」.

  • After Ito-Yokado, Now Aeon: Supermarket Business Falls Into the Red as 30% of Its 760 Stores Struggle, ~100 to Close

    In Aeon’s earnings report, overall operating profit hit a record high, while the supermarket (grocery) business fell into the red — it was reported that 30% of its roughly 760 affiliated stores are unprofitable, and the company plans to close about 100 stores going forward. On the forum thread, this was seen as a continuation of the slump at Ito-Yokado, with many commenters pointing to structural factors: customers being siphoned off by discount supermarkets like OK Store, drugstores, and specialty chains such as Uniqlo and Nitori. At the same time, many posts drew on concrete personal experience — concerns about rural areas becoming “shopping deserts,” the reality of closing-down sales, and opinions on private-label products — broadening the discussion beyond a simple “recession” narrative.

    After Ito-Yokado, Now Aeon… Operating Profit Hits Record High, but Supermarket Business in the Red — 30% of 760 Affiliated Stores Struggling, About 100 to Close

    10/19 (Mon) 11:30 JST

    J-CAST News

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

    4AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:22
    Supermarkets are going into the red because old folks keep shoplifting
    51AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:46
    Re: #4
    Leave it unmanned and shoplifting runs wild; bring back a cashier and you get a huge line of old folks waiting; the baby-boomer generation just goes for the free stuff. It's checkmate at this point.
    5AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:22
    Losing customers to OK Store, huh
    59AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:51
    Re: #5
    Of course — OK Store is cheaper
    100AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:20
    Re: #5
    The OK Store near me is pretty empty — the local supermarket chain totally dominates around here
    6AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:22
    Ito-Yokado only had stores that were obviously going to get cut
    8AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:23
    Re: #6
    York Foods (a Yokado-affiliated chain) is actually expanding. That one's decent.
    10AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:24
    So the era of Aeon dominance is ending too — demand for ordinary supermarkets just isn't there anymore
    191AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:36
    Re: #10
    Feels like we've shifted into "pass the old maid" mode, where everyone's just trying to dump the losing card on someone else (reference to the card game Old Maid/Babanuki)
    11AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:24
    For stuff that keeps, it's cheaper and easier to buy a whole case during an Amazon or Rakuten sale — that's probably where the business went
    192AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:37
    Re: #11
    The "Japanese people should all have a storehouse" theory (joking that everyone should just stockpile goods at home)
    12AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:25
    Seriously, the big supermarket near me has way fewer people depending on the time of day — people are probably drifting to the discount supermarket that's a bit farther away
    195AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:39
    Re: #12
    Feels like the time-of-day battle is heating up too — how stores time their markdown-start hours, staggering closing times. Stores that close early tend to lose out on grabbing customers, but they make up for it in cost-cutting.
    13AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:25
    First they wiped out the old shopping streets, then they went under themselves… and now all that's left in town is convenience stores…
    199AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:42
    Re: #13
    Those places have already started turning from towns into sparse little settlements. Funnily enough, the ground itself is often decent there — meanwhile some shiny new ✨ condo building turns out to be smack in the middle of a flood zone.
    15AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:26
    If there's nowhere to walk to, you're screwed once you're old — unless there's delivery
    200AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:43
    Re: #15
    AI: "Door-to-door ordering should become a core public service" (goyokiki, the old tradition of shopkeepers taking orders house to house)
    16AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:26
    I feel like I've heard that supermarkets targeting the middle class are in trouble — guess this market's polarizing too…
    204AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:45
    Re: #16
    I think people's mindset has shifted to valuing cheap prices over that ✨ fancy feel — inflation's gotten too persistent to just shrug off as a short-term blip
    22AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:29
    Well, if they're closing, the closing-down sale should have a bunch of stuff half off and worth grabbing
    205AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:47
    Re: #22
    Closing-down sales these days aren't actually that great — the good stuff sells out instantly, and the junk you don't want is still junk even at half price
    26AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:30
    If Aeon disappears from the countryside, that's basically all the entertainment out there gone too
    31AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:32
    Re: #26
    Eh, we'll just be going back to something like the Taisho era (roughly 1912–1926)
    29AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:31
    If prices are the same whether you're in the city, with its high rent and land costs, or out in the cheap countryside, you're going to lose to local regional supermarkets in rural areas
    39AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:40
    Re: #29
    In cities too, land's expensive and there's no space, so it's turning into nothing but My Basket everywhere (My Basket, Aeon's small-format convenience-style stores)
    46AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:43
    The fresh food business generates waste losses, so of course they can't beat drugstores that only handle frozen and daily-delivery foods. Those guys keep food margins razor-thin just to pull in customers and make their real money on medicine. Clothing's been taken by Uniqlo and the like, and now that drugstores are grabbing even the low-waste daily foods, both foot traffic and profit just keep shrinking.
    113AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:27
    Re: #46
    Right. Both Ito-Yokado and Aeon got wrecked on clothing by Uniqlo and Shimamura, and on non-clothing daily goods by Nitori. The stuff that used to subsidize the food section's chronic losses kept getting eaten away by Uniqlo, Shimamura, and Nitori until the business model stopped working. On top of that, even the food division at Aeon, which had been holding on through discount goods and private-label products, has become unsustainable. Even Seiyu, which Walmart used to run, couldn't even manage to hold onto its discount-food strategy.
    136AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:43
    Re: #113
    And if that's good enough, there's always the 100-yen store too
    179AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:26
    Re: #113
    The TSUTAYA Books and Seibunkan Books stores that used to be attached to TSUTAYA outlets (which carried stationery and school supplies) have all disappeared one after another, and Ito-Yokado dropped its stationery/school-supplies section too. Schools don't have a supply shop either, so when you suddenly need that kind of stationery or school stuff, it's a real pain. Convenience stores still carry some stationery, at least…
    96AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:18
    Is some other supermarket hogging all the customers? People have to go to a supermarket for daily life no matter what.
    97AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:19
    Re: #96
    Spending is down overall, so profits are shrinking
    101AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:20
    Re: #96
    Wages are low, so people can't afford to buy — it's the worst kind of vicious cycle. At this point it's a political problem.
    181AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:28
    Re: #96
    Buying rice, pasta, and other staple foods that can be stored in bulk all at once saves money for shoppers, but it naturally hurts stores since it means more days with no customers coming in
    99AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:20
    It's not even cheap, and the private-label stuff tastes bad
    167AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:11
    Re: #99
    The retort-pouch large-portion curry is seriously awful — it's basically just curry roux. It's made by a subcontractor (in Ehime) for Osaka's Hachi Shokuhin, but the taste is completely different.
    173AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:16
    Re: #167
    Are there any private-label items that are actually hits, though?
    182AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:29
    Re: #173
    TopValu (Aeon's private brand) does have some hidden gems
    190AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:36
    Re: #173
    Yaoko's kaki-pi (a rice cracker and peanut snack mix) was good back when Natori was the one making it
    118AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:31
    There are two Aeons about a 15-minute walk from me, and one of them marks down prices like crazy even on items with long shelf lives, so I'm a regular there. That said, the vegetables and fish are low quality, so I buy those elsewhere.
    119AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:32
    Aeon's fresh fish never looks all that appetizing, but having a huge selection at the big mall stores is pretty convenient
    126AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:38
    Re: #118 Re: #119
    Seriously, Aeon's fish just doesn't make you want to buy it. I wonder why. Same with the meat, honestly — compared to competitors, maybe since they don't rotate the stock little by little, the prices end up a bit cheaper?
    127AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:39
    Re: #119
    Wonder why that is. Maybe it's because they only stock a small amount relative to the shelf space, so it ends up looking unappetizing?

