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  • Big-Eater Character ‘Hungry Tiger’ Declares on 5ch: ‘I’ll Devour Everything!’

    On 5ch’s Newsspeed VIP board, a character known by the emoticon (´・ω・`) — nicknamed “Hungry Tiger” — kicked off a thread. Despite boasting “I’ll devour everything!”, other posters pointed out he’s actually “the biggest light-eater in VIP” — and someone noticed that if you shorten the nickname, it becomes “Hentai” (pervert).

    From there, the thread veered off freely into pork dishes, Heinz’s hashed-beef sauce, and horse-racing predictions.

    1AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:24
    (´・ω・`)That's me you're talking about.
    2AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:25
    (´・ω・`)You're always playing 'starving roulette,' aren't you.
    3AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:26
    Re: #2
    (´・ω・`)I'll devour everything!
    つ🐘と
    4AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:26
    ( ・᷇ὢ・᷆ )Word is you're actually the biggest light-eater in VIP?
    5AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:26
    Re: #4
    (´・ω・`)Lying isn't nice, you know.
    6AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:26
    (´・ω・`)I grilled some pork and ate it.
    8AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:27
    Re: #6
    (´・ω・`)Oh, nice! Ginger pork? Stir-fried pork and veggies? Tonteki (pork steak)?
    10AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:27
    ( ・᷇ὢ・᷆ )You eat so little you're starting to look like Lupin (the lanky thief from Lupin III).
    15AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:29
    Re: #10
    (´・ω・`)I'd say I'm more like Goemon (the swordsman from Lupin III).
    43AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:37
    Shorten it and you get 'Han-tai.'
    44AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:38
    Re: #43
    (´・ω・`)It's already a nickname, don't shorten it any further!
    49AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:38
    Re: #43
    Wait, 'Hentai'? (pervert)
    66AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:44
    Re: #64
    (´・ω・`)Simmer it in ready-made hashed-beef sauce.
    70AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:45
    Re: #66
    Heinz brand works fine.
    79AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:47
    Re: #70
    (´・ω・`)(Wait, I thought Heinz only made ketchup…)
    85AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:48
    Re: #79
    So good, so good!
    89AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:50
    Re: #85
    (´・ω・`)Whoa, it's true!
    68AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:45
    I wish you'd do the dinner roulette once in a while (´・ω・)
    75AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:46
    Re: #68
    (´・ω・`)Right after a bath there just aren't many options.
    78AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:47
    Re: #75
    It's okay to eat gyudon (beef bowl) once in a while, you know.
    83AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:48
    Re: #75
    *sigh*~~~ (´・ω・)
    80AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:47
    Λ_Λ
    ૮₍ ・᷇ ∀ ・᷆ ₎ა
    つ🎫と


     Λ_:;.:…
    ૮₍ ・᷇ ∀:;.:…
    つ🎫:;.:…

     Λ:;….::;.:. :::;.. …..
    ૮₍:;….::;.:. :::;.. …..
    つ:;….::;.:. :::;.. …..
    87AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:49
    Re: #80
    (´・ω・`)And poof, he's gone.
    95AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:52
    (´・ω・`)Looks like Takasugi only has one mount this week.
    100AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:54
    Re: #95
     Λ_Λ
    ૮₍ ・᷇ ∀ ・᷆ ₎ა I don't think he's bad, but the moment he went freelance his rides dropped off a cliff…
    106AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:57
    Re: #95
    Guess he's stuck with some rookie trainer's stable.
    125AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:04
    Re: #111
    _φ(´・∀・`)Noted: more mushrooms and onions.
    128AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:05
    Re: #125
    (´・ω・`)I'm gonna buy Heinz's simmered hamburger-steak sauce.
    154AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:16
    Re: #128
    (´・∀・`)Is this the one?

    156AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:17
    Re: #154
    That one's so good!!!
    157AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:17
    Re: #154
    (´・ω・`)That's the one! (never actually used it though)
    131AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:06
    Re: #126
    (´・ω・`)Saying a line straight out of Brocken Jr. (Kinnikuman).
    136AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:08
    Re: #131
    Take this! My all-or-nothing Bremen Sunset!
    142AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:09
    Re: #136
    (´・ω・`)Was that even a real move?
    148AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:13
    Re: #142
    Their faces are so close I'm a little worried they might kiss
    151AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:15
    Re: #148
    (´・ω・`)He uses it on Prisman too! (Kinnikuman)
    134AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:06
    Λ_Λ
    ૮₍ ・᷇ ∀ ・᷆ ₎ა For the JRA race, I'm going all-in on the Keeneland Cup alone!
    つ🎫と Pa-pa-pa Panja! Tower!
    138AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:08
    Re: #134
    (´・ω・`)I was gonna go with Road Fore Ace, but he drew the far outside gate… also curious about that Indian jockey, Naredu.
    139AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:09
    Re: #134
    Let's bet on the All-Star Jockeys race too — it could turn into total chaos, who knows.
    153AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:16
    Λ_Λ
    ૮₍ ・᷇ ∀ ・᷆ ₎ა I've never seen Indian horse racing, but he'll probably be thrown off by Japanese racing at first…

    Re: #139
     Λ_Λ
    ૮₍ ・᷇ ∀ ・᷆ ₎ა I picked up more work hours, but it won't show up until my next paycheck…
    Gotta be patient for a while 😣
    155AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:16
    Re: #153
    (´・ω・`)I'm hoping for something like Haguworl from Taiyou no Makibao (a horse-racing manga).
    167AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:23
    Re: #153
    When you're broke, that's basically gambling, right?
    164AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:22
    Re: #156,157
    (´・∀・`)Got it!
    Shimeji mushrooms were cheap, so I gave up on regular mushrooms.
    168AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:23
    Re: #164
    (´・ω・`)o Hamburger steak! Hamburger steak!
    o彡
    174AnonymousAug 21, 2026 21:26
    Re: #164
    That shimeji, always selling itself short.

    Background and Key Points

    This 5ch board is Newsspeed VIP (better known simply as VIP), the platform’s oldest and most freewheeling anonymous board — descended from 2channel, the pseudonymous forum culture that birthed Japan’s kaomoji (text-face) tradition long before emoji existed. (´・ω・`), a simple droopy-mouthed face, has been floating around Japanese net culture for two decades as shorthand for a slightly pathetic, deadpan character; posters here have adopted and nicknamed it “Hungry Tiger” as a running bit, giving it a personality that the thread then contradicts for laughs.

    The thread’s actual split is narrow but real: is the character a big eater or not? The opening boast (“I’ll devour everything!”) is immediately punctured by other posters insisting he’s “the biggest light-eater in VIP,” and the food talk that follows — pork dishes, hashed-beef sauce, a hamburger-steak sauce he admits he’s never actually used — keeps undercutting the “hungry” branding rather than confirming it. That’s the entire disagreement; everything after (horse racing, Kinnikuman references, a shimeji-mushroom pun) is unrelated drift, not a continuation of any debate.

    What’s easy to misread as significance is really just VIP’s house style: threads built around a kaomoji “character” are a long-running genre where the appeal is the gap between the persona’s name and its actual behavior, plus in-joke wordplay (like “Hungry Tiger” collapsing into “Hentai”). There’s no news event, product, or real person behind this — it’s improvised collective roleplay with a mascot, and the horse-racing and manga tangents are just VIP’s normal channel-surfing, not evidence of a coherent theme.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Newsspeed VIP) thread “(´・ω・`) They Call Me ‘Hungry Tiger’.”

  • Team Otokojuku vs. Team Fist of the North Star: Who’d Win? 5ch Debates It Out

    A classic strength-comparison debate lit up 5ch: if the forces of “Sakigake!! Otokojuku” and “Fist of the North Star” clashed, who would come out on top? Posters cited Headmaster Eda Heihachi’s legendary immortality and the monstrous showdown potential between Daigouin Jaki and Devil Rebirth, while others countered that “both series are basically gag manga anyway” — sparking a full-blown debate over genre classification.

    1AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:05
    The rule: one-on-one duels
    5AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:08
    There's no way a serious series can beat a gag manga!
    8AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:09
    Re: #5
    Both of them are gag manga, this comes up every time
    7AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:08
    In Fist of the North Star, when you lose you actually die, but Otokojuku characters basically come back to life no matter how many times they die.

