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  • On 5ch VIP, the “Fictional Maid” Miyabi Replies to Every Post as Summer-Fatigue Chatter Takes Off

    On 5channel’s News VIP board, a regular known by the handle “Miyabi” started one of her recurring threads where she poses as a "fictional maid" and replies to every single post. The chat wandered through everything from 7-Eleven gummy candy vouchers to Apple Watch reset troubles to JoJo-style Stand banter (a nod to the supernatural “Stand” powers from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure).

    1AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:45
    Gonna go easy today, saving my energy~ (Miyabi has a quirky, clipped speech pattern in Japanese — kept casual here)
    X account
    @ymmr_mgmr
    14AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:10
    Miyabi, do you buy gummies at 7-Eleven?
    Receipts come with a free voucher right now, it's a good deal
    So aim for the cheapest gummy among the eligible items
    Price-wise, Haribo Gold Bears seem like the best pick to redeem the voucher for
    16AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:21
    Re: #15
    Only these 5 kinds
    If Miyabi has a favorite gummy, now's the time to buy
    17AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:25
    Re: #16
    I like Sharimoni's yogurt flavor (a UHA gummy candy brand), but…
    Looks like grape's the only one I can get this way…
    20AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:29
    Re: #17
    Then let's get Haribo together
    Price and chew-satisfaction considered, you'd be missing out if you don't redeem for Haribo Gold Bears
    22AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:33
    Re: #21
      __,.,,_
    ./ *・ω・ヽcute~
    24AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:36
    Re: #20
    Haribo, huh……
    Hmm… I don't like it enough to buy it myself, and getting it wouldn't make me that happy either…

    Re: #22
    Cute, right?
    That's an endangered species of AA (ASCII art) you barely see anymore
    25AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:37
    Re: #24
      __,.,,_
    ./ *・ω・ヽGuess ASCII art's something only old guys use anymore, huh
    30AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:42
    Re: #24
    I like hard gummies so Haribo's the obvious pick for me
    Would've been nice if something like Tough Gummy was an option too
    23AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:35
    I'm buzzed and fuzzy from drinking, but I want someone to decide what I should do tonight besides just going to sleep
    27AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:40
    Re: #23
    Only thing to do is keep posting in Miyabi's thread until you black out!!!

    Re: #25
    A dying culture, it is…
    31AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:43
    Re: #27
      __,.,,_
    ./ *・ω・ヽBut it's the clearest way to say what you mean
    33AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:44
    Re: #27
    You're kind even though you've got summer fatigue too (´・ω・`)
    As expected of a maid
    34AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:44
    Re: #31
    An AA this size is still pretty usable, right?
    35AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:46
    Re: #34
      __,.,,_
    ./ *・ω・ヽAA chat threads always end up with the text going haywire, huh
    38AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:48
    Re: #33
    No, Miyabi just goes to sleep normally when she gets sleepy???

    Re: #35
    Never seen an AA chat thread
    Miyabi's AA is a secret weapon, not something to whip out casually
    39AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:49
    Re: #38
      __,.,,_
    ./ *・ω・ヽA secret weapon?
    43AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:52
    Re: #38
    What a self-centered maid!?
    Well, it's fun, so I guess that works (lol)
    45AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:52
    Re: #1
    That's exactly why you're getting summer fatigue, staying in a place like that, Miyabi
    46AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:53
    Re: #44
    It's taking way too long to reset — there's no wired port, after all
    50AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:55
    Re: #45
    I'm not asking for much, could someone turn the AC on or something?
    Also, I want a cold drink
    I'll manage to drink it with my feet somehow…

    Re: #46
    Do you even reset an Apple Watch??
    51AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:56
    Re: #50
    Yeah, there's initial setup, and you can factory reset it too — it's fully tied to your iPhone, but the Apple Watch has its own internal storage
    54AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:58
    Re: #41
    I like the sound too, not bad — including lyrics that just blow past the fact that I became a maid instead of going to school, I like it
    Re: #50
    Here, I brought Calpis and a guilt-free soda — can't move my hands, so I'll hand it over with my feet
    60AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:04
    Re: #57
    But there's not a single drop of excitement or surprise anywhere in Miyabi's thread…???

    Re: #58
    ……Sounds like a pain!
    63AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:06
    Re: #60
    Well, that's true — it wouldn't be a hassle if it weren't buggy, but it stopped syncing over some inexplicable bug in the first place
    69AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:10
    Re: #63
    Still, good on you for trying to fix it yourself
    If it were Miyabi, she'd probably find it too much trouble and just take it to a store…

    Re: #64
    Got it! Just call someone to give you a drink!
    That way you wouldn't even need to use your feet!
    72AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:12
    Re: #69
    As expected of Miyabi — can you actually call someone?
    73AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:13
    Re: #69
    Only Apple can do Apple support, you know
    It's just a reset via iPhone anyway, no secret trick to it
    71AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:11
    Shattano Bakkun Boon Doh!
    Bararano Bakkuun! (a nonsense incantation, chanted like a magic spell)
    78AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:18
    Re: #71
    BIYAAAA! MI! MIMIMI! YAMIBIBIMIYAMIYAMIBIBI. YAYAMIMIBIMIYAMIBI? (a garbled scramble of the letters in "Miyabi")

    Re: #72
    If you focus your thoughts hard enough, it just might work……!
    Miyabi's hair buns are a telepathy amplifier, after all…
    80AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:19
    Re: #78
    Miyabi's power is amazing, please help
    83AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:21
    Re: #78
    The hair-bun spell? I said something like "miya-miya-whatever" and a cicada flew in — is that normal, did I mess it up?
    82AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:20
    Tired of Leaf Green already? (referring to the Pokémon game)
    87AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:23
    Re: #80
    Hmm, I can't send out telepathic waves unless I'm fired up
    And I've got a bit of summer fatigue…
    If only I could at least have a cold drink
    Maybe I should call someone over with telepathy
    ……wait, isn't this an infinite loop!?

    Re: #82
    N-no, I'm not tired of it???
    I just… haven't turned it on in a month… or maybe longer?…
    90AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:25
    Re: #87
    Alright, I'll open it up then, here you go
    92AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:27
    Re: #87
    Come to think of it, the last time I turned on my Switch 2 might've been back in July too
    95AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:29
    Listening to a song about standing in front of the new-releases shelf for over two hours and not being able to rent anything
    104AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:33
    Re: #95
    Isn't it fun just to zone out staring at the video rental shelves?

    Re: #96
    I'll binge it once it's finished
    But if it's left alone, it's scary how it might just keep going for like 10 years…
    107AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:36
    Re: #104
    True — what kind of thought process leads you to write a chorus about standing in front of the new-releases shelf for over two hours and not being able to rent anything
    109AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:37

    What the hell is this image, damn it
    113AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:39
    Re: #107
    Feels like it's based on real experience, somehow…

    Re: #109
    Dancing with arms raised
    Looks like fun
    ……Miyabi doesn't need therapy, okay?
    120AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:43
    Re: #115
    I passed on that situation too — with my Stand ability, once certain conditions are met, I'm a maid who can just skip right past the situation
    128AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:48
    Re: #120
    A Stand that can skip past situations!?
    I just got hit with a sudden Stand attack!
    But Stand attacks are pretty much always sudden, aren't they!

    Re: #121
    After it ends, they might just start up Chiikawa 2 or something… (Chiikawa is a wildly popular cute-character franchise in Japan)
    133AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:51
    Re: #128
    Since it does something unique and activates suddenly, apparently there's a Stand that goes berserk just from someone making fun of a tricky hairstyle
    135AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:53
    It's fine
    That stupid AI ignored the prompt and deleted it anyway
    https://i.imgx.site/sOYWT2N.jpg
    142AnonymousAug 22, 2026 23:00
    Re: #133
    What did you just say!?
    You're saying Miyabi's hairstyle looks like dumpling buns!?

