Latest from Japan

From our other sites

JapanTroveJapan travel & shopping

Oyakodon & Katsudon: Japan’s Classic Rice Bowl Combos and How to Order Them Hot Vending Machine Drinks in Japan: Canned Coffee, Corn Soup & Winter Vending Culture

海外ChOverseas reactions (JP)

【海外の反応】Animal Collectiveは”重要なバンド”なのか海外で論争 4000ドルのスマートTVをジェイルブレイク海外で盛り上がる監視機能めぐる議論

即まとchJapanese 5ch threads

楽天・太田光がFA行使へ　5ch「伊藤光とダブル光だった」ActivityPubの「C2S」API、なぜ普及しないのか海外で議論

Sports Day Thread on 5ch: “90% of Us Are Apparently Unemployed and Bald”

On Sports Day, October 12, 2026, a chat thread popped up on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo G (“Anything Goes Live Commentary”) board. Right from the start, a self-deprecating joke set the tone — “apparently 90% of the people in this thread are unemployed and bald” — with posters spending their holiday afternoon glued to the board poking fun at themselves. Along the way, a little back-and-forth broke out over what even counts as a “sport,” with lines like “stop assuming sports means baseball” and “if there’s no opponent, it’s not a sport.” VTuber images and photos bragging about Kagawa Prefecture got posted too, and without reaching any real conclusion, the holiday hours were simply filled with idle chatter.

7AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:57
10AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:58
Asked an AI about it, and apparently 90% of the people in this thread are unemployed and bald

13AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:58
Mind if I bring up the salt thing again? ("shio neta" — a recurring in-joke in this thread)

21AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:59
Thanks as always for starting the thread, oh great Ronin-sama ("ronin" = someone without a job or school, used here as a self-mocking title)
26AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:59
Quit assuming sports automatically means baseball, okay?
29AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:00

33AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:01
Re: #30
If there's no opponent, you can't call it a sport 😁
37AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:01
Re: #33
Just being alive is already a win 🏆

34AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:01
Kisarazu's a genuinely great place, seriously… 👶🏿
39AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:01
Re: #34
Pretty sure everyone's already forgotten about this

41AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:02

42AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:02
Re: #40
Mom's not around anymore, right? 😔
49AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:03
Re: #42
She is, actually
How old are you?

52AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:03
Re: #48
Can you explain what's supposed to be funny about that?

57AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:05
Hey, Shiota, you around? lol

58AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:05
Todoroki Hajimya is seriously dominating right now, Todoroki Hajimya is seriously dominating right now, Todoroki Hajimya is seriously dominating right now

80AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:08
Re: #58
If you look closely, Suu-chan actually does have a nose

76AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:08
Noel

Fuu-tan

Subaru

Botan

82AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:08
Re: #76
Ugh, there it is 😨

84AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:09
Let's do the salt bit

85AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:09
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HUREaPYaYAA0vEM.jpg
91AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:09
Re: #85
Yeah… this one's my waifu 😍

89AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:09
93AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:09
Big gummy smile 👄
https://imgur.com/4GYtrZ1.jpeg

94AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:09
Went into an old shopping mall out in the countryside while visiting family, hoping for some liminal-space vibes, but it was just normally busy with the usual lineup of stores 🙄
96AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:10
Re: #94
And? So what?

98AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:10
So glad I was born in Kagawa Prefecture

Background and Talking Points

“Sports Day” is a public holiday fixed to the second Monday of October under the “Happy Monday” system introduced in 2000, and it was renamed from “Health and Sports Day” around the time of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This particular thread was a casual chat thread started on a 5ch live-commentary board during that holiday afternoon; it isn’t really about sports at all, and instead centers on self-deprecating jokes about the posters themselves being glued to the board on a day off. The pushback against the “sports = baseball” assumption makes more sense once you consider that live-commentary boards originally grew out of the culture of live-commentating baseball broadcasts. On the whole, this isn’t a thread with any clear conclusion or argument — it’s mostly people swapping images and cracking jokes — so there’s no need to read too deeply into any individual post as some kind of statement or incident.

※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “It’s Sports Day ⚾彡\ ＿(・o・🍬)ｶｷｰﾝ🏰.”

October 12, 2026
Matsunaga Ria’s ‘Empty Seats’ Remark Sparks Backlash From Former Juice=Juice Fans, Divides 5ch

A remark reportedly made by Juice=Juice’s Matsunaga Ria has been read as an ’empty seats’ jab, drawing backlash from former dedicated fans who’ve followed the group for years. On 5ch’s Hello! Project board, critics argue the comment—about audience turnout at shows—sounds like a swipe at other groups, while defenders counter that a member with results to show for herself has every right to say it. The debate spread to whether the line ‘selling well doesn’t mean the music is good’ holds up, and to fact-checking whether the group ever really went through a stretch of playing only small live houses.

1AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:33
@tsubo_san_dayo
There hasn't been a turnout that bad at NHK Osaka since Matsunaga joined. It's genuinely disappointing that the live house shows got remembered that way.
@tsubo_san_dayo
5AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:39
Sounds like a dig at other Hello! Project groups that can't fill seats—not a good look.
She's getting way too full of herself.
7AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:40
Re: #5
That's a boomerang then (comes right back at you).

8AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:41
To the victor go the spoils.
Matsunaga's got the results, so everything she says is fair game.

13AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:42
So you like Aarii (Matsunaga Ria's nickname) but hate what Juice=Juice has become now?
90AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:11
Re: #13
Basically, it's like this:

22AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:45
Guess some people just can't stand that they're actually popular now.

If that's the issue, go cheer for ANGERME instead.
26AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:47
Re: #22

Seems he's actually an Ocha Norma fan these days and isn't that into ANGERME.

@tsubo_san_dayo
Like, people think 'if ANGERME gets three NHK Osaka shows, give one to us instead,' but saying that out loud just sours things between fanbases, so nobody actually says it in public.

25AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:47
Was there ever really a stretch where they could only play live houses?
27AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:48
Re: #25
Every show on the Queen of Hearts tour was a live house except the finale at Nippon Budokan.

28AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:48
Juice=Juice members are too humble, it's boring.
They can only get away with saying stuff like this right now anyway, so let them talk.
94AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:12
Re: #28
Make up your mind already.

35AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:51
People who've never actually seen a truly dead, empty-seat show are the ones saying this, that's probably why it's annoying.
38AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:52
Re: #35
Current Juice=Juice is stacked with enough talent that they shouldn't have had to know any hardship at all.
If anything, some of them are victims who got stuck shouldering a bit of that hardship only because the original members stuck around longer than expected.

37AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:51
Re: #27
But they did play Budokan though.
Was there ever a tour that ended with nothing but live houses and no big venue at all?
39AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:52
Re: #37
Going by the nuance in Re: #1, it never actually says the tour was nothing but live houses start to finish.

41AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:53
Their agency just doesn't do the whole 'step up from live house tour to hall tour' progression.
45AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:55
Re: #41
Juice=Juice could honestly step straight up to an arena tour.

51AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:58
Re: #1
'Selling well doesn't mean the music is good' > makes sense coming from King Gnu's Tokita, whose band sells insanely well.

'Selling well doesn't mean the music is good' > coming from Matsunaga, it's like… does she think they're selling at King Gnu's level?

That's the thing, she's just lacking perspective.
56AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:02
Re: #51
Mrs. GREEN APPLE sells even more than King Gnu and they don't go around saying stuff like that.

52AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:59
I mean, that's not really a line for someone who doesn't even write the songs to say in the first place.
57AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:03
Re: #52
Though professional songwriters who just churn out tunes aimed at little kids don't exactly have room to talk either.

53AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:01
No matter the group, it's because the original members and the fans who stuck with them from day one worked hard that the group survived at all. If they hadn't, it would've broken up ages ago. Anyone who gets to enjoy Juice=Juice's music today owes the old-guard fans some gratitude.
59AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:04
Re: #53
If the current lineup doesn't sell, the senpai don't get any attention either.

58AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:04
I get why people say someone who lucked into a Yoyogi Gymnasium show off the back of others' groundwork has no right to talk.
62AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:04
Re: #58
That Yoyogi show wasn't even full though.

68AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:06
Re: #64
Which one? How many hundred million views does it have?
72AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:06
Re: #68
The best-selling music in the world wouldn't even stop at hundreds of millions, would it?
75AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:07
Re: #72
Oh really, trillions then?
Let's see it, show me.

70AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:06
Re: #64
The point is write a song yourself and have the group actually perform it—not just dabble in composing as a hobby.
77AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:07
Re: #70
Depends on whether Taisei (a Hello! Project staffer who signs off on releases) gives the okay.

79AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:07
Ah, so this is dissing live houses?
Just because they've made it big doesn't give them the right to do that.
83AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:09
Re: #79
This is a group popular enough that even the Orix Theater can't hold all the fans, you know.

81AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:08
Re: #75
You should probably stay out of this if you don't even know the right unit for the world's best-selling music's view count.
85AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:10
Re: #81
I see, I see, so if it's not trillions, quadrillions then?
Didn't realize Matsunaga had written a song like that.

84AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:09
Any Hello! Project member currently grinding through small-time live house tours would probably lose it hearing this.
87AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:10
Re: #84
If you build up popularity like Juice=Juice did, you'll get bumped up whether you like it or not.

88AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:10
Write a song good enough that Taisei actually approves it for release, then talk.
98AnonymousOct 12, 2026 18:12
Re: #88
Not on Taisei's team, but there's a recent example of something getting through via Tasaki Asahi, so maybe it comes down to connections.

Background and Key Points of the Debate

Juice=Juice is a Hello! Project group that brought in members like Matsunaga Ria after early members such as Uemura Akane departed, and has expanded the scale of its live shows over the past several years. The thread kicked off because Matsunaga’s remark could be read as mocking past audience turnout or other groups, drawing backlash from longtime fans who’ve followed the group for years. The dispute boils down to two main points. One is a question of standards: does having results to show for yourself justify saying something like this? The other is that the line ‘selling well doesn’t mean the music is good’ lands very differently depending on who says it—coming from an act with overwhelming numbers like King Gnu versus coming from Matsunaga. Worth noting: the remark itself is presented as a quote from X (formerly Twitter), and the thread never actually verifies its original source or context. There’s also back-and-forth fact-checking over things like whether the group really only played live houses at some point, but none of that is definitively confirmed either.

*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread ‘Matsunaga Ria’s ‘Empty Seats’ Comment Sends Former Juice=Juice Die-Hards Into a Rage lol‘.

October 12, 2026
Waseda Wins Izumo Ekiden for First Time in 16 Years With New Course Record — Aoyama Gakuin’s Roster Strategy Sparks Debate

Waseda University claimed victory at the Izumo Ekiden for the first time in 16 years, setting a new course record, as leg 1 runner Ojiro Honda and leg 2 runner Ryoki Niizuma surged out front to seize the lead. Waseda alum and former marathon great Toshihiko Seko commented that it could provide momentum toward a triple crown. On 5ch, discussion focused less on the win itself and more on Aoyama Gakuin University’s roster strategy — resting its top runners at Izumo and the All-Japan Ekiden to focus on the Hakone Ekiden — which drew mixed reactions. The thread also debated whether it’s fair to call Izumo and All-Japan mere “preliminaries” for Hakone, and discussed the fact that Hakone is technically a Kanto-only regional tournament.

[Izumo Ekiden] Waseda Wins for First Time in 16 Years With New Record — “Reiwa’s Three Crows” Ojiro Honda and Ryoki Niizuma Seize the Lead, “Detective” Shinsaku Kudo Finishes With His Signature Pose, OB Seko: “Momentum Toward a Triple Crown”

October 12, 2026, 11:16 AM — Sports Hochi

◆Izumo Ekiden (12th, starting in front of the main torii gate at Izumo Taisha Shrine in Izumo City, Shimane, finishing at Izumo Dome — 6 legs, 45.1 km)

Source: hochi.news / Original article here

4AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:26
Does Aoyama Gakuin only try hard at Hakone?
9AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:28
Re: #4
That's the coach's policy,
and the current runners know that going in.

10AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:28
Re: #1
Aoyama Gakuin scratched every entrant from the recent U20 Japan Championships, so I figured they'd be fully rested and ready for Izumo — but they still lost to Josai, who were running on leftover fatigue after winning that same U20 meet…
26AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:45
Re: #10
The runners they sent are mostly second-stringers.
30AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:50
Re: #10
Aoyama Gakuin lost to Josai at Izumo last year too.

15AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:32
Waseda → as expected
Kokugakuin → within expectations
Juntendo → great effort
Chuo → needs serious reflection
Teikyo → great effort
Komazawa → passing grade
Soka → underperformed
Josai → passing grade
Aoyama Gakuin → needs serious reflection

16AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:34
Izumo and All-Japan are just warm-ups anyway —
whether you can win Hakone is all that matters.
21AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:42
Re: #16
They know only Hakone gets any attention,
so Aoyama Gakuin's approach is the right call.
40AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:55
Re: #16
Still, it's not like the runners are losing on purpose — this is honestly too many losses to just shrug off.

17AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:34
Someone needs to put a stop to Aoyama Gakuin doing this already —
if they're going to keep snubbing the Japan collegiate federation's events to focus solely on the Kanto federation's race,
then ban them from Ise (the All-Japan Ekiden) and Izumo outright.
57AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:06
Re: #17
Actually it's the opposite —
Coach Hara has been requesting that Hakone go national,
but the Kanto Athletics Federation keeps refusing.

18AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:34
A sport only Japan bothers with, stuck in its own little bubble —
runners can't drop out even when they're in bad shape because they "have to pass the sash to their teammates,"
and everyone's moved watching someone stagger on half-conscious (← total catnip for Showa-era boomers).
61AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:06
Re: #18
Why are you losing it over this?

19AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:36
Yasuyuki Watanabe looked like he was about to cry, lmaoo
I mean, fine if it were Hakone, but this is Izumo?
In horse-racing terms this is like a G3 race.
25AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:45
Re: #19
Wasn't he still shaken from losing the outbound leg at Hakone?
60AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:06
Re: #19
In high school baseball terms, the Izumo Ekiden is basically the National Sports Festival (a notch below the real deal).

29AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:49
The reason they stubbornly refuse to make Hakone a national tournament is that it would kill the recruiting pitch of "come be a Hakone hero too" —
which is exactly how they've lured top high schoolers from western Japan to Kanto universities in the first place.
58AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:06
Re: #29
If anything, if they moved Izumo and All-Japan to February or March,
Hakone would end up being the one cast as the warm-up.
62AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:08
Re: #29
Western Japan is just better across the board in sports,
isn't that true for Nobel Prizes too?

31AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:50
Izumo's ratings are stuck in the 3% range, basically nobody's watching —
it's all about Hakone in the end,
so Izumo and All-Japan just don't matter that much.
50AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:01
Re: #31
In Shimane it's a massive local event with ratings north of 70%.

32AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:51
If Hakone's the soccer World Cup, Izumo's basically the WBC.
34AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:52
Re: #32
In Japan the WBC actually gets more hype though.
54AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:03
Re: #32
If Hakone's the World Cup final, Izumo's more like the Levain Cup final or the Emperor's Cup final.

38AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:54
It's kind of gross how not just Nippon TV but every Tokyo key station desperately hypes up Hakone
"our Hakone Ekiden" (lol)
42AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:57
Re: #38
That just shows how much demand there is for it —
dry your eyes lol
67AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:10
Re: #38
Every key station is basically on life support these days, surviving off Tokyo real estate —
if they don't hype up the Kanto-local Hakone Ekiden and keep pulling students in, they'll die lol

45AnonymousOct 12, 2026 11:58
The top spots are all Kanto schools —
a lot of the regional universities have names I've never even heard of.
74AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:14
Re: #45
Regional schools don't have athletic scholarships, so only the smart ones end up there —
I heard a Hokkaido University runner is in a PhD program aiming to become a professor.

48AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:01
When I hear "Three Crows," what comes to mind is
Kiyoshi Nakahata, Kaoru Hirata, and Itaru Ninomiya,
or Takafumi Ogura, Eisuke Nakanishi, and Kazumi Nakata.
65AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:08
Re: #48
Kenta Hasegawa, Katsumi Oenoki, Takumi Horiike.
76AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:17
Re: #48
The first names that come to my mind too are
"Nakahata, Hirata, Ninomiya."
79AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:20
Re: #48
Normally you'd mean the Hosei Three Crows —
Tomita, Tabuchi, and Koji Yamamoto.

64AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:08
Re: #15
W-wait, how'd Nihon University do? How'd they do?
71AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:12
Re: #64
They started the final 6th leg in 2nd place and finished in 8th — really spiced the race up.
73AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:13
Re: #69
Re: #71
8th place! The Nihon University brand is so coooool!
86AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:28
Re: #71
By 5ch standards, that makes them the MVP.

85AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:26
When it comes to Waseda recruiting,
it's not the runners choosing Waseda —
it's Waseda choosing the runners.
Apparently athletes line up hoping to land one of the few available spots.
91AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:38
Re: #85
Since Keio doesn't field a team, being able to get into the prestigious "Waseda-Keio" tier through Waseda running is a huge deal for students.

Background and Key Points of This Discussion

The Izumo Ekiden is one of the “Big Three” collegiate ekiden relays, alongside the All-Japan University Ekiden and the Hakone Ekiden, and serves as the season-opening race held every October. Waseda won for the first time in 16 years while also setting a new course record, holding the lead from the very first leg onward. What split the thread was the claim itself that “Izumo and All-Japan are nothing more than tune-up races for Hakone” — some pointed to the low TV ratings, while others countered that it draws huge local ratings in host prefecture Shimane. The other major thread of debate centered on Aoyama Gakuin University’s lineup strategy, with opinions split over resting its top runners to focus on Hakone. It’s also worth noting — as the thread itself pointed out — that while Hakone is a Kanto-only event run by the Kanto Intercollegiate Athletic Union, Izumo and All-Japan are open to universities nationwide, which is the backdrop to the ongoing debate over “nationalizing” Hakone.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Izumo Ekiden] Waseda Wins for First Time in 16 Years With New Record “Reiwa’s Three Crows” Ojiro Honda, Ryoki Niizuma Seize the Lead, OB Seko: “Momentum Toward a Triple Crown”.”

October 12, 2026
Nippon-Ham Tops Seibu 4-1, Advances in Climax Series — 5ch Reacts: ‘Seibu Just Lost on Their Own’

In Game 3 of the Pacific League Climax Series First Stage on October 12, Nippon-Ham defeated Seibu 4-1, clinching a Final Stage berth with a 2-1 series record. Seibu, who finished second in the regular season, were eliminated after dropping two straight games. On the thread, discussion centered on reactions to Nippon-Ham winning a game that anti-fans had written off as a “throwaway,” how the win-advantage system works in favor of SoftBank in the Final Stage, and Seibu’s long history of struggling in the Climax Series.

Nippon-Ham 　0 1 0　 1 1 0　 1 0 0｜4

Seibu.　　　　0 0 0　 0 1 0　 0 0 0｜1

[Battery]

Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here

5AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:20
Upsets brewing in both the Central and Pacific Leagues? (´･ω･｀)
196AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:42
Re: #5
Both the Giants and Seibu finished 2nd place and now this… (´・ω・｀)

7AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:20
Is Shinjo secretly a brilliant manager or something?
23AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:21
Re: #7
Seibu just lost on their own, that's all.
139AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:35
Re: #7
Anti-fans nationwide must be grinding their teeth right now. There was even a hater today saying it was a "throwaway game" just because Yamagata was starting, lol

19AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:21
So a Japan Series between two third-place teams could actually happen?
Is that really how this is supposed to work?
30AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:22
Re: #19
Can't really blame a team for making the Japan Series even if they end up with 5 losses along the way.

25AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:21
If it's Seibu, SoftBank gets a 2-win advantage, right?
In that case it's better for everyone if Nippon-Ham goes through instead.
49AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:23
Re: #25
Even if Ham goes through, the advantage is still 2 wins.
155AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:37
Re: #25
It's there because Ham lost to Bank so many times during the season.
182AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:41
Re: #25
Seibu finished 2nd place, what are you even talking about.

29AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:22
Any real baseball fan knows the pennant race is the true standings, and the CS and Japan Series are just exhibitions.
Go ahead and let two third-place teams fight over the "Japan Championship" (lol).
45AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:23
Re: #29
You don't have to come in here making excuses just because your team lost, lol

57AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:24
The most hated team in Japan, SoftBank, against the second most hated, Nippon-Ham —
sounds like it's going to be a hype-filled grudge match.
65AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:25
Re: #57
I'm a Seibu fan, and honestly I don't even hate them.

69AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:25
SoftBank only needs 2 wins, while Nippon-Ham needs 4?
There's no way SoftBank doesn't walk through this.
75AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:26
Re: #69
Whoever hits 5 wins first takes it — looks like SoftBank starts with a 2-win advantage baked in.
85AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:28
Re: #69
SoftBank needs 3 wins, Nippon-Ham needs 5.
146AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:36
Re: #69
Probably for revenue reasons — they built this convoluted rule so the advantage doesn't cut down on the number of games played.

76AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:26
Seibu is unusually bad at the Climax Series.
Has Seibu ever actually won a CS?
98AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:29
Re: #76
Sounds like the last time they won a CS was 15 years ago.
135AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:34
Re: #76
This was back in the old playoff era, but 2004 was incredible.
The Hawks ran away with the regular season, but Seibu, who finished 2nd, pulled off a stunning Japan Series berth in the decisive final playoff game by starting Ishii Taka — a guy who'd won only 1 game all year.
Then in the Japan Series they started Ishii Taka again, and he went 2-0 with no runs allowed over two starts to win MVP.
Imagine taking a guy who was basically useless all season and turning him into the short-series MVP.
2008 was strong too — there was that legendary play where Kataoka scored a run on pure baserunning speed even though the team got no-hit.
They started falling off after barely losing the pennant race to SoftBank in 2010.
Since then, under manager Tsuji, they've managed to win the pennant two years running and then get eliminated two years running, and there's zero sign of any upset magic left in this team.

79AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:27
Well, at least they got three home games at the end and pulled in a few hundred million yen — that's something.
But watching from the outside, this roster really doesn't look like championship material.
86AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:28
Re: #79
Third place gets nothing, after all — they even have to cover their own travel and hotel costs.

80AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:27
Still, it'd be rough if Nippon-Ham turned around and lost to DeNA too.
95AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:29
Re: #80
Though to be fair, SoftBank's only really popular in Fukuoka anyway. Nippon-Ham has more nationally recognized star players.

83AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:27
Since there's an advantage, does that mean if SoftBank wins twice in a row, the Final Stage is already over in just 2 games?
152AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:37
Re: #83
No, it doesn't work that way. The advantage is 2, so they still need 3 wins.

90AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:28
Ham held ace Ito back for Game 3, while Seibu threw Takeuchi out there for it.
Feels like the edge goes to Ham for knowing how to manage a short series.
109AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:30
Re: #90
Yesterday was do-or-die for Ham — lose and they're out — so starting ace Ito in Game 2 was absolutely the right call.

107AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:30
Seibu ("Cat") Home First Stage record:
2004 vs 公 W-L-W → Won
2006 vs Hawks(鷹) W-L-L → Eliminated
2010 vs Marines(鴎) L-L → Eliminated
2012 vs Hawks(鷹) L-W-L → Eliminated
2013 vs Marines(鴎) L-W-L → Eliminated
2017 vs Eagles(鷲) W-L-L → Eliminated
2026 vs 公 W-L-L → Eliminated
113AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:31
Re: #107
Whoa, data like this actually exists. That's pretty interesting.
180AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:41
Re: #107
Wasn't 2004 the year a typhoon forced a Japan Series game to be canceled at Seibu Stadium even though it's a dome…?

115AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:32
You'd probably need to hand Nippon-Ham something like a 3-win advantage just to get this close to 50/50.
When the outcome is this predictable under the rules, it doesn't really work as an exciting event.
130AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:34
Re: #115
Giving out a win-advantage in a best-of series — NPB is the only league in the world doing something like that in the postseason.

122AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:32
Re: #109
Nah, forget about Ham for a second — Seibu needed to manage their rotation so Sumida could start one of those three games.
170AnonymousOct 12, 2026 17:39
Re: #122
When there's a title on the line, they pitch him all the way to the final game. Kitayama wasn't being saved for the CS so much as thrown out there to lock up the wins title.

Background and Key Points of the Discussion

NPB’s Climax Series uses a distinctive system that grants the first-place regular-season team a built-in 2-win advantage in the series standings. Handicapping the win count in a best-of series like this is rare even among postseason formats in professional sports worldwide, and posters on the thread pointed out that “NPB is the only one doing this.” Seibu’s performance has been in decline ever since they narrowly lost the pennant race to SoftBank in 2010, and commenters cited old data showing the team’s last CS win dates back to the playoff era in 2004. Opinions split between fans who treat the regular-season standings as the “true” rankings and those who weight the results of the short postseason series more heavily — a divide that fueled much of the back-and-forth on the thread.

*This article is compiled by excerpting and summarizing the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread “[Baseball] Pacific League CS Game 3: L 1-4 F [10/12] — Nippon-Ham advances to CS Final Stage with 2-1 record, 2nd-place Seibu eliminated after back-to-back losses“.

October 12, 2026
AKB48 and Cute Jump on the ‘Frozen Fried Rice’ Video Trend — 5ch: ‘I Mistook It for Frozen Mom’

It’s become a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board that other groups like AKB48 and Cute (Kyuesuto) are now jumping on the “frozen fried rice” video trend — short clips where the idol just stares silently into the camera — a format said to have originated in Hello! Project. The thread kicked off with speculation that this video format might catch on slowly and then blow up the way “Moremi” did (a past Hello! Project clip that went viral the same slow-burn way). Opinions were split, though, on how much any resulting buzz would actually benefit the original Hello! Project groups, and on whether the trend has already peaked or is still growing. The meme’s name has apparently spread far enough that one poster even mistook “frozen fried rice” (reitou chahan) for “frozen mom” (reitou kaachan).

1AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:04
This is catching on slowly just like Moremi did — it's gonna blow up big.
2AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:05
No matter what Angerme tries, it just never goes viral.
53AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:40
Re: #2
Sounds like a bitter Juice=Juice fanboy (lol)

3AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:05
K-pop idols have been doing it too.
6AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:07
Re: #3
It's INI.
Momona's older brother's group.
9AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:07
Re: #3
It's INI.
But are those guys even K-pop, really?

4AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:06
Things have been going well for Hello! Project ever since 'Hatsukoi Cider' (First Love Cider).

5AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:07
Even if it blows up, it won't benefit the original group — there's basically nobody left in it right now.
12AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:08
Re: #5
It'll probably benefit the Hello! Project units, at least.
16AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:10
Re: #5
They get another signature song out of it.
Maybe even a shot at TV.

7AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:07
Good stuff gets recognized as good, that's just how it goes.

8AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:07
Re: #1
The trend's already over.

17AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:11
Re: #8
I keep telling you not to post these every single hour, Oyaki Gramps.
It's still pulling over 10k views a day.

10AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:08
They'll probably end up performing Sekubo on Music Station.
Congrats.
11AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:08
Juice=Juice will do stuff like the Soran Bushi dance, but they won't do this.
Good on them for having that flagship-group awareness and pride.
15AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:10
Reina's been posting her solo live videos on TikTok too.

18AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:12
Re: #14
It's about brand rankings, right? Then it's K-pop.
Though they're always left off the list anyway.
19AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:12
Juice=Juice have now dropped off the Kohaku Uta Gassen prediction list at this point…
https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1791750129/
23AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:14
Re: #17
The same numbers that'd get Juice=Juice ripped apart get Morning Musume praised.
24AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:15
That's just part of the Soran Bushi thing — it's not even a Musume song.

25AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:16
So now every meme like that just gets called 'frozen fried rice,' huh (lol)

26AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:18
I'm new here thanks to the fried rice thing, but the current lineup is really great!!!
33AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:23
Re: #26
Most people probably never get that far.

28AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:19
This'll blow up, and then Cute or AKB48 will end up covering it on some music show, right?
32AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:22
Re: #28
Even Kawalab gets told that — 'the song itself is what's going viral, so technically it doesn't even have to be the original artist singing it.'

29AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:20
Anyone can copy it easily without learning any choreography.
And you don't have to flash your underwear either.
34AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:25
Re: #29
All you have to do is stare at the camera.

30AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:21
November 2025: Top Idol Senbatsu performs 'Hatsukoi Cider,' and Hello! Project starts getting attention again.
Around February 2026: 'Moremi' starts going viral about half a year after its release.
Around October 2026: 'Sekubo' starts blowing up in idol circles.
31AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:21
Kind of sad watching one guy keep this thread alive all by himself.

35AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:27
This'll probably land a fried rice commercial deal.
39AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:28
Re: #35
Seems like it'd go to Fujimoto Miki or Tanaka Reina.

36AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:28
At first I had absolutely no idea what was so funny about a video of someone just staring at the camera.
45AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:35
Re: #36
That's exactly why you never know what'll go viral.
If you can't tell, all you can do is just try it and see.

38AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:28
Cute's probably going to end up taking this one over.

41AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:32
I kept hearing 'fried rice' and 'frozen fried rice' lately and had no idea what people were talking about, so I finally gave in and looked it up.
Honestly it doesn't even need to be fried rice — anything you'd heat up in the microwave would work just as well.
Though at my place we actually heat frozen fried rice in a frying pan anyway.
48AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:36
Re: #41
Just now?
Way too late, lol.

42AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:33
The funny part was never the footage itself —
it's the Twitter users captioning it like 'me watching frozen fried rice [heat up].'
Some old-timers get the wrong idea, but it's not like the song itself is going viral either.

55AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:41
For a while I actually thought it was 'frozen mom' and figured Makino had caused another stadium controversy.
60AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:47
Re: #55
Yeah, it's an easy mix-up — 'frozen mom' and 'frozen fried rice' sound alike.

Background and Key Points of the Discussion

The “frozen fried rice video” is an internet-meme nickname for short clips that just show someone staring into the camera. Within the thread, it’s explained that the trend spread rapidly roughly half a year after “Moremi,” widely seen as the format’s originator, first appeared. What made this particular topic worth discussing is that the format has spilled over beyond Hello! Project itself to AKB48, Cute, and even K-pop groups, showing how the trend has taken on a life of its own across group lines. The thread was split over who actually benefits if it goes viral. A pessimistic view — “it won’t do anything for the original group” — coexisted with an optimistic one — “it’ll draw attention to Hello! Project-born units as a whole” — and some pointed out that even within Hello! Project, Morning Musume and Juice=Juice get judged by different standards for the same numbers. It’s also noted that the real appeal isn’t the footage itself but the social-media culture of riffing on viewers’ own reactions to it, which makes it a different animal from a simple “dance video going viral.”

※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “AKB and Cute Are Putting Out Frozen Fried Rice Videos Too.”

October 12, 2026
Bean Sprout Producers Keep Collapsing — 5ch: ‘Nobody’s Mad If ¥29 Becomes ¥80’

Bean sprouts have long propped up household budgets and restaurants thanks to their rock-bottom price of 20-30 yen a bag, but a TV program reported that producers are shutting down or going bankrupt one after another as profitability collapses. The report noted that Jiro-style ramen shops, known for piling on mountains of vegetables, could end up struggling to secure enough bean sprouts. The news sparked a wave of reactions on 5ch, where voices saying “we should support producers even with a bit of a price hike” clashed with others saying “they’re perishable and have no nutrition anyway, so it’s no great loss” — alongside plenty of posts trading tips on storage and cooking.

