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  • Yuji Oda: ‘My All-Time Favorite Role Is Look Back and There He Is’ — 5ch: ‘He Said Their Lips Actually Touched’

    Yuji Oda appeared on Fuji TV’s September 21 special “Neptune’s Net League x Bayside Shakedown Collab SP” and named the 1993 drama Look Back and There He Is as his favorite among all the shows he’s starred in. The series was written by Koki Mitani and also starred Ken Ishiguro and Yuki Matsushita. On 5ch, Oda’s comment sparked a wave of posts revisiting his other signature works — not just Look Back and There He Is, but also No Money and the Bayside Shakedown series — with opinions split over which one deserves the top spot.

    Yuji Oda: “It’s my favorite work” — actor reveals his favorite drama he’s starred in… tells wrong-guesser Shiori Tamai, “So close”

    Actor Yuji Oda appeared on the Fuji TV special “Neptune’s Net League x Bayside Shakedown Collab SP: Yuji Oda’s First Appearance! Legends vs. New Generation” (7:00 PM) airing on the 21st. During the show, he revealed his favorite drama he’d starred in.

    Oda, who plays the hot-blooded detective Shunsaku Aoshima in the hit franchise, had just seen the release on the 18th of the series’ first new film in 14 years, “Bayside Shakedown N.E.W.: Dash Through Metropolis!” This marked his first appearance on Neptune’s Net League.

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

    5AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:03
    Oh, the one where Ken Ishiguro had those insane dark circles under his eyes?
    32AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:12
    Re: #5


    Ju-on (the Grudge ghost)
    10AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:05


    Look Back and There's a Bald Guy (a pun on the show's title)
    20AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:07
    Re: #10
    He's really good at that kind of self-deprecating, pathetic face — Nishimura, that is.
    27AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:09
    Re: #10
    Noooo, yah-yah!!
    13AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:05
    Yuki Matsushita was exactly my type back then. I was 10 years old at the time.
    78AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:27
    Re: #13
    Yuki Matsushita was actually a senior at my junior high, but I never knew that — found out online.
    97AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:35
    Re: #13
    In Aiko, 16, she was just a minor supporting character, but she grew taller and got so much more polished it was shocking. Meanwhile Yasuko Tomita, who was the lead in that one, kind of faded after growing up.
    15AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:05
    The fact that Mitani never used Oda again after this must mean he'd had enough of actors trying to rewrite the script on their own.
    83AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:29
    Re: #15
    Once he started directing, the one rule he made actors absolutely follow was 'no complaining.'
    85AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:30
    Re: #15
    I recall an anecdote where Mitani wanted to cast Shiba (Oda's character) as the culprit in Furuhata Ninzaburo, but Oda turned it down saying 'Shiba never loses.' Am I misremembering that?
    16AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:06
    Anyway, in this drama their faces kept getting so close together I kept thinking they were about to kiss lol
    25AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:08
    Re: #16
    There's normally no reason to get that close face-to-face, so it felt really off.
    56AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:21
    Re: #16
    He said their lips actually touched at one point.
    18AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:06
    You don't really see Ken Ishiguro around anymore.
    22AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:07
    Re: #18
    He was in that Hokuto Matsumura drama.
    26AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:08
    Re: #18
    It's already been twenty years since he passed away — the Getter Robo guy.
    28AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:10
    Ken Ishiguro is actually a pretty good actor, you know — though for some reason that's not the image people have of him.
    79AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:27
    Re: #28
    Not being memorable is the mark of a truly great actor.
    129AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:49
    Re: #28
    Ishiguro's best-known role has to be the fake psychic in Furuhata Ninzaburo. When his trick gets exposed and, in a desperate bluff, he pretends to use his 'powers' to locate the person he actually murdered — twitching and convulsing his whole body — that performance is a masterpiece.
    35AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:15
    Personally, No Money wins by an overwhelming margin. I love absolutely everything about that drama.
    50AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:19
    Re: #35
    Masayuki Imai and Wataru Takasugi as the loan sharks were great lol
    52AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:20
    Re: #35
    Nobody's gonna get this, but my favorite is Mikihisa Azuma's 'one order of ankimo' bit.
    75AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:26
    Re: #35
    It's been rerun so many times, it must be genuinely popular.
    42AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:17
    Apparently it was originally supposed to be a comedy drama, which cracks me up.
    46AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:18
    Re: #42
    Supposedly the crew ended up cutting basically every comedy scene Mitani wrote.
    53AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:20
    Re: #42
    So it really was like that. Good job to whoever changed the script on set — if it had stayed a cringe Koki Mitani gag drama, I don't think it would've turned out this good.
    47AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:18

    Yuji Oda looking way too serious
    63AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:23
    Everyone keeps saying No Money is great — I've never actually seen it though.
    70AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:25
    Re: #63
    It's on TVer. There's even a character who turns into a drug-loving old lady.
    94AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:32
    Re: #63
    It's got family love, rags-to-riches, human warmth — all packed in. The theme song 'Over the Trouble' adds a great vibe too.
    82AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:29
    No Money used to get rerun in the early evening a lot where I'm from. The setup feels like something out of an old American drama.
    98AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:35
    Re: #82
    Feels kind of close to that movie 'Skyscraper… something' — though that one was a film.
    110AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:40
    No Money also has amazing music. In the ending, Hagiwara plays a much gentler-looking company president than his character in the show, and that's great too. I never get tired of that shot of him walking to the office with the theme song playing.
    122AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:45
    Re: #110
    The president breathing on the glass and teaching him how to wipe it clean — that ending really captures the company's whole vibe.
    115AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:43
    Generally speaking, if you've watched all of them, the ranking is probably something like: 1. No Money, 2. Look Back and There He Is, 3. Bayside Shakedown. Bayside Shakedown just feels like it fades a bit more as time goes on.
    121AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:45
    Re: #115
    Can't speak for everyone else, but that's my personal ranking too. Bayside Shakedown is a classic, but they made way too many spin-offs.

    Background and Talking Points

    Look Back and There He Is was a 1993 Fuji TV drama written by Koki Mitani that became a social phenomenon at the time, thanks to Yosuke Eguchi’s stalker role and Yuji Oda’s cold-blooded doctor character. Meanwhile, No Money, also mentioned in the thread, is a 1994 TBS drama that still has a devoted fanbase and remains available to stream on TVer and elsewhere. The anecdote circulating in the thread about Mitani clashing with Oda over script changes isn’t officially confirmed — it’s really just a rumor that has been passed around among fans. Since which work resonates most depends heavily on generation, it’s not unusual for opinions to split over a ‘favorite work,’ and this time too the ranking was divided between Look Back and There He Is, No Money, and Bayside Shakedown.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Yuji Oda reveals his favorite drama he’s starred in: ‘Look Back and There He Is is my favorite work’.”

  • Toshiro Yanagiba Finally Explains the Truth Behind His ‘Feud’ With Yuji Oda: ‘That’s Not How You’d Act This Scene’

    Yuji Oda and Toshiro Yanagiba co-starred in dramas like Furimukeba Yatsu ga Iru (If You Look Back, He’s There), and rumors of a rift between the two have persisted for years. Now Yanagiba himself has revealed the truth on a TV program. Back when he was a young actor, Oda reportedly pulled him aside during a scene and said, “Isn’t that acting wrong?” — and Yanagiba admits he held onto that comment for the entire run of the show. On 5ch, users weighed in with all kinds of takes, from anecdotes backing up just how obsessive Oda was about his craft (he allegedly had the final scene’s script rewritten) to stories about how sharp-edged Oda’s personality was back then.