    Re: #135
    Miyabi Fire!
    I've got enough firepower to light a cigarette!
    But since Miyabi doesn't smoke, it's a wasted talent
    125AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:46
    If you want eternity, become something inhuman
    Dragon Maid (a reference to the anime "Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid")
    https://i.imgx.site/zgsp6T1.jpg
    126AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:47
    Here's the magic book that turns you into a dragon
    134AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:52
    Re: #125
    Cute!
    But that's probably the type that dies once the flame on its tail goes out!!!

    Re: #126
    Gotta change the thread title to "The Fictional Dragon Replies to Every Post!"…
    136AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:54
    Re: #134
    A slayer appears to defeat Miyabi
    144AnonymousAug 22, 2026 23:03
    Re: #136
    Miyabi's not an evil dragon!

    Re: #138
    Still breathing even at 0 HP……?
    Maybe there's actually still like 0.000001 left, don't you think?

    Background and Key Points

    5channel (5ch) is the successor to 2channel, Japan’s largest anonymous textboard network, and News VIP is one of its most freewheeling boards, largely stripped of topic rules and given over to chat, memes, and running gags. One long-running VIP genre is the “zenresu” (reply-to-everyone) thread: a single poster adopts a persona and answers every reply in-character for as long as the thread lasts, turning an anonymous board into a one-on-one-feeling chat. “Miyabi,” posting as a self-styled maid, is a recurring fixture of this genre, and her threads are loosely tied together by mundane, real-world minutiae — in this case a genuine 7-Eleven promotion where receipts can be redeemed for a free gummy candy, iPhone-tethered Apple Watch resets, and “natsubate” (summer fatigue), a widely recognized seasonal ailment in Japan brought on by extreme heat and humidity plus indoor-outdoor temperature swings.

    The thread doesn’t really argue about anything substantive; the closest thing to a split is a good-natured back-and-forth over whether Miyabi’s old-school Shift-JIS “AA” (text-based ASCII art, a relic of early-2000s image-board culture) is a charming, still-usable trick or a dead art form nobody but veteran users even recognizes anymore.

    What outside readers are likely to miss is that “Miyabi” is a human being improvising a character through hundreds of individual, unscripted replies — not a bot, VTuber, or scripted account — which is what makes maintaining the maid persona across candy trivia, tech troubleshooting, and JoJo/Chiikawa references a genuine performance rather than an automated gimmick.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (News VIP) thread "The Fictional Maid Replies to Every Post!!!! ~In the Depths of Summer Fatigue~."

  • Tsubaki Factory’s Yui Murata Appears on MBS’s ‘Young Town Saturday’ — 5ch: ‘Sanma’s Basically the Second Hamamura Jun Now’

    Tsubaki Factory’s Yui Murata made a guest appearance on MBS Radio’s “Young Town Saturday,” hosted by Akashiya Sanma and Murakami Shoji. The live-thread lit up over the Hanshin Tigers game getting rained out and Sanma’s rapid-fire, blow-by-blow recap of the movie “Field of Dreams” — with fans reacting to everything from Murata’s enunciation to jokes about Sanma’s hairstyle.

    radiko

    Young Town Saturday

    @yando_staff

    Source: radiko.jp / Original article here

    4AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:51
    I think Murata's exactly Sanma's type, face-wise
    5AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:51
    Today's Hanshin game got rained out
    https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2091089131380326400/vid/avc1/720×720/GfbjE3VBH1WAl2GN.mp4
    7AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:52
    Re: #5
    Whoa lol
    It's turned into a pond
    8AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:55
    Yantan & Please! Yui Murata
    https://ameblo.jp/tsubaki-factory-new/entry-12976491015.html

    I'll be appearing tonight
    from 22:00 on
    MBS Radio's Young Town Saturday!

    I was SO nervous!
    But the one thing I absolutely wanted to say
    if I ever got on Yantan —
    I got to say it 👍🏻
    Look forward to it!

    I also got to learn a thing or two
    about comedy from Sanma-san
    and Murakami Shoji-san!
    *Note: Yu isn't a comedian, just (technically) an idol

    Watch it live if you can —
    and tell me how it went!
    Did I talk okay? 🤔

    Sakurai-san and Yuketa-san
    and I talk a ton normally,
    so having the two of them there
    was really reassuring!
    Thank you so much!

    https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20260822/19/tsubaki-factory-new/fe/f5/j/o1080081015814772233.jpg
    68AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:17
    Re: #8

    > The one thing I absolutely wanted to say
    > if I ever got on Yantan —
    > I got to say it 👍🏻
    > Look forward to it!

    So THIS is what she meant
    9AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:26
    Still no Lesser or Fu-chan?
    10AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:43
    14AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:02
    Murata comes on strong, but her diction is seriously worrying
    27AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:09
    Re: #20
    TV Tokyo announcer Kitagawa Rio
    29AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:09
    Is Sanma going for a Kevin Costner hairstyle or something lol
    33AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:11
    The way they say 'Murakami-san'
    comes out sounding like 'Murakami George'
    35AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:11
    Field of Dreams doesn't really land if you're not into baseball,
    and explaining what's great about it to someone who hasn't seen it is next to impossible
    38AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:11
    Ray Liotta played Shoeless Joe, right
    40AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:12
    Feels like the talk's been dragging on since the opening
    43AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:14
    I think the point was just that it's happening again this year after a break
    45AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:14
    At this point Sanma's basically taken on the mantle of the second Hamamura Jun (a legendary radio host famous for rambling through movie plots, spoilers and all)
    47AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:15
    It's basically a segment where he sloppily rattles off movie plots and spoilers
    48AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:15
    I wonder if Xiao Xiao was more entertaining?
    49AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:15
    Wasn't it built for the actual game, not as a movie set?
    52AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:16
    Hallowed ground 'Field of Dreams' hosts a game for the first time in 4 years — 26 Hall of Famers emerge from the cornfield
    https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/625951fb4de830b2a5dc98ddf30c9175574354ea
    53AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:16
    He just dropped that in lolololololololol
    55AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:17
    Probably only Marie can really appreciate it
    since it's a baseball movie
    65AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:17
    You can watch the MLB Field of Dreams game on Netflix, right
    70AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:17
    The 20-minute ramble is finally over, huh
    71AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:18
    He says 'go watch it!' but then spoils the entire thing lol
    73AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:18
    So THIS is what the X preview meant by Sanma and Shoji lecturing her afterward
    78AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:19
    Sanma: 'Just look what Yu went and said for us — that's our Murata Yu!' (a pun on her name Yu/結生 and 言う, 'to say')
    79AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:19
    Either way, she just earnestly said what the grown-ups had coached her to say
    87AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:20
    'This has been Yokoyama Reona.'
    is what Yokoyan said
    88AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:20
    Feels like this story was just told a little while ago lol
    110AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:24
    Wasn't Japan's first podcast show
    'Shabette Shabette 60-fun' (Talk and Talk for 60 Minutes)?
    115AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:26
    Re: #110
    Some show where announcers do otaku talk, right?
    160AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:35
    https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20260723/21/tsubaki-factory-new/25/05/j/o1080144015805406271.jpg

    Background and Key Points

    Young Town Saturday (“Yantan”) is one of Japanese radio’s genuine institutions — an MBS (Mainichi Broadcasting System, Osaka) variety show that has aired continuously since 1967, with Akashiya Sanma anchoring the Saturday edition since the early 1980s alongside a rotating cast of comedians and young hosts. Getting booked as a guest on it is a rite of passage in Kansai entertainment, which is why Tsubaki Factory’s Yui Murata — a member of the Hello! Project idol subgroup — treated the appearance as a big enough deal to blog about beforehand. The “second Hamamura Jun” comment refers to Jun Hamamura, a legendary MBS announcer (d. 2009) famous for narrating movie plots live on air in exhaustive, spoiler-heavy detail during Kansai’s old “Movie Noon Show” tradition; invoking him is high praise for a specific, regionally understood style of unscripted radio rambling, not a generic compliment.

    The thread wasn’t really split on Murata herself — most comments are just reactions (her diction, whether she’s Sanma’s type, the Hanshin rain-out clip). The one actual disagreement is over Sanma’s twenty-minute Field of Dreams tangent: some posters enjoyed it as classic, Hamamura-style radio; others found it dragged and pointed out he “spoiled the entire thing” while telling people to go watch it.