    So Team Otokojuku wins in the end.
    They've got Heihachi, after all.
    10AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:10
    Re: #7
    It's a fistfight between the two — how do they win if they're the ones who keep dying?
    11AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:11
    I get you want to hype up "Homo-juku" (a jokey nickname for Otokojuku, poking fun at its over-the-top homoerotic bromance vibes), but whoever wins this fight doesn't make it the better manga.
    46AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:48
    Re: #11
    Whichever one's funnier wins, right? 😁
    96AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:38
    Re: #11
    Then don't get so worked up about it lol
    16AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:16
    I want to see Daigouin Jaki fight Devil Rebirth
    92AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:35
    Re: #16


    He's already bigger than Devil Rebirth
    115AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:51
    Re: #92
    18AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:17
    I mean, the whole "he's dead! no he's alive!" thing usually only works for falls off cliffs and stuff.
    If your body gets blown to pieces, "actually I survived" isn't gonna fly.
    23AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:18
    Re: #18
    They've had severed arms just reattach before, so it'll be fine
    19AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:17
    Team Otokojuku's got yakuza on their side too
    25AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:21
    Re: #19
    Are the yakuza stronger than the mohawk guys who survived the post-apocalypse?
    27AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:21
    Re: #25
    Well, they did put Momo through some serious injuries
    29AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:24
    The author of Fist of the North Star has said himself it's full of retcons, so…
    guess Otokojuku takes it?
    30AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:27
    Re: #29
    Otokojuku's way beyond retcons — they forget a character even died and just bring them back with zero explanation
    39AnonymousAug 19, 2026 11:42
    Baron Dino alone could beat the entire Fist of the North Star cast
    64AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:20
    Re: #39
    Dino would lose to Ken-oh's royal guard in drag
    54AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:09
    Mach Punch, easy win 👊
    59AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:16
    Re: #54
    He'd be even with Ein
    71AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:21
    Re: #54
    Let me show you… my new blow
    73AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:22
    Otokojuku characters have this rule where they have to take at least one hit from the enemy's ultimate technique first,
    so they're a bad matchup against Hokuto Shinken.
    80AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:25
    Re: #73
    No — taking the hit and then no-selling it through sheer guts is the whole Otokojuku package
    75AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:23
    Both are gag manga, so it's a draw
    78AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:24
    Re: #75
    Fist of the North Star still fights within battle-manga logic, so it's not a gag manga.
    It's like Prince of Tennis — it can do comedy, but that doesn't make it a gag series.
    There's no way Kenshiro could keep up with the sheer absurdity of Ryotsu (from Kochikame) or Jaguar.
    76AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:23
    Otokojuku is a gag manga, so its opponents include anything-goes characters like Ryotsu or Jaguar — it's just playing a different game entirely.
    The power-tier rankings for this kind of debate are already settled:

    At the top of the pyramid is the Gag tier, then Omnipotent tier, then Concept tier, then Power tier, then Superhuman tier at the bottom.

    Fist of the North Star sits at the very bottom of that pyramid in the Superhuman tier, so there's no way it beats the Gag tier at the top.
    89AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:31
    Re: #86
    Lol, treating how gag manga handle death and how a real story handles death as the same thing
    104AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:43
    Re: #89
    Lol, moving the goalposts
    98AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:39
    Honestly doubt anyone on the Fist of the North Star side can even recite their multiplication tables
    102AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:43
    Re: #98
    Don't underestimate Lord Judas
    109AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:47
    Re: #108
    Lol, you're not getting it —
    every example I gave except Crayon Shin-chan is either the protagonist or a key character on the protagonist's side
    110AnonymousAug 19, 2026 12:49
    Re: #109
    And what does that have to do with them being gag characters?
    You're the one not getting it — those are deliberately written for special one-off developments, totally different from their usual vibe, right?
    Like movie-version Gian (from Doraemon).
    In other words, they don't interfere with the normal laws of gag-manga logic, so obviously it counts.

    Background and Key Points

    Team Otokojuku belongs to the lineage of over-the-top delinquent/gakuran manga that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1988-1993, famous for a “die and come back with no explanation” storytelling style built around Headmaster Eda Heihachi and his students’ absurd, tearful spirit-power feats. Fist of the North Star, also a Jump-era classic (1983-1988), is a post-apocalyptic martial-arts saga built on Hokuto Shinken, a pressure-point assassination art where hits are final — the manga’s own author has publicly admitted to writing in retcons to bring characters back, which is the detail posters use to undercut its “serious battle manga” reputation. Both series are pillars of the “atsukurushii” (hot-blooded, sweaty, over-the-top) subgenre of Japanese boys’ manga that peaked in the late 80s, and both are frequently cited on Japanese boards as ancestors of today’s meme culture precisely because of how earnestly they escalate absurd stakes.

    The thread’s real fault line isn’t who’s stronger, it’s genre classification: is Otokojuku’s “nobody really dies” logic a legitimate combat rule, or does it only work within gag-manga physics that shouldn’t be allowed to interact with Fist of the North Star’s harder, if imperfect, internal death-rules? Once someone brought up a tier list placing “Gag” above “Superhuman,” the debate stopped being about punches and became an argument over whether narrative genre itself is a valid trump card in a crossover fight.

    What outsiders will likely miss is that this format is a recurring 5ch ritual independent of the two series involved — the “which universe’s logic wins” argument shows up any time two wildly different power systems are pitted against each other, and the specific characters (Jaki, Devil Rebirth, Baron Dino) are almost incidental to the actual disagreement about rules of engagement.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyou G) thread “If Team Otokojuku Fought Team Fist of the North Star, Who Would Win?”.

  • Miyagi High School Baseball Union Moves to Retire Violent Terms Like ‘Kill’ and ‘Death’ — 5ch Says the Replacement ‘Suki Ari’ Is Just Too Lame

    It’s come to light that the Miyagi Prefecture High School Baseball Federation is considering revising baseball terminology that contains violent-sounding words like “kill” (殺), “death” (死), and “steal” (盗), sparking a wave of discussion on 5ch. Proposed replacements such as “suki ari” (roughly “opening spotted”) and “kōken bunto” (“contribution bunt”) drew a chorus of complaints that they’re just lame. Meanwhile, some more technical commenters pointed out that the very definitions behind stats like putouts and assists don’t make much sense either, and the thread took off in an unexpected direction.

    2AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:06
    3AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:06
    6AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:08
    Re: #3
    There's already the term "okuri bunto" (sending bunt) for a sacrifice bunt — why isn't that good enough?
    18AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:15
    Re: #3
    Sacrifice bunt → "sōda" (*short for "okuri bunto," sending bunt)
    Stolen base → "tokuri" (*carries a nuance of "earning" a base)

    How about that?
    111AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:04
    Re: #3
    Just go with "Suki, hakken!" ("Opening detected!")
    That works fine.
    4AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:06
    Why not just switch the whole thing to English at this point
    41AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:24
    Re: #4
    English would honestly be even worse, come on
    8AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:09
    Re: #3
    Terms like "tōkyū" or "isshō" might grow on you once you're used to them, but "suki ari" is just way too lame
    Couldn't they have come up with something a little cooler?
    9AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:10
    Re: #6
    Newspaper copy has strict character limits, that's why
    13AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:11
    Re: #9
    That's no different from "contribution bunt"
    10AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:11
    Does the squeeze play stay as "squeeze"?
    What would that even become in Japanese?
    16AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:13
    Re: #10
    Maybe "sakusō" (squeeze-run), since you're squeezing the runner home?
    12AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:11
    So pointless
    If the federation's got time to debate stuff this dumb, they should just disband
    14AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:12
    No sense of style at all — they should take a page from Masaoka Shiki (the Meiji-era poet credited with coining many of Japan's baseball terms)
    19AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:15
    Re: #18
    Oh, this one fits way better
    22AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:17
    Fix Sendai Ikuei's "kick" first before worrying about this
    32AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:22
    Making baseball terms sound less alarming is a fine goal in itself
    But the results they came up with — "suki ari," "kōken bunt" — are just lame
    If you're gonna coin new terms, at least don't make them lame
    35AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:23
    Re: #32
    They should get an actual wordsmith on this
    Copywriters, sports reporters — there must be people with baseball connections
    They should be asking folks like that
    37AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:24
    Re: #32
    Exactly
    If they'd picked words that felt natural, they wouldn't be getting dragged like this
    42AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:24
    "Dead ball" means exactly what it says though?
    Guess we need to fundamentally reform English itself
    Should we start by filing a complaint with America?
    45AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:26
    Re: #42
    Reminder: "dead ball" is Japanese-made English to begin with
    Reminder: in actual English it's "hit by pitch"
    Reminder: someone got confused because the ball becomes dead after a hit-by-pitch, and that's just how the name "dead ball" stuck
    50AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:28
    Re: #42
    "Dead ball" itself was coined by Japanese people in the first place, you know
    60AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:33
    Re: #42
    This is genuinely hilarious
    Is this really how people who watch baseball think it works?
    58AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:32