    3AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:58
    Yanagiba: "I guess I was young too — I just held onto that feeling the whole time we were shooting the TV series."
    Oda: "Hmm… I see."
    4AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:58
    This is the same Oda who wasn't satisfied with the ending of Furimukeba Yatsu ga Iru and had the producer get the script rewritten.
    6AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:59
    The fact that they can say this stuff publicly means it can't be that fatal a rift.
    7AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:00
    Oda really was sharp-edged back then, though.
    9AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:01
    So is it even really a 'feud,' or was it just Yanagiba who had it in for him?
    10AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:01
    Oda really does speak his mind wherever he is, huh.
    11AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:02
    You can't dive into the sea without holding your breath.
    12AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:03
    I was watching Nep League and he said Furimukeba Yatsu ga Iru is his favorite.
    13AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:03
    That's literally exactly the reason everyone always rumored lol
    14AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:05
    Because of that, they barely let them cross paths — kept them split between the meeting room and location shoots.
    15AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:05
    Oda of Morning Musume is arrogant too, but… (a different Oda — Sakura Oda of the idol group Morning Musume)
    16AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:06
    Thanks to the World Athletics broadcasts, it's good to know he's actually a cheerful, easygoing guy underneath.
    If you didn't know his real personality and just heard a story like this, you'd think he was some arrogant, scary guy.
    17AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:08
    Oda's turning into Shigeru Matsuzaki (a singer famous for his flamboyant, larger-than-life image) at this point.
    18AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:08
    Well, personally I'm not a fan of either of their acting styles lol
    22AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:13
    Sounds exactly like something Oda would say — and also exactly like something he'd forget he ever said.
    29AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:17
    Better for everyone if he just pretends he doesn't remember.
    30AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:20
    Takuya Kimura and Kiyoto Hagiwara recently made up over something similar — in that case Hagiwara apologized and admitted he really had said it.
    58AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:23
    Re: #30
    So the guy Kimura said he disliked for talking nonstop about pachinko, and the one always playing mahjong — that was Hagiwara?
    31AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:21
    Didn't Oda get furious at a comedian doing an impression of him and nearly sue over it?
    33AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:23
    Re: #31
    That impressionist actually appeared in this movie and did the impression right in front of Oda, over and over.
    34AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:23
    Both Yuji Oda and Kiyoto Hagiwara were popular enough that they could get away with saying stuff like that.
    These days young actors talk back without even having real popularity, just riding on their agency's backing.
    35AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:24
    I think Kentaro Hagiwara is more interesting than Shunsaku Aoshima.
    I like Takumi Kai more than Shinji Muroi.
    37AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:25
    Re: #35
    Okane ga Nai! (No Money!) is up on TVer right now — I've been rewatching it and it's still great.
    39AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:27
    Re: #37
    It's great. Even the supporting cast all bring real flavor to it.
    40AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:31
    Re: #39
    Honestly, all of Fuji TV's light, fun dramas from that era were good — Reiko Shiratori, Okane ga Nai!, Shomuni, Nurse no Oshigoto, stuff like that.
    41AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:31
    The fact that they hid the Muroi movie from Oda pretty much confirms he refused to co-star.
    And Eri Fukatsu not being in it is probably because Oda refused too.
    53AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:57
    Oda's the real deal — he doesn't belong to any faction, runs his own solo agency, total lone wolf.
    He sticks strictly to only taking jobs he personally believes in.
    65AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:32
    Re: #53
    Heard he only takes lead roles.
    57AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:23
    Re: #55
    Something about how when Hamada (comedian Masatoshi Hamada of Downtown) started appearing in dramas and greeted him on set, Oda just flat-out ignored him.
    63AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:31
    Re: #57
    Ignoring Hamada — that's bold of Oda.
    62AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:30
    Furimukeba Yatsu ga Iru was such a good drama.
    64AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:32
    Re: #62
    Sounds like he's on bad terms with Ken Ishiguro too.
    67AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:32
    I wonder what it's like between Oda and Koji Matoba.
    70AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:36
    Re: #67
    I think Matoba was actually on set when Hamada got ignored. I remember them talking about it on Downtown DX.
    83AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:42
    Hamada was genuinely good as an actor, though. I liked him in Ryoma ni Omakase. Funny how he's super close with Takeshi Naito, though lol
    86AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:43
    Re: #83
    His role as a loan-shark debt collector in that drama with Kimutaku (Takuya Kimura) was actually really good. His performance as a guy fresh out of prison who'd turned into an alcoholic wreck was impressive lol
    85AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:42
    '90s drama actors were apparently only interested in sleeping with actresses and making money, so sets were rough. Sounds like without a genuinely scary veteran around to keep order, people just did whatever they wanted and things didn't run smoothly.
    91AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:46
    Re: #85
    Out of the '80s and '90s, the comedians were probably the worst offenders.
    95AnonymousSep 22, 2026 00:50
    Back then it was totally normal for comedians and idols to get ignored — comedians didn't have the status they do now. I recall Nakai saying he had constant clashes on Aji Ichimonme too.

    Background and Key Points

    Yuji Oda and Toshiro Yanagiba co-starred in 1990s dramas such as Furimukeba Yatsu ga Iru, and rumors of a rift between the pair have resurfaced repeatedly ever since. With Yanagiba now explaining the story himself, it’s become clear the rumor originated from a disagreement over acting guidance back when he was a young actor. In the thread, users piled on with anecdotes reinforcing just how obsessive Oda was about his craft — including the claim that he had the final scene’s script rewritten — alongside stories about other actors from the same era, with plenty of commenters nostalgic for the atmosphere on 1990s TV sets. That said, claims like Oda ignoring a greeting on set remain unconfirmed hearsay rather than something either party has publicly acknowledged.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from excerpts of the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Yanagiba Reveals the Truth Behind the Rumored Feud With Yuji Oda: ‘Oda Told Me, Isn’t That Acting Wrong?’“

  • Was the “80% Contact Reduction” Request the Right Call? 5ch: “Trains Are Protected by Some Mysterious Force”

    In April 2020, during the first wave of COVID-19 in Japan, Hokkaido University professor (now a Kyoto University professor) Hiroshi Nishiura repeatedly urged the public that “reducing person-to-person contact by 80% would curb the spread of infection,” earning him the nickname “Mr. 80%.” An article in which he reportedly expressed regret while looking back on that period in a recent interview became a hot topic on 5ch. In the thread, users traded sarcastic remarks about how packed commuter trains were the one “exception” quietly overlooked at the time, debated the merits of the state of emergency and mask measures, and argued over excess-death estimates — opinions were split on whether the measures taken back then ultimately turned out to be the right call.

    “It’s crucial that we reduce person-to-person contact by 80%.”

    On April 15, 2020, as the first wave of the novel coronavirus raged across Japan, Hiroshi Nishiura (48), a member of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s expert panel and a professor at Hokkaido University (now at Kyoto University), stressed this point at a press conference held at the ministry.

    Having repeated the “80% reduction” target at subsequent press conferences as well, Nishiura came to be known as “Mr. 80%.”