Bean sprouts: cheap, packed with nutrients, and a friend to ordinary households. Right now, producers across the country are shutting down or going bankrupt one after another, raising concerns about the impact on restaurants and home dinner tables.

■ Vegetable-piled ramen in trouble

Customers slurping down “Jiro-style” ramen — a mountain of vegetables atop ultra-thick noodles — can’t help but smile.

Source: news.tv-asahi.co.jp / Original article here

6AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:35
Bean sprouts look cheap but they're actually pricey for what you get. Half a cabbage for ¥100 is better value — well, cabbage's expensive right now too, but still.
29AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:44
Re: #6
They go bad too fast to keep stocked in a home fridge. Maybe if you've got a big family doing constant grocery runs you could use them up in time, though.

Must be rough on restaurants too if they let them go to waste — though since they're so cheap to begin with, the money lost probably isn't huge.

7AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:35
Honestly hope this is what finally kills it off. A bowl loaded with nothing but bean sprouts tastes like garbage.

9AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:35
¥19 a bag — makes you wonder what the wholesale price even is.
88AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:21
Re: #9
I always buy them at that price, so ¥30 feels insanely expensive to me.

12AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:37
I keep hearing bean sprout producers are struggling with razor-thin margins — is there some structural reason they can't just raise prices?
16AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:39
Re: #12
Because they're an unsung hero that fools can't even see.
17AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:39
Re: #12
Just like you've managed to live your whole life without understanding even that much — the world has reasons and social structures that the people involved can't change even if they wanted to.
183AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:06
Re: #12
Because rival companies undercut them on price, and customers just switch over.

14AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:37
This is just supply and demand doing its thing, and that's fine. If supply gets tight and people still need it, the price goes up. If the price goes up, someone steps in to produce more. Leave that balance to the market — that's the right answer.

18AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:40
Bean sprouts taste bad, you don't need to pile them on for me. Whenever I go to a Jiro-style place I always order it without.
27AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:43
Re: #18
But then you're the complainer demanding extra cabbage instead?
35AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:45
Re: #18
No vegetables at all doesn't taste good either. And too much cabbage makes it too sweet — also bad.

20AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:40
I'm generally against price hikes, but I kinda think bean sprouts specifically could stand a small one.
25AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:42
Re: #20
My regular supermarket stocks both a ¥19 bag and a ¥32 bag of bean sprouts — I make a point of buying the ¥32 one.

26AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:43
Don't need bean sprouts. Wouldn't miss them if they vanished. Not very nutritious, and they water down whatever dish you put them in and ruin it. Being cheap is their only selling point, so if they get pricier I'll just buy a different vegetable.
37AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:46
Re: #26
That's just because your cooking technique is bad. Take fresh bean sprouts, stir-fry them quickly over high heat until the core just starts turning translucent, toss with seasoned salt and pepper and a bit of garlic — that alone turns it into a perfectly decent dish.
93AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:24
Re: #26
Bean sprouts do have nutrients.

33AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:45
They go bad fast and come in big quantities, so they're a pain to use if you're single.
40AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:49
Re: #29
Re: #33
Just quickly stir-fry them while they're fresh and season them, then once they've cooled store them in a Tupperware — that turns into an easy side dish that keeps about a week, right? Making them into a vinegared dish works too.

38AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:48
At Jiro, "extra veggies" basically means a mountain of bean sprouts. A Jiro that can't do extra veggies anymore is like coffee without Creap (a popular Japanese powdered coffee creamer).
44AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:49
Re: #38
Kids in the Reiwa era won't get that reference.

41AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:49
It's because they can't get cheap bean sprouts anymore and their profits take a hit, that's all. If a shop wants to keep going, they can just buy the pricier bean sprouts — problem solved.
61AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:59
Re: #41
Even if it gets pricier, we're talking a bag going from ¥30 to ¥35. Even at ¥50, the impact is maybe a few fewer customers a day, if that. Say a shop gets 200 customers a day — if the cost per bag goes up ¥20, that's a ¥4,000 total cost increase. That's about the same hit as failing to sell four bowls of ¥1,000 ramen. And a shop pulling in ¥200,000 a day is already a thriving business. Skipping the fine print here, just keeping the numbers simple to make the point.

109AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:40
Forget bean sprouts, lately my local store keeps doing 3 onions for ¥100 and that's been a lifesaver.

140AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:37
They should just go ahead and bump it up to around ¥80. I want bean sprout farmers to actually make money.
144AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:38
Re: #140
Seriously, who's out there raging because ¥29 became ¥80?
148AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:41
Re: #144
I'd honestly be happier if they turned a profit and gave us a wider variety of bean sprouts.

Same with tofu — the stuff from small specialty shops really is tastier, even if pricier. A dedicated bean sprout specialty shop probably isn't realistic, so I'm hoping supermarkets can sort something out.
176AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:50
Re: #144
Nobody, that's who. It's a vegetable that's done us a huge service at Jiro — no harm done even if it hits ¥100.

155AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:49
Bean sprouts' biggest weakness is that they don't keep. If the price goes up, realistically they just won't sell.
159AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:55
Re: #155
So true. I wish they'd sell them in half-size bags.
180AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:03
Re: #155
Can't you just freeze them?

196AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:25
Bean sprouts have basically zero nutritional value. It's a mystery why they're so widespread.
199AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:39
Re: #196
There's no other crop you can harvest just a week after sowing. Because you can harvest it over and over in such a short span, the price ends up basically given away.
201AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:42
Re: #196
Actually, that might be a good thing. Green mung bean sprouts reportedly help block sugar absorption, so it's not quite fair to say they have zero nutritional value.

What happens to your blood sugar when you eat green mung bean sprouts with rice?
https://localab.net/sprouts-and-rice/

Background and Key Points of This Discussion

Bean sprouts have a short production cycle — about a week from sowing to harvest — and most of the raw mung beans used are imported. It’s an intensely price-competitive, low-margin business, so rising raw material and fuel costs hit producers especially hard. The thread split over whether a modest price increase should be accepted: many commenters said they wouldn’t mind even if a ¥29 bag became ¥80, while others pointed out that bean sprouts spoil quickly and households often can’t use up a whole bag before they go bad. There was also pushback against the claim that bean sprouts have “no nutritional value,” with some noting that green mung bean sprouts may help suppress sugar absorption — suggesting a gap between the common perception and their actual nutritional profile. Note that the premise of producers “shutting down one after another” comes from the original TV report, and the specific number of closures or which regions are affected could not be independently confirmed within the scope of this article.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Low Margins, High Volume! Bean Sprout Producers Keep Shutting Down — the ‘Bean Sprout Scramble’ Threatens Jiro-Style Vegetable-Piled Ramen.”

October 12, 2026
Suguru Osako’s Tattoos Revealed in Running Video — 5ch Asks: ‘Why Would He Get Those?’

Japan’s marathon record holder Suguru Osako went shirtless in a running video he posted to Instagram, revealing tattoos below his collarbone and on his arms — and it became a hot topic on 5ch’s Entertainment/Sports Breaking News+ board. Osako has previously said he “idolized bad boys,” and some posters pointed out that the tattoos aren’t actually new at all. The thread filled up with a mix of bewildered comments like “why would he get those?” and more indifferent ones like “who cares, really?”, and the discussion eventually spiraled into a broader debate about how Japan and other countries view tattoos differently.

Mon, Oct 12, 6:40 AM

Men’s marathon Japanese record holder Suguru Osako’s running footage is making waves.

He posted a video on Instagram of himself running along a sidewalk. Along with shots of his beautiful running form, the end of the clip shows him shirtless, revealing tattoos below his collarbone and on his arms.