    What outside readers will likely miss is that Sanma’s rant wasn’t random — MLB actually played a real “Field of Dreams Game” in Iowa this year after a four-year gap (linked in the thread), which is why the topic came up at all, and why Kansai fans reflexively read Sanma’s rambling through the Hamamura lens rather than as an ordinary movie discussion.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “■ Sakurai Rio, Yuketa Akoto, Guest: Murata Yui ■ MBS Radio (Osaka 1179kHz) ‘MBS Young Town Saturday’ ■ 22:00–23:30 ■“.

  • Videos of Tailgating and Reckless Driving Go Viral One After Another, Sparking Reactions on 5ch

    On 5ch’s live-commentary board, users kept posting videos capturing dangerous driving one after another — revenge against tailgaters, cars stranded inside railroad crossings, botched zipper-merges, and more. One clip showed a car that had been tailing closely getting into an accident, splitting the thread’s opinion over “who’s really at fault here.” Footage was also shared from a case in which a driver was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for trapping a JAF (Japan Automobile Federation) roadside worker inside a railroad crossing, drawing plenty of attention.

    4AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:12
    Wait, does this make the car in front the bad guy?
    7AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:14
    Re: #4
    The idiot who pulled onto the tracks after everyone else is just too dumb.
    24AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:21
    Re: #4
    There's nothing here that makes them at fault.
    They only rode that close because they were confident they could dodge it.
    75AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:46
    Re: #4
    Is there even a reason they'd be at fault?
    The guy who glued himself to their bumper crashed on his own, that's all.
    6AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:13
    Tailgating is bad, sure, but if the person being tailgated pulls something like this, they're in the wrong too.
    42AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:31
    Re: #6
    All they had to do was keep some distance.
    51AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:33
    Re: #42
    That's true, but you don't need to sacrifice yourself just to teach a lesson to someone who's going to screw up eventually anyway.
    63AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:38
    Re: #51
    They should've opened up the gap before the crash happened.
    70AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:41
    Re: #51
    What are you even saying? 😅
    19AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:18
    [Sad News] Zipper merging is way too much of a gamble lmaooooo
    https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2061921687466123264/vid/avc1/848×478/lgB71awsRCpT301R.mp4
    30AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:25
    Re: #19
    The side mirror gets blown off right at the start, lol
    33AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:26
    Re: #19
    When it's this over-the-top I can't help but laugh
    46AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:32
    Re: #19
    They could've just let them merge in, honestly
    27AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:23
    🇯🇵 This old Japanese guy going on a rampage is insane
    https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1681980034456911874/pu/vid/540×960/srIcOQBbCNLBLQxH.mp4
    34AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:27
    Re: #27
    Easy to laugh since it's not my problem, but the people involved must be having a rough time
    36AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:28
    Re: #27
    Feel bad for whoever's about to get turned into a wrecked car
    44AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:31
    Re: #27
    Is it okay to just punch this guy to make him stop?
    31AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:25
    So this is the one —

    [Trapped the Car Behind Him at a Railroad Crossing] Driver Arrested for Attempted Murder of JAF Worker
    https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2090441034073563136/vid/avc1/1920×1080/K4awL5PjjtL-mLRS.mp4
    72AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:43
    Re: #31
    Feel so bad for the JAF worker
    99AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:56
    Re: #31
    The narration voice is Satolina (a synthesized text-to-speech narrator commonly used in Japanese reaction videos)
    35AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:28
    Tailgating taken to the absolute limit
    https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1347054216586559489/pu/vid/540×960/Jiao2KZQ-Zyj9usV.mp4
    37AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:29
    Re: #35
    Died laughing lmaooooooooo
    43AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:31
    Re: #35
    I've seen this move in Initial D (the street-racing manga/anime)
    58AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:36
    Re: #35
    Can't help but laugh seeing this, lol
    38AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:30
    The kind of guy who drives like this
    https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1077435788319547392/pu/vid/720×1280/W6vXFngosAW8uH4t.mp4
    60AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:37
    Re: #38
    Love how the mirror goes flying
    79AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:48
    Re: #38
    Can't help it, DIO's behind the wheel (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure villain infamous for reckless driving)
    48AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:33
    [Sad News] 🚙 "Ha, the right lane's jammed lmaooo, serves 'em right lmaooo" ← the result lmaoooooooo
    https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2084052940038504448/vid/avc1/1168×722/HlIcIC4uWPbl8K_c.mp4
    65AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:39
    Re: #48
    The left lane ends up jammed too, lol
    77AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:47
    The end result of tailgating
    https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1498942665932435458/pu/vid/1280×720/VRkcw5EsZT8Hy7YN.mp4
    114AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:04
    Re: #77
    They even had their blinker on properly
    What a terrible driver
    91AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:54
    Tailgating attempt fails lmaooooooooo
    https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1824250533281996800/pu/vid/avc1/720×1280/NqnqMa9K4auzuq_U.mp4
    117AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:06
    Re: #91
    This is exactly what we need
    118AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:07
    Re: #91
    Were they trying to pull out of the grass, lol
    If they weren't wearing a seatbelt they'd probably be hurt

    Background and Key Points

    Japan criminalized tailgating outright in 2020, adding “aori unten” (violent/obstructive driving) as its own offense in the Road Traffic Act after a 2017 case on the Tomei Expressway in which a driver forced a family to stop on the shoulder, leading to a fatal rear-end collision by a truck. Aori unten now carries up to five years in prison or a 1 million yen fine, and license revocation, precisely because incidents like the ones in this thread kept escalating. JAF, the Japan Automobile Federation, is a private roadside-assistance membership organization, similar to AAA in the US — its technicians are not law enforcement and have no special protection, which is why an attack on one crossing guard/worker became national news.

    The thread’s actual disagreement isn’t over tailgating being bad — everyone agrees on that — it’s over the clip where the lead car appears to provoke or maneuver in a way that causes the tailgater to crash. Posters split between “the tailgater brought it on themselves” and “deliberately baiting a crash makes the front driver complicit too,” with no consensus reached.

    What’s easy to miss from outside Japan: the railroad-crossing case was charged as attempted murder, not reckless driving, because trapping a vehicle on the tracks creates a foreseeable risk of a train collision — prosecutors treat that as intent to kill, not mere endangerment, which is a much higher bar than most countries apply to road-rage cases. None of the posters raise this legal distinction; they treat it purely as another viral clip.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Good News] Tailgating Idiot Falls Right Into the Trap lmaooooooo.”

  • Next-Gen Toilets to End the Lines — 5ch: ‘I’d Rather Be Reborn a Man’

    News that “next-generation toilets” are being introduced to eliminate long lines for women’s restrooms sparked a reaction on 5ch. Some users defended the stall system by pointing to the complete lack of privacy at men’s urinals, while others floated radical alternatives like removing stall doors altogether — and more than a few admitted, “If I could be reborn, I’d rather be a man.”

    [Outrage] “Being Born a Woman Is a Raw Deal!” The Government Finally Moves on the “Women’s Restroom Line Problem” — The Shocking System of the “Next-Gen Toilet” That Dramatically Cut Wait Times

