Japan's unfiltered comment sections, counted and read https://puonhime.com/ 2026-10-01T00:00:00Z Puonhimehttps://puonhime.com https://puonhime.com/notes/one-vote-for-the-inn/ 2026-10-01T00:00:00Z

At 3:29am on 1 October 2026, Kyodo News reported on Yahoo! News that China's National Day holiday had begun, with 2.13 billion trips expected, and that Japan - the top overseas destination until last year - had vanished from the top ten in a major Chinese travel agency's ranking. The article gives the reason - in November last year Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae told the Diet that a Taiwan contingency could threaten Japan's survival, Beijing objected, and it urged its citizens to hold off on visiting Japan. About four hours after publication, by 7:12am, I read all 354 parent comments and counted the buttons - 8,854 agree, 352 insightful, 530 disagree, or 95 to 5. The article is about money walking away. 76.2% of the vote went to manners, noise and crowding. And exactly one comment in 354 says the writer lives on that money - it holds 1 agree against 100 disagrees. The four comments that said Japan loses by this - 1.1% of the thread - hold 43.0% of every disagree press in it.

https://puonhime.com/notes/the-report-she-promised/ 2026-09-30T00:00:00Z

At 9:49pm on 29 September 2026, TV Asahi reported on Yahoo! News that Imai Eriko, a former member of the 1990s pop group SPEED, was facing criticism after being made a State Minister at the Cabinet Office. A Communist Party lawmaker had defended her, calling the attacks prejudice against her former profession and gender bias. About nine hours later, at 6:41am on 30 September, I read all 359 parent comments (413 comments in total) and counted the buttons — 7,101 agree, 138 insightful, 854 disagree, or 89 to 11. The thread rejects the article's premise - 81 comments say plainly that this is not prejudice about her former job, worth 23.7% of the vote. What took 40.9% was a 2023 study trip to France and the report she said she would publish about it. That word does not appear in the article at all.

https://puonhime.com/notes/one-cell-one-value/ 2026-09-29T00:00:00Z

At 7:20pm on 28 September 2026, ITmedia NEWS reported on Yahoo! News that Microsoft had announced Lists, a new Excel feature that lets a single cell hold several values. Microsoft itself calls it a change to the forty-year-old rule of one value per cell. About eleven hours later, at 6:06am on 29 September, I read all 50 parent comments (62 comments in total) and counted the buttons — 1,474 agree, 204 insightful, 307 disagree, or 85 to 15. This thread barely discussed the company at all. One comment out of 50 wrote the name Microsoft, worth 0.2% of the vote. Nobody mentioned market rank or share. Nobody named a rival spreadsheet. Nobody wrote Windows or OS. What took 50.3% of the vote was thirteen people asking whether the files, formulas and macros they already have would survive.

https://puonhime.com/notes/what-it-cost-to-be-believed/ 2026-09-28T00:00:00Z

At 7.24am on 27 September 2026, Kyodo News reported on Yahoo! News that Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov had told the UN General Assembly that Japan and Germany were "walking the path of militarism", and opposed their bids for permanent seats on the Security Council. I read all 3,831 top-level comments posted in the roughly twenty-four hours to 7.34am on 28 September (the article shows 4,747 comments in total) and counted the buttons - 80,117 agree presses, 1,993 that-explains-it presses, 3,725 hmm presses, a split of 96 to 4. Almost everyone in this thread answered Russia back. But the vote did not go to everyone who answered back. The 1,452 comments shorter than forty characters, 37.9% of the thread, drew 1.7% of the vote. The 1,236 that ran past eighty characters, 32.3% of the thread, drew 97.1%. The 342 comments that said some version of "look who's talking" drew 0.8%. What this thread rewarded was not anger. It was having something to put on the table.

https://puonhime.com/notes/the-paperwork-not-the-courts/ 2026-09-27T00:00:00Z

At 7.02am on 26 September 2026, Teikoku Databank reported on Yahoo! News that 4,731 companies were set up by foreign founders in Japan in the first half of 2026, down about 52% from 9,851 in the same period a year earlier. In October 2025 the requirements for the Business Manager residence status were tightened, and the report suggests that is what the fall reflects. I read all 795 top-level comments posted in the roughly twenty-two hours to 5.19am on 27 September (the article shows 1,021 comments in total) and counted the buttons - 40,838 agree presses, 1,660 that-explains-it presses, 1,944 hmm presses, a split of 96 to 4. I had said the courts here are soft, that anyone who does get in walks away without being charged. Two comments out of 795 use the word prosecution, with eight agree presses between them - 0.0% of the vote. Widen it to any mention of courts, police, sentencing or enforcement and you get 35 comments, 4.4%, holding 1.6% of the vote. What took 65.3% of the vote was something else entirely - the 142 comments asking whether these companies existed in any real sense.