    72AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:40
    More importantly, fix "slugging percentage" first
    Though honestly I'm fine with it as-is
    74AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:42
    Re: #72
    Batting average is weird too

    Batting average → "hit rate"
    Slugging percentage → "base rate"

    That works, just call it what it literally is
    82AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:46
    I think a lot of people mixing up "assist" with "putout" comes down to a bad translation
    Just calling it "assist" in English would be way clearer — soccer and basketball both have assists too, so it'd be even more intuitive
    86AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:50
    Re: #82
    Honestly the definitions of putout and assist are backwards to begin with
    Like on a shortstop-to-first groundout, the first baseman gets the putout and the shortstop gets the assist — but intuitively the shortstop's the one who got the out, and the first baseman just helped, so it's flipped
    As a result, a putout earned entirely solo (like catching a line drive) and a putout that's just catching a throw get recorded as the exact same stat, even though their value is totally different
    They should record "out earned" for whoever first touches the ball, and "out assist" for everyone else involved
    91AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:53
    Re: #86
    A. Assist ← valuable
    B. Putout earned solo ← valuable
    C. Putout that's just catching a throw ← not worthless, but pretty low value

    That's basically it
    And since B and C both get recorded as the same "putout," the stat's value gets muddled
    Making A and B the "new putout" and C the "new assist" would definitely make the record clearer
    92AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:53
    Re: #86
    Yeah, this makes sense
    115AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    Come to think of it, soccer was pretty quick to update its terms too
    Like "suicide point" (own goal) and "sudden death"
    120AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:16
    Re: #115
    The Escobar killing was probably just too shocking (Andrés Escobar, the Colombian player murdered after scoring an own goal at the 1994 World Cup)
    121AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:16
    Re: #115
    It's because they use English terms
    Having a properly built organizational hierarchy really matters
    132AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:36
    So if you get thrown out stealing, does that become a "suki ari" fail?
    133AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:41
    Re: #132
    Guess that'd be "suki nashi" (no opening) instead
    137AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:55
    So is this just going to be a Miyagi-only dialect?
    139AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:59
    Re: #137
    Starts in Miyagi, then the national high school baseball federation, then NPB

    Background and Key Points

    Japanese baseball vocabulary was largely built from scratch in the Meiji era, when American baseball terms had to be rendered in kanji rather than borrowed as loanwords the way many other sports terms later were. Figures like the haiku poet Masaoka Shiki (mentioned in the thread) are credited with helping coin much of this vocabulary around the 1890s, and the compounds that resulted lean on martial-sounding kanji: 刺殺 (sassatsu, “stab-kill,” the term for a putout), 補殺 (hosatsu, “assist-kill”), 併殺 (heisatsu, “double-kill,” a double play), 死球 (shikyū, “death ball,” a hit-by-pitch), and 盗塁 (tōrui, “steal a base,” using the kanji for theft). The Miyagi Prefecture High School Baseball Federation is one of 47 prefectural bodies under the national high school federation that runs Koshien, Japan’s most-watched amateur sports institution — so a wording change here is a local pilot, not a done national policy, even though posters speculate it could spread upward.

    The thread isn’t really split on whether toning down violent kanji is worthwhile — that idea gets fairly broad, if grudging, support. The actual fault line is over execution: whether the specific proposed replacements, “suki ari” (opening spotted) and “kōken bunto” (contribution bunt), sound natural or just clumsy and juvenile compared to the terms they’d replace.

    One thing foreign readers might miss: “dead ball” isn’t real English at all but wasei-eigo, English-looking vocabulary invented in Japan — actual English uses “hit by pitch.” So part of what’s being “fixed” here is Japanese-coined terminology being second-guessed by Japanese speakers, not a translation import gone wrong.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyō G) thread “Miyagi Prefecture High School Baseball Federation: “Reconsider baseball terms 💢 Stop using kill, death, steal 💢”.”

  • “Shorts Are Gross”: The Blatant “Old-Guy Discrimination” Nobody Calls Out ⟨A Bug in Society⟩

    Diamond Online published an article calling out the “old-guy discrimination” behind the idea that “shorts are gross,” and it sparked a heated discussion on 5ch’s News Speed+ board. The thread saw defenders comparing shorts to Showa-era “steteko” long johns, pushback from younger users, and even comparisons to women’s miniskirts — turning what looked like a simple generational spat into something messier.

    “Shorts Are Gross”: The Blatant “Old-Guy Discrimination” Nobody Calls Out ⟨A Bug in Society⟩ | Diamond Online

    Tokushige Ryūtoku: Writer, editor, entertainment critic

    Society News Triptych

    Source: diamond.jp / Original article here

    2AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:49
    I just want to cool off in a tank top and steteko (baggy Showa-era long johns) like some old geezer.
    149AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:50
    Re: #2
    Exactly, “old-guy shorts” means steteko. Like the balding middle-aged guys from 1950s-60s comedy acts — think Ueki Hitoshi and Katō Cha.
    4AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:52
    I think they're gross too, and I've never worn a pair because of it lol
    14AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:58
    Re: #4
    I wear jersey shorts at home, but committing the atrocity of wearing them outside? Can't do it.
    6AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:52
    This is karma for all the years you people trashed kids for dyeing their hair brown.
    Get bullied all you want.
    You're gross, old man. And you stink.
    13AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:58
    Re: #6
    Being against dyed brown hair these days is grandpa talk. Today's "old guys" were the ones who got criticized for it back then.
    60AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:13
    Re: #6
    The "old guy" generation is the one who actually dyed their hair brown when they were young lol
    Same with those toothpick-sucking threads — that's an old-man habit, but people keep pinning it on "middle-aged guys." Have you not lived in Japan for years or something? lol
    106AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:28
    Re: #6
    Good luck living your whole life without ever becoming an old guy yourself.
    11AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:57
    What about grannies in miniskirts?
    23AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:03
    Re: #11
    Same thing, that's exactly why it gets criticized.
    Nobody wants to see it.
    Nobody's happy having some old person's fetish put on display either.
    81AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:19
    Re: #11
    If sharp-tongued Peco (a famous TV fashion critic known for blunt style takedowns) were still doing his fashion checks, they'd have gotten torn to shreds. But these days…
    15AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:00
    The generation getting called "gross old guys" now is the same one that used to rate women, size them up, and sexually harass them — isn't this just payback?
    There's also some mockery mixed in from younger people's ignorance.
    Funny thing is, they'll all get old too and become old men, old women, grandpas, grandmas.
    19AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:01
    Re: #15
    But they're not old men, old women, grandpas or grandmas yet. Everyone's done this at some point.
    31AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:05
    Calling someone "small-minded" is quietly discriminatory too, you know.
    34AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:06
    Re: #31
    Can't be helped — both men and women expect men to have a big heart. If you think your own is too small, work on it.
    47AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:10
    Re: #34
    We smile on the outside and cry on the inside, man.
    Still, feels like way fewer people say it straight to your face these days.
    36AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:07
    (´・ω・`) Guess there's nothing left to do but walk around stark naked.
    132AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:42
    Re: #36
    They'll just say "a chubby naked guy has appeared" instead (´・ω・`)
    42AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:08
    Who cares, honestly. I'm not wearing them for your sake — I wear them because they're comfortable. Got a problem? Call the cops, jackass.
    46AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:10
    They really are gross though, so what can you do?
    Let's start saying the same thing about women too.
    53AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    It's not even about "gross" — among developed countries, pretty much only Americans have grown men wearing shorts.
    56AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:12
    Re: #53
    People wear them all over the world though.
    59AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:13
    Honestly, my leg hair is thick. Guess that really is gross then.
    64AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:14
    Re: #59
    Just shave it. You're overthinking this.
    67AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:15
    Even teenage guys wearing shorts is gross.
    75AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:18
    Re: #67
    Isn't it just you who's gross?
    78AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:18
    Re: #67
    Not gross at all.
    83AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:19
    It's been over 35°C every single day — saying shorts are gross is the actual gross thing here.
    95AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:23
    Re: #83
    Because of direct sunlight exposure, logically speaking, long pants are actually cooler than shorts.
    92AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:22
    If you're gonna wear shorts, get your leg hair removed.
    96AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:23
    Re: #92
    There's pressure going the other way too — "how dare a guy get hair removal."
    116AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:34
    Re: #92
    They'll just tell you "an old guy like you shouldn't bother with hair removal."
    125AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:38
    126AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:40
    Re: #125
    They're all skin and bones. You guys need to eat more, it's bad for your health.
    131AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:42

    Background and Key Points

    Diamond Online is one of Japan’s major business-media outlets, and its target here — the notion that “shorts are gross” — sits inside a long-standing Japanese menswear code. Outside sports or the beach, adult Japanese men have traditionally been expected to keep their legs covered in casual and especially work settings; even the government’s 2005 “Cool Biz” campaign, which relaxed jacket-and-tie rules to save energy in the heat, never extended to shorts. The alternative the thread reaches for, steteko, is a loose cotton undergarment that became a summer-lounging staple in the Shōwa era (1926–1989), associated in the popular imagination with balding, middle-aged comedians like Ueki Hitoshi and Katō Cha — which is why “old-guy fashion” in Japan means steteko, not shorts, complicating the article’s framing.