    Sat, 8/22, 14:00 JST

    Yomiuri TV

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

    5AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:56
    Re: #1 Why is this in Kansai dialect…?
    56AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:06
    Re: #5
    Common sense doesn't apply to Kansai people
    248AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:55
    Re: #5
    Probably because it's Yomiuri TV (headquartered in Osaka)?
    7AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:56
    Then just line up toilet seats with no partitions like the men's room.
    That way you could fit way more of them.
    66AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:09
    Re: #7
    But even at men's urinals, nobody wants a "toilet neighbor," so people leave a gap between each other.
    Factor in that space, and stalls with partitions in the women's room actually take up less room overall.
    14AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:57
    When you think about it calmly, men's standing urinals are wild.
    There's zero privacy.
    Your junk is basically on full display.
    21AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:59
    Re: #14
    Some station urinals have gotten so small they're basically see-everything territory.
    170AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:32
    Re: #21
    There was one place with these oddly-shaped urinals scattered around with no partitions at all.
    I walked right back out thinking, 'You want me to go in full view like this?'
    17AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:58
    Women should just pee standing up too.
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BkgnHUxCIAA8iBS.jpg
    37AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:03
    Women clearly have it way better, and they know it too.
    46AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:03
    Re: #37
    If I get reborn, I want to be a man.
    Periods and childbirth are just too much of a hassle.
    59AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:07
    Re: #1
    Maybe they should just invent some kind of strap-on urination device, like a packer?
    74AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:10
    Re: #59
    Sounds like those already exist, but wouldn't you run into cleaning and drying issues every time you use one?
    99AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:16
    I wonder if the guys saying it's 'junk-viewing heaven' are actually men.
    If you stared at the guy next to you like that, people would think you'd lost your mind.
    106AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:18
    Why not just make the stalls uncomfortable to sit in?
    110AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:19
    Re: #106
    I think they should do what they do in America and leave a big gap so feet are visible underneath.
    125AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:23
    There's a line out the door and people still go in and scroll their phones?
    What is wrong with them?
    256AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:58
    Re: #125
    They're creatures that only think about themselves.
    No concept of taking turns or hurrying along for others.
    130AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:23
    Women really do check their phones a lot in the bathroom.
    They also wrap toilet paper around their hand and waste a ton of it.
    177AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:33
    Re: #130
    Setting aside whether that's even true, mind if I ask how you can state that so confidently…?
    189AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:35
    Re: #130
    Officer, this is the guy (arrest this peeping creep).
    164AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:30
    If men and women are equal, why keep the restrooms separate?
    We've got SDGs and LGBT rights now,
    so just make it one shared room.
    173AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:33
    Re: #164
    Newer buildings often do a half-shared setup already
    like where only the very last stall is strictly women-only.
    And women just do their makeup at the shared sink like it's nothing.
    176AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:33


    This'll solve it!
    204AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:39
    Just watch, soon they'll be blaming men for the women's restroom being crowded too.
    206AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:40
    Re: #204
    They already are.
    239AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:52
    If you meow like a cat outside an occupied stall, whoever's in there comes right out. I'm gay, but when all the stalls are full I do this and it works every time.
    I'm even good friends with a cat named Nyao-chan (a cutesy "meow-meow" name) — probably why I've gotten so good at the impression.

    Background and Key Points

    Japan’s public and commercial restrooms are almost universally sex-segregated, and a persistent complaint — long enough that it has its own shorthand, “joshi toire no gyouretsu” (women’s restroom queues) — is that women’s lines stretch out the door while men’s rooms sit empty. The structural reason, rarely stated outright by regulators or the press, is that many buildings historically allocate roughly equal floor space to men’s and women’s facilities under building codes, even though a stall visit simply takes longer per person than a urinal visit and women have no urinal option at all. This Yomiuri TV segment (a Kansai/Osaka-area broadcaster, hence the dialect that puzzled commenters at posts 5, 56, and 248) frames a “next-gen toilet” fix as a government intervention, though the thread itself never pins down what “next-gen” technically means beyond faster throughput.

    The thread’s real fault line wasn’t over the fix itself but over fairness: several posters argued men already sacrifice privacy at open urinals, so equalizing conditions (shared rooms, partition-free stalls, standing devices for women) is the more consistent solution than simply adding capacity for women. Others pushed back that this framing shifts blame onto women’s restroom habits (phone use, tissue waste) rather than the underlying design imbalance.

    What the thread misses is that this is a decades-old, well-documented infrastructure equity issue in Japan and elsewhere — not a new discovery — and that “next-gen toilet” here likely describes a queue-efficiency or stall-allocation tweak at a single facility, not a nationwide building-code mandate, despite the headline’s implication that “the government” is acting.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “[Outrage] “Being Born a Woman Is a Raw Deal!” The Government Finally Moves on the Women’s Restroom Line Problem.”

  • Okinawan Food Called “Too Salty” — But 5ch Says “Soki Soba Is Surprisingly Good”

    It started with a post about a meal from an Okinawa trip that didn’t suit the poster’s taste, and comments pointing out how salty and sour the food was quickly piled on. On the other hand, some praised soki soba, taco rice, and champuru as “surprisingly good,” splitting opinions right down the middle.

    The discussion eventually expanded into comparisons with the food culture of other regions like Osaka and Tokyo.

    1AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:21
    Is this really Japan?
    3AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:21
    It's way tastier than that so-called "Tonkin" food (a mocking nickname some use for Tokyo)
    11AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:23
    Re: #3
    I think so too
    6AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:22
    Soki soba isn't great, but
    it's surprisingly decent
    10AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:23
    It's seasoned like fast food,
    so kids probably love it, right?
    12AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:23
    Bought a bento in Okinawa and it was seriously bad
    17AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:24
    It's tasty, but it looks unappetizing
    19AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:24
    Funny timing, I actually went to an Okinawan restaurant recently and the soki soba was great
    They had taco rice too, so I'll try that next time
    21AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:25
    Osaka's only got cheap, bad food
    24AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:25
    Western Japan's food just isn't good, can't be helped
    25AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:27
    In Osaka they can't afford rice or meat,
    so they boil or grill up offal and flour-based stuff instead
    28AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:27
    It's tasty though
    29AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:27
    The champuru dishes are genuinely good. The miso soup set meal and Okinawa champon are a trap though
    37AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:29
    Everything's salty and sour overall
    The hotel breakfast's spam musubi was so salty I had to laugh
    38AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:29
    Re: #32
    No way that's true
    43AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:30
    Re: #38
    Tokyo's cramped, the food's bad, and it stinks
    Even the tap water tastes bad
    77AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:40
    Okinawa's only good point is its clear ocean
    83AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:43
    Re: #77
    Clear water actually means fewer nutrients, you know
    84AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:44
    Re: #77
    That basically means it's a dead sea, doesn't it?
    118AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:58
    Isn't Spam just not very tasty?
    125AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:01
    Re: #118
    Pairing it with egg is the best combo!
    120AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:00
    The fish being bad is a dealbreaker
    122AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:00
    Re: #120
    That's way too obviously someone who's never actually tried it
    129AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:02




    Looks unappetizing
    130AnonymousAug 22, 2026 22:04
    Re: #129
    That's expired
    Throw it out

    Background and Key Points

    Okinawa was a fully independent kingdom — the Ryukyu Kingdom — until Japan annexed it in 1879, and it stayed under US military occupation until reversion in 1972, nearly two decades after the mainland. That separate history produced a genuinely distinct cuisine: pork-heavy dishes like rafute and mimiga, Spam (imported via US bases) worked into spam musubi and champuru stir-fries, and soki soba, a wheat-noodle dish with stewed pork ribs that has little in common with soba elsewhere in Japan, which is buckwheat. Champuru itself is an Okinawan word meaning “something mixed,” reflecting the islands’ role as a historic trading hub with China and Southeast Asia rather than a mainland Japanese prefecture with funny food.

    The thread’s actual fault line wasn’t “Okinawan food good or bad” in the abstract — it was between specific convenience/hotel items (spam musubi, bento boxes, a “miso soup set meal” described as a trap) versus proper cooked dishes (soki soba, taco rice, champuru), which multiple posters singled out as the good stuff. Nobody was defending the bento; several people who tried the actual restaurant dishes came away won over.

    What’s likely to be missed here is that the saltiness complaints aren’t really about “Japanese food” at all — Okinawan cooking developed independently of the refined, dashi-forward flavor profile mainlanders associate with Japanese cuisine, so judging it by that yardstick is comparing two different food traditions. The thread’s detour into mocking Osaka and Tokyo cuisine (“Tonkin”) is standard 5ch regional rivalry noise and has no real bearing on Okinawa’s food itself.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nanademo Jikkyo G) thread “Okinawan Food Is So Bad It’s Shocking.”

  • Zushi ‘Rammed by a US Soldier’ Case: Japanese Government to Cover Remaining Damages as Victim Still Suffers Lasting Effects

    In the case in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, where a US soldier rammed into four pedestrians, the Japanese government is now expected to cover the roughly 8 million yen gap between the finalized damages of about 16.5 million yen and the condolence payment offered by the US side, before the end of the year. The victim, a 62-year-old woman left with lasting aftereffects, revealed this at a press conference with her attorney. On 5ch, discussion centered on the fact that the US soldier responsible has already returned to the US, how the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) is applied, and comparisons with other countries’ status-of-forces agreements.