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

4AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:19
So does this mean he's done with races that get TV coverage?
6AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:20
Short and skinny with a tattoo — that's just lame.
7AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:20
This has been going on for ages. Why bring it up now?

8AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:21
"I idolize bad boys"
is literally what he said, after all
9AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:21
What's he up to these days?
Still a pro athlete?
12AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:21
The ink's faded, so he got it quite a while back.

13AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:22
After he became an adult, you mean?
25AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:24
Re: #13
He started getting them recently.

14AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:22
Marathon running ages you.
Swimming keeps you looking the youngest.

20AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:23
Boxing's Kazuto Ioka,
marathon's Suguru Osako.
76AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:33
Re: #20
A late-blooming delinquent, huh lol

23AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:24
Nobody's really confident in their bare, unadorned self, are they
So many people live behind a front
even if they're famous or have impressive accomplishments
85AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:34
Re: #23
Coming from someone on 5ch who hides their face and name while posting anonymously online,
saying other people lack confidence in their bare selves
is basically a self-deprecating joke at this point

45AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:28
Thought he'd added more, but it's the same as before
If he's going to keep up this mysterious self-expression thing with ink and piercings in both ears,
he might as well have become a musician
78AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:33
Re: #45
He'd probably need AI to make the music for him

51AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:29
If it were a youthful indiscretion, fine,
but getting inked in your mid-30s makes no sense
92AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:36
Re: #51
I'm in my 40s and I'm actually debating getting a Sakuyan-style protective charm tattoo myself

62AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:31
In the US, in Europe, and in Japan alike, there's a strong statistical correlation between having tattoos and being a criminal
69AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:32
Re: #62
If you're implying Osako's basically a criminal just because he has a tattoo, I think you're a little unhinged

70AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:32
I just can't help seeing tattoos as a 'not exactly a law-abiding citizen' thing
If you call that prejudice, I can't really argue back
91AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:35
Re: #70
People say it's normal overseas, but Japan has a culture where tattoos are for society's outcasts, so I think that reaction is natural
96AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:36
Re: #70
It's not prejudice — that's just how ordinary Japanese people feel

93AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:36
Re: #1
Someone already pointed out that he only started running shirtless after getting the tattoos lol
149AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:46
Re: #93
A washed-up yakuza guy once told me that once you get inked, you desperately want to show it off to people

105AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:38
He's in shape now since he's an athlete, but once he retires and packs on the pounds, the artwork's probably going to stretch out and sag
114AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:39
Re: #105
He could just get it removed

107AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:38
What's the point of getting it so faint?
If he wants to show it off, he should've gone bold and crisp
112AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:39
Re: #107
Nah, it's just fading with age

113AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:39
Butting into other people's fashion choices — that's such a Japanese thing to do
123AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:42
Re: #113
It's because the 'top performer = saint' mentality runs rampant
For a simple sport like this, the results come down to natural talent plus whether you keep up a baseline level of maintenance
132AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:44
Re: #113
Foreigners do it too — in the West, if a guy dresses in an unmanly way they mock him as gay, and if a woman gets a buzz cut they mock her as a lesbian

119AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:40
Re: #112
In photos from last year's race he only had the one on his chest — does ink really fade this much in under a year?
141AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:45
Re: #119
Oh, I see
Then maybe it's intentional
Maybe he's going for a sumi-e ink-painting look

128AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:43
Is he running shirtless on purpose just to show off the tattoos?
170AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:51
Re: #128
That right there is the lamest part, honestly
Whether he gets tattoos or not doesn't really matter to me

Background and Key Points of the Debate

In Japan, tattoos have long been associated with images of “yakuza” and “society’s outcasts,” and exclusionary customs persist at the everyday level — public bathhouses and hot springs banning tattooed visitors, for instance. Overseas, by contrast, tattoos are nothing unusual among athletes, and that gap became the thread’s central fault line. Those defending Osako framed it as “normal overseas” and “his own personal choice,” while critics countered that “that’s how it is abroad, but in Japan the general public’s sense is still that tattoos are for society’s outcasts” — turning the cultural difference itself into the debate. A claim also surfaced that “there’s a statistical correlation between tattoos and criminals,” though no source was given, and it’s worth noting this was personal impression being passed off as general fact. Osako himself has previously said he “idolized bad boys,” and several posters pointed out that the tattoo isn’t new at all — judging by how faded it is, he likely got it a good while ago. In other words, this wasn’t really a “new revelation” so much as something already there being made newly visible by the video, and that’s what drove the reaction.

*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports Breaking News+) thread “Shock Over Suguru Osako’s ‘Tattoo-Covered’ Running Look: ‘He Got Inked?!’ / ‘Why Would He Get Those?’ / ‘Who Cares, Really?’.”

October 12, 2026
Disgraced Influencer Hezuma Ryu Asks Actor for a Photo, Gets Shot Down: ‘I’m Not a Fan of You’

Hezuma Ryu, a former “nuisance YouTuber” who is now a sitting Nara city councilman, revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that “being hated really does hurt.” He said that while in Tokyo he ran into an actor he’d admired since childhood, approached him, and was turned down for a photo with the line “I’m not really a fan of you.” On 5ch, sympathy for his confession was scarce — most commenters argued that given his history of nuisance behavior and his current role as a councilman, “of course he got turned down,” and opinion split over whether he’s genuinely changed.

Mon, Oct 12, 3:57 PM

Nara city councilman Hezuma Ryu (35) updated his official X (formerly Twitter) account by the 12th, sharing an episode that left him feeling that “being hated really does hurt.”

Hezuma opened with: “Being hated really does hurt. I guess I can’t complain since it’s my own fault, but when I went to Tokyo, I happened to run into an actor I’d admired since I was a kid.”

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

2AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:01
If he'd gotten that two-shot photo, it probably would've just ended up misused somehow

10AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:03
Got turned down for a two-shot with my favorite actor
Wild, ain't it~ (riffing on comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto-era catchphrase "wild, isn't it")
69AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:15
Re: #10
Gotta redo that "yoo-shot" (typo for "two-shot")

11AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:03
I'm not a fan of him either
but I think he's actually putting in effort in his current role
13AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:04
Even if he lived a totally normal life it'd still be a no
if he can't see that much, he doesn't get anything
14AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:05
Just getting photographed together would blow up into a controversy on its own
17AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:06
Is "not a fan of you" meant in the "can't stand creepy-crawlies" sense?

18AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:07
It's because he keeps spinning stories like this that the whole country dislikes him
20AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:07
Playing the victim online over every little thing is so tiresome

22AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:07
Didn't Tom Cruise just come to Japan recently — it's probably him
31AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:08
Re: #22
He looked like he was having a blast with [comedian] Nagano

23AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:07
This happens like clockwork, huh
something about "an old guy said this to me" or whatever

24AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:07
Wow, I'm actually impressed for once
the old him would've 100% named names
like "so-and-so was rude to me"
43AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:10
Re: #24
If it's true, the actor's fans will come after him
and if it's made up, someone will ask the actor directly and the lie will come out.

25AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:07
Well, obviously
taking a photo together is nothing but risk — same reason he's banned from everywhere
be grateful for the extra-thick padding of "I'm not a fan of you"
26AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:07
What's some mere celebrity doing acting all high and mighty like that

28AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:07
He hasn't changed one bit — I'll bet 3000 piles of Nara deer droppings on it (riffing on a "betting" meme format, swapped for Nara's famous deer poop)

33AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:08
Sure, there was a lot going on in his past
but he's genuinely turned himself around
it's rough that he's still getting bashed now that he's a councilman, honestly
100AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:22
Re: #33
He hasn't turned anything around
he's still spreading rumors and slandering people, and the victims keep piling up
it's just vile

34AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:08
He's basically like organized-crime-adjacent — getting photographed with him is nothing but downside

35AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:08
Does Hezuma not realize he made his name as a nuisance YouTuber in the first place?
36AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:09
If anything, why did he ever think he wasn't disliked?
42AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:10
Smells like a made-up story, but yeah, nobody would want a photo with this guy anyway
45AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:10
The past doesn't just disappear, and people don't change either

46AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:10
Taking a photo could get misused somehow, you know
this guy should reflect on his own past behavior and just accept the celebrity's response
47AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:11
If a careless two-shot photo spread online, people would start assuming the actor was buddies with Hezuma
49AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:11
The fact that he's trying to repaint his image means nothing has actually changed
50AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:11
You're the one who started this whole story, lol 🫵🥴

55AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:12
He seems to think he's changed for the better
but why can't he see that this "changed" version of him is also disliked?
57AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:13
The guy who used to go "Please collab with me! Do the Mentos-and-Coke thing!" has the nerve to ask for "a photo, please…"? Lol
talk about delusional, lol

65AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:15
He thinks he's hated for his past, but I'd say it's his ongoing present-day behavior
78AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:17
Re: #65
Yeah, because the second anything happens he's straight on social media kicking up a fuss

Background and Key Points of This Story

Hezuma Ryu built his name as a “nuisance YouTuber” and has a history of arrests and referrals to prosecutors. Since winning a seat in Nara’s 2023 city council election, he’s remained someone whose every remark tends to blow up on social media. The dominant view in the thread was that “given his past conduct, the actor’s response was only natural,” with most commenters weighing his nuisance-YouTuber-era behavior together with his current work as a councilman. That said, some gave him credit for having “turned himself around and working hard as a councilman,” so opinion remains split. Note that the article never names the actor, and any names floated in the thread are pure speculation.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisupo Sokuhou+) thread “Hezuma Ryu: Being hated really does hurt… Asks admired actor for a photo, only to be told “I’m not really a fan of you”.”

October 12, 2026
New Fire Emblem cleared in 200 hours, yet poster says ‘Engage was more fun’ — 5ch: ‘Manshi still wins on sheer immersion’

A poster who claims to have spent 200 hours clearing every route and reaching Part 3 of the latest Fire Emblem title, “Manshi,” wrote on the hardware/industry (Geha) board that the previous entry, “Engage,” was actually more fun in terms of combat. They complained that the game’s Fusion and Yosuga (bond) mechanics are limited and irreversible, and that axes — one of the weapon types — are practically garbage since they only guarantee a minimum of 5 damage. Other posters pushed back, arguing that “the map gimmicks are more plentiful than in Engage” and that “the Blessing of the Underworld can be nullified with an effective weapon,” and the thread spiraled into a battle of “you clearly haven’t even played it” accusations.

1AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:04
Prep between battles takes so long that the hassle outweighs the fun.
The story is just needlessly convoluted text, not that different from Engage, and combat-wise Engage is still better.
Like in Three Houses, dropping the weapon triangle isn't doing anything for the game — axes are garbage, a guaranteed minimum of 5 damage is just dumb.
3AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:08
The devs claimed there'd be no irreversible elements, but in practice the limited Fusion and Yosuga (bond) system is terrible. This really needs a patch to make shards unlimited, and the support lock is quietly awful too.
4AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:08
I see.
So you're Team Engage, then.
Got anything else to add?

5AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:09
Even if that's true, there's no way I'd ever play Engage with that ridiculous story.
If combat being fun is all that matters, they might as well cut the story entirely.
8AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:12
Re: #5
Manshi's story is plenty ridiculous too.
After all those hours, Part 3 turns out to be total garbage.

14AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:20
The maps are recycled with barely any decent gimmicks, and by the endgame it's wall-to-wall enemies with the Blessing of the Underworld, so you basically have to build around it — there's no reason to use anything but swords, which is bad balance.
The Purifying Sword and Thunder Sword alone solve everything.
42AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:39
Re: #14
The maps are packed with way more gimmicks than both Three Houses and Engage — Part 2 even has siege cannons straight out of Thracia as a homage. The war elephants basically count as a gimmick too.

The Blessing of the Underworld can be nullified entirely with effective weapons, and there's even Aurora on top of that. No reason to depend on the Purifying Sword or Thunder Sword either.

Haven't you even played it?

16AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:22
200 hours already?
That's 8 hours a day.
What do you even do for work…
28AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:27
Re: #16
Leave him alone.
Even he probably realizes he botched the math on that number.
31AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:30
Re: #16

I've been off work with an injury and playing since launch day, and when I checked it was actually 65 hours.

200 hours would make you a total shut-in no matter how much free time you have — don't push it.

19AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:23
What are we even supposed to say to that?
Just go 'uh-huh, sure ☺'?
This is as awkward as listening to your boss's old war stories.
25AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:26
Re: #19
Don't you dare flip-flop later and act like you were defending it all along once the complaints I raised actually get fixed, Mr. Never-Even-Played-It.
29AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:28
Re: #25
Where in that reply was anyone defending the game…?
Isn't it just a case of 'okay, that's your opinion, noted'…?
39AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:33
Re: #25
If anything, if it does get fixed, people will just turn around and bash them for not doing it sooner.

26AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:26
Even the die-hard fans are calling it a 'stress test of a game' at this point.
27AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:27
Re: #26
If this weren't Fire Emblem I'd have dropped it long ago.

37AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:32
Engage definitely has the edge on battle presentation.
If the character designs weren't garbage, it might've been a real classic.
But overall, Manshi wins hands down on how much it sucks you in.
The board-game mode is way too fun.
41AnonymousOct 12, 2026 14:35
Re: #37
What's even fun about it?
At most the first character in Part 1 was decent — everyone after that was just a chore.

58AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:00
If he actually played it and still thinks it's bad, that's fine.
Way better than people who never played it hyping it up based on Metascore alone.
60AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:04
Re: #58
I'm not saying it's bad, exactly.
But why even make a thread for a purely personal opinion — what reaction are you fishing for?
61AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:05
Re: #58
I'm calling it out precisely because he played it and what he's saying still doesn't add up.
Did reading that post really not raise any flags for you?

66AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:11
Negative-campaign flops, switches IDs, drops a parting shot, and bails.
Same as always.
68AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:13
Re: #66
Scary — so now just playing the game and voicing a complaint counts as a 'negative campaign'?

67AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:13
Oh, there you are.
The way you're writing this, people are naturally going to assume you never played it.

Do you even know why the axe's guaranteed minimum of 5 damage is drawing complaints?
69AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:14
Re: #67
If axes aren't garbage, go ahead and explain it.
Or did you never actually play it either?

71AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:17
It's full of people who never played it, and the second you write any criticism they just sneer.
Their counterarguments are either off-base or they can't articulate them, so it ends up as little more than talking to themselves.
I'd get the same treatment if I started a thread about a different game.
This board has really turned into garbage.
Someone like Re: #1 is a rare find.
74AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:21
Re: #71
Isn't starting a thread over a personal opinion the garbage move here?
It's basically someone shouting 'I like bananas more than apples!'
What exactly are we supposed to say back to that?
77AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:25
Re: #74
Isn't this about which one's 'correct'?
You see, a Geha-board guy just wants company while he's bashing something.

75AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:23
In the first place, when you're talking about the weapon triangle being gone,
there's no need to even bring up the axe's 5 damage.
82AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:30
Re: #75
What? Of course it comes up — instead of the triangle, each weapon type got its own trait.
Sword: 1.2x follow-up damage.
Lance: horse-slaying by default.
Axe: minimum 5 damage.

Lance is a bit weak too, but axe is clearly the only one that's actual garbage.
If it had been '+5 damage' instead, I could've let it slide.
What were you even trying to say?

81AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:30
Apparently he's just a regular office worker.
Maybe he's a short sleeper lol
83AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:32
Re: #81
If you can't even talk about Manshi, just sit this one out — never-even-played-it lol

84AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:33
Let me just give the answer.
The guaranteed minimum of 5 damage is actually an annoying spec from the receiving end —
armored units get chipped down steadily by that flat damage, which is a real pain.

What I don't get is why that point got brought up as 'axes getting screwed by the loss of the weapon triangle' in the first place.
88AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:38
Re: #84
Don't that many enemies even wield axes in the first place?

95AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:50
Re: #91
In FE, axes are basically just the weapon the enemy barbarians carry, right?
98AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:09
Re: #95
Thracia and Blazing Blade (both known for axe-wielding enemy bosses): 'Oh yeah, fair point.'

Background and key points of this thread

On the hardware/industry (Geha) board, the “200 hours” of playtime the original poster claimed became a target of suspicion in itself. This stems from a past incident on the board in which a streamer was accused of faking playtime and stream footage and using other people’s footage without permission; replies repeatedly bring up the streamer name “Kennosuke” in reference to that incident. Without knowing this background, the jabs at the playtime figure might just look like generic ribbing of someone with too much free time.

The point the thread disagreed on most was the design of the axe weapon type. The series’ traditional sword-lance-axe weapon triangle was scrapped in favor of giving each weapon type its own unique trait (swords get increased follow-up damage, lances get bonus damage against mounted units by default, and axes get a guaranteed minimum of 5 damage). The original poster declared this “guaranteed minimum 5 damage” made axes “garbage,” while other posters countered that it “functions as steady chip damage against armored units” — both sides argued from their own actual play experience, and the two takes never quite reconciled.

The back-and-forth accusations of being an “airplay” (talking about the game without having actually played it) also reflect a board-specific clash of values over whether a thread started from one person’s personal opinion deserves to be treated as legitimate critique.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, aka Geha) thread “I’m a Nintendo fanboy who cleared every route plus Part 3 of FE Manshi in 200 hours, but Engage was more fun“.

October 12, 2026
Hikaru’s ‘Hikari no Kai’ Fan Club Tops 100,000 Members — Now a ¥580 Million-a-Year Operation

YouTuber Hikaru (5 million subscribers) announced during a livestream on October 11 that his YouTube membership program, the “Hikari no Kai” (Circle of Light), has surpassed 100,000 members. Having launched on August 9, it reached this milestone in just two months. At the ¥490 monthly tier, that works out to roughly ¥49 million a month — or about ¥588 million a year. Hikaru, who also performs rakugo under the stage name Tatekawa Sagishi and has declared his goal of headlining the Nippon Budokan, has framed the membership count as a way to visualize “the number of fans willing to seriously back me.” On 5ch forums, reactions ranged from shock at the sheer size of the figure to questions about what members are actually paying for, comparisons with other paid content, and assessments of Hikaru’s own content.

October 12, 2026

On October 11, Hikaru (5 million subscribers) held a livestream and announced that his YouTube membership, “Hikari no Kai” (Circle of Light), had passed 100,000 members — exactly two months after launch.

The membership launched on August 9. After declaring his goal of holding an event at the Nippon Budokan under his rakugo stage name Tatekawa Sagishi, he explained that the aim was to turn “the number of people who’d definitely pay money for Hikaru specifically” — a figure he said he couldn’t otherwise see — into a visible number representing his most serious supporters.

Source: yutura.net / Original article here

2AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:48
Because watching an Osaka night-view channel on YouTube is more fun than watching the Peace-kun livestream from Omiya Park (Peace-kun is a mascot webcam at Omiya Park).
7AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:54
Our Hikaru
would totally dominate if he broke into TV
so I really want variety shows to book him a lot

His talk skills are actually backed by his subscriber base
I want to see Hikaru on shows like Sanma's Gotenchi
10AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:54
Put 'during the free trial campaign' in the headline too, lol
11AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:55
Re: #1
Everyone in the US and Europe kept saying that when inflation accelerates, subscriptions and monthly fees are the first thing ordinary people cut — yet here's this number.
The idea that Japanese people have no money is a total myth.
The only ones with no spare cash are the unemployed.

12AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:57
Are they actually subtracting the people who've cancelled?
16AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:58
So he's pocketing something like ¥400 million a year? Hope it keeps up.
17AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:58
YouTube numbers have a wider reach than Instagram, so of course it's making headlines.
18AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:58
In a country where fools are the majority, the people who get rich are the ones doing business with fools.

20AnonymousOct 12, 2026 15:59
Hikaru
¥490
100,000 people

Downtown Plus
¥1,100
???

Somebody solve this equation for me
25AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:00
Honestly my only reaction is 'huh, that's impressive.'
26AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:01
Ever since that hamburger-steak collab with Joyfull,
I haven't been back to Joyfull (a Japanese family-restaurant chain).
27AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:01
What are these 100,000 people actually paying for?
Are they racking up religious merit or something?

28AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:02
That's insane — he's bringing in way more than enough to cover a full staff.
30AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:03
Just watched the archive of Hikaru and Kyohei's stream — man, Kyohei's really aged.
I only knew him from about 10 years ago, and now he's a full-on middle-aged guy.
I'm not interested in rich-guy Hikaru, but the dumb childhood-friends banter between Hikaru and Kyohei was fun to watch.
Still, I probably won't be watching Hikaru-the-YouTuber's videos going forward.
32AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:05
Isn't the membership count actually pretty low compared to his subscriber count?
33AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:05
¥49 million a month is nuts.
What's this guy's actual day job?

34AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:05
For a YouTuber, charging ¥200 a month to 10,000 people is already ¥2 million a month, so…
35AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:05
That's genuinely impressive.
Why is he so popular though?
36AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:07
Japanese people really are widening the wealth gap all on their own.

37AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:07
I honestly don't get why he's popular.
48AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:10
Re: #37
Same with Aum Shinrikyo — plenty of highly educated people joined that too (the cult behind the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack).
Guess there's always a certain percentage of people like that in the world.

39AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:07
At least write 'Hikari' in katakana — otherwise it screams cult, lol
40AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:08
Only the people who realize the world is full of unbelievable idiots — and actually act on it — get rich.
41AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:08
This is literally what Downtown Plus was going for, lol
44AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:09
Looks like 'Chiba Prefecture's Light' is powering up (a meme referencing bizarre local news stories out of Chiba Prefecture).

45AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:09
Hey, idiot city hall — go tax these guys already, lol
This is infrastructure the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications provided, you know
47AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:10
That's amazing.
I'm genuinely stunned that 100,000 fans are willing to pay a subscription for this.

50AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:14
I bet 90,000 of them cancel during the free trial period.
60AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:17
Re: #50
What free trial period?

55AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:15
Downtown Plus already topped 500,000 subscribers in its very first month,
so by now it's probably close to 5 million. I don't get why Hikaru was looking down on it.
56AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:15
These days the legal con artists are really thriving, huh.
Whoever's best at fooling people wins.
57AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:16
If Hikaru really has 100,000 members, that makes Downtown Plus's claimed 500,000 — even at a higher price — more believable too.
58AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:17
> Works out to roughly ¥588 million a year

Okay then, next time there's a big earthquake, donate ¥100 million.
If he's making that much, he could easily spare it, right?

59AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:17
Well, even accounting for expenses, if Hikaru's name value alone can earn this much, it's no wonder so many people want to become YouTubers.

73AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:22
What's Hikaru's main content these days, anyway?
All I ever see are web news articles going 'look how amazing he is' — is bragging actually his main content?
84AnonymousOct 12, 2026 16:28
Re: #73
Now that you put it that way, lol, spot on.

Background and Points of Debate

YouTube memberships can be set up with multiple price tiers, and ¥490 is merely the cheapest plan — not every member is necessarily paying that exact amount. On top of that, YouTube takes its own cut of membership revenue (typically around 30%), so the “¥49 million a month” figure cited in the article is simply the per-member price multiplied by the member count, and likely doesn’t reflect Hikaru’s actual take-home income. Commenters raised concerns that many members might cancel during a free trial period, and also compared the numbers to “Downtown Plus,” a similarly priced paid content service. However, the two services differ in billing structure and in how their published subscriber figures are calculated, so a simple comparison of member counts doesn’t necessarily reflect the real picture.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Hikaru’s YouTube membership ‘Hikari no Kai’ tops 100,000 members — ¥490/month works out to about ¥49 million a month, roughly ¥588 million a year.”

October 12, 2026