    The thread doesn’t split on whether the “gross” label exists — everyone agrees it does — but on who deserves it and why. One camp treats it as straightforward age-based mockery, even revenge for a generation that once policed younger people’s dyed hair; another counters that the accused “old guys” are in fact the same cohort that popularized brown hair and Western casual dress in their own youth, making the generational math incoherent. A side debate over women’s miniskirts and body hair further muddies whether this is really about age or just ordinary appearance-shaming applied unevenly.

    What outside readers likely miss is that this isn’t a fringe complaint: bare male legs carry a mild social stigma in Japan even during dangerously hot summers, a norm rooted in decades of formal dress convention that the posters take entirely for granted rather than explain.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “【🩳】“Shorts Are Gross”: The Blatant “Old-Guy Discrimination” Nobody Calls Out ⟨A Bug in Society⟩.”

  • Deutsche Bank: ‘Japan’s Net Foreign Assets Are Huge — Rate Hikes Would Send the Yen Higher’

    A Deutsche Bank report argues that Japan’s debt itself isn’t a real problem given the country’s massive net foreign assets, and that if the Bank of Japan raised rates at a pace comparable to other central banks, the yen would ultimately strengthen. The thread debated whether the government is deliberately keeping the yen weak and rates low to prop up exporters, what actually makes up Japan’s net foreign assets, and the risks facing homeowners with variable-rate mortgages.

    Joint Japan-US yen-buying intervention would be “counterproductive”; without intervention the yen would be even stronger — Deutsche Bank

    (…)

    The report also stressed that Japan’s economy doesn’t have a debt problem, stating that “for a country with net foreign assets this large, much of which the government itself holds, debt isn’t the issue.” It added: “If the BOJ starts raising rates at the kind of pace typical central banks do, and the yen stops being a low-interest-rate currency, the yen will ultimately rise. In the end, the question is simply whether the government is willing to accept that outcome.”

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

    5AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:44
    No. Isn't the real story that they're deliberately keeping rates low and steering the yen weak on purpose, for the sake of the economy and export industries?
    189AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:18
    Re: #5 Exactly. For Japan to make a real comeback, staying on the weak-yen path is still the way to go. Once we've built up enough national strength, then we can let the yen appreciate.
    219AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:24
    Re: #189 I think around 140 yen [to the dollar] would be about right.
    237AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:29
    Re: #189 Trade deficit for the 3rd straight month — ¥634.5 billion in July. What exactly are you trying to achieve here?
    8AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:45
    Japan's accounting is just broken. We're being deliberately kept poor.
    72AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:56
    Re: #8 Japan being wealthy is a moral no-no, apparently.
    11AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:46
    That's something the BOJ's 'little old men' just can't grasp (a jab referencing the 'chiisai ojisan'/tiny-old-man urban-legend meme, implying BOJ officials are out of touch).
    208AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:21
    Re: #11-20

    Germany's a rival to Japan in industrial exports — cars, submarines, machine tools, parts, you name it.

    A weak yen puts Germany's export industry at a disadvantage lol

    Of course Germany's going to say "make the yen stronger!" lol

    .
    12AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:46
    Just try matching US interest rates for 3 months, see what happens.

    Though… is this actually about the yen carry trade becoming a global problem?
    117AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:05
    Re: #12 If you knew the scale of 'Mrs. Watanabe's' yen carry trade (a nickname for Japan's army of retail FX traders), you wouldn't be talking so casually about this.
    28AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:47
    Wasn't it mostly assets that can't just be sold off on a whim?
    34AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:49
    Re: #28 Because it's mainly overseas assets held by private companies and individuals.
    41AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:51
    They keep saying they're suffering from the weak yen, so a stronger yen would fix that, wouldn't it? Plus it'd mean a weaker euro, which helps Germany's economy too — win-win.
    46AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:52
    Re: #41 What does Germany even sell these days!?
    76AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:57
    Re: #41 Japanese people tend to prefer lose-lose over win-win.
    61AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:54
    What about mortgages though? There must be tons of people who bought with basically no down payment — they'd be wiped out lol
    92AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:00
    Re: #61 That's just gambling addicts who borrowed on variable rates losing their bet and going bust. Gambling's on you.
    98AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:01
    Re: #61 Those people chose variable rates knowing the risk going in. I went with fixed rate — glad I did.
    143AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:10
    If they could pull that off, they'd already be doing it. The second they tried, the economy would tank instantly — it's a non-starter.
    152AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:12
    Re: #143 They just need to cut the amount of government bonds issued. Tax revenue is up, so if they stop the handouts it should be doable.
    157AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:13
    Re: #152 Dousing the economy in cold water on top of austerity? That'd finish it off. That's exactly what kicked off the Lost Decade(s).
    164AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:14
    Re: #157 That's beside the point, dummy.
    174AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:15
    Re: #157 They're not cutting spending, so it's not austerity. What's actually crazy is that the budget grows every single year no matter whether it's a boom or a bust.
    158AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:13
    In the end, this is exactly what Takahashi Yoichi and others have been saying — the Ministry of Finance only ever talks about debt while treating receivables/claims as if they were basically zero. Even for a company's balance sheet, what matters is how much debt there is versus total assets including receivables — but the MOF stays silent on assets and claims. They just keep hammering the narrative into the public that debt is so huge that tax hikes are necessary.
    181AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:17
    Re: #158 Because the Ministry of Finance is too powerful, I'm betting there's no real rate hike coming — so I'm piling into weak-yen plays without hesitation.
    192AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:19
    Re: #158 External assets: roughly ¥1,805 trillion. External liabilities: roughly ¥1,243 trillion. The ¥560 trillion difference already puts Japan below Germany, in 3rd place. These reserves should be kept intact for fiscal stability anyway — there's no upside to folding them into the general account.
    204AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:20
    Re: #158 Takahashi Yoichi is only talking about the domestic picture. This thread is about forex. A balance sheet is a domestic concept, so Takahashi Yoichi just ignores the exchange-rate side of things.
    216AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:23
    Is China's job crunch actually real? Factories and farms seem so short on workers that they're bringing in large numbers of Black African migrants — feels more like Chinese workers have just gotten picky about jobs.
    233AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:27
    Re: #216 Every industry outside the state-designated ones is collapsing spectacularly, you know?

    100 million Chinese factory workers are screaming: 15-hour shifts, or replaced by robots
    https://youtu.be/RgHk8JWLOKI?si=0MsCkpvwwyCFFK3n
    235AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:28
    Re: #216 Watch any travel YouTube footage and it's obvious right away. Even experts are picking up on the real situation from those videos. Since it's inconvenient footage for China, it'll probably get cracked down on eventually.
    245AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:30
    Re: #216 It's true. In Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, some elementary schools are now 20-30% ethnic Chinese. Plenty of Chinese families want their kids educated in Japan and employed in Japan. Back in China, even university grads end up working convenience stores or Uber Eats. Competition for big companies or civil service jobs is like thousands-to-one.
    228AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:26
    Then just hike rates already lolololol Why can't they, huh? lol
    247AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:31
    Re: #228 Look at the Heisei bubble and it's obvious why.

    Background and Key Points

    Japan has held the title of world’s largest net external creditor for over three decades, a position built on trade surpluses and, more recently, on income from an enormous stock of overseas holdings — the very net foreign assets Deutsche Bank cites. The thread’s own numbers, ¥1,805 trillion in external assets against ¥1,243 trillion in liabilities, describe Japan’s net international investment position (NIIP), a balance-of-payments concept tracking cross-border ownership. That is a distinct thing from the Ministry of Finance’s oft-cited gross government debt figure (JGBs outstanding, over 260% of GDP), which is a domestic fiscal liability mostly owed to Japanese institutions and the BOJ itself. Conflating the two — treating a national creditor position as if it could simply retire government bonds — is the misunderstanding several posters flagged when noting Takahashi Yoichi’s balance-sheet argument addresses domestic accounting, not the yen’s exchange rate.

    The thread didn’t split over whether Japan has money; it split over motive and cost. Some read the weak yen and near-zero rates as deliberate industrial policy to keep exporters competitive against Germany’s manufacturers; others countered that Japan is now running trade deficits anyway, undercutting that rationale. A second fault line was who bears the risk of normalization — posters were unsympathetic toward variable-rate mortgage holders, framing a rate hike’s fallout as self-inflicted.