    It has emerged that the roughly 16.5 million yen in damages finalized in a civil suit will likely be paid in full to the victims of a July 2022 incident in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, in which a 33-year-old US soldier stationed at the US Navy’s Yokosuka base rammed into four men and women, then in their 20s to 50s, on the street, causing injuries ranging from minor to serious. The 62-year-old victim and her attorney held a press conference in Yokohama on the 20th to disclose this.

    ◆ The perpetrator has already gone home… the “SACO condolence payment” is being used

    According to the victims’ attorneys, the US military side paid the victims a total of roughly 8.4 million yen in condolence money this month under the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement. How the amount was calculated has not been disclosed. The remaining gap of just over 8 million yen is expected to be paid by the Japanese government before the end of the year.

    Source: tokyo-np.co.jp / Original article here

    36AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:25
    Some 'US-Japan alliance' this is.
    A Japanese citizen gets hurt by a US soldier, and not only does no one make him take responsibility, the Japanese government just picks up the tab? Give me a break.
    55AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:29
    It's a crime committed by a US soldier — why is the Japanese government footing the bill with taxpayer money?
    59AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:29
    Re: #55
    Can't be helped, Japan's just the ATM (common sarcastic shorthand for Japan always ending up as the one who pays).
    64AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:31
    If it were the other way around, you know the Japanese government would only cover half and make the guy pay the rest himself.
    76AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:34
    Re: #64
    If the positions were reversed, I bet the Japanese soldier would get the death penalty.
    80AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:35
    This is exactly why opposition to the bases in Okinawa runs so deep.
    89AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:36
    Re: #80
    Exactly why Japan needs to be able to defend itself and get rid of this unequal treaty.
    102AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:39
    Re: #89
    Germany's allied with the US through NATO too and has US bases, but Japan's the only one stuck with a lopsided treaty like this.
    111AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:47
    Re: #89
    The Self-Defense Forces already handle Japan's own defense in the air, at sea, and on land. Are you half asleep?
    101AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:39
    At the very least release the suspect's name. He's an assault offender acting in an official capacity, so there's no reason not to publish it.
    109AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:44
    Re: #101
    Exactly. People back in his home country should know he's a dangerous guy too.
    128AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:53
    They don't need to pay it back. Japan's at peace thanks to the US military — what if this upsets them?
    142AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:57
    Re: #128
    What peace? US soldiers are the ones wrecking public safety in Japan.
    138AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:56
    This is a pretty tough issue.
    If it's not realistic to make the perpetrator himself pay, then since the victim is Japanese, it's better to have some kind of compensation in place.
    The victim probably has ongoing hospital visits and other costs too, so it's better to get compensation sorted quickly.
    Realistically, the Japanese government is the only one with the ability to pay.
    I get why people think it's messed up, but there have also been cases of American soldiers dying in the line of duty on missions tied to defending Japan.
    Is Japan actually billed for that, case by case?
    Things don't run on nice words alone.
    I get the feeling, but it's fine as long as it's what the victim wants.
    141AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:57
    Re: #138
    >American soldiers dying in the line of duty on missions tied to defending Japan
    What are you talking about?
    147AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:59
    Re: #138
    >there have been cases of American soldiers dying in the line of duty on missions tied to defending Japan
    That's just an accident lol. There's no combat happening at all lol.
    140AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:56
    I think part of it is that Japan relies too much on the US for its defense.
    145AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:58
    Re: #140
    Don't forget the US built those bases for its own convenience too.
    150AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:00
    Re: #140
    And on top of that, the US is pressuring Japan to raise its defense spending? And what does Japan end up buying — the 'widow-maker' Osprey (a grim nickname for the V-22 over its crash history) and useless Tomahawks. Wasn't there even a case where the delivery date wasn't even set?
    157AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:01
    Re: #147
    Don't call it 'just an accident.' They had families too, same as you.
    165AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:04
    Re: #157
    But it was just an accident. Are you saying that counts as defending Japan lol?
    160AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:01
    Couldn't you easily win something like a hundred million yen (roughly $700,000) if you sued in the US?
    184AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:14
    Re: #160
    There was an American lawyer running a campaign to make US soldiers who got Japanese women pregnant and then fled back home pay child support.

    Background and Key Points

    The mechanism at the center of this story predates this specific case by three decades. After the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by US servicemen in Okinawa provoked mass protests, the Japan-US Special Action Committee (SACO) established a standing arrangement: if a Japanese civil court awards damages against a US military member and that person cannot or will not pay the full amount, Tokyo makes up the shortfall through an ex gratia “condolence payment,” while Washington separately pays its own smaller condolence sum under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) itself. That is exactly the two-tier structure here — roughly ¥8.4 million from the US side under SOFA, with the Japanese government expected to cover the remaining ¥8 million of the ¥16.5 million judgment. It is a routine, decades-old backstop, not an improvised bailout.

    The thread’s actual fault line isn’t “pro-US vs. anti-US” in general — it’s a narrower argument over one poster’s claim (#138) that American service members have died “in the line of duty defending Japan,” offered as a reason Japan owes the alliance some slack. Other posters (#141, #147, #165) push back hard, pointing out that no US personnel have died in combat defending Japan since the base structure exists purely for deterrence and training, with fatalities being accidents, not casualties of war. That rebuttal, not the general SOFA grievance, is where the disagreement actually sharpens.

    What the thread never raises is that this payment is civil, not criminal — nothing here indicates the soldier avoided prosecution, only that the compensation gap is being filled. Readers unfamiliar with SOFA history may conflate this routine gap-filling with jurisdictional impunity, which is a separate and more contentious issue this case doesn’t actually involve.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “Zushi ‘Rammed by a US Soldier’ Case: Japanese Government to Cover Remaining Damages as Victim Still Suffers Lasting Effects.”

  • Pachinko Player Loses ¥10,000 on a Hanemono Machine — 5ch’s Verdict: ‘You Should’ve Stopped at ¥500’

    A thread titled “Lost ¥10,000 on a hanemono machine (a wing/tulip-type pachinko machine)” popped up on News VIP, one of 5ch’s biggest meme-heavy boards. The poster vented using the crying emoticon “(´;ω;`),” but other users fired back with a blunt “You should’ve stopped at ¥500,” along with suggestions to take up hobbies like fishing or cooking instead.

    The thread veered off into chatter about lifetime gambling win/loss totals and the upkeep costs of mopeds, taking on a life of its own.