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    General merchandise supermarkets originally relied on profits from their clothing and daily-goods divisions to subsidize the low-margin fresh food division, but they’re said to have lost that revenue source as specialty chains like Uniqlo, Shimamura, and Nitori rose to prominence. On top of that, the core structural factor pointed out in the thread is that drugstores have been rolling out daily-delivery items and frozen foods as loss-leading draws, siphoning customers away from general supermarkets’ food sections as well. Opinions in the thread were split between those worried about declining purchasing power among the elderly and the hollowing-out of rural retail, and those who saw the culling of unprofitable stores as simply a reasonable business decision. It’s also worth noting that “Aeon’s overall operating profit hit a record high” and “the supermarket business alone is in the red” refer to different business segments — easy to misread as contradictory from the headline alone — but it actually reflects a structural challenge facing Aeon: strong performance in other divisions like mall operations and financial services is propping up overall profit, even as the core food-supermarket business keeps losing earning power.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Ordinary Supermarkets] After Ito-Yokado, Now Aeon… Operating Profit Hits Record High, but Supermarket Business in the Red — 30% of 760 Affiliated Stores Struggling, About 100 to Close.”

  • China’s GDP Grows 4.5% as AI Exports Offset Weak Domestic Demand — 5ch: ‘This Is the Power of Socialism’

    China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced on the 19th that GDP for the July-September quarter grew 4.5% year-on-year. This is an improvement over the April-June quarter’s 4.3%, but falls short of the January-March quarter’s 5% growth, landing at the lower bound of the government’s annual target range (4.5-5%). According to BBC reporting, a boom in AI-related exports is said to have offset the drag from the real estate slump and weak domestic demand. On 5ch, reactions came from several angles: skepticism about whether to take China’s official statistics at face value, debate over the relationship between authoritarian rule and economic growth, and sarcasm aimed at the long-running “China collapse theory.”

    China’s economic growth rate recovered over the three months through the end of September. An AI boom pushed up exports, lifting growth from its lowest level in three years.

    China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced on the 19th that GDP for the July-September quarter grew 4.5% year-on-year. The growth rate rose from 4.3% in the April-June quarter, but came in below the 5% recorded in the January-March quarter.

    The latest growth figure sits at the lower end of the Chinese government’s annual growth target of 4.5% to 5%. Analysts note this gives policymakers some room to address China’s economic challenges.

    Source: bbc.com / Original article here

    3AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:55
    The reason they can sell all kinds of stuff at those prices is probably because they're enslaving the Uyghurs and Tibetans.
    9AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:58
    Re: #3
    Nope, wrong.
    It's because they're the most competitive society on earth.

    Without a competitive society, having slaves doesn't actually get you growth.
    Case in point: Japan has its own "slaves" too — the Technical Intern Trainee program (a labor scheme widely criticized as exploitative) — and Japan's still in decline.
    133AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:41
    Re: #9
    A slave that costs money versus a slave that costs nothing and never quits — what do you think the difference is?
    21AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:04
    If China's economy is growing, it means exports are covering for the slump in real estate and domestic demand.
    25AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:05
    Re: #21
    More to the point, you'd have to be out of your mind to take China's official statistics at face value.
    165AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:56
    Re: #21
    EVs are a good example.
    Subsidies got revised this year and domestic car sales in China dropped over 20%.
    Chinese automakers are making up for it with exports.
    And luckily for them, Trump's war with Iran drove gas prices up, which got EV exports rolling.
    28AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:06
    China has everything it needs for growth:
    – Authoritarianism
    – Hyper-competitiveness
    – Population
    – Diligence and dexterity
    – The shamelessness to do whatever it takes, copying included

    Even if the whole world ganged up on it, nobody can beat China.
    36AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:09
    Re: #28
    China's biggest resource isn't rare earths — it's a huge labor force they can work to the bone for next to nothing.
    56AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:17
    No country has ever developed this fast before, so nobody really knows what happens next.
    59AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:18
    Re: #56
    This right here — this is the power of socialism.
    237AnonymousOct 19, 2026 23:19
    Re: #56
    And on top of that, the population is on a whole different scale.
    78AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:24
    I don't get how an AI boom is supposed to be boosting exports.
    88AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:29
    Re: #78
    Think materials for building data centers, parts for power grid infrastructure, stuff like that.
    126AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:39
    Re: #78
    Unlike a company like Kioxia that can't make the core semiconductors used in AI, China can actually produce what's needed.
    It's not a manufactured bubble like Kioxia's — the buying is real demand happening inside China.
    That turns into massive exports, and that's where the big profits come from.
    79AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:26
    What China has proven is that what you actually need for economic prosperity is capitalism — and it doesn't matter whether you're a democracy or an authoritarian state.
    82AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:27
    Re: #79
    What it proves is that a government that lets its people starve is garbage.
    92AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:30
    Re: #82
    But socialism is exactly what starves people. Look at Japan.
    94AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:31
    Re: #82
    China has lifted 800 million people out of poverty over the past 40 years. A feat of that scale is unprecedented in human history.
    91AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:30
    Re: #67
    Apparently paper textbooks stick in your memory better than tablets. Plus you can doodle on them for fun.

    97AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:31
    The West figured China would democratize once it grew. But China grew and never democratized — and it turns out that was the right call.

    Authoritarian rule makes for a stronger economy. Democratizing means you inevitably have to start protecting workers.
    110AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:34
    Re: #97
    When a country's developing economically, authoritarian systems are just more efficient.

    You could even say Japan's postwar high-growth era only happened because of the LDP's one-party dominance.
    Countries like India or Brazil, which have the potential but spend their energy on internal infighting, are hopeless by comparison.
    111AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:35
    I don't think China's going to collapse, but the inequality is going to get brutal.
    144AnonymousOct 19, 2026 22:47
    Re: #111
    Apparently it's already brutal. Rich people in the cities are absurdly wealthy while farmers out in the countryside have it rough.