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

    15AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:02
    So the people packed into commuter trains weren't human…?
    24AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:04
    Re: #15
    Because the Cabinet officially decided commuter trains don't spread infection. A Cabinet decision beats everything.
    31AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:06
    Re: #15
    Japanese-made trains are protected by some mysterious force, you see.
    22AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:04
    The whole world basically ground to a halt during the pandemic. Still, no matter how many precautions you take, you catch it when you catch it. Living through that period made that pretty clear.
    27AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:05
    Re: #22
    Sure, you catch it when you catch it, but that doesn't mean “no precautions at all” was ever the right call.
    33AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:06
    Re: #22
    That's exactly the point being questioned now — whether grinding everything to a halt was even part of Fauci's strategy to begin with.
    38AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:08
    Other countries went as far as lockdowns with actual legal penalties, you know. Pandemics can happen again, and if the next one's worse than COVID, we won't have time to sit around second-guessing ourselves like this.
    46AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:09
    Re: #38
    Over there, covering your face can get you treated like a criminal (anti-mask laws). Must be rough.
    61AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:12
    Re: #38
    There were no legal penalties, but Japan was pretty similar in practice. In my city, you couldn't even get into the Coming-of-Age Day ceremony venue without proof of vaccination.
    56AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:11
    About 13 times as many people died as in the Great East Japan Earthquake… and people still call the response overblown. Unbelievable.
    85AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:17
    Re: #56
    It's not that many — more like 7.8 times, tops. And that's not hugely different from a bad flu season's death toll either. In other words, elderly people were going to die whether we took measures or not, and the population decline would've happened regardless. If anything, the only real fallout was on the birth rate, since couples held off having kids out of fear they wouldn't get proper hospital care while pregnant.
    90AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:18
    Re: #85
    Excess deaths topped 100,000 in 2022, but COVID deaths only accounted for around 30,000 of those. Which means…
    156AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:30
    Re: #85
    Based on public data from MHLW research groups, Japan's rough annual excess-death estimates are as follows: 2020 — no significant excess deaths observed (essentially zero or not statistically significant); 2021 — approx. 15,000–26,000; 2022 — approx. 117,000–144,000; 2023 — approx. 109,000–114,000.
    Really shows how people forget the pain once it's over, huh.
    65AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:13
    This was April 2020 — a point where nobody could accurately assess how dangerous the virus even was, right? Taking the safe route when it might've been an extremely dangerous virus seems totally normal to me. The Delta variant really was pretty dangerous later on, after all. Running the country on a “eh, it'll be fine!” attitude would've been the crazy move.
    75AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:15
    Re: #65
    The doctors actually treating patients were honestly saying it was only a bit worse than a cold.
    88AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:17
    Re: #75
    Hadn't Ken Shimura already died by then? As far as I remember, the reporting wasn't nearly that optimistic.
    99AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:20
    Re: #75
    In the early days it was more likely to turn severe.
    103AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:20
    Re: #79
    He was 72, I think. Seeing him hooked up to a ventilator, unconscious, at the end really made me think I don't want to go out that way.
    111AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:22
    Re: #103
    Well, 72 is an age where you could just as easily die from the flu or ordinary pneumonia, honestly.
    118AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:23
    Re: #103
    That's awful. Really rough.
    116AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:23
    Back then was different from now — declaring a state of emergency at the time was the right call.
    134AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:25
    Re: #116
    It's just common sense as a national safety measure. You can say anything you want with hindsight, but as a response to an unknown virus, it was the right stance to take.
    139AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:27
    Re: #134
    Fauci knew all along it was just flu-level, lol
    135AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:26
    Scarier than the virus itself was getting to see the ugly side of human nature.
    143AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:27
    Re: #135
    Peer pressure here works like village ostracism (mura hachibu). It's a uniquely Japanese thing, which is why we ended up with one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.
    141AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:27
    Masks and avoiding the “Three Cs” meant flu basically didn't spread at all — didn't that prove it actually worked?
    149AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:28
    Re: #141
    It really was incredible how flu was completely wiped out back then. These days precautions are so lax it's spreading like crazy again.
    154AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:29
    Re: #141
    It was amazing how flu cases dropped to almost zero. That said, it was also shocking just how infectious COVID turned out to be, given it still spread even then.
    211AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:37
    They filed anyone with an unknown vaccination date under “unvaccinated,” inflating the unvaccinated infection numbers lol


    When tallying new COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare had been counting people with “unknown vaccination history” as “unvaccinated.” It's now come to light that the reported number of new infections among the unvaccinated was inflated beyond the actual figure.
    https://www.asahi.com/sp/articles/ASQ664JT1Q65UTFL005.html
    Re: #1
    229AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:39
    Re: #211
    And even the third dose, which looks effective at first, ends up back on par with being unvaccinated after just two or three months.
    272AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:45
    In the end, it was only old people who died anyway.
    280AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:46
    Re: #272
    Well, you can say anything with the benefit of hindsight.
    284AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:47
    Re: #272
    Early on, young nurses were dying too, you know.
    319AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:53
    Re: #272
    Kumiko Okae wasn't elderly.

    Background and Points of Debate

    Nishiura’s “80% reduction” figure came from a mathematical model calculation aimed at pushing the effective reproduction number below 1, based on the fatality rate and infectiousness of COVID-19 — which were still largely unknown at the time — and it became the basis for the request to refrain from going out under the state of emergency. At the same time, it was already being pointed out back then that situations like packed commuter trains, where reducing contact simply wasn’t practical, were effectively left out of the equation. The main point of disagreement in the thread was how to evaluate the excess deaths that piled up as a result. Because the yearly estimates vary in range and it’s difficult to separate out COVID deaths from other factors like the flu, some argued it’s premature to judge the merits of the measures based on a simple before-and-after comparison.

    *This article is composed as excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Mr. 80%] Was It Right to Call for “80% Reduction in Person-to-Person Contact” Amid the COVID-19 Onslaught… Expert Who Led the Messaging on the Front Lines Now Expresses Regret.”

  • Why Does the Hyogo Prefectural Police Keep Having So Many Scandals?

    It’s come to light, via reporting from Bunshun Online, that a senior patrol officer and a patrol officer with the Hyogo Prefectural Police received disciplinary punishment for having sex while on duty inside a koban (neighborhood police box). The incident sparked a broader discussion on 5ch about why scandals keep recurring at Hyogo Prefectural Police. Alongside the gossip, posters raised more substantive points too — some pointed to hiring patterns, suggesting that candidates who fail to get into the Metropolitan Police Department or Osaka Prefectural Police end up flowing to neighboring prefectures, while others posted data tracking disciplinary numbers over the years.

    Posted 9/21 (Mon) 17:12

    Bunshun Online

    “Not that prefecture again…” — a certain scandal has police insiders talking.

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

    7AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:27
    Well yeah, that's what happens when you get more female inspectors now.
    112AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:02
    Re: #7
    Traffic units are usually male-female pairs.
    11AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:29
    Wait, so it's not two guys?
    24AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:32
    Re: #11,14
    Come on, seriously…
    59AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:43
    Re: #11
    Right? When they said 'senior officer and officer' I pictured something like Ryotsu and Nakagawa (the mismatched duo from the manga/anime Kochikame).
    184AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:36
    Re: #11
    There was that old copypasta about Ryotsu asking 'You want me to use my mouth?'…
    28AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:33
    >In Kanto, most people's first choice is the Metropolitan Police Department, and in Kansai it's Osaka Prefectural Police.
    The ones who don't make the cut end up in neighboring Kanagawa or Hyogo, so the quality drops.
    188AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:39
    Re: #28
    Yeah, I can believe that.
    29AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:33
    Even the koban (police box) can't stop them from getting busy
    38AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:36
    Well, not really sure, but I bet they were going at it something like this. The guy was already the wild type to begin with, so of course he was into it.
    88AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:52
    If you asked 'why are you two having sex?' you'd probably get disciplined too.
    Kanagawa Police in the east, Hyogo Police in the west.
    92AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:54
    Re: #88
    Because he wanted to sleep with a 21-year-old.
    194AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:48
    Re: #88
    'Why haven't we done it yet?' — a sergeant in his 20s was disciplined for reverse harassment against his superior.