    1AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:33
    (´;ω;`) I can't take this anymore… someone help me…
    4AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:35
    Wait, hanemono machines are still even a thing?
    7AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:36
    Re: #4
    (´;ω;`) Yeah, there's still plenty around… I always play at a parlor whose machines run well, but today it felt like they'd been retuned — nothing was hitting at all.
    10AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:36
    Re: #7
    Whoa, really
    Back in the day there was an old "one-shot" type machine called 'Missile' — that one was actually fun.
    9AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:36
    (´;ω;`) Honestly, dumping ¥10,000 into a hanemono machine in the first place is already a sickness… I really hate myself for it.
    33AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:41
    Re: #9
    You should've stopped at ¥500.
    15AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:38
    Fine play? Famista? (a classic baseball video game)
    Or Egashira? (comedian Egashira 2:50, known for over-the-top antics)
    19AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:38
    Re: #15
    (´;ω;`) Flattery pig (a jab riffing on the saying "even a pig will climb a tree if you flatter it")
    16AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:38
    Let's just quit pachinko, okay? Starting tomorrow (´・ω・`)
    20AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:39
    Re: #16
    (´;ω;`) I'm not going again this month… I'll prove I can hold out.
    23AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:39
    Re: #20
    There you go lying again (´・ω・`)
    24AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:39
    Re: #20
    Let's hold out next month too (´・ω・`)
    46AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:48
    Lost ¥10,000? So what's your total loss for the month, then?
    What about this year so far? And how much have you sunk into pachinko all-time?
    51AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:49
    Re: #46
    (◍•ᴗ•◍) Stop! This guy's actually up overall in his lifetime pachinko balance!!
    59AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:52
    Re: #46
    You don't ask a gambler that.
    55AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:51
    Re: #48
    (´;ω;`) There's nothing else in this world as fun and dopamine-pumping as pachinko.
    57AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:51
    Re: #55
    You need to try other things.
    61AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:52
    Re: #57
    (´;ω;`) Like what? Pachinko and booze are literally the only things I live for.
    65AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:53
    Re: #61
    If you like drinking, how about cooking? Like making your own snacks to go with it.
    67AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:54
    Re: #61
    Go fishing.
    Turn your catch into dinner or drinking snacks and save money too.
    71AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:55
    They say a fool's wallet is small but the drawstring's loose.
    Any money you manage to get your hands on gets snatched right back up, sucker.
    Guys who keep going back to pachinko are society's fertilizer till the day they die.
    We'll all have a good time spending the cash we squeeze out of suckers like you!
    76AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:57
    Re: #71
    (´;ω;`) Once I sit down at a machine I get heated up and end up feeding in everything in my wallet… even though normally I'm tight with money…
    80AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:58
    Re: #76
    Oh? So you're self-aware about it? Then maybe there's hope for you.
    86AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:01
    Re: #84
    (´;ω;`) I don't own one, and I haven't driven a car once since getting my license.
    100AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:10
    Re: #91
    (´;ω;`) It's not that I can't afford one… if you live in the city you don't really need a car or a moped anyway… it's just upkeep costs.
    109AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:12
    Re: #100
    If anything, having a car in central Kyoto seems more inconvenient.
    The streets are narrow and the main roads are always jammed.
    124AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:18
    Re: #100
    Mopeds basically cost nothing to maintain, right?
    I'd actually recommend a "gen-ni" (a 125–250cc light motorcycle, one class up from a standard 50cc moped).
    Gas, taxes, and compulsory insurance are all so cheap it's basically free, and there's no vehicle inspection.
    For optional insurance, you can just add a cheap rider onto your parents' car policy.
    Works even if you live separately, as long as you're unmarried!
    120AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:17
    (´;ω;`) Honestly I'll walk like 10km just to reach a pachinko parlor further away that has better odds.
    122AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:18
    Re: #120
    How's the walk home when you lose, though?
    128AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:20
    Re: #120
    Well, I don't have anything else to do and I'm bored out of my mind.
    But I guess it's better than being cooped up at home playing video games.
    126AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:19
    Do you realize how much fun you could've had with that ¥10,000 instead?
    132AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:21
    Re: #126
    You could buy two full sets of fishing gear with that.
    133AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:21
    Re: #126
    (´;ω;`) Well, honestly, any money I win at pachinko just becomes next round's ammo money anyway…
    130AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:20
    Re: #124
    (´;ω;`) That's exactly why I don't need one…
    144AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:27
    Re: #138
    Try going into central Kyoto.
    I seriously think walking is easier there.
    162AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:35
    If you start with ¥1,000 on a hanemono and build it up to ¥4,000 worth of balls (two boxes of 800),
    then take that ¥3,000 and go play a one-shot machine with it.
    That's the way to actually enjoy this hobby.
    167AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:38
    Re: #162
    (´;ω;`) Normally I bump it up a bit and go home about ¥3,000 ahead, but today before I knew it I'd fed in ¥10,000…
    170AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:40
    Re: #167
    You talk like you always win ¥3,000.
    But your lifetime total's probably down in the millions of yen lol
    173AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:44
    Re: #167
    Just don't make the same mistake again, okay?
    Going home even just ¥1,000 ahead keeps you playing thin and long instead of crashing and burning.

    Background and Key Points

    Hanemono (“wing-type”) machines are pachinko’s old guard: mechanical units with a pair of tulip-like wings above the game board that open briefly when hit, giving skilled players a chance to time shots and steer balls into the jackpot pocket. They predate the digital, slot-machine-style “deji” units that now dominate most parlors, which is why one commenter’s “are those still around?” reads as genuine surprise rather than sarcasm — hanemono has become a niche, nostalgia-tinged category as Japan’s pachinko industry has contracted from roughly 30 million players in its 1990s peak to well under half that today. Crucially, pachinko occupies a legal gray zone: parlors can’t pay cash directly for balls won, since that would make it gambling under Japanese law. Instead winners trade balls for prizes inside, then sell those prizes for cash at a separate counter technically outside the parlor’s ownership — the well-known “three-shop scheme” that keeps the hobby classified as an amusement business rather than gambling.

    The thread doesn’t actually argue about whether pachinko is harmful; it splits on where personal discipline should kick in — whether ¥500 or ¥1,000 is the sane stopping point versus feeding in ¥10,000 chasing a hit, and whether recovering small wins (like the ¥3,000 cushion suggested in the thread) counts as smart play or self-deception.

    What’s likely to surprise outside readers is that ¥10,000 (roughly $65-70) is a mundane, almost routine loss in this hobby, not a dramatic one — and that no one in the thread treats it as needing intervention beyond mockery, reflecting how normalized small-stakes pachinko losses are in Japanese daily life.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News VIP) thread “(´;ω;`) Lost ¥10,000 on a Hanemono Machine.”

  • Shohei Ohtani’s Pitching WAR Stalls, Fueling 5ch Debate Over His Cy Young and MVP Chances

    A pitching WAR ranking posted on a 5ch live-discussion board sparked buzz after it showed Shohei Ohtani sitting at 26th (3.0) — trailing not only league-leading Misiorowski (5.5) but also fellow DH-only player Alvarez.

    The thread split over whether continuing the two-way career still makes sense, given Ohtani currently falls short of the qualifying threshold in both hitting and pitching, with talk spilling over into his run of consecutive 30-homer seasons alongside players like Schwarber, and the state of his knee.

    1AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:35
    Pitcher WAR
    1st: Misiorowski 5.5
    26th: Ohtani 3.0
    3AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:35
    Guess he's lost to Alvarez in WAR too, even though they're both DH-only guys
    8AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:36
    What's so great about this 'Pika' guy anyway? (nickname, apparently for the player just mentioned)
    10AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:36
    Re: #8
    Hits more home runs than Ohtani, runs better than Ohtani, and fields better than Ohtani
    11AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:37
    Re: #8
    Honestly, pretty much everything, no joke
    19AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:38
    So what does it even take to hit 30 homers with a 9.300 OPS and still end up with a WAR only in the 4s?
    24AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:39
    Re: #19
    He folds in clutch situations
    21AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:39
    See? This proves it once and for all.
    Going two-way lowers your WAR.
    Even back in 2022, when he qualified in both hitting and pitching, his WAR was lower than usual that year.
    His career high also came in a DH-only season.

    Two-way baseball is completely worthless and pointless — it just racks up injuries
    31AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:42
    Re: #21
    The faithful love to fantasize and just add the numbers together, but two-way play really just debuffs both sides
    39AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:43
    Re: #21
    Babe Ruth proved that a hundred years ago
    32AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:42
    Why did he suddenly wash up like this?
    It happened all at once
    37AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:43
    Re: #32
    It's the knee… he ran too much during his 50-50 season
    36AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:43
    If the WAR's the same either way, doing it as a two-way player is still more impressive, right?
    Even a bit lower, two-way is still amazing
    48AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:47
    Re: #36
    He's just doing something absurdly roundabout to achieve what he could do the normal way — it's wasted effort
    It's like taking a 100 km/h detour to arrive in the same 10 minutes you'd get just driving straight there at 60 km/h. Pointless
    70AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:57
    Re: #48
    lol, that's a surprisingly clear analogy
    80AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:04
    Re: #48
    So you don't rate utility players either then?
    40AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:44
    And he's still got 8 wins on the mound
    44AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:45
    Re: #40
    Say that to Yamamoto's face
    41AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:45
    Let's take a moment here to check in on Aaron Judge — the guy people used to bash Ohtani with — and his stats this season

    AVG .248 17 HR 38 RBI OPS .907 (hasn't reached the qualifying threshold)
    45AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:46
    Re: #41
    He's just been out hurt for like 3 months now, newbie (ニワカ, i.e. a casual/bandwagon fan)
    53AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:48
    He's so weak against scrubs (雑魚専, i.e. padding stats against weak competition) that it's almost sad watching people desperately push the fact his OPS is only a hair higher than PCA's
    111AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:28
    Re: #53
    PCA (Pete Crow-Armstrong) has played a full season and still has the higher wRC+, so Ohtani's flat-out losing on offense too
    PCA's defense — historically great, even though some call it overrated — grades out about even with roughly 80 innings of Ohtani's pitching by the metrics
    And on the bases, PCA blows him away completely
    59AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:52
    MLB: 'Six straight 30-homer seasons — among active players, only Shohei Ohtani and Schwarber have done it.'