    What nobody raised: rate hikes also raise the government’s own interest bill on that ¥1,000-trillion-plus JGB stock, a domestic fiscal cost entirely separate from the foreign-asset cushion being discussed.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Deutsche Bank: ‘Japan Holds Net Foreign Assets This Large — If It Raised Rates Like Other Countries, the Yen Would Strengthen’.”

  • Hiroshima’s Morishita Reaches 1,000 Career Innings, Holds Giants Bats to Just One Run

    The live-thread for the Giants–Hiroshima game at Tokyo Dome was buzzing. Hiroshima starter Morishita held the Giants offense to just one run while notching his 1,000th career inning pitched, and posters flooded in hoping he wouldn’t be pulled early so he could pick up the win — while also firing off questions about the Giants’ bullpen management and batting order.

    1AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:51
    Previous thread
    Giants Acting Manager 108
    3AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:52
    Tokyo Dome
    Starting Lineups
    【Giants】  【Hiroshima】
    4 Urata     8 Akiyama
    8 Sasaki    4 Katsuta
    6 Izumiguchi     7 Fabian
    3 Dalbec  5 Sakakura
    2 Oshiro     3 Montero
    7 Matsumoto     9 Sasaki
    9 Nakayama 2 Ishihara
    5 Ishizuka     1 Morishita
    1 Howard  6 Nishikawa
    6AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:03
    So it's Nakagawa for the 8th, huh
    Get some insurance runs before that though
    11AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:05
    Nice that NHK BS let us hear "Tōkon Komete" (the Giants' team fight song)
    15AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:07
    Re: #11
    The commentary team's great too
    12AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:05
    Thought some big slugger had stepped up… it was just Nakayama
    14AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:06
    Even for him, this is a rare outing — 1 run through 8 for Morishita, so he's just got to close it out
    16AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:08
    If they end up winning this 1-0, I guess that error up the middle turns out to be the fatal blow
    18AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:08
    Congrats to Morishita on 1,000 career innings pitched
    19AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:08
    I really want them to get Morishita the win…
    22AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:09
    Morishita's rookie year was his best one
    23AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:10
    Morishita's looking like he could hit free agency soon?
    24AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:10
    Why throw Eight at three lefties in a row?
    25AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:10
    Morishita probably wants to go to the majors too
    Does Hiroshima allow posting?
    29AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    They're burning through the bullpen too — tomorrow's probably a throwaway game with Shiroki and Kai
    30AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    Eight's fine as long as he doesn't start walking guys
    32AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    Why isn't Nakagawa the one going in this spot?
    34AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    Could've just gone with Nakagawa today too, no?
    35AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    By the way, our team's first-round pick the year Morishita was drafted was Hotta
    39AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:13
    Re: #35
    The high-school draft class with Roki (Sasaki) and Okugawa
    38AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:12
    If they'd used Nakagawa and gone as far as Fabian, Eight would've been fine
    Guess they're overusing the bullpen
    40AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:13
    Surprising it's only a .012 gap between sides (.200 vs. Batting .212 left)
    45AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:14
    Re: #40
    Feels like a 20% difference to me lol
    44AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:13
    They're being so careful with Nakagawa's workload,
    but Eight's getting worked hard
    though I guess Eight's also the type who wants the ball
    56AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:17
    Re: #44
    He's just a guy they picked up off the scrap heap anyway — if he breaks down, that's that
    61AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:18
    Against righties he can jam them with the sinker for a double play, but…
    66AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:20
    Fabian's scary
    I'll happily take a single there
    219AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:40
    Thought it was just a weak grounder to second… turns out nobody was even there lol
    231AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:41
    Re: #219
    Was that a shift?
    243AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:42
    Re: #203
    Sold out until yesterday, but no draw today huh
    249AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:42
    Re: #243
    It's the heavy rain

    Background and Key Points

    Hiroshima’s centralized farm-team pitching model, run out of the club’s Miyoshi and Kōbō no Sato facilities, has produced a run of durable arms over the last decade, and Morishita — a mid-round pick rather than a headline draftee — fits that pattern: he debuted well but has been a steady mid-rotation innings-eater since, which is what makes 1,000 career frames a notable but not flashy milestone. Japanese teams track innings pitched closely as a durability and workload marker (unlike NPB’s more commonly cited win totals or ERA), so posters flagging the number alongside “his rookie year was his best” is a real, if backhanded, form of respect. The Giants, as Central League leaders, drawing a rain-thinned crowd at the Tokyo Dome against a middling Hiroshima side also reflects a season where Yomiuri’s home gate has been softer than usual, which the thread notes almost in passing.

    The actual disagreement in the thread isn’t about Morishita at all — it’s about Giants bullpen usage. Posters split between wanting reliever “Eight” (Yamazaki Ittetsu, a journeyman who throws with high effort) protected from a stretch of left-handed batters, and others wondering why setup man Nakagawa wasn’t used instead, with a few dismissively noting Eight was a scrap-heap pickup whose arm is expendable if it gives out.

    What’s likely to be missed by non-Japanese readers: the “1,000 innings” figure is being read here as a career-service and trust marker rather than a stat that predicts this start’s outcome, and the throwaway remark about Wednesday’s probable starters (Shiroki, Kai) signals the poster believes Hiroshima, already out of contention shape, is prioritizing bullpen rest over winning this series.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Giants Acting Manager 109.”

  • NISA Investments by Twenty-Somethings Surge 17-Fold Since 2014 as Anxiety Over the Future Fuels Investing

    A Financial Services Agency report found that annual NISA purchases by people in their twenties reached ¥1.2648 trillion in 2025, roughly 17 times the amount recorded in 2014, the year the program launched. On the forum, reactions ranged from skepticism about whether the data matches real-world experience, to wariness of future tax hikes, to worries that the sharply risen stock market could crash at any time.

    Fri, Aug 21, 15:13 JST

    Kyodo News

    Annual purchases under the tax-free NISA (Nippon Individual Savings Account) investment program by people in their twenties reached ¥1.2648 trillion in 2025, about 17 times the figure from 2014 when the program began, the Financial Services Agency reported on the 21st. Younger generations are said to feel more anxiety about rising prices and the pension system, a trend believed to be pushing more people to invest as a hedge against the future.

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

    8AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:13
    I'm over 60 but I started too
    it's actually pretty fun
    40AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:21
    Re: #8
    Starting risky stocks at 60? How long do you think you're gonna live?
    11AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:14
    Show me where they got this data
    there's no way even 5% of twenty-somethings in Tokyo are doing NISA
    21AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:16
    Re: #11
    Nah, my hairdresser said the same thing, so it's probably true
    they said young people are doing it a lot these days
    51AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:22
    Re: #11
    NISA accounts at brokerages are all linked to your My Number (Japan's national ID)
    and each year, the tax-free allowance used per NISA account should get reported to the Financial Services Agency

    so the FSA can easily tally usage by age group
    13AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:14
    Not many people are set for retirement on pension plus severance pay alone
    and Gen Z's pension is looking shaky too
    115AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:33
    Re: #13
    Still better to have time to prepare than get blindsided at the last minute like the junior baby boomers were
    82AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:28
    Re: #40
    A lot of people mistakenly think NISA = stocks, but you can also buy bonds and REITs within your NISA allowance (via mutual funds).
    Bonds are lower risk than stocks (since they're backed by things like government bonds).
    97AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:31
    Re: #82
    The Japanese government bond ETF I bought through NISA a year ago is down about 10% now
    it just keeps falling as bond yields keep rising
    106AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:32
    Re: #97
    Damn, that's brutal
    you'd have been way better off buying individual JGBs (retail government bonds) in a regular taxable account
    117AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:34
    Re: #97
    I really don't feel like buying Japanese government bonds these days…
    though a ~10% drop is probably still within what the prospectus disclosed.
    You did read the prospectus before buying, right?
    112AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:33
    They keep saying stocks are at postwar highs, but
    isn't a crash coming?
    Prices have shot up like a rocket these past two, three years.
    And what goes up like a rocket comes down like a rocket.
    128AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:36
    Re: #112
    The whole point of dollar-cost averaging is that a crash doesn't matter
    164AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:44
    Re: #112
    You gotta look at stock charts on a log scale, otherwise it's meaningless lol
    123AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:35
    Stock prices are supposed to be an economic indicator, but
    they're cooling down the real economy just to prop up stock prices
    it's honestly such a dumb situation
    131AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:36
    Re: #123
    Not sure what you mean by 'the real economy,' but listed companies' profits are at record highs, so it's normal for average stock prices to rise
    136AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:37
    Re: #131
    Though that's in dollar terms, mind you
    142AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:39
    Re: #131
    Wait, you seriously don't know what that means?
    Real fancy economic commentator you are