    That was Hyogo Police too, I think.
    198AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:55
    Re: #88
    Re: #194
    Honestly, the type of young cop who harasses his boss seems like exactly the type to be having sex on duty.
    105AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:00
    Again, lol.
    Do police boxes really get people that worked up?
    126AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:05
    Re: #105
    Some people just want it more when it's forbidden — the type who'd throw the shoji wide open in The Grateful Crane (the folktale about never peeking while she weaves).
    Also, while rare, Japan does have its share of genetic risk-takers.
    Police work probably attracts a good number of risk-takers who get a thrill from doing dangerous things.
    146AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:12
    Re: #105
    Isn't it just that having an on-duty room makes it convenient?
    109AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:01
    Don't tell me they were doing gun play or something.
    117AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:03
    Re: #109
    Senior officer: "My pistol's a .44 Magnum."
    Officer: "Oh, stop it~"
    113AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:02
    And they've got such a 'fine' governor too lol
    123AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:04
    Re: #113
    Gunma's got a 'fine' female mayor too, and even the locals there admit it.
    125AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:05
    Police officer disciplinary numbers

    2012 Metro PD 70 Osaka 38 Hokkaido 37
    2013 Metro PD 46 Osaka 37 Hokkaido 28
    2014 Metro PD 32 Osaka 25 Aichi/Hyogo 16
    2015 Metro PD 39 Hyogo 25 Osaka 21
    2016 Osaka 31 Metro PD 25 Hyogo 18
    2017 Fukuoka 23 Metro PD 21 Osaka 19
    2018 Metro PD 34 Osaka 28 Kanagawa 16
    2019 Metro PD 34 Kanagawa 19 Aichi 14
    2020 Metro PD 30 Aichi 16 Osaka 15
    2021 Aichi/Hyogo 12 Saitama/Chiba/Kagawa 11 Hokkaido/Metro PD/Shizuoka 09
    2022 Chiba 35 Metro PD 31 Osaka 18
    2023 Aichi 21 Chiba/Osaka 19 Metro PD 17
    2024 Metro PD/Hyogo 20 Fukuoka 18 Aichi/Osaka 14
    2025 Hyogo 50 Kanagawa 34 Metro PD 30
    134AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:08
    Re: #125
    Saitama's not even on the list…

    Guess they really enforce teamwork.
    138AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:09
    Re: #134
    Nah, Saitama Police are actually solid, lol
    133AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:08
    137AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:09
    Was it like 'So THIS is the naughty little bean, huh? I'm gonna have to arrest you~ heh heh heh' 'Nooo~'? (a euphemistic roleplay joke)
    144AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:12
    Re: #137
    Nah, it's more like:
    21-year-old officer: "Hey, doing bad things like that means I'll have to arrest you~ ❤"
    29-year-old senior officer: "Then I'll have to restrain you with these handcuffs."
    21-year-old officer: "More, more~"
    142AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:11
    Honestly, if it's just between two cops, who cares about something this small.

    It'd be a problem if it were sex-for-bribes, or if they'd dragged a civilian into the police box, but this?
    Office romances happen at every company.
    Expecting police officers to live like celibate priests at this point in time — even a grade-schooler would laugh at that.
    164AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:22
    Re: #142
    It happened while they were on duty, though.
    150AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:14
    Years ago I went to a group mixer with some Hyogo Police officers, hit it off with two of them, and they took me to a hotel in Sannomiya.
    They were way too smooth about it, so they'd clearly used that move before.
    I was young and had had way too much tequila too, so lesson learned.
    162AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:21
    Stock photo for illustration

    166AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:23
    Not just cops — having a fling at work can get you fired anywhere, can't it.
    175AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:28
    Re: #166
    As long as it stays outside work and doesn't affect the job, people usually turn a blind eye.
    It's usually when people start demanding favoritism for their partner or bringing personal feelings into the workplace that it becomes a real problem.

    Background and Key Points of This Story

    Looking at the statistics posted on 5ch, the number of disciplinary cases at Hyogo Prefectural Police has trended upward since 2021, hitting 50 in 2025 — the highest of any prefecture in the country. Police recruitment in Japan runs through separate exams administered by each prefecture, and the theory that “candidates who fail to get into the Metropolitan Police Department or Osaka Prefectural Police end up flowing to neighboring prefectures” is a hypothesis that comes up again and again on 5ch, though it has no official backing. What’s actually drawing scrutiny in this case isn’t the relationship itself, but the fact that it happened “while on duty” and “inside a koban” — a distinction the article’s headline reflects. It’s worth keeping in mind that official details behind individual disciplinary cases are limited, which leaves plenty of room for speculation to outrun the facts on a topic like this.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Senior Officer and Officer Have Sex While On Duty] “Using the Police Box as a Love Hotel…” — Why Does Hyogo Prefectural Police Keep Having So Many Scandals?“

  • Angerme’s Latest Popularity Ranking Revealed: Goto Effectively Tops the Chart, Shimoiya Escapes Last Place

    Angerme member Instagram like counts became a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello!Project board. Numbers from posts for events like ASIA CULTURE FESTIVAL 2026 and CDJ2526 were compared, drawing attention to how strong Hashisako’s like counts were following her graduation announcement, and to Goto breaking into the upper ranks. Meanwhile, Shimoiya avoided last place this time around, with Tamenaga instead sinking into the bottom-spot battle. The discussion also touched on how the rankings shift depending on the metric used, and how Instagram numbers don’t always line up with individual handshake-event sales figures.

    1AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:01
    Rock in Japan Instagram post like counts
    Hashisako 4,028
    Goto 3,854
    3AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:02
    Hashisako should be excluded — that's just a graduation-announcement bump.
    4AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:03
    This kind of ranking's usually shaken out about the same for a while now
    though actually, Mocchi's been climbing lately
    6AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:04
    Mocchi has no weak spots.
    36AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:34
    Re: #6
    If she's got a hole, I'd like to fill it. (crude pun on "weak spot" = ana, literally "hole")
    7AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:05
    That's roughly how it's always been
    The "Wolf" numbers get tallied per event, so they shift around a bit (unclear slang, possibly a specific event/format)
    10AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:08
    Blog comment counts and stuff — Shimoiya's been beating Tamenaga on those more and more lately too
    11AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:13
    Went back and checked the older ones — the bottom's pretty much fixed, but the rest was all over the place

    ASIA CULTURE FESTIVAL 2026 Instagram post like counts
    Hirayama 3,789
    Hashisako 3,451
    Matsumoto 3,371
    Goto 3,011
    Ise 2,921
    Kawana 2,714
    Nagano 2,458
    Shimoiya 2,080
    Tamenaga 1,951

    CDJ2526 Instagram post like counts
    Hashisako 3,696
    Kawana 2,974
    Ise 2,859
    Matsumoto 2,803
    Hirayama 2,791
    Goto 3,120
    Nagano 2,876
    Tamenaga 2,062
    Shimoiya 2,017
    13AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:15
    Re: #11
    Sounds like this worked out favorably for Goto, so someone triumphantly started a thread about it
    14AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:17
    Re: #11
    The order's all messed up

    CDJ2526 Instagram post like counts
    Hashisako 3,696
    Goto 3,120
    Kawana 2,974
    Nagano 2,876
    Ise 2,859
    Matsumoto 2,803
    Hirayama 2,791
    Tamenaga 2,062
    Shimoiya 2,017
    42AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:38
    Re: #11, just look at it, isn't it obvious?
    Hashisako's always been strong on Instagram metrics
    19AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:22
    Moimoi's basically already stuck in second-to-last, and now she's about to be the "booby-prize maker" again — the one who bumps someone else into dead last (booby prize = 2nd-to-last place)
    20AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:22
    Ise is strong on otaku-facing metrics like bus tours and handshake events,
    but she's unpopular on metrics that pull in outside votes like this one
    21AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:23
    Ise and Hashisako are exact opposites in terms of which metrics they're strong on
    22AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:24
    Kawamu's popularity shot up so much after becoming sub-leader though
    27AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:28
    Re: #22
    Not as much as people say
    23AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:24
    Give the Dance Gakuen spot to Goto Hana — it's wasted on Tamenaga
    24AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:25
    Re: #23
    Goto's fine just doing variety shows
    Give that spot to Shimoiya instead
    25AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:26
    Dumping all your berry-type items into Torneko isn't a bad move either (random tangent about item strategy in the Torneko game)
    26AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:27
    If you exclude Ise, Hashisako, and Hirayama, Goto's definitely next in line
    Or if it's about betting everything on one member, Nagano works too
    28AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:31
    At this rate Shimoiya's going to beat Tamenaga on individual sales too
    37AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:34
    Re: #28
    Were you really that happy about beating Tamenaga on just one single metric?
    29AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:31
    This is all coming from non-paying fans anyway, so it's not the same as individual sales
    30AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:32
    The bottom two are just blatantly behind everyone ranked above them
    31AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:32
    By the way, over on Vanilla's WithLa there was a freak incident — the usual Tamenaga/Shimoiya bottom-two lock actually broke (WithLa: a fan voting app/platform)
    38AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:35
    Moimoi's actually got a great personality — if you ever go to one handshake event you'll be hooked
    46AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:40
    Re: #38
    Being cheerful doesn't automatically make someone a good person though
    48AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:41
    Re: #38
    She'd have every reason to be jealous of Goto's popularity and skill,
    but she never once acts cold or distant about it (maybe she feels it inside, who knows) — that's what makes her seem like a genuinely good person
    39AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:36
    Hashisako's always been the popular type on metrics like this
    She does well with female fans
    40AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:37
    Hashisako was already strong on this stuff before her graduation announcement even…