    Is this guy a god or something?
    64AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:53
    Re: #59
    There's about to be a third
    60AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:52
    By the way, here's Cal Raleigh's line this season (as of 8/22)
    AVG: .157
    HR: 14
    RBI: 47
    OPS: .577
    63AnonymousAug 22, 2026 19:53
    Re: #60
    Unlike Judge, who's just hurt, this is genuinely brutal
    77AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:00
    His batting-only WAR in 2024 was 9.2, and even that might lose to PCA's this year, no?
    91AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:10
    Re: #77
    Well, getting that while playing DH is basically a miracle in itself
    78AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:02
    Does Ohtani's DH defensive penalty get offset by his pitching value?
    108AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:25
    Re: #78
    Whether he's pitching or not, he's standing in as the DH at the plate, so there's no way it would be offset
    79AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:04
    If he steps up in the postseason this year and becomes the key man in a three-peat, that's worth more than an MVP, right?
    84AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:06
    Re: #79
    After watching how last year went, only the true believers are still expecting that — plus he doesn't look like he'll even be able to pitch, and I can't picture him hitting any better than he has all season either
    96AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:13
    It's kind of sad how he's been desperately padding his stats with stolen bases lately
    102AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:19
    Re: #96
    He's desperate enough to just ignore his own 'bad knee' storyline
    100AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:17
    I want someone willing to risk getting banned to just ask Ohtani straight up, 'Why don't you just play position player full-time?'
    101AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:18
    Re: #100
    You don't even need to ask that — it's just because he can't

    Background and Key Points

    Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is a single sabermetric number meant to fold hitting, pitching, defense, and baserunning into one “value above a replacement-level player” score, but pitcher WAR and hitter WAR are calculated differently, and FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference versions can diverge sharply — a nuance that gets lost when a bare leaderboard screenshot circulates on a live-discussion board. Ohtani is the only player in modern MLB history to be an everyday DH and a rotation starter in the same season; he won AL MVP unanimously in 2023, then NL MVP in 2024 as a hitter-only after a second UCL elbow surgery kept him off the mound that year. His 2025 return to pitching only began in June, after a roughly two-year layoff, with the Dodgers deliberately capping his innings — which is why his raw pitching WAR total looks thin next to full-workload arms like Misiorowski.

    The thread’s real fault line isn’t over Ohtani’s numbers themselves but over what two-way play is “for”: one side reads his WAR as proof that splitting time between the mound and the plate mathematically caps his ceiling on both sides, comparing it to Babe Ruth’s era; the other side argues the degree of difficulty is the value, and that docking him for attempting something no other modern player can sustain misreads the stat entirely.

    What the thread never raises is that his innings limit this season is a workload-management choice tied to elbow recovery, not a sign of decline, and that Cy Young voting still leans heavily on traditional marks like wins and ERA rather than WAR alone — so a low WAR ranking doesn’t mechanically foreclose award consideration the way posters assume.

    *This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Live Coverage G) thread “[Sad News] Shohei Ohtani Now Completely Out of the Running for Both the Cy Young and MVP lolololololololololololololololololol.”

  • Man living in a trash house has a dating-app match coming over to cook for him — 5ch: “I can’t let her see this”

    A thread on 5ch’s News Speed VIP board features a poster living in a trash house who has promised a 27-year-old woman he met on a dating app that she’ll come over and cook for him. Facing a pile of garbage that would cost 1 million yen to have professionally hauled away, commenters were split on how he should explain the situation to a woman he wants to marry — and whether he should go further into debt just to clean the place up.

    1AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:02
    What should I do?
    7AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:05
    Even if you fake it and the relationship moves forward, it'll turn into hell later.
    12AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:07
    Re: #7
    She's someone I want to marry, so there's no way I can let her see the trash house.
    11AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:07
    Re: #10
    Then you'd better turn her down soon.
    115AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:42
    If there's no solution, what's Re: #11 even doing in this thread?
    13AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:07
    Re: #11
    What should I say to turn her down?
    17AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:09
    Re: #13
    Isn't that up to what you want to do?

    If you can get it cleaned up in a month and still want her to come, just tell her, "Come over during the September holidays!"

    If you're not actually going to clean it up, maybe it's better to just cut ties now.
    23AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:10
    Re: #17
    It takes a full month, so doing it around a job, it'll take a year.
    24AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:11
    Re: #17
    I don't want to cut ties — I want to marry her.
    62AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:22
    Guess you've got no choice but to call a delivery-health girl and have her clean the place (a home-visit escort service).
    68AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:25
    Re: #62
    It's the kind of mess that costs a million yen if you hire a cleaning company.
    71AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:26
    Re: #68
    Why not have her do it until you've spent every last cent?
    77AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:28
    Re: #68
    Stop with the excuses — why not just cough up the million yen?
    78AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:28
    Re: #72
    I don't even have money to borrow!
    87AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:31
    Re: #78
    Then borrow it.
    92AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:33
    Re: #87
    If you take on more debt, you won't be able to get married at all…
    94AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:34
    Re: #92
    What's the debt even from in the first place?
    Do you have any plan to pay it back??
    95AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:35
    Re: #92
    Which would you rather break up over — the trash house or the debt?
    89AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:32
    The girl is 27.
    Great at housework and super cute.
    We've only been out to eat once, but I want to marry her!
    93AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:34
    Re: #89
    So basically, "I don't like her enough to clean like my life depends on it or go earn the money"?
    102AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:37
    Re: #89
    If she's willing to come to your place after meeting just once, she must really like you.
    119AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:44
    Re: #116
    Then consolidate your loans or go through debt restructuring or something.
    124AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:45
    Re: #119
    I'm not good at that kind of thing.
    159AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:01
    Re: #124
    So "not good at it" is reason enough not to even try?
    165AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:04
    Re: #159
    Give me a hand here…
    121AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:44
    Why would anyone front you money for your debt when there's nothing in it for them?
    123AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:45
    Re: #121
    If she's going to be my wife, my situation becomes her situation too — so there is something in it for her.
    126AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:46
    Re: #123
    From her side, that leaves "don't marry him" as the only real option.
    150AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:57
    For what it's worth, I do have a girl in mind who might help clean it up.
    152AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:58
    Lost interest the second I realized the plan was for her to clean up the trash for free.
    If he lived nearby I might've considered helping.
    155AnonymousAug 22, 2026 20:59
    Re: #152
    A guy like this was never planning to pay from the start.
    157AnonymousAug 22, 2026 21:00
    Re: #152
    I'll at least treat you to a meal~

    Background and Key Points

    News Speed VIP is 5ch’s fastest, most freewheeling board, built for exactly this kind of first-person confession thread that mixes real anxiety with black comedy. “Gomi yashiki” (trash house) is not a throwaway insult in Japan — it’s a recognized social problem serious enough that ward offices and NHK have documented it, tied to isolation, hoarding, and neighbor complaints over smell and fire risk; the million-yen quote he cites is roughly in line with what licensed cleanout companies actually charge for a severe, multi-room case, not an exaggeration. Dating apps like Pairs or Tapple, which this thread implicitly assumes, are marketed in Japan as “konkatsu” (marriage-hunting) tools rather than casual-hookup platforms, which is part of why a woman agreeing to visit and cook after only one outing reads to some posters as a strong signal of serious interest rather than recklessness.