    Background and key points on this topic

    China’s GDP growth is being weighed down by the real estate slump and weak domestic demand, while exports tied to AI infrastructure — EVs, semiconductors, and related goods — are propping it up. Overseas analysts have long questioned the transparency of how China’s official statistics are calculated, and the skepticism in the thread is an extension of that history. The view that “authoritarian systems are better for economic growth” rests on the idea that such systems can avoid the costs of protecting workers and mediating domestic interests — it isn’t unique to China and has come up in discussions of other cases too, such as Japan during its era of rapid economic growth. At the same time, there’s plenty to be cautious about in the substance of this growth, including the urban-rural income gap and EV makers’ heavy reliance on exports, so judging the real situation purely by the headline growth figure would be premature.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[Trade Surplus ¥189 Trillion] China’s Economic Growth Accelerates as AI Export Boom Outpaces Sluggish Domestic Consumption…“

  • Dragon Quest 12 Scraps Its Dark Version for a Brighter Direction — 5ch: ‘This Was the Optimal Answer All Along’

    Dragon Quest 12 reportedly began development with a dark world setting, but internal clashes over character design and endless debate over whether to make it action-based kept the project from ever reaching a finished state — until it was ultimately scrapped, according to a thread on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board. What ended up being announced was a brighter-toned version of 12, and the thread was split between defenders saying ‘better this than shipping something nobody was happy with,’ and critics firing back that ‘missing the Switch generation’s sales window anyway was a massive blunder.’ The discussion also spiraled into a side debate over just how ‘dark’ earlier entries in the series really were.

    1AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:31
    Sure, Horii's pride probably won't let a dark DQ go down in human history, but
    when you put both ¥22.1 billion and 9 years on the other side of the scale, does pride normally win that one? That's the real question.
    2AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:35
    If it'd been right before master-up (final build lock), sure, maybe they'd just ship it as-is.
    But it clearly never got anywhere near that level of polish.
    They fought tooth and nail over the characters, went back and forth on whether to make it action-based,
    holding meeting after meeting about stuff players couldn't care less about, convincing themselves they were getting work done.
    That's how you turn into one of those typical garbage companies.
    3AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:39
    Re: #2
    What does fighting over the characters have to do with whether it's action-based?
    What's the connection?
    66AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:56
    Re: #2
    Because the original dark version of 12 ran into development trouble.
    5AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:43
    They apparently made a creepy Western-style slime design that went over badly in-house — real Sisyphean labor (賽の河原, the Buddhist myth of endlessly rebuilding stone towers that keep collapsing).
    Curious what the finished thing actually looked like.
    Whether I'd buy it is a separate question.
    11AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:48
    Re: #5
    They didn't need to go that far — just make its eyes red, like the 'Slime Strong' variant from DQ11.
    15AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:51
    Re: #5
    Why copy Level-5, of all the studios that flopped hard?
    8AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:44
    I just want to see the visuals.
    It's probably some outrageous monstrosity.
    18AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:54
    Re: #8
    Sounds like the characters are reused designs —
    like a protagonist whose color saturation is noticeably duller than the rest of the world.
    14AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:50
    Releasing DQ11 as a 3DS exclusive turned out, in hindsight, to be the strongest possible move.
    The fact that it wowed everyone with fast development and high polish is undeniable.
    They could've had DQ12 out on the current-gen hardware that followed.
    16AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:53
    Re: #14
    And releasing 11S later on Switch and PS4 was honestly the best part of all.
    17AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:54
    Re: #14
    I played the garbage-tier PS4 version (lit. 'garbage-station 4') and the 30fps nearly blinded me.
    22AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:58
    Re: #14
    No, the moment it went 3DS-exclusive, they'd already flatly given up on top-tier polish.
    26AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:00
    Re: #18
    They probably had no choice but to use it —
    it's the last protagonist design Toriyama left behind.
    But at this rate it's basically Sand Land 2.
    43AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:30
    Re: #26
    I wish there were an update that swapped 11S's protagonist for that design.
    Still haven't gotten used to that sleek, flowing hair.
    29AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:07
    'Dark' here means the setting and story,
    not gory like a FromSoftware game.
    33AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:12
    Re: #29
    Wouldn't that end up not much different from 7?
    Or maybe like starting from the state of 11's last stronghold after everything's already collapsed?
    32AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:11
    Releasing something that won't even sell would just kill the IP.
    Don't spout amateur nonsense.
    34AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:12
    Re: #32
    'It's the amateurs who actually do it' —
    even Ryo-san said that (a famous line from the manga/anime KochiKame).
    36AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:15
    They should've just released it as a spin-off.
    If the dark fantasy take were genuinely well done, it'd get its due credit.
    38AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:19
    Re: #36
    I think the whole point is doing it as a mainline numbered entry.
    42AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:30
    Shipping something you're not satisfied with, as-is, would be the crazy move.
    If scrapping something unsatisfying as a failure and raising the finished quality is the right call, then fine, that's the right call.
    Going on about 'dark, dark' at this point — what do you even want Square Enix to do?
    45AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:35
    Re: #42
    This isn't the time to be backpedaling.
    This year's Dragon Quest Day should've at least pinned down 12's release year.
    47AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:38
    Failing to get 12 out during the Switch 1 generation is a massive blunder.
    For a domestically-focused franchise like Dragon Quest, they completely wasted a bonus window that might not come around again for another 20 years.
    49AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:40
    Re: #47
    Can't it just be on Switch 2?
    57AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:46
    Re: #47
    There was also the COVID boost, don't forget.
    54AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:44
    Re: #49
    It seems pretty unlikely Switch 2 will match or beat the previous generation's install base.
    56AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:46
    Re: #54
    Back when 7 came out, the PS2 had already been around for ages too.
    Switch 2 is basically Switch 1, so it'll be fine, right?
    59AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:48
    The DQ7 protagonist's own life is, if anything,
    the easiest one in the whole series — anything but dark.
    63AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:52
    Re: #59
    The DQ7 hero just happens to charge into dark places — his original environment and everyone close to him stay completely peaceful.