    Antis wouldn't know anything about that!
    43AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:38
    Tamenaga's probably not even fazed, even after getting hit with this much negativity
    44AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:39
    Because next year Hashisako's fans will flow over to her buddy Tamenaga
    47AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:40
    Re: #44
    They won't flow to Tamenaga — Hashisako fans probably don't even like her
    If anywhere, they'd go to her close friend Kero
    49AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:41
    This photo from the Ise (orange), Kawana (green), and Tamenaga (pink) three-member event makes it pretty clear

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GVgS4WkXAAApeKy.jpg:orig#.jpg
    50AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:42
    You can't judge someone's personality from a handshake event — that's all just a public face
    51AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:42
    Her same-generation debut mate is Goto,
    and she's been close with Kawashima and Uemura ever since trainee days

    Yuppyon really is blessed under some special star
    52AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:42
    Re: #48
    That's actually pretty impressive when you think about it
    She's got to be well aware she's about as unpopular as it gets
    53AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:44
    Shimoiya really is just a genuinely nice girl
    Always smiling, always seems at ease
    56AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:46
    Re: #53
    Then why don't her individual sales sell?

    Background and Talking Points

    Angerme is a Hello!Project idol group, and members’ Instagram like counts are, alongside individual CD handshake-event sales, one of the popularity metrics fans often compare. The two don’t always match, though — since Instagram reflects reactions from casual fans as well as core ones, it tends to get discussed as a rough gauge of “non-paying popularity.” What split opinion in the thread was whether to read the strength of graduating member Hashisako’s like counts as genuine popularity, or as a temporary “graduation bump.” There was also cautious pushback against ranking members off a single metric, since the order shifts from festival to festival. The article doesn’t get into this, but it’s worth keeping in mind that Instagram likes are also shaped by post content and posting timing, which makes them a different kind of measure from on-the-ground indicators like individual handshake events.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello!Project board) thread “Angerme’s Latest Popularity Ranking Revealed: Goto Effectively Tops the Chart, Shimoiya Escapes Last Place.”

  • Juice=Juice Select Members to Grace Cover of Bessatsu Kadokawa Scene Issue 17, Out September 30

    The official account for the magazine Bessatsu Kadokawa Scene, out September 30 (issue 17), announced that select members of Juice=Juice will appear on the cover. The magazine is known for tie-in features with KADOKAWA productions, and Hello! Project members have graced its cover before. On 5ch’s Hello! Project board, the news sparked plenty of chatter — comments calling it a blatant “bataa” (quid-pro-quo/package-deal casting), fans reading the cover lineup as a hint about an upcoming Kadokawa film role, and observations about how the dynamic between Morning Musume and Juice=Juice has shifted — with plenty of debate over who was picked and how they’re arranged.

    1AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:06
    Bessatsu Kadokawa Scene [Official] @betsukado_scene
    ⋰
    📣Cover revealed
    3AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:10
    Wow, that's a pretty blatant 'bataa' (quid-pro-quo casting) deal.
    5AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:11
    Looks like a Kadokawa movie where four of these people end up getting killed off.
    14AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:13
    I'd love to see them in a Kadokawa film
    even a tiny cameo role would be fine
    17AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:13
    Could we please get Moa-chan in the center of the cover?
    24AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:14
    Guess magazines are fair game for 'bataa' deals.
    36AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:16
    They're not tiptoeing around Morning Musume as much anymore
    good, about time
    42AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:16
    Someone tell me how big a deal this cover gig actually is.
    48AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:17
    My guess: the culprit is either 1st or 2nd from the left
    just going on a hunch
    51AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:18
    Kadokawa, the publisher known for Uemu's photo book, huh
    52AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:20
    The lineup makes the ones on the left, right, and center look a little intimidating
    53AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:20
    Re: #1
    There's one person here who's never won anything in the 'skill assessment test,' huh
    54AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:20
    Hey, Ebata — the one you guys always call the group's 'visual' — isn't even in this
    55AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:21
    Can't say it yet, but next year everyone's getting job announcements so huge it'll blow your mind
    75AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:22
    Re: #55
    Even a throwaway comment like that feels like it could come true with Juice=Juice these days
    59AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:21
    Also, on top of this, they're on the cover of the Nikkei Entertainment special issue too
    72AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:22
    Are they gonna do 'Sailor Suit and Machine Gun' with Kawashima or something?
    76AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:22
    Juice=Juice only exists because Morning Musume exists
    recite that every morning
    79AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:23
    Re: #76
    That's talking about golden-age Morning Musume
    the current lineup has nothing to do with it
    81AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:24
    Re: #76
    The true originators were the Heike clan
    78AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:23
    'Fierce-cute, fierce-cute, fierce'
    if that's the vibe they're going for, Eba could've worked just as well
    84AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:24
    Re: #78
    Ebata might already have a photobook locked in
    80AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:24
    Who even watches TV or reads magazines these days
    91AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:25
    Reirei looks like SixTONES' Tanaka Juri, lol
    94AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:25
    Neither the Nikkei Ent. cover nor the S-Kawa one has them smiling
    Juice=Juice symbolizes how the trend has shifted away from the sparkly, ultra-cute idol image
    102AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:26
    Isn't this actually kind of a humiliation, though? For Morning Musume, I mean
    113AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:27
    Re: #102
    They're just being treated as a package deal (bataa)
    104AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:26
    They're clearly going for the 'cool' look, but it seems like they'd lecture you and that's a little scary
    118AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:28
    Hayashi leaving her mark no matter the format is pretty impressive
    135AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:29
    Re: #118
    She really is a chosen one, honestly
    122AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:28
    Should've just gone with Beyooooonds or Tsubaki Factory instead
    136AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:29
    I at least wanted them to make a thread for a Morning Musume select lineup
    138AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:30
    Yeah, it really does symbolize the shift in trends
    154AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:31
    Morning Musume letting Juice=Juice have the spotlight here is pretty cool
    205AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:36
    Just wait — ANGERME's gonna sweep in with a 'Vanilla Whirlwind' and snag the cover next, so watch your back
    216AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:38
    Re: #205
    That's not even a breeze, it's dead calm water
    244AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:40
    Omifu looks like she'd have a huge long gun slung on her back

    Background and Talking Points

    Bessatsu Kadokawa Scene is an entertainment magazine published by KADOKAWA that often runs tie-in features with the company’s own films and dramas, and in the past a cover appearance has been taken as a hint of an upcoming role. The term “bataa” (バーター), which came up repeatedly in the thread, is fan slang for work being handed out based on agency or label power dynamics — here it was read as a sign that Juice=Juice is now being treated as Hello! Project’s flagship group. Comments like “four of them get killed off in a Kadokawa movie” or “Nina plays a yakuza” are purely speculation and jokes inspired by the cover’s lineup and expressions; nothing in the source confirms an actual film role or casting. To avoid any misreading, it’s worth stressing that this is idle chatter, not confirmed information.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Juice=Juice Select Members Land the Cover of Bessatsu Kadokawa Scene Issue 17, Out September 30 ｷﾀ━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━!!.”