    The thread doesn’t split on whether the trash house is a problem — everyone agrees it is — but on whether he should confess and delay the visit, or scramble to hide/finance a fix before she arrives, with a harder edge emerging over whether taking on debt for a woman he’s known briefly is romantic commitment or financial self-sabotage.

    What’s missing is any mention of Japan’s actual safety net for this exact situation: municipal governments in many wards run subsidized or city-contracted gomi yashiki cleanup programs for hoarding cases, and free public debt-consolidation consultations (via legal aid or ward welfare offices) exist specifically so people don’t have to “borrow more” from predatory lenders — options no poster raised.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed VIP) thread “I live in a trash house, but the girl I met on a dating app is coming to cook for me.”

  • Ajinomoto’s ‘Hondashi’ AI Image Sparks Backlash Over Garbled Text — But 5ch Has Defenders Too

    Text on a product image of “Hondashi” posted to Ajinomoto’s official X account came out garbled, apparently the result of AI processing, prompting the company to apologize. On 5ch, some pointed out that “if it’s your own product, just take a normal photo,” while others said “the real problem isn’t the AI use itself, it’s the lack of love [for the product]” — though plenty of cooler reactions also asked whether all this fuss was really necessary over a mere image.

    Published 8/22 (Sat) 8:10

    ITmedia Business Online

    An image posted to Ajinomoto’s official X account showed the product’s label and text warped and distorted, leading the company to issue an apology. At a time when AI use in corporate PR can itself become a liability, how much image processing should companies really be willing to hand over to AI?

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

    32AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:55
    Rare for one of these 'kotatsu' hack pieces (lazy articles written from the comfort of one's heated table) to actually get agreement here
    Love matters, man
    45AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:59
    Re: #32
    Makes me wonder why nobody's brought up Ryuji from Bazu Recipe (a popular Japanese home-cooking YouTuber) over this.
    34AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:56
    Come on, you'd think they'd at least notice garbled text
    Yeah, there really is no respect here — not for their own product, and not for the customers who buy it
    A company this trashy deserves to go under
    47AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:00
    Re: #34
    I bet they thought it was just a normal photo touch-up and didn't check closely
    There's even a chance they didn't know AI editing was involved at all
    35AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:57
    Does everyone actually know how to make good use of Hondashi?
    44AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:59
    Re: #35
    What do you use when you need dashi (Japanese soup stock)?
    36AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:57
    Not just this case — I don't get why you'd bother having AI draw an image of your own product when you could just take a photo
    39AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:58
    Re: #36
    They didn't have it 'drawn'
    91AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:12
    Re: #36
    You say 'just photograph your own product' like it's nothing, but shooting it nicely is actually a real hassle
    Get AI to do it and it's done in no time
    43AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:59
    Not that long ago it was 'Whoa, you're using AI? Amazing!'
    Now it's 'Ugh, AI again?'

    Times are changing fast

    The right way to use AI is to let it handle the tedious work humans don't want to do.

    The creative parts still carry more value and appreciation when a human comes up with them
    50AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:00
    Re: #43
    Well, it'll probably get better eventually so logos and text render properly.
    72AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:07
    Re: #43
    There's a certain breed of people who think 'if you used AI, it's creative.'

    (Should probably be classified as an endangered species soon)
    84AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:10
    Re: #43
    That's just the same anti-AI crowd that's been around since back then, kicking up their usual fuss
    59AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:03
    People who go all-out complaining about trivial stuff are genuinely unwell, just ignore them
    70AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:06
    Re: #59
    Yeah, that's probably it
    Bashing something lets you forget about your own problems for a while
    73AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:07
    Making this big a deal out of it is honestly pretty pathetic

    85AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:10
    Re: #73
    Dealing with idiots is rough
    Well, X is a nest of idiots anyway, so can't be helped
    111AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:19
    Re: #73
    They never should have apologized
    It's like handing water to a fish — it just feeds the frenzy
    132AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:24
    AI's fine in itself, but they're catching heat for putting out an image where their own product's text is left all warped and wonky
    It's the official account, so you'd think they'd just take an actual photo
    Then again, looking at Re: #73 — if all they needed was to slap text onto the same base image, they could've done that in Windows Paint instead of bothering with AI
    There was also a theory going around that the iPhone auto-applied AI correction, but it wouldn't come out looking like that, would it?
    88AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:11
    89AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:11
    The container has a curved, hourglass-like shape, so of course the text looks distorted when shot straight-on, no?
    213AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:50
    Re: #89
    Zoom in and look at Re: #73
    95AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:13
    AI upscaling tools don't work well on images that have text in them
    106AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:17
    Re: #95
    Depends on the model you use
    98AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:14
    There are people who, for some reason, hate chemical seasoning/MSG like it killed their parents
    Well, Ajinomoto these days is raking in huge profits as a semiconductor-materials company, so a complaint or two like this is probably barely a blip to them
    119AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:20
    Re: #98
    Ajinomoto's MSG itself is really just a processed sugarcane product anyway
    142AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:27
    Hondashi, Ajinomoto MSG, mirin —
    never used any of them once in my life
    *not counting home ec class

    Ajinomoto especially — the world would be just fine without it
    146AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:29
    Re: #142
    That's the kind of thing you should just write on your own blog
    176AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:41
    Re: #142
    Don't need that stuff

    It's just money down the drain
    156AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:35
    https://www.itmedia.co.jp/business/articles/2608/21/news045.html
    If you click or double-click the photo in this article
    you can see the text flanking the 'Hondashi' lettering really is illegible
    It's vague, AI-garbled text, but if the AI ever misreads it and ends up generating some other message on its own —
    something it really shouldn't be writing — there'd be no taking it back.
    Humans have five fingers, but in the AI world you sometimes get six-fingered hands, so using it is fine, just make sure to actually check the output
    Big accidents like the Tobu one, caused by a manager's oversight, happen along similar lines
    184AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:42
    Re: #156
    Are you an idiot
    If you demand ad QC meet human-error safeguards on par with public transportation,
    Hondashi would end up costing over 5,000 yen
    Do you have any idea how much that would cost
    159AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:36
    Wouldn't just snapping a photo of your own product take less time and effort than using AI?
    I really don't get it
    163AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:38
    Re: #159
    They're probably one of those crappy companies pushing AI adoption
    The whole 'look how much cheaper this is than booking a photo studio' angle
    192AnonymousAug 22, 2026 17:45
    Re: #159
    They did snap a photo of their own product and use that
    There's no way some other company's AI could just generate an Ajinomoto product out of nowhere

    Background and Key Points

    Ajinomoto’s Hondashi brand is a legacy staple — the granulated dashi (bonito/kelp soup stock) launched in 1970, and it commands a huge share of Japan’s instant-dashi market; Ajinomoto itself has been synonymous with MSG-based seasoning in Japan since 1909. That legacy status is precisely why its official corporate X account carries weight: it’s not a random affiliate marketer but the brand’s flagship channel, so an obviously AI-warped product image with illegible label text reads as institutional carelessness rather than a stray marketing slip. The apology followed swiftly, which is standard corporate-Japan crisis practice — apologize fast to contain a bad-optics story before it compounds, even when the underlying harm is minimal.

    The thread’s real fault line isn’t “AI good or bad” — nearly everyone agrees AI-assisted image work is fine in principle. The split is over what the error signals: one camp reads garbled text on your own product’s label as evidence nobody checked the output, i.e., a “lack of love” for the product and customers; the other camp treats it as a non-issue blown up by professionally offended X users, and some even argue the apology itself was a mistake because it rewarded the complainers.

    What’s likely to be misunderstood by non-Japanese readers is the practical backstory buried in the replies: several posters note Ajinomoto did start from an actual product photo, and one plausible explanation is the product bottle’s curved, hourglass shape naturally distorts straight-on text — meaning this may be an image-editing/upscaling artifact compounding an already awkward source photo, not a wholesale AI-generated fabrication.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[Ajinomoto] The Real Issue Behind the ‘Hondashi’ Backlash: Consumers Weren’t Angry About ‘AI Use’ — They Were Angry About the Lack of Love for Their Own Product.”