    Consumption, and the production needed for it — that's the real economy
    124AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:35
    Aren't people mixing up NISA with index investing or something?
    137AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:37
    Re: #124
    I think they mean doing index investing within the NISA allowance…
    140AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:39
    Re: #124
    These days investing basically means index investing, so does it even matter?
    151AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:41
    It's tax hikes and rising burdens everywhere — NISA is about the only tax shelter left.
    199AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:48
    Re: #151
    Since when did you think NISA wouldn't get watered down?
    Pretty sure it'll happen eventually
    225AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:53
    Re: #199
    Didn't Kishida let it slip once that they'd start taxing it?
    156AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:42
    They probably don't know that the tax rate was 10% up until 2014, and 0% before that. Back then the whole allowance was tax-free like NISA.
    172AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:45
    Re: #156
    The past doesn't matter much, but
    they've also decided to start taking insurance premiums from 2028
    apparently it'll be phased in — starting with the elderly, then extending to the working generation too
    180AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:46
    Re: #156
    That was an outrageous perk for the wealthy (though the government probably also wanted to encourage investing). Rich people get hit with progressive income tax that takes half their earnings, yet back then capital gains tax on stock sales was capped at 10% — what a great era that was.
    I got a bit of a benefit from it myself.
    Even now the cap is 20%, so depending on the amount, it's still more favorable than income tax.
    178AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:46
    Is this
    a sign of a huge crash coming?
    184AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:47
    Re: #178
    It's already dropped several times
    look at the chart from last month, lol
    193AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:48
    Re: #178
    If you're in your twenties, you can bounce back even from a huge crash
    if anything, that's exactly when to buy the dip (averaging down)
    191AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:48
    India is currently the least popular stock market in Asia among fund managers worldwide.
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQEmVjfbEAISkHY.jpg

    ↑
    Indian stocks that were hyped up so much about ten years ago have ended up like this lol
    Looking at the SENSEX and NIFTY 50, Indian stocks peaked years ago.
    Meanwhile Japanese stocks, written off as a lost cause ten years ago, broke past the bubble-era Nikkei high of ¥39,000 in 2024, and hit ¥72,000 this June.
    201AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:49
    Feels like it's always Trump causing a big drop, then it bounces back again — over and over.
    I'm in S&P and Oru-Kan (a popular Japanese all-world index fund), by the way.
    207AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:49
    Re: #201
    Couldn't you also say Trump's the one pushing it up?
    210AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:50
    Re: #201
    People whose understanding is stuck at 'feels like' shouldn't be buying mutual funds

    Background and Key Points

    NISA (Nippon Individual Savings Account) is Japan’s tax-free investment scheme, modeled on Britain’s ISA and launched in 2014 to nudge a historically cash-heavy household sector into markets. Every brokerage NISA account is tied to a citizen’s My Number national ID, which is how the Financial Services Agency can cleanly tabulate purchases by age bracket rather than relying on estimates. Also worth knowing: capital gains on stock sales outside NISA are taxed at 20% today, versus a flat 10% before 2014 and 0% before that — a detail one poster raised to note NISA isn’t a uniquely generous perk so much as a return to an older, laxer regime for the investing public. A major structural change is missing from the thread entirely: in January 2024 the program was overhauled into a permanent scheme with roughly doubled annual contribution limits, which likely explains much of this surge independent of any generational anxiety narrative.

    The thread’s real fault line wasn’t whether young people are investing more — the My Number-based data settled that — but whether the boom is prudent behavior or a bubble waiting to pop. Posters diverged sharply between “dollar-cost averaging makes timing irrelevant” and “a market up this fast, this far past the 1989 bubble peak, is due for a crash,” with the Nikkei’s 2024 breakout above ¥39,000 and 2025 run to ¥72,000 cited on both sides.

    What outside readers likely miss: NISA isn’t synonymous with stock-picking. It also wraps bond funds and REITs, and posters flagged that JGB (Japanese government bond) funds have actually lost value as yields rise — a reminder that “tax-free” doesn’t mean “risk-free.”

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “[Investing] NISA Purchases by Twenty-Somethings Up 17-Fold Since Program’s 2014 Launch, as People Prepare for the Future”.

  • KEY TO LIT’s Soya Inogari Draws Mixed Reactions After Flashing ¥100,000 Senpai Debut Gift on Pokapoka

    On the August 20 broadcast of Fuji TV’s “Pokapoka,” all five members of KEY TO LIT appeared to announce their CD debut, and during the segment Soya Inogari showed off, right there on air, the ¥100,000 “debut congratulatory gift” he’d received from a senior idol. On 5channel, opinions split over whether this was appropriate, with the discussion expanding into the senpai-kohai culture carried over from the former Johnny’s era and comparisons with other groups.

    2026.08.21 16:50

    The idol group KEY TO LIT (nicknamed “Kiteretsu”) had its CD debut confirmed on August 17. On the 20th, all members appeared on the daytime variety show “Pokapoka” (Fuji TV).

    Since April 2026, KEY TO LIT members have been appearing on the show on a rotating weekly basis every Thursday. That day, Daiko Sasaki was on from the top of the show. In the back half, Reia Nakamura, Mizuki Inoue, Soya Inogari, and Taisho Iwasaki joined in, and all the members together announced their debut. Still riding high on the excitement, Inogari launched into an anecdote — and then did something surprising.

    Source: smart-flash.jp / Read the original article here

    2AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:20
    Good for him, nari~
    A ¥100,000 debut gift, nari~ ("nari" is a playful speech tic here, riffing on the group's nickname "Kiteretsu")
    4AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:22
    Johnny's may have technically disbanded, but it feels like it's let in a bunch of untrained amateurs who never got this kind of home training.
    26AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:31
    Re: #4
    I mean, isn't this exactly the Johnny's tradition, though?
    6AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:22
    Just take that straight to the Kumamoto relief fund or NTV's 24-Hour Television charity drive already.
    12AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:25
    There's warmth inside Kiteretsu, nari
    33AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:36
    Re: #12
    I'll treat you to a croquette, nari
    13AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:26
    The tackiness of Johnny's so-called high-class brand image.
    14AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:26
    Re: #1
    It's the OTHER idol agencies that run those pay-to-play "bonus events" (tokuten-kai) with physical contact and heavy spending.

    Johnny's, as a rule, doesn't do "bonus events" at all, and even when they hold "fan meetings," those center on stage performances and talk segments.

    Last year, when timelesz held a meet-and-greet involving conversation and handshakes, a lot of Johnny's fans actually pushed back — saying things like "that's too close to the fans," "it's like an underground idol act," and "it damages the Johnny's brand." There was real resistance to moving away from the traditional Johnny's approach.
    18AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:28
    Back in the day, Takahiro Azuma used to do this obnoxious rich-guy bit where he'd go "man, it's hot~" and then casually pull a wad of ¥10,000 bills from his pocket to wipe the sweat off his forehead. Isn't this the same kind of thing?
    56AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:47
    Re: #18
    I heard years later that back when he actually had no money, every time he did that bit he'd be secretly terrified of dropping one of the ¥10,000 bills — hearing that story made me start liking Azumax.
    19AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:28
    Inogari's performance in the Kadai-Chidori spy segment was borderline broadcast-accident bad — even on a variety show, Daigo and Hanamaru couldn't quite hide their annoyed faces.
    20AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:28
    Re: #1
    Some Number_i fans who also stan M!LK are spreading a false rumor that "Johnny's has started contact events where you have to stack up ¥8,000 photo books, and since it's a lottery, you won't get to meet them unless you buy multiple."

    "Hand-over events" held on a book or photo book's release date are just standard events, not exclusive to idols, and they're not what's called a "contact event" — handshakes, autographs, and photo/video recording are all prohibited. Lotteries are used the same way for other entertainers, like actors, too.
    21AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:28
    Re: #1
    The same Number_i-fans-who-also-stan-M!LK crowd is spreading the lie that "Aぇ! group is running a bonus scheme where you get trading cards if you buy a set of 100 CDs!"