    Re: #60
    If it's fun and it sells, that's the correct answer.
    Afterward, people will invent all the reasons in the world for why the 'cheese naan' turned out great (phrasing unclear in the original post).
    60AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:48
    If it never reached a quality they could live with, not releasing it was probably the right call —
    but that doesn't necessarily mean the bright, cheerful 12 they actually put out this time is the right answer either…
    61AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:49
    Re: #56
    Bringing up DQ7 as an example — do you seriously think 12, which just had its rework announced, is coming out multi-platform on Switch 1?
    Game development these days takes forever, you know.
    62AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:51
    Re: #61
    Apparently there's a console out there that rode piggyback on the PS4 for a good five years.
    64AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:53
    Dragon Quest is basically dark at its core to begin with.
    The only entries you could really call 'bright' are spin-offs like Torneko or Slime MoriMori, no?
    75AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:48
    Re: #64
    In DQ6, from Prince Leodrick's perspective rather than the player's, all he loses is his stepsister and one companion.
    DQ7 gets called dark constantly, but the hero and his own family come through completely unscathed.
    DQ8's 'leave-the-sage-to-die' tour and Marcello are also squarely within light-fantasy territory.
    Even Tales games have named-character deaths and wiped-out villages, so that alone doesn't make something dark.
    67AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:57
    The optimal answer was simply releasing it on Switch 1 without any delay.
    71AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:28
    Re: #67
    Pokémon did exactly that, and its Switch-only sales alone already topped Dragon Quest's entire cumulative total.
    80AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:02
    The current direction wasn't something they wanted to make from the start either — it's just a patch job filling the hole left when the dark route fell through.
    Even the character designs still show traces of the dark concept, and it reeks of being rushed together.
    98AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:12
    Re: #80
    Feels like it's going to end up half-baked in the end, just like Final Fantasy XV.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Dragon Quest 12 has been a subject of chatter over its prolonged development ever since its 2024 announcement, and the thread’s account of a ‘dark version that stalled due to development troubles’ rests on speculation tied to previously reported production turmoil. What split opinion in the thread wasn’t whether the change in direction itself was right, but how to judge its timing. While the decision to prioritize polish is defended by some, there’s a strong chorus concerned about the missed opportunity of not launching during the Switch era, a period with an unusually large install base. Note that ‘dark’ here refers to the weight of the setting and story, not grotesque imagery — it’s easy to misread this as implying FromSoftware-style extreme content, which isn’t what’s meant.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch Hardware/Industry (Geha) board thread, ‘[DQ12] We Really Didn’t Want To, But We’re Releasing the Dark DQ We Made ← Turns Out This Was the Optimal Answer After All’.

  • Uniqlo Hikes Prices Nov. 10 — “Kando Jacket” Jumps to ¥7,990; 5ch Reacts: “So Thin, LOL”

    On the 16th, Uniqlo announced on its official site that it will raise prices on some products and services by an average of about 4% starting November 10. The “Kando Jacket” will go from ¥6,990 to ¥7,990, and bulk sock sales will also be discontinued. On the thread, many commenters said the fabric used to be thicker and the quality better back then, with the discussion mostly revolving around comparisons of quality-to-price balance against Shimamura, Workman, and GU. Opinions were split between those who think the brand’s popularity won’t suffer despite the price hikes and those who see its domestic popularity fading compared to its growth overseas.

    Published Mon, Oct 19, 5:07 PM

    Oricon

    Uniqlo announced on its official website on the 16th that it will raise prices on some products and services, amounting to “an average increase of about 4% in retail price,” starting November 10. The “Kando Jacket” will rise from ¥6,990 to ¥7,990.

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

    12AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:57
    Thin as paper lol
    Quality used to be better back in the day
    45AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:04
    Re: #12
    That's because the yen was strong back then
    218AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:57
    Re: #12
    The sweater I bought this January got covered in pills almost immediately
    It used to last years
    15AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:59
    Well, Uniqlo clothes are durable
    but that's the only good thing about them
    134AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:29
    Re: #15
    The fabric these days is thin though
    Miss those heavy, sturdy old cargo pants
    139AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:31
    Re: #15
    They're not durable at all
    Their cotton boxer briefs wear out faster than the equivalent from GU, which is ¥100 cheaper
    32AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:01
    Maybe it's time Japanese people just stopped buying Uniqlo clothes
    41AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:03
    Re: #32
    Where else would you even go? Brand names are expensive and Shimamura looks cheap
    53AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:06
    Re: #32
    I buy secondhand Uniqlo on Mercari (Japan's biggest flea-market app)
    39AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:03
    Uniqlo's basically a high-end brand now

    56AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:07
    Way back I used to buy underwear and socks at Uniqlo, but these last few years I've switched to Shimamura, which is cheap and decent quality
    Uniqlo isn't cheap and isn't particularly stylish either, so what's the point of it anymore
    76AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:12
    Re: #56
    Uniqlo socks are a no
    Shimamura wins hands down
    When you take off Uniqlo socks, fibers stick to your feet and it's gross
    The only good thing about Uniqlo innerwear
    is how it feels against the skin — functionality is low
    HEATTECH is the prime example

    https://youtu.be/JrCr6FElwHQ?si=WE7s0iD8SThl5Kce
    58AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:07
    Middle-aged and older folks in their 30s-60s wearing the same clothes as middle/high schoolers lol
    64AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:09
    Re: #58
    It's the other way around — the kids are wearing the same clothes as the old folks
    You're young, go buy some Stüssy or something
    79AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:13
    Stop raking in profits in Japan — where'd all the money you made overseas go?
    84AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:16
    Re: #79
    Reinvested back into global expansion
    82AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:14
    Don't care as long as GU doesn't raise prices too
    Uniqlo is mediocre on both price and quality
    86AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:17
    Re: #82
    Honestly GU's already pretty pricey for how thin the fabric is
    90AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:18
    Re: #76
    >Uniqlo socks are a no
    >Shimamura wins hands down
    I'll take your word for it (´・ω・`)
    Gonna try buying some next time
    130AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:28
    Re: #90
    Jumping in, but yeah you can trust it
    Especially for men, Shimamura socks are seriously the best
    On the flip side, there's nothing at Shimamura worth buying for an adult man's clothing
    Their men's clothing is strictly for middle schoolers and under
    108AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:22
    Workman's fine by me
    Their stitching and overall quality keep getting better every year — it's not cheap-and-nasty anymore
    They were already known for high-performance materials, and now the construction's gotten good too, so no complaints at all
    132AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:29
    Re: #108
    Which Workman items are actually good quality?
    109AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:22
    You guys just wear whatever clothes your aging mom picks up at the supermarket, so this doesn't even apply to you
    114AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:25
    Re: #109
    Supermarkets don't even sell clothes these days
    Stop making mommy do all your shopping and go buy your own stuff
    113AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:24
    All my pants have gotten baggy on me
    124AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:26
    Re: #113
    Did you lose weight from not eating properly?
    145AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:32
    I've never bought anything from Uniqlo — is it really that popular?
    149AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:34
    Re: #145
    It used to be simple items, high quality, low prices
    Now they just keep jacking up prices on low-quality stuff chasing trends that are already behind the times
    172AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:41
    Re: #145
    Say what you want, it's reliable
    A lot of stuff at a similar price point or a bit higher ends up costing more than Uniqlo while being worse made
    150AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:35
    No matter how much they raise prices, popularity isn't going to drop
    It's like Disney
    155AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:36
    Re: #150
    Sales figures
    Japan up 3%
    Overseas (ex-Japan) up 20% overall