  • Osaka Ramen Falls Flat? 5ch Says ‘Even the Famous Shops Are Just Average’

    A thread titled “Osaka’s Ramen Game Is Too Weak” popped up on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board and sparked a lively debate. Posters brought up ramen scenes from all over Japan — Yamagata, Niigata, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hokkaido, and more — as they argued over just how good Osaka’s ramen shops really are. Some said “Osaka just has Kyoto ramen shops that expanded here,” or that chains like Kappa and Kamukura are satisfying enough, while others pushed back with specific shop names, highlighting just how divided opinions were.

    1AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:19
    Seriously, there isn't any.
    6AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:24
    Which prefecture has the strongest ramen game?
    8AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:25
    Re: #6
    Yamagata, Niigata, Tokyo
    10AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:27
    Can't be helped — there are way more food options than just ramen there.
    Actually it's weird that people in Tokyo, which has tons of restaurants, are so obsessed with ramen specifically.
    63AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:14
    Re: #10
    Obviously because every shop there sucks lol
    11AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:28
    Kyoto's one of the top ramen battlegrounds in the whole country.
    Only Hokkaido or Niigata are even in the same league.
    35AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:48
    Re: #11
    Niigata ramen is good, but is Hokkaido really that great? It might just be a "battleground" because there are so many shops, not because they're good.
    17AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:30
    There's seriously no Iekei (Yokohama-style tonkotsu-shoyu ramen) here.
    I don't want to go to that place under Odoya where the staff cosplay as construction workers.
    21AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:32
    Re: #17
    Yoshikawa, part of the Akutagawa lineage, is still one of the better ones
    23AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:33
    Hokkaido's seen as a fierce ramen battleground, but it's really just Yamaokaya's one-man show.
    That's why there aren't many shops worth talking about.
    28AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:36
    Re: #23
    I see Houryu around a lot
    25AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:33
    Mugi to Mensuke (Nakatsu)
    Ramen Jinsei JET (Fukushima)
    Tsumugi (Ibaraki)
    Hayato (Minami-Morimachi)
    Moeyo Mensuke (Fukushima)
    Sora no Hoshi (Senbayashi)
    Rekishi wo Kizame (Kami-Shinjo)
    Jinrui Mina Menrui (Nishi-Nakajima)
    Buta no Hoshi (Amagasaki)
    Sanku (Fukushima)
    Jikon (Sumido)
    45AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:55
    Re: #25
    Sorry, but isn't that a pretty low level? Feels like it's about 1.8 laps behind Tokyo.
    72AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:19
    Basically, if you eat ramen shops in Osaka that made it big in Kyoto first and then expanded here, it's good.
    No need to make your own — just leave it to Kyoto.
    The shops on Re: #25's list are good at business but the taste is just average.
    Jinrui Mina Menrui ("All Humankind Is Noodles") is genuinely great at exposure and promotion, but the taste is more like "…huh?" Not bad, just average.
    There ARE genuinely great ramen shops based in Osaka, but none of them made that list.
    That's a relief.
    32AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:42
    Re: #30
    Doesn't a lot of Osaka ramen just taste like thinned-out udon noodles?
    33AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:45
    Re: #32
    You clearly haven't actually eaten it lol (i.e. talking big without real experience)
    38AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:49
    Kyoto's only got Fukusaikan, so why's it acting so high and mighty?
    73AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:19
    Re: #38
    There's also Shikura, though it's closed indefinitely
    48AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:59
    Kansai people are satisfied with chains anyway.
    They're not that particular about ramen itself, so Tenichi, Kappa, Zundo, Kairiki Yokozuna, Makotoya, Kamukura, and Marugen are plenty for them.
    50AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:01
    Re: #48
    Is there even a Tokyo-founded chain that's better than Kappa?
    59AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:12
    Osaka seriously has no good ramen shops.
    Even the famous ones are just average.
    61AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:14
    Re: #59
    Outside Osaka, where's actually good then?
    65AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:16
    Re: #61
    Tokyo.
    And I mean the famous shops, not the average level.
    68AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:17
    Re: #65
    Tokyo's actually famous for bad food though
    69AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:18
    Re: #65
    Got any specific shop names?
    76AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:20
    In a good way, Kappa is honestly enough.
    80AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:23
    Re: #76
    Miyako Soba's shoyu ramen is great.
    The obaachan pulls out a packet of concentrated ready-made ramen soup right in front of you, cuts it open, pours in hot water, and makes your ramen — and honestly, it's just genuinely good lol
    84AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:25
    Re: #76
    Kappa isn't creative, but there's something good about a simple, rich tonkotsu.
    There aren't that many places doing a really rich tonkotsu.
    79AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:23
    Seriously, people who say "such-and-such is way better!" just to trash-talk in threads like this never actually name the shop, huh.
    81AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:24
    Re: #79
    No way I'm giving that up lol
    Info on Osaka's good ramen shops is my secret treasure.
    Though the people who already know, know.
    86AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:25
    Re: #79
    Even if I name a specific shop, people would just pile on to trash it anyway.
    Just go check the top-ranked shops on a ramen database.
    89AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:26
    Oh, here's an Osaka ramen tier list for ya 💁‍♂
    96AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:29
    Re: #89
    The fact that Kamukura isn't on it makes it seem trustworthy
    116AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:36
    Re: #89
    Kadoya Shokudo is S-tier?! Lolololol
    A tier list where Kadoya Shokudo is S-tier lol
    I'll say this much, Kadoya isn't bad.
    But S-tier? lol
    100AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:30
    I like Takaida-style ramen.
    Ramen should be that junky and cheap.
    121AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:40
    Re: #100
    If you eat that stuff, you've got no right to complain that Tokyo soba broth is too dark.
    119AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:39
    Re: #100
    I want to try it once.
    I like that style made for construction workers who sweat a ton on the job.
    123AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:41
    Re: #119
    I've had it, and it makes you go "this is all ramen really needs to be."

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Ramen ratings are a subjective topic heavily shaped by personal taste, and it’s worth noting that in this thread, the standard for a “famous shop” and the regions used for comparison varied from poster to poster. Points like Kyoto ramen shops expanding into Osaka, and comments that chains like Kappa, Kamukura, and Tenichi are satisfying enough, were often tied to Osaka’s distinctive “konamon” (flour-based food) culture and its sheer abundance of dining options, with many citing factors beyond taste itself. At the same time there was pushback, with comments like “even the famous shops are just average” and “criticism that doesn’t name specific shops isn’t convincing.” In the end, the discussion largely stayed at the level of gut-feeling comparisons. Note that this article simply introduces individual opinions from within the thread and isn’t based on objective evidence like statistical surveys.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Osaka’s Ramen Game Is Too Weak.”

  • Hello! Project Idols’ “Senpai Worship” Culture Sparks Debate on 5ch

    “You won’t be accepted unless you name a senpai” — a claim went viral on 5ch that there’s an unspoken rule requiring Hello! Project idols, when asked in interviews about the senior member they admire, to name someone from within their own agency. The thread saw both defenders (“It’s totally normal to join because you admired a senpai”) and jabs (“Becoming a Hello! Project fan in the first place is already a bit unusual”). Backstage footage was also brought up, showing trainees standing stiffly at attention whenever a senpai passed by in the hallway — some compared it to strict sports-team hierarchies, while others pushed back, insisting “that’s not power harassment.”