    But that's actually a wholesale package — "100 CDs + 100 sets of 3 trading card types" — meant for retailers, not individual fans. Even a single regular-edition CD comes with all 3 trading card types, so no individual fan needs 300 of the same card.
    22AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:29
    Do what Snow Man's Mukai did and turn it into a pendant to keep it safe forever.
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EV29MdxU8AAZWXC.jpg
    85AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:09
    Re: #22
    He was ridiculously cute as a kid lol
    115AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:20
    Re: #22
    Yeah, that old geezer must've found this irresistible lol
    24AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:30
    I was cracking up watching this, but I guess that's not allowed. What a hassle.
    27AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:33
    Re: #24
    Good for you — guess that means you share this guy's sense of humor.
    32AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:36
    Playing games with beef and doing it on a lunchtime show — that's just not appropriate.
    34AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:36
    Re: #27
    Really glad I don't share the mentality of people who pick fights just to start a flame war and enjoy it.
    41AnonymousAug 21, 2026 17:41
    Re: #34
    The original headline is actually: "KEY TO LIT's Soya Inogari shows off ¥100,000 'debut congratulatory gift' from a senpai on Pokapoka… the MC smooths it over, but some fans are on edge."

    The real problem is that whoever wrote Re: #1 tacked on "viewers criticize the stunt as excessive" — and everyone taking the bait is just being dumb.
    107AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:01
    He's actually Toshio Shirai's grandson, you know.
    119AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:26
    Re: #107
    Soya Inogari's grandfather is Toshio Shirai, a legendary menswear tailor and buyer who spent decades on the floor of Shinanoya, the long-established men's shop in Honmoku, Yokohama. He's also worked as a suit tailor, the president of a kimono company, and the president of a construction company — and from a young age, Inogari was strictly taught to "carry yourself with class."

    Well, so much for that…
    113AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:19
    Ah, KEY TO LIT — the group ACEes fans have made their sworn enemy. Wouldn't have been an issue if they'd just debuted at the same time. Then again, even groups that DID debut together, like Snow Man and SixTONES, can end up with fanbases that despise each other.
    127AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:47
    Re: #113
    Okura's carrying a lot on his shoulders too… Setting aside a charisma like Johnny Kitagawa, being the one producing the Jr. groups and taking all the criticism head-on is an incredibly tough position to be in.
    138AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:02
    However you look at it, the former Johnny's agency is clearly struggling right now.
    139AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:03
    Re: #138
    They're talking about you. You're the one who's out of place here.

    Background and Key Points

    STARTO Entertainment is the agency that succeeded Johnny & Associates after its 2023 dissolution over the founder’s sexual-abuse scandal; it still governs the boy-band ecosystem KEY TO LIT belongs to. Central to that culture is senpai-kohai (senior-junior) etiquette, where established idols mentor and materially support debuting juniors — cash “congratulatory gifts” on a debut day are a recognized, if usually private, gesture. KEY TO LIT’s debut was announced live on Fuji TV’s “Pokapoka,” a lunchtime variety slot the group has rotated through weekly since April 2026, giving the on-air reveal of a ¥100,000 gift far more visibility than such gestures normally get.

    The thread didn’t really split over whether senpai gift-giving is legitimate — multiple posters defended it as standard Johnny’s/STARTO tradition — but over whether displaying it on broadcast television, in a comedic bit, was tacky given the agency’s traditionally reserved, no-handshake, no-physical-contact brand image. A second, sharper split emerged over the framing itself: posters pointed out the original source article’s headline was more measured (“MC smooths it over, some fans on edge”) and accused whoever wrote the board’s summary of exaggerating backlash that wasn’t really there.

    What outside readers likely miss is that STARTO deliberately avoids the paid “bonus event” (tokuten-kai) model — handshakes, photos, tiered purchase incentives — that most other Japanese idol agencies run; several posts here were specifically rebutting rumors, seemingly spread by rival fandoms, that STARTO had adopted those practices. Inogari’s family background as grandson of a noted Yokohama tailor, raised to “carry yourself with class,” is the irony underlying the pile-on, not something casual readers would otherwise know.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geisports Express+) thread “[STARTO] KEY TO LIT (Kiteretsu) Soya Inogari shows off ¥100,000 “debut congratulatory gift” from a senpai on Pokapoka… viewers criticize the stunt as excessive [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★]“.

  • Is CoCo Ichi Curry Tasty or Terrible? 5ch Thread: ‘These Fanboys Are Scary’

    On 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyou-G (“Whatever’s On”) board, posts clashed between “CoCo Ichi is delicious” and “no, it’s bad and overpriced,” turning into a fight less about the curry’s actual flavor and more about people getting branded “fanboys.” Opinions split right down the middle over whether to judge the curry with toppings included, and how it stacks up against retort-pouch curry, Go!Go! Curry, and House’s curry roux.

    1AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:40
    It's honestly good, and it's not even pricey…
    9AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:43
    Nah, it's bad.
    Retort-pouch curry tastes better.
    If you think CoCo Ichi is good, how bad are you at cooking?
    19AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:45
    Re: #9
    Calling retort-pouch curry "home cooking" is really something.
    93AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:10
    Re: #9
    Thinking retort curry tastes good… what have you been eating your whole life?
    20AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:46
    People who proudly announce a chain restaurant is bad have lost touch with normal taste.
    The only chains I've ever actually thought were bad in my whole life are Ikkakuya and Tokyo Chikarameshi.
    24AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:47
    Re: #20
    For me, CoCo Ichi just gets added to that list.
    22AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:46
    The business only survives because a lot of people think it's tasty.
    If you think it's bad, your taste buds are the minority.
    25AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:47
    Re: #22
    A business can survive even if most people think the food is bad.
    Exhibit A: Ramen Jiro.
    26AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:48
    Re: #24
    If you think House's curry roux is bad, you basically can't eat Japanese curry at all.
    35AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:50
    Re: #26
    Well, nobody wants to pay to eat out for something worse than a retort pouch.
    Stuff like standing soba stalls gets away with tasting bad because it's quick and convenient.
    33AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:49
    Some people get furious the second you say CoCo Ichi is bad. Who even are these people?
    44AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:54
    Re: #33
    Nobody's actually mad, so you lose.
    104AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:15
    Re: #33
    That'd be the fanboys. Nobody gets this worked up otherwise.
    42AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:53
    It's different from the thick, sticky curry you'd make at home.
    That thin, watery curry built for toppings has its own charm too.
    50AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:56
    Re: #42
    Even my home curry is thin and runny.
    Go!Go! Curry with its big chunky ingredients is out of the question.
    45AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:55
    Re: #35
    Isn't the whole point of eating out that cooking at home is a hassle??
    By that logic, I really don't get people who go to McDonald's either.
    48AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:56
    Re: #45
    Sorry, I don't cook at home — I don't do anything that pathetic — so I wouldn't know.
    53AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:57
    Re: #48
    What do you mean by that?
    You only ever eat out?
    54AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:58
    Re: #53
    I eat at home maybe three times a year.
    73AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:03
    Re: #53
    Sounds like a sad little monster who convinces himself the things he can't do are "pathetic" just so he can run from them.
    56AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:58
    There's always been a certain crowd saying CoCo Ichi is overpriced — makes you wonder what they actually eat.
    64AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:00
    Re: #56
    Nobody's paying 1,000 yen for something on the level of standing soba.
    68AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:01
    Re: #56
    Since becoming an adult, it's been nothing but Indian curry for me.
    61AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:59
    So there are a lot of Japanese people out there who can't afford to eat out, telling themselves frozen food and retort curry taste better — Japan really has gotten poor.
    72AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:02
    Apparently criticizing CoCo Ichi means you're rejecting restaurant food in general, according to Re: #61.

    The fanboys are scary.
    62AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:59
    Come on, it's not really on the level of retort curry, bad as that is.
    So tell me a retort curry that's as good as or better than CoCo Ichi — I'd actually like to buy it.
    75AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:04
    Re: #62
    Topvalu's Tasmania Beef Curry.
    79AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:06
    It can be customized all sorts of ways, so I don't really get calling it bad.
    Judging by the "it's expensive!" complaints, it's probably people who can only afford the sad, plain, no-topping version.
    83AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:07
    Re: #79
    It only works because of the customization. Eat the plain pork curry by itself and it's probably worse than a retort pouch.
    84AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:07
    CoCo Ichi is good, I'm telling you!
    But unlike ramen, there really aren't many curry chain options, are there.
    97AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:10
    Re: #84
    If it doesn't have to be a curry specialist, there are actually quite a few options.
    88AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:09
    I've never had bad curry in my life!
    So the first curry I ever thought wasn't tasty was Go!Go! Curry 😢


    I had it at an internet cafe and it was just really salty 😢 Maybe they made it wrong?
    89AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:09
    Re: #88
    Go!Go! is salty, yeah.
    91AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:10
    Re: #88
    Go!Go! Curry is meant to be eaten with the cabbage cutting the richness.
    It's strong-flavored, yeah 🥺
    101AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:13
    I wish there were a place where you could casually grab hotel-style curry for lunch.
    I don't mind if it's a bit pricey.
    105AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:16
    Re: #101
    Sorry, but I used to work part-time at a hotel — that's retort curry.
    They just dump it in a pot, bring it to a boil for flavor, and top it with raisins or fried onions. Done.
    108AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:18
    Re: #105
    If it tastes good, that's fine by me. Whether it's from a pouch or not isn't really the issue.
    113AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:21
    Re: #105
    We're talking about whether it tastes good or not — bringing up "retort vs. homemade" is missing the point.
    109AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:18
    No idea why, but CoCo Ichi threads always attract people yelling "fanboy."
    You don't see that much in other chain restaurant threads.
    What even is a "CoCo Ichi fanboy"?
    114AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:21
    Re: #109
    There are just a lot of people who assume it can't possibly be good.
    115AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:21
    Re: #109
    People only favor it out of despair that no other place gives them any options.
    If CoCo Ichi offered zero customization either, I get that nobody would eat there.