    Popularity in Japan is definitely declining
    158AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:37
    Re: #155
    Strip out the weak-yen effect from the overseas numbers and it's probably single digits too
    The gap's probably not that big
    162AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:39
    Re: #155
    Honestly it feels like the Japanese market is already fully saturated
    Rich people wouldn't even glance at Uniqlo, and poor people go to GU instead

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    This isn’t Uniqlo’s first price hike — these have come in waves in recent years, driven by rising raw material and shipping costs tied to the weak yen. The sense among several posters in the thread that “the fabric has gotten thinner” may be connected to past cost-cutting efforts that kept prices flat while quietly lowering quality instead (essentially the reverse of shrinkflation — holding the price steady while cutting quality rather than quantity), though the thread never verifies when or how any specific product actually changed, so this remains purely a matter of personal impression. There was also a comment to the effect that Uniqlo’s popularity is declining in Japan, but no source was given for the sales-comparison figures cited, and it’s worth noting there’s no official data backing this up. The way Uniqlo, GU, Shimamura, and Workman — brands spanning different price tiers — all get lumped together for comparison reflects how unsettled consumers’ sense of “value for money” has become in the clothing market.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Price Hike Rush] Uniqlo Announces Price Increase from Nov. 10 — “Kando Jacket” ¥6,990 → ¥7,990, Bulk Sock Sales Also Ending.”

  • AI Search Drives ‘Zero-Click’ Rate Up to 68% — 5ch Reacts: ‘Don’t Make It Search, Make It Think With You’

    Nikkei Cross Trend reports that a survey by Valuates found the “zero-click” rate — users getting their answer from an AI search without ever clicking through to the source — has climbed to 68%. On 5ch’s Business News+ board, reactions split between those who see this as the death knell for the SEO industry and those who argue AI search is fundamentally different from old keyword-driven search, calling it something that should “think alongside you rather than just search.” Complaints about excessive ads and pages that hide their content behind clicks piled up, with criticism landing more on how existing sites are built than on AI search itself.

    Nikkei Cross Trend

    October 18, 2026, 2:00 AM

    According to a survey by Valuates (Minato, Tokyo), a consulting firm that analyzes web behavior log data from a consumer panel of roughly 2.5 million people,

    Source: nikkei.com / Original article here

    2AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:02
    Guess this is the end for all the orgs that made a living off SEO consulting, blogging, and search rankings
    3AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:09
    AI search is a weird, mysterious world
    The keyword here: "Don't make it search — make it think alongside you"
    4AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:09
    It's shady making money off other people's work without permission
    It's blatantly violating no-scraping terms of service left and right
    We're at the stage where a law change is overdue
    14AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:36
    Re: #4
    What are you even talking about — that "work" was just a business book some ghostwriter was paid to churn out
    That kind of copy-everything writing was always a privilege reserved for people with money; the internet and digital tools just made it the norm for everyone
    This goes back to Natsume Soseki's era, when writers ripped off Western formats
    Nagai Kafu did the same thing
    They just got there first because they were in a position to cash in on it
    After the war it was because they were near the big-city media hubs of Tokyo and Osaka
    That's literally it
    5AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:10
    "For 4.8 trillion yen, I'll become the house running the superintelligence (ASI) table"
    — Masayoshi Son
    (Excerpt from the shareholders' meeting)
    6AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:11
    Once all the 'nutrient' websites it feeds on are gone, AI's gonna get dumb!
    9AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:16
    Re: #6
    It's already hit a plateau
    7AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:12
    Welcome to the era where real info goes underground lol
    8AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:13
    At this point just let AI handle your bathroom and bathing too.
    10AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:24
    The only ones who'll actually suffer are affiliate-marketing sites
    Go ahead and wipe them out
    11AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:25
    A tailwind for old media
    12AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:32
    SEO hustlers have already pivoted to pushing "AEO" as their new hustle ages ago — why's Re: #1 acting like this is some fresh discovery
    That itself is marketing spin
    17AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:57
    Re: #12
    Yeah, the top search results are basically all ad agencies/content farms anyway
    13AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:34
    There are so many ads you can't even view sites properly anymore
    Lately there are way too many ads showing up before the actual article.
    They used to just sit off to the side
    15AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:45
    That's what happens when so many sites force you to sit through an ad before showing the actual text lol
    16AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:57
    Even when you click a site from the search results, sometimes all you get is an ad with no actual content
    18AnonymousOct 19, 2026 17:58
    Can we please stop building sites that don't even render in a text browser
    19AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:20
    Hey Google, putting that thing right there is against the rules. You telling me you don't need ad revenue anymore?
    23AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:32
    Re: #19
    They've been slipping ads inside it since the year before last
    20AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:22
    Well of course it ends with just a summary
    21AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:30
    Re: #20
    It's not just a summary though
    It pulls out the best parts from multiple sites and compares them
    That's exactly where it's useful

    Doing that yourself takes a lot of effort
    Even double-checking it is easier once you've got some baseline knowledge
    People who look down on AI probably aren't doing anything impressive themselves either
    22AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:31
    Also, if you're only having it search in Japanese, you're wasting its potential
    You can have it compare high-trust sources from all over the world
    32AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:44
    If anything
    on top of that
    I'll tell it: "add your own evaluation to each explanation
    write it in separate columns so it's clear what's the source's content and what's your commentary"

    that kind of prompt

    and once it comes back, I'll go "fix this part" or
    "add this in" and iterate
    What it hands you on the first pass is pretty much never the best possible answer
    33AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:51
    Media companies might genuinely be finished at this rate
    They need to build sites that actually draw people in — good content, real appeal
    34AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:57
    That's not quite right
    If you want to see more, you'll still go to the actual site
    Because AI is just the middleman here
    But if that site's wall-to-wall ads, nobody's going
    AI is playing the role of curator
    And if you don't get curated, of course you decline
    35AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:59
    Content quality is what actually matters
    That hasn't changed since the early Google days
    Same principle as PageRank
    36AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:45
    The moment it finishes reading through all the human-made material and runs out of fresh source material, it's going to degrade fast
    Things that multiply suddenly disappear just as suddenly — right now it's basically a locust swarm in full bloom
    38AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:57
    Re: #36
    Still way better than how degraded you are
    37AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:53
    Can't even close the ad, so I just bounce and never go back — fix that on your end
    39AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:59
    Once it's exhausted everything humans have made, AI-generated content is probably going to become its own source material
    40AnonymousOct 19, 2026 21:15
    SEO tactics are a net negative anyway, fine by me if that whole industry collapses

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    “Zero-click” refers to the behavior of being satisfied with a search result’s summary and never clicking through to the source — a phenomenon that was already being flagged around Google’s featured snippets well before AI search took off. This latest survey shows that rate climbing even further as AI search spreads. Within the thread, opinions clashed between those who see AI search’s unauthorized use of copyrighted material for training and summarization as a violation of anti-scraping terms, and those who countered that aggregating and presenting information has always existed in some form — neither side reached a verdict on who’s “right.” In practice, the SEO industry has already been shifting toward “AEO” (Answer Engine Optimization) tactics aimed at getting picked up by AI-generated answers, so the “end of an era” discussed in the thread looks more like a shift in method than the industry’s outright disappearance. The excessive ad load cited as a factor in declining click-through rates also reads less as a problem unique to AI search and more as a design issue on the part of existing websites.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Business News+) thread “AI Search Adoption Pushes Zero-Click Rate to 68% — Site Traffic Shaken.”