    1AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:50
    Kawara Lab idols seem a lot healthier about this, honestly.
    3AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:52
    Becoming a Hello! Project fan in the first place is already kind of unusual to begin with.
    4AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:53
    The "Kyuusuto" generation is smack in the middle of the AKB/Momoiro Clover Z era.
    5AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:55
    You get "disciplined" if you don't drop a senpai's name. (シメられる — get hazed/scolded by your seniors)
    6AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:55
    Isn't it completely normal to choose Hello! Project because you admired a senpai?
    8AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:57
    Let me flip that around — what influence did AKB actually have on them, lol?
    10AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:02
    Re: #8
    These girls are from the generation that danced to AKB songs at their school sports festivals.
    Nobody from that generation escaped AKB's influence — they're the AKB generation, plain and simple.
    11AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:02
    Kawara Lab doesn't even have enough history for anyone to admire a senpai from it.
    If someone claimed they became an idol because they admired Kawara Lab, the math on their age and career would make it an obvious lie.
    12AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:04
    So Reirei ditched Ciao Bella…?
    15AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:06
    Re: #12
    Nobody knows.
    49AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:38
    Re: #12
    In a magazine with Juice=Juice on the cover, she said her idol was Posshi — so she switches up her answer depending on the outlet.
    13AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:05
    Kitagawa, who joined Hello! Project without ever admiring it, is the one who's got it right.
    16AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:06
    Come on, everyone's obviously lying about this stuff.
    17AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:06
    There's definitely an unspoken rule that you have to pick someone from Hello! Project.
    19AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:08
    The Garugaru fans and the Philo stans were so thrilled about this on X (Twitter) that someone should've thrown in a bit of a twist. (fan-group nicknames)
    20AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:09
    Plenty of them don't even pick someone from Hello! Project, though.
    22AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:11
    Unlike the pro baseball draft, idols actually get to choose which group they want to join — so what's wrong with looking up to a senpai?
    23AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:11
    Write down a name that could actually get the conversation going… third pick down.
    24AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:13
    It just means Hello! Project has already declined to the point where only kids who truly longed for it still join — which is exactly why Koho Juice is so impressive.
    25AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:13
    Funny how you'd get dragged for pandering to viewers with a lie, yet antis get to trash you no matter which way it goes — must be nice and easy being an anti.
    26AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:14
    Re: #25
    That's just how it is, isn't it? Do you get irritated when things don't go your way?
    28AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:17
    So does that mean other idols are insulting their senpai, then?
    29AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:17
    Then again, if someone here wrote "Ritchie Blackmore," you'd be totally weirded out too, right? (the veteran rock guitarist)
    56AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:45
    Re: #29
    I wanted Kudo Tako to bring up Jeff Watson's name instead.

    Riko;^ω^Riko — THIS is what "donbiki" (making people recoil) actually looks like.
    30AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:18
    By the way, where's this actually blowing up?
    34AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:19
    Re: #30
    Wait, what? Is this about ANGERME?
    32AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:19
    They asked about "artists" and you answer with an idol, lol.
    Same goes for manga — a mangaka whose work obviously just references other manga is pretty low-level. The strong creators are the ones who pull in influence from a slightly different, more refined genre, like Western music or sci-fi novels.
    33AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:19
    Since when is a plain idol an "artist"?
    35AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:19
    Compared to the Takahashi System era, this is pretty tame, isn't it? (a notoriously strict old management practice)
    36AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:20
    If Arisawa just named a classical composer or a violinist, the conversation would actually go somewhere, lol.
    37AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:22
    Kawashima's believable on this kind of thing — she's consistent.
    39AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:23
    Re: #1
    I get why ANGERME fans are irritated — there's no ANGERME name on this list.
    42AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:24
    Re: #39
    Smileage got two votes, so denying this would mean denying Icchan and Morisachi too — that's not happening.
    95AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:23
    In the behind-the-scenes footage, trainees would snap to attention and freeze in place whenever senior members passed through the hallway — basically just like the old PL Gakuen. (a famously strict baseball powerhouse school)
    102AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:42
    Re: #95
    That's not power harassment.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    PL Gakuen was a baseball powerhouse that dominated Koshien in the 1980s and ’90s, and its brutally strict senior-junior hierarchy is often cited as a symbol of Japan’s sports-team culture. The comparison came up in the thread because of the story about trainees standing rigidly at attention whenever a senpai walked by, which evoked that kind of traditional hierarchy. That said, a reply immediately pushed back with “that’s not power harassment,” so the thread never fully settled on calling it serious harassment. The other point of contention is how to read the act of “naming a senpai” itself: defenders see publicly naming an idol you admire as a perfectly natural thing to do, while critics suspect it has hardened into an unspoken obligation or social pressure. Names from other groups, including AKB48 and Momoiro Clover Z, also came up in the conversation — worth noting, since that makes this less a Hello! Project-specific issue and more an example of generational influence, a distinction that’s easy to miss.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “[Dark Depths] Hello! Project Idol’s Senpai-Worship Culture Called “Creepy,” Sparks Discussion wwwwwwwwwww“.

  • “Nagoya’s a Car Town, So Trains Must Be Scarce” — Guy Checks the Timetable, Sparks a 5ch Debate

    A post that checked the train timetable based on the assumption “Nagoya’s a car-dependent city, so trains must run infrequently” became a hot topic on 5ch. In reality, Nagoya’s subway network — led by the Higashiyama Line — turns out to be quite well developed, undermining the simple idea that a car-centric city automatically means sparse trains. The thread saw detailed comparisons of service frequency with other cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Yokohama, along with discussion of stations such as Fujigaoka and Gokiso and access to Chubu Centrair International Airport, with opinions split over just how good or bad Nagoya’s transit really is.

    See the source for the image

    Source: x.com / Original post here

    11AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:42

    Nagoya's subway system is actually pretty well developed
    26AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:48
    Re: #11
    I don't know much about it, but is Gokiso supposed to be the liveliest area around there?
    27AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:48
    Re: #11
    With a subway network this convenient, saying you can't live without a car is being way too soft
    38AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:52
    Re: #11
    This shows Nagoya Station is actually stuck way out on the edge of the city
    18AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:44
    Seriously nobody cares, but it's always "Nagoya this, Nagoya that"
    19AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:45
    Re: #18
    Nah, I'm super into this lol
    22AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:46
    Is there even anything at Fujigaoka?
    28AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:48
    Re: #22
    It's basically the transfer point for the Linimo maglev line
    29AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:48
    Re: #22
    Kind of like Tokyo's Hikarigaoka or Azamino
    30AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:49
    Re: #22
    It connects to the Linimo line
    36AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:50
    That's dumb — I've lived in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya for work transfers, and Nagoya's trains are overwhelmingly worse.
    The Higashiyama Line cited as the source is Nagoya's #1 subway "spiral,"
    but Tokyo's Tozai Line and Osaka's Midosuji Line run about 30 trains at rush hour — more than double the Higashiyama Line.
    40AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:52
    Re: #36
    Lmao, the subway's spinning in circles (mocking the previous poster's typo — they wrote "spiral" instead of "line")
    56AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:01
    Re: #36
    Are you some kind of masochist who wants to ride packed trains?
    42AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:53
    According to Tokyo people, apparently everything except the Higashiyama Line at rush hour runs pretty infrequently
    45AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:54
    Re: #42
    Yeah, true
    The Meijo Line and others aren't all that frequent either
    52AnonymousSep 21, 2026 21:59
    This morning too, nobody even asked but people started bragging hard about how solid Nagoya's flood control is — annoying
    57AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:02
    Re: #52
    Yeah, the places that actually get flood damage are more like Mie and Gifu — you don't hear about it much in Nagoya
    62AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:10
    The Blue Line was about this frequent too, I think
    Though I don't live a life where checking the timetable is even a problem in the first place
    68AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:15
    Re: #62
    The Blue Line runs once every 10 minutes during the day
    Rush-hour Blue Line = daytime Higashiyama Line
    Well, the cities are different sizes so that's to be expected
    Yokohama's doing its best too
    64AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:12
    Re: #61
    "City center" lol
    Like, an AEON mall or something? lol (AEON — a big-box shopping mall chain)
    69AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:16
    Re: #64
    Do you really want to turn the area right outside your house into a tourist spot?
    If you want sightseeing, you drive out of the prefecture
    That's how Nagoya people do it
    70AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:20
    Contrary to the image people have, it's Toyota City where the rail network is actually well developed
    They're managing well even without JR
    71AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:21
    Re: #70
    The Aichi Loop Line is basically JR in practice
    72AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:22
    Someone's having a meltdown over here, what happened to this guy
    73AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:23
    Re: #72
    Probably someone from Chiba, losing it comparing flooding to Nagoya
    81AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:35
    I'm from a neighboring prefecture, but I've thought this for a while —
    isn't it weird that you can't get to Chubu Centrair International Airport by train?
    Roads can get delayed however much from traffic jams,
    so it's way too inconvenient
    Worst case you miss your flight
    82AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:36
    Re: #81
    You can get there by train, what are you talking about
    84AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:38
    Re: #81
    You're clearly not actually from a neighboring prefecture
    Even people from nearby prefectures know Nagoya's Meitetsu line is well developed
    86AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:42
    Re: #81
    And the highway to Chubu Centrair doesn't even get congested, you know?
    94AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:57
    Nagoya's got a good balance in everything — people, housing, roads, transit, disaster risk
    95AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:58
    Re: #94
    You'd die if a Nankai Trough quake or a huge tsunami hit though…
    97AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:01
    Re: #94
    Except since it's sandwiched between Tokyo and Osaka, nobody really bothers to go all the way to Nagoya