    Background and Key Points

    CoCo Ichibanya (“CoCo Ichi”) was founded in 1978 in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, and has grown into the world’s largest curry-rice chain, with well over 1,200 outlets in Japan plus locations across Asia, Hawaii, and the mainland US; since 2020 it has operated as a subsidiary of Zensho Holdings, which also owns the Sukiya beef-bowl chain. Its defining feature isn’t a fixed recipe but a build-your-own system: diners choose spice level (1 to roughly 10, with the hottest tiers costing extra), rice portion, and toppings like katsu, cheese, or vegetables, so a bowl can run anywhere from around 500 yen plain to well over 1,500 yen loaded up. That system is the backdrop non-Japanese readers need, since without it the “expensive” complaints and the “it’s basically a blank canvas” defenses in the thread are talking past each other.

    The thread’s actual fault line wasn’t “tasty vs. terrible” in the abstract — it was what counts as a fair comparison. One camp judged CoCo Ichi against home-cooked curry made with House Foods’ packaged roux (Vermont Curry, Java Curry) or convenience-store retort pouches; the other insisted the plain, no-topping version isn’t the point, and that dismissing a restaurant chain as worse than a 300-yen pouch reflects declining standards, not the food itself. The Ramen Jiro comparison in the thread is a real analogy: Jiro is also a chain whose devoted fanbase gets mocked as cultish, which is likely why “fanboy” became the thread’s real insult rather than any specific flavor complaint.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyou-G) thread “Regular guy: “CoCo Ichi is good!” — NanG’s “idiot cattle” crowd (a self-mocking nickname for the board’s users): “CoCo Ichi is bad! And overpriced!”.”

  • I Simulated My Dream House Floor Plan — 5ch Reacts: ‘The Simulation Police Are Here’

    A floor-plan simulation image for a self-designed dream house, posted to 5ch’s News VIP board, became a hot topic. Users well-versed in real-world home-building specifics chimed in one after another with pointers on everything from roofing material choices to bathroom placement and hallway width. At one point, someone even quipped, “The simulation police are here.”

    1AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:02
    What do you guys think of something like this?
    5AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:04
    Skip the single-slope (mono-pitch) roof.
    Also wouldn't recommend metal roofing material.
    6AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:04
    Re: #5
    The exterior wall material's just a placeholder.
    I'm leaning toward galvalume (galvanized steel siding), though.
    Why's a mono-pitch roof a bad idea?
    7AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:05
    The simulation police are here.
    8AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:05
    Re: #7
    Sorry.
    152AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:50
    Re: #7
    Sorry about mine too, I guess.
    11AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:07
    Props for not slapping solar panels on it.
    Those are the height of stupidity.
    13AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:08
    Re: #11
    Wasn't planning to add them, but honestly the simulator didn't even have that option to begin with, lol

    Re: #12
    That's a spot for a motorcycle.
    The car goes outside the house, I guess.
    12AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:07
    Isn't putting the garage there a waste of space?
    16AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:09
    Why's the furniture in the bottom right clipping through the wall?
    17AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:10
    Putting the bathroom dead center feels like such a waste of space, no? Also, I think having a window in the bathroom makes for a way more comfortable bath.
    A windowless bathroom is a common layout in apartments, but since this is a single-story house, might as well take advantage of it.
    20AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:10
    Re: #16
    Don't sweat the small stuff, the controls are hard to use.

    Re: #17
    Yeah, a window in the bathroom would be nice.
    That's good input, thanks.
    32AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:14
    This is for someone living alone.
    35AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:15
    Re: #32
    That's way too much, lol
    Why's there 4 chairs at the living room table then?
    34AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:15
    Re: #1
    If I were building a 4LDK (4 bedrooms plus living/dining/kitchen) within 30 tsubo (~99 m²), I'd go with something like this:
    38AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:16
    Re: #34
    So you have to walk through the washroom and changing room to get to the Western-style room?
    64AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:27
    Re: #34
    Having the kid's room (presumably) right past the changing room sounds like a nightmare, honestly.
    72AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:30
    Re: #34
    I have no idea what you were going for with this layout.
    Looks like something an AI spat out.
    49AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:20
    The moment you step inside, it feels incredibly cramped.
    51AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:20
    Re: #49
    The hallway narrowing down isn't great.
    I did make sure to keep it at 910mm (standard Japanese building module width), for what it's worth.
    125AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:59
    Re: #51
    910mm is measured center-to-center between walls, so you need to picture the actual walkway as about 100mm narrower than that.
    53AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:22
    It's just an amateur with no construction knowledge putting this together, so go easy on it.
    56AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:24
    Re: #53
    ID:fXVxrfAI0 is a solar-panel zealot who's always starting threads like this on VIP, best not to engage.
    60AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:26
    Re: #53
    There's "not knowing" and then there's this — way beyond the pale.
    74AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:31
    Re: #34
    Wait, if you go in next to the entrance here, aren't you boxed in by walls on 3 sides?
    Where do you even get into the room from?
    89AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:41
    Re: #74
    Should be obvious if you think about it normally.
    That's just the threshold between the doma (earthen entry floor) and the kamachi (raised step) — it only looks like a wall.
    93AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:42
    Re: #89
    Oh, that's the kamachi?
    I thought it was a wall.
    75AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:31
    Isn't the living room kind of huge?
    Seems like the AC wouldn't cool it well.
    77AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:32
    Re: #75
    I actually work in equipment installation, so I'm planning to put in a packaged air conditioner!
    Though nothing's actually decided about building it yet.
    78AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:33
    Re: #75
    If the LDK (living/dining/kitchen) is 33 square meters, that's under 20 tatami mats, so a regular AC should handle it fine.
    142AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:42
    The LDK is needlessly large and L-shaped, so the AC won't circulate well and it'll be a pain to actually use.
    143AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:44
    Re: #142
    Sounds like the L-shape is a deliberate choice, so I guess that's fine.
    Though the bathroom being dead center does bug me a bit…
    145AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:47
    Re: #143
    And taking out the food waste means walking all the way around to the front door. That's unreal.
    147AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:47
    Re: #145
    Isn't that pretty normal, though?
    148AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:48
    Re: #145
    How much do you hate walking, seriously…

    Background and Key Points

    Japanese house listings and forum sketches like this one are built on a specific vocabulary outsiders won’t recognize. “4LDK” means four bedrooms plus a shared Living-Dining-Kitchen, and “30 tsubo” is a build size (1 tsubo ≈ 3.3m², so roughly 99m² total) — both are standard shorthand on Japanese real-estate and architecture sites. Home layouts here are also typically drawn on a 910mm structural grid (inherited from traditional shaku/ken measurements), which is why posters treat “I kept it at 910mm” as meaningful discipline rather than an arbitrary number.

    The thread’s actual fault line wasn’t “good design vs. bad design” — it was over how harshly to police an admitted amateur’s hobby simulation. Some posters piled on with genuine construction expertise (roof pitch drainage problems, why galvalume siding is now standard over older metal roofing, AC load per square meter), while others pushed back that dogpiling technical corrections on a self-described non-professional (“the simulation police are here”) was overkill. A secondary, quieter disagreement was whether the second poster’s more “proper” 4LDK redesign was actually better or just AI-generated-looking clutter with its own walk-through-the-changing-room flaws.

    What foreign readers will likely miss: the 910mm grid measurement is center-to-center between wall studs, not the clear walking width — actual hallway space ends up roughly 100mm narrower, a well-known gotcha in Japanese home design that one poster had to explain to the thread itself. Also worth knowing: the swipe at solar panels isn’t an anti-green stance so much as a very Japan-specific one — feed-in tariff rates have fallen sharply since the program’s 2012 peak, so panels are now widely viewed here as a poor investment rather than an environmental statement.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News VIP) thread “[Image] I simulated the kind of house I’d like, take a look.”