  • Fern Figure Sparks Debate Over Her ‘True Form’

    A 5ch live-commentary thread blew up over a figure of Fern from Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. In the show, there’s an episode where Fern uses the ‘Anywhere Window’ spell to sneak a donut, and she’s drawn so round that her belly gets stuck in the window frame. That single panel became the thread’s running joke: the slim figure is her ‘fake form,’ while her round, chubby-cheeked look from that episode is her ‘true form.’ Posters also argued over whether the chubby Fern shown in Stark’s flashback was an exaggeration or not.

    1AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:36
    True form
    2AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:36
    Fake form
    17AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:43
    Re: #2
    That's just the body double — Skinny Fern
    22AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:47
    Re: #2
    Isn't that just from when she was younger?
    5AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:37
    Chubby Fern is the cuter one though
    7AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:37
    Re: #5
    Don't say that too loud, people will actually believe it
    34AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:53
    Re: #5
    That's exactly why Frieren spoiled her into getting fat
    9AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:38

    A reasonably chubby figure
    68AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:13
    Re: #9
    She's gonna chomp down that wild yam she's holding and get even fatter
    14AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:41

    Is the person holding the fish supposed to be Matsuko Deluxe? (a famous Japanese TV personality)
    18AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:45

    A women's pro wrestler from the Aja Kong era? (a famous Japanese female wrestler)
    21AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:47
    24AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:48
    This is the timeline all the fans want to see
    26AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:49
    Re: #24
    Can't beat the 'strongest enemy turns ally' plot twist
    27AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:50
    Re: #24
    If she could have conversations like this, she wouldn't get exterminated
    33AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:52
    Why did she get this fat
    38AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:56
    Re: #33
    54AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:03
    Re: #38
    Round-Face Triple Donut
    Guess she leveled up from Double to Triple
    37AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:55

    Fern: 'Who's this fat round-faced woman…'
    49AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:01
    Re: #37
    Fern: 'Huh, I look bigger than usual. This mirror must be broken.'
    She looks ready to smash that mirror
    87AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:31
    Re: #37
    Isn't she usually even fatter? The mirror's being nice and making her look a bit thinner
    45AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:59

    Guess she's doing magic practice and sumo training every day
    61AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:06
    This is exactly what we want
    63AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:08
    Re: #61
    Why's she suddenly giving off pure-and-elegant-beauty vibes
    70AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:15
    Re: #61
    Yeah, this works too
    76AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:21
    Re: #61
    Stark's proportions are way too tall, it's unsettling
    73AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:18
    Re: #70
    Can you swap the second one from the left for an elf?
    77AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:21
    Re: #73
    Here ya go
    104AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:41
    Re: #77
    I'll go back to my true form, just please don't cut me 😭

    74AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:20

    ↑ True form

    ↓ Fake form
    80AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:22
    Re: #74
    The real one's got the same silhouette as Anpanman or Doraemon (round-faced Japanese characters)
    82AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:25


    Why's she fat in the flashback
    93AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:34
    Re: #82
    Well it's a flashback, so it's colored by Stark's point of view
    108AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:47
    Re: #82
    Stark: 'Yeah, I'm pretty sure Fern was about this chubby…'
    98AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:38

    Her belly's stuck in the little window
    103AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:41
    Re: #98
    Don't strike a cool pose while you're stuck like that
    106AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:45
    Re: #98
    Guess if you use the Anywhere Window to steal a donut, your belly gets wedged in and you can't move
    112AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:53
    This is a line of Frieren's from Episode 18 of the Frieren: Beyond Journey's End anime.
    Scene summary
    • Situation: In the waiting room (or on the road) during the First-Class Mage Exam, a sulky, pouting Frieren says 'Ugh, forget it, I'm sleeping!' and flops down with her head on Fern's lap.
    • Meaning of the line: With her head pillowed on Fern's lap, her view got blocked by Fern's chest, so she complained that she could only see half the sky.

    Background and points of debate

    Fern’s round design in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End traces back to the episode where she uses the ‘Anywhere Window’ spell to sneak a donut. The memorable panel of her belly getting stuck in the window frame became the thread’s running joke: whenever fans see the slim figure or her usual svelte look, they jump in with ‘no, THIS is her real body.’ Where opinions split was over whether the chubby depiction is actually canon. Some argue the chubby Fern in Stark’s flashback is exaggerated, since flashbacks are colored by the viewer’s own perspective (post 93), while others take it at face value that she really was that round (post 108) — the thread never settled on which version is "canon." Note that the body-shape joke here refers strictly to a single in-story visual gag, not to any comment about the voice actress or the original creator.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread 「[Sad News] Fern Gets Turned Into a Figure in Her Fake Form」.

  • New Income-Linked Benefit to Cover 20 Million People, Income Cap in the ¥3 Million Range — Government Presents Reference Plan

    The government has presented a reference proposal to ruling and opposition parties on a new “income-linked benefit,” being considered alongside a consumption tax cut on food and beverages. Under the estimate, roughly 20 million people would be eligible, assuming an income cap in the ¥3 million range, and the preliminary rollout in fiscal 2027–28 would work out to an average of about ¥30,000 per person on a simple calculation basis. However, the payout is designed to rise or fall depending on income, so it won’t be a flat amount for everyone. On the forum, shocked reactions to “20 million people earning ¥3 million or less” collided with comments from rural residents noting that “even full-time work only gets you ¥2.7 million,” and opinions split over where exactly the line for "low income" should be drawn.

    Regarding the new income-linked benefit the government plans to introduce alongside the consumption tax cut on food and beverages, the government has presented a reference proposal on eligibility to the ruling and opposition parties.

    The proposal assumes roughly 20 million eligible recipients, with an estimated income cap in the ¥3 million range.

    On a simple calculation, the payout during the preliminary rollout in fiscal 2027–28 would average about ¥30,000 per person. However, the system is designed so the amount rises or falls depending on income, meaning the actual payout won’t be uniform.