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Nagoya’s public transit is often described as having “few trains because it’s a car-dependent city,” but what sparked this discussion was the actual timetable, centered on the subway’s Higashiyama Line. In the thread, some posts compared rush-hour frequency with Tokyo’s Tozai Line and Osaka’s Midosuji Line, pointing out that in absolute terms Nagoya doesn’t match the major lines of the biggest cities. On the other hand, many comments highlighted ways the Nagoya area’s rail network is actually quite developed — the connection between Fujigaoka and the Linimo maglev line, and the state of the Aichi Loop Railway, for example. The debate moved away from a simple “more or less” binary and toward how to evaluate differences in city scale and the role each line plays. What readers can easily get wrong is that the common image of “Nagoya equals car society” doesn’t necessarily match the actual state of its subway development — and this thread put that assumption to the test using the hard data of a timetable.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nanademo Jikkyou G) thread “[Image] Me: “Nagoya? It’s car country so trains must be infrequent” → I checked the timetable and…“.

  • 5ch Suggests Hobbies for a 34-Year-Old Single Guy — “Shogi? I’ve Stuck With It 3-4 Years”

    On 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board, a 34-year-old single thread starter posted looking for a new hobby. Suggestions poured in covering everything from shogi, bass guitar, and hair removal treatments to mountain bike downhill riding and travel, though the OP gently shot down suggestions like pickup artistry and gambling. What stood out was how much the thread leaned on posters’ own firsthand experience — one commenter shared having played shogi for three to four years after starting in their 30s, another cited a concrete figure of “13 sessions for 110,000 yen” spent on hair removal, and someone mentioned their company even has a light music club.

    1AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:41
    I don't even know what to do with my life
    7AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:43
    For some reason I'm rate-limited right now, so I can barely post….

    A hobby's no fun unless you're the main character in it, in the end
    So really, pickup artistry is about the only option left
    8AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:43
    Re: #7
    Is pickup artistry really something where you're the main character though?
    10AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:44
    Fishing, motorcycles, gambling
    Pick whichever one you like
    14AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:44
    Re: #10
    Gambling's a hard no for me
    13AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:44
    Re: #9
    Yeah
    That works
    I learned the rules a bit back in middle school
    33AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:48
    Re: #13
    I was in a similar spot and started shogi after turning 30 too — I've kept it up for about 3 or 4 years now

    There's a decent-sized online shogi population, so if you use an app with a solid matchmaking system you can easily play against people at your own skill level
    24AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:46
    Nothing beats a pickup trip abroad
    Eating local food with local women, and if you're lucky, checking into a hotel afterward
    No other hobby is that physical, primal, and fetishistic all at once
    26AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:47
    Re: #24
    Pickup artistry's a no from me
    Sorry
    32AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:48
    Re: #24
    You get it, huh
    28AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:48
    Single in your 30s with money and time to spare, I'm jealous
    Beauty stuff is fun — start with hair removal and your interests just keep expanding from there
    31AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:48
    Re: #28
    I'd actually been considering hair removal
    My beard's thick and shaving is a pain
    29AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:48
    This is just another one of those "shoot down every suggestion with bad-faith excuses so you can feel morally superior" late-night whining threads
    Engaging with it means you lose
    36AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:49
    How does someone end up single at 34 anyway?
    44AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:51
    Re: #36
    That's totally normal these days
    This country's finished
    40AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:50
    Re: #31
    Better to do it before your beard starts going gray
    43AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:50
    Re: #40
    How much did it end up costing you?
    42AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:50
    I'm around that age too and I want a hobby
    Saunas, horse racing, and eating are basically the only things I enjoy
    45AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:51
    Re: #42
    I feel that, I feel that
    46AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:51
    Instruments are great
    I started bass at 30 and joined my company's light music club
    It's ridiculously fun
    48AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:51
    Re: #46
    You play bass too?
    Me too 😳
    51AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:52
    Re: #46
    Wild that your company even has a light music club
    47AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:51
    Cars or motorcycles
    Feels great, but costs money and comes with responsibility
    57AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:52
    Re: #47
    Cars cost a fortune to maintain in Tokyo, so if anything it'd be a motorcycle
    53AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:52
    If you had money, finding a hobby wouldn't even be an issue — so either you're broke or just not that bright
    Though someone mentioned golf, so maybe you do have money
    55AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:52
    Re: #43
    13 sessions, around 110,000 yen
    59AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:53
    Re: #55
    That's not even that expensive
    Re: #53
    Well obviously I'd be happier if it didn't cost money
    54AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:52
    Get a mountain bike and do downhill runs in the mountains
    It's gotta feel better than a motorcycle
    60AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:53
    Re: #54
    A bicycle seems better for your health at least
    61AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:54
    Re: #48
    It really is fun, huh
    What bass are you using?
    Mine's a YAMAHA BB734
    69AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:57
    Re: #61
    Mine's a white Fender JB-75
    I'm a sucker for block inlays 😳
    67AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:56
    Skin whitening, that's the one 🥺
    68AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:56
    Re: #67
    I wear sunscreen
    72AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:59
    Re: #68
    I use "Anekin" (short for the famous gold-bottle ANESSA sunscreen)
    Also the MUJI cleansing oil for sensitive skin
    Even though I'm only out in the sun for like 30 minutes a day
    🥺☂
    79AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:01
    Re: #72
    What's "Anekin"?
    76AnonymousSep 21, 2026 22:59
    Just got back from my first overseas trip in decades and yeah, travel really is great
    77AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:00
    Re: #76
    Where'd you go?
    82AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:01
    Re: #77
    Taiwan — super easy to get to. The food was great, and I just went with the flow, catching a pro baseball game and a music concert. Really fun
    101AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:16
    Re: #82
    I actually lived in Taiwan for work once
    Heard pro baseball's gotten pretty popular there lately
    91AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:05
    I used to be a hobby-less work machine too, but everything changed once I got close with my niece
    Now I'll try all kinds of entertainment if I think it'll make her happy
    97AnonymousSep 21, 2026 23:09
    Re: #91
    Once you've got a kid, going to the toy section actually gets exciting
    It's fun imagining how they'll react, and then when you actually give it to them they're genuinely happy about it

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    “Threads that hand a single person a hobby” are a recurring genre on 5ch, one that tends to draw replies from single people in their 20s and 30s with money and time to spare. This time, easy-to-start-solo hobbies like shogi and bass guitar were suggested alongside more costly or physically demanding ones like hair removal and mountain bike downhill riding, and the main point of friction was the OP repeatedly saying they’d prefer something that doesn’t cost money. On the hair removal front, posters traded concrete figures from their own experience, like “13 sessions for 110,000 yen,” which is genuinely useful data. As for shogi, one poster said they started in their 30s and have kept up online matches for three to four years, suggesting that well-developed matchmaking apps have lowered the barrier for self-taught beginners. There were also a few replies that veered into criticizing the OP’s character for turning down suggestions, though that’s treated here as a tangent separate from the thread’s main thread of hobby-hunting.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (“Nandemo Jikkyo G”) thread “A Thread to Give Me (34), a Single Guy, a New Hobby.”