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

    6AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:48
    20 million people earning ¥3 million or less a year?!
    96AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:08
    Re: #6
    That's because it includes pension recipients \(^o^)/
    15AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:51
    ¥3 million a year is basically working-poor territory.
    17AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:52
    Are they stupid? ¥3 million excludes almost everyone who works full-time.
    Japan never riots, so they really take us for granted.
    21AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:53
    Re: #17
    Isn't this aimed at low-income people in the countryside who barely get by even working full-time?
    168AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:29
    Re: #17
    I work full-time and make ¥2.7 million. In a city in the Tohoku region.
    23AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:53
    Re: #15
    Apparently that's 30% of all workers. No wonder Japan's getting poorer.
    35AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:55
    Re: #23
    Those must be people who aren't working full-time.
    93AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:07
    Re: #35
    If you check the job listings at rural Hello Work (job centers), you'll see that's normal even for full-time jobs.
    172AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:30
    Re: #35
    I'm full-time and make ¥2.7 million. Probably because no bonus is just the norm in regional cities.
    25AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:54
    I mean, 20 million people is the shocking part.
    47AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:56
    Re: #25
    20 million out of a workforce of 60 million earning ¥3 million or less — yeah, this country really is finished.
    63AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:00
    Re: #25
    Must be a lie. According to the National Personnel Authority (which sets civil servant pay), the average private-sector salary is ¥7.5 million. And to "correct the disparity," civil servant pay has risen for five straight years \(^o^)/
    34AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:55
    20 million people earning ¥3 million or less, and that's not even counting the unemployed?!

    This is way too much "Poverty Japan"…
    51AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:58
    Re: #34
    But according to the National Personnel Authority's survey, Japan's average annual income is ¥6.5 million.
    56AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:58
    ¥30,000 a year is ¥2,500 a month.
    No way that covers rising prices.
    My rent already went up ¥2,000 a month at renewal.
    59AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:59
    Re: #56
    That's lunch-and-a-drink money (´・ω・`)
    124AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:13
    Re: #56
    Just give us ¥30,000 a month.
    67AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:01
    The ones struggling the most right now are the middle class earning around ¥8.5 million.
    They get hammered with income tax.
    121AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:12
    Re: #67
    Then just don't work.
    78AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:04
    Even at ¥2.99 million, it only tops out at ¥3.36 million.
    Fine as a starting point, I guess.
    As long as they eventually extend it to under ¥8 million ( ᐛ )و
    97AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:08
    Re: #78
    Read it carefully, really carefully — even if the amount goes up, "the number of people eligible stays the same"?

    >At the Lower House Budget Committee on the 14th, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi explained that overseas countries with similar benefit systems cover about 30% of workers. She added that, "just as a reference," applying that to Japan's roughly 60 million workers would mean about 20 million people eligible. Based on this, the government presented a reference proposal to the ruling and opposition parties using that estimate.

    >The plan is to secure a permanent funding source starting in fiscal 2029 and increase the payout for full-scale implementation.
    92AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:07
    I don't want to say it, but if you're earning ¥3 million or less, you're probably not really working hard.
    177AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:32
    Re: #92
    I am working hard. But if it's not there, it's not there — no bonus either.
    That's just how it is in regional cities.
    182AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:33
    Re: #92
    No bonus, but the pay is still pretty decent.
    192AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:36
    Anything under ¥6 million a year should count as low income.
    200AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:39
    Re: #192
    That's living large.

    With ¥5 million each, a couple would hit a combined ¥10 million — "Power Couple" territory, no?
    208AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:41
    Re: #192
    If you're single, that's basically royalty.
    With one kid, it's manageable.
    With two kids, it gets tight.
    Something like that.
    219AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:42
    Re: #192
    ¥6 million is middle income.

    ¥10 million and up is high income.
    197AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:38
    Out in the countryside, there are plenty of people with no bonus, working as "regular employees" in name only at 10-person companies, taking home under ¥200,000 a month.
    226AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:44
    Re: #197
    If you're taking home ¥200,000 in the countryside, you can easily afford a new-build house and an Alphard minivan on a balloon lease.
    239AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:46
    Re: #226
    A new-build is absolutely out of reach.
    A 30-to-40-year-old used 3LDK condo, maybe, plus the Alphard on a balloon lease.
    247AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:49
    Re: #226
    Don't underestimate the countryside — sure, rent and local vegetables are cheap, but a car is mandatory and gas stations charge a premium. If you've got your parents' land you can build a house, and if your wife also earns ¥100,000 a month, an Alphard is within reach.
    243AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:47
    This is supposed to be a benefit for handing money to people who aren't working.
    If it's a system that stays entirely within the employed population, they could just… not collect the taxes and social insurance premiums in the first place.
    What on earth has the government been discussing in meetings this whole past year?
    248AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:49
    Re: #243
    Sounds like all they're producing today is fraud and losses.

    Working doesn't automatically make you a saint, you know?
    254AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:51
    Re: #243
    Those guys think if they just hand out cash, people will do what they're told.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    This new benefit is being considered as a package with the consumption tax cut on food and beverages, with a preliminary payout planned for fiscal 2027–28, followed by full-scale implementation and an increased payout from fiscal 2029 onward once a permanent funding source is secured. The basis for the 20-million-person figure comes from a number Prime Minister Takaichi cited in the Diet — that overseas countries with similar benefit systems cover about 30% of workers — applied to Japan’s roughly 60-million-strong workforce; it is not a figure drawn directly from an actual income distribution survey. The thread split over how to evaluate the “¥3 million a year” threshold: some argued that by urban standards this counts as genuine hardship, while others testified that even full-time regular employees in regional areas earn only around ¥2.7 million, highlighting just how large the regional gap is. It’s also easy to overlook that the ¥30,000-a-year figure is just a simple average for the preliminary rollout, and the plan assumes the payout will increase once full implementation begins.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Preliminary Rollout in FY2027–28: New “Income-Linked Benefit” Covering 20 Million People, Income Cap ¥3 Million — Government Presents as “Reference”“.

  • Giants’ New Manager Still Unannounced Right Before the Draft — 5ch: ‘Seriously, What Gives?!’

    The fact that the Yomiuri Giants still hadn’t announced their new manager, even with the NPB draft meeting right around the corner, became a hot topic on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyou G (live sports chat) board. This season, head coach Tadaki Hashigami took over partway through and ultimately led the team to a second-place finish. While many in the thread voiced disbelief with comments like “seriously, what gives?!”, opinions split between those who think Hashigami should simply be promoted to full manager and those calling for an outside hire, floating names like Yoshinobu Takahashi, Tatsunori Hara, Kimiyasu Kudoh, and Hideki Matsui — all Giants legends. Debate also raged over whether the team should keep up its long-standing tradition of only hiring “homegrown (pure-blood)” managers.

    1AnonymousOct 19, 2026 18:58
    Seriously, what gives?! (a classic Kansai-dialect outburst of disbelief)
    3AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:02
    Is there even a Giants alum in his 40s or 50s who was actually the one-team superstar people keep making him out to be?
    4AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:02
    Has Egawa dropped off the candidate list entirely?
    Though I figure he'd flop at it anyway.
    39AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:24
    Re: #4
    The only upside of making that guy manager is we'd finally stop hearing his bitter, backhanded commentary lol (fans nicknamed him "Negawa" — a mashup of "negative" and Egawa)
    6AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:06
    It's already decided, they just haven't announced it yet.
    7AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:06
    Isn't this really just a standoff between going with Yoshinobu or dragging Hara back out?
    8AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:07
    Just poach Kudoh already
    17AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:16
    Re: #8
    If they actually wanted Kudoh, I think they'd have just promoted Hashigami outright by now.
    9AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:09
    Probably Matsui.
    If it were Yoshinobu or Hara, it wouldn't be weird for them to have announced it already.
    11AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:12
    Actually, genuine question — why is everyone assuming Hashigami's getting the boot?
    He fought for the pennant right down to the wire and still finished second.
    Where's the reason to drop him?
    18AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:16
    Re: #11
    Well, the final stretch was rough, I'll give you that.
    There was clearly momentum building for a Giants comeback, however you slice it.
    21AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:17
    Re: #11
    Second place is pretty thin justification for scrapping the homegrown-manager policy.
    28AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:21
    Re: #11
    The Giants were already strong enough to finish second even back under manager Abe.
    23AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:18
    Masaki Saito — the Giants' former ace who holds the consecutive-shutout record and has plenty of pitching-coach experience —

    and Shin'ichi Murata — the Giants' longtime starting catcher who's coached for years and has head-coach experience too —

    both spent their whole careers with the Giants, and yet neither is even in the running.
    48AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:29
    Re: #23
    However you look at it, Saito just isn't cut out to manage the first team.
    29AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:21
    In the end he'd just get called a bridge to Hideki Matsui or a bridge to Sakamoto, and wouldn't get proper backing anyway.
    If that's how it's gonna be, they might as well have stuck with Hashigami and broken the bad old homegrown-only habit while they were at it.
    36AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:23
    Re: #29
    I don't think "homegrown only" is really such a bad tradition though.

    It's show business too, so going with a homegrown manager makes sense.
    41AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:27
    Re: #36
    Yeah, even if the team's dirt weak, it's still gotta be a homegrown manager, huh.
    46AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:29
    Re: #41
    If the Giants ever hit a real slump, they might lift the ban.
    But right now they're actually getting results, so no.
    57AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:34
    They should just let Hashigami run the whole season properly.
    Some weird guy was in charge at the start, after all.
    68AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:41
    If it were Hara or Yoshinobu making a comeback, I don't think there'd be any reason to drag the announcement out this long.
    We're right before the draft now — maybe they're going after someone unexpected?
    76AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:48
    Re: #68
    They probably approached Matsui or Takahashi and got turned down.
    74AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:46
    Huh? Is Yoshinobu trying to run away? You're supposed to carry the Giants like a cross for the rest of your life.
    75AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:47
    Re: #74
    Yoshinobu's said he wants to manage, so if the offer comes in, he'll take it.
    77AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:48
    My guess is it's either Kawai or Hashigami staying on.
    86AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:55
    Re: #77
    Either way it breaks the homegrown tradition — question is whether the current front office has the guts to actually pull that off.
    81AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:51
    Honestly, if it hadn't been Abe from opening day, they probably could've won the pennant this year.
    Let him stick around another year as a cushion.
    82AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:53
    Re: #81
    Even though under Hashigami they dropped 7 straight to the Tigers — the first time that's happened in 89 years?
    88AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:56
    The year after the pro-baseball gambling scandal, Masaki Saito was the farm-team manager and had to give a live apology over the stadium mic — he stumbled over his words so badly the stands actually burst out laughing. A genuine miracle moment.
    93AnonymousOct 19, 2026 19:57
    Re: #88
    Funny, sure, but is that really the kind of thing that gets you a first-team manager job?
    99AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:00
    Has there ever been a team in NPB history that still hadn't decided its manager by draft day?
    105AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:03
    Re: #99
    In 2001, the Tigers changed managers right after the draft.
    103AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:01
    So is the manager's seat just going to sit empty at the draft?
    109AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:04
    Re: #103
    The GM will probably stand in and do the picking.
    112AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:05
    Takahashi's situation was unfortunate, sure, but there was nothing about his managing that was actually worth praising.
    If they make him manager again just because online sympathy pushed for it, that'd be hilarious.
    116AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:06
    Re: #112
    Funny how Giants fans used to relentlessly mock him as the "statue who just takes notes" (a jab at his stiff, expressionless dugout presence and constant note-scribbling), and now they're all hoping for Yoshinobu's return lol
    117AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:07
    Giants with Yoshinobu, Swallows with Furuta, BayStars with "Banchō" ("Banchō," meaning tough-guy gang boss, was a nickname for a famously hard-nosed former Yokohama manager) — wouldn't mind seeing that lineup one more time.
    119AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:08
    Re: #117
    Can't they just make Furuta the commissioner already?
    123AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:10
    Yoshinobu isn't a theory-driven type like Kudoh, and he's not a bright, motivating presence like Ikeyama either.
    He's bad at communicating with players too — so what exactly is it that keeps his name coming up?
    125AnonymousOct 19, 2026 20:11
    Re: #123
    It's his pedigree.

    Background and Key Points of This Debate

    This season the Giants underwent a change in command, with head coach Tadaki Hashigami taking over from manager Shinnosuke Abe and ultimately guiding the team to a second-place finish. Thread comments referenced specific results under the interim setup, such as “the first seven-game losing streak to the Tigers in 89 years after Hashigami took over,” showing just how split opinions were on his performance as acting manager. The debate broke down into two main threads: first, whether Hashigami should simply be made the full-time manager, and second, whether the Giants should stick with their traditional policy of hiring only “homegrown (pure-blood)” managers or instead bring in an outsider or returning alum like Yoshinobu Takahashi, Tatsunori Hara, or Kimiyasu Kudoh. Some felt second place wasn’t a poor enough result to justify breaking from the homegrown policy, while others felt the team was past the point of insisting on it — no consensus was reached. Note that comments suggesting the team had “approached Matsui or Takahashi and been turned down” are purely speculation within the thread, not based on any official announcement from the club.

    ※This article is an excerpt and summary based on the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyou G) thread “[Bad News] Giants’ manager still undecided.”