https://puonhime.com/notes/the-door-came-first/ 2026-09-26T00:00:00Z

At 12.02pm on 25 September 2026, TV Asahi (ANN) reported on Yahoo! News that a 45-year-old Uzbek man had been arrested for molesting a primary-school girl who came to the door to collect a food delivery in Setagaya, Tokyo. She was home alone. I read all 1,191 top-level comments posted in the roughly nineteen hours to 7.24am on 26 September (the article shows 3,587 comments in total) and counted the buttons. 87,444 agree, 7,683 that-explains-it, 4,244 hmm - 95 to 5. The single most-pressed comment, with 28,024 agree presses or 32.0% of the whole vote, is from a delivery worker who says do not open the door when only children are home. Comments about the doorstep - leaving the parcel outside, the chain, the intercom - are 150 of 1,191, or 12.6%, and they took 47.5% of the vote. Comments naming China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia or Indonesia are 17, or 1.4%, and took 0.5%. More comments named Uzbekistan, the country in the article - 36, or 3.0%, for 2.3% of the vote. Comments that mention foreigners or immigration at all are 416, or 34.9%, and took 40.4% of the vote - but they also absorbed 2,168 of the thread's 4,244 hmm presses, which is 51.1%.

https://puonhime.com/notes/who-watches-this/ 2026-09-25T00:00:00Z

At eleven in the morning on 24 September 2026, the weekly magazine Jisin ran a story on Yahoo! News Japan about a Japanese YouTuber living in Taiwan. In a video from 9 August he spat out food from a Kaohsiung night market, called it filthy, said he hated night markets and hated Taiwan; on 23 September he posted an explanation video whose thumbnail read "To the low-class people of Taiwan." About nineteen hours after publication, by 6.19 on the morning of 25 September, the thread held 750 top-level comments (982 including replies). I read all of them and counted the buttons — 16,480 agree, 647 that-explains-it, 2,756 hmm — 86 to 14. The most-agreed comment, with 2,847 presses and 17.3 per cent of the vote, says watching this is shameful as a Japanese person. Only thirty-five comments, 4.7 per cent, name the man at all — and those thirty-five hold 1,432 of the thread's 2,756 hmm presses, 52.0 per cent. Comments naming YouTube, its owners or the payout system are twenty-five, 3.3 per cent, holding 5.4 per cent of the vote; comments blaming the press for covering him are sixteen, 2.1 per cent, holding 0.4 per cent. What the vote went to instead was his manner of speaking — 111 comments, 14.8 per cent, holding 46.7 per cent of the vote.

https://puonhime.com/notes/nobody-says-it-to-your-face/ 2026-09-24T00:00:00Z

At ten to eight on the morning of 23 September 2026, the sports tabloid Nishispo WEB OTTO! ran a story on Yahoo! News Japan about TAKAHIRO of the group EXILE, who had posted a rehearsal photograph showing a tattoo on his upper arm. The headline was built from the accepting replies — people make too much fuss about tattoos these days, it is personal freedom, it is a fashion item, well, he is a celebrity. About twenty-three hours later, by seven on the morning of 24 September, the thread held 1,123 top-level comments (1,643 including replies). I read all of them and counted the buttons — 37,012 agree, 2,077 that-explains-it, 2,606 hmm — 94 to 6. The most-agreed comment, with 10,146 presses and 27.4 per cent of the whole vote, is from someone who works in hiring and does not hire people with tattoos. Across the top thirty comments, exactly one says the writer holds no prejudice against tattoos. And in all 1,123 comments, exactly one says out loud that nobody says this to your face — it has zero agree presses. This thread does not write "we say nothing." It writes "we do not hire."

https://puonhime.com/notes/nobody-bought-the-rice/ 2026-09-23T00:00:00Z

At ten past six on the evening of 22 September 2026, the weekly SmartFLASH ran a story on Yahoo! News Japan about a rice business started by the YouTuber Hikaru, who had promised to save the country's rice farmers. In a video posted five days earlier, the two staff running the business said he had stopped filming anything about the rice. About thirteen hours later, by ten past seven on the morning of 23 September, the thread held 1,197 top-level comments (2,515 including replies). I read all of them and counted the buttons — 28,005 agree, 2,287 that-explains-it, 4,560 hmm — 87 to 13. The vote is extraordinarily top-heavy — a single comment holds 31.6 per cent of the agree presses and the top five hold 65.7 per cent. Then I counted something else. Comments from someone saying they had bought the rice, or ordered it, came to zero out of 1,197. Comments naming the product came to one. Comments from someone plainly saying they had watched his videos came to ten, 0.8 per cent; comments plainly saying they never had came to fourteen, 1.2 per cent. The most-agreed comment in the thread is from a farmer — a tomato farmer, not a rice farmer. And the most pushed-back comment is the one saying that actually trying something deserves credit, 37 agree presses against 445 hmm.

https://puonhime.com/notes/the-one-who-watched/ 2026-09-20T00:00:00Z

At twenty-five past four on the afternoon of 19 September 2026, the sports paper Hochi Shimbun ran a story on Yahoo! News Japan reporting that Eriko Imai, a member of the upper house and once a singer in the group SPEED, had been made a state minister at the Cabinet Office. The headline the paper chose was about the design of her jacket, and the closing paragraph describes a navy floor-length dress. About thirteen hours later, by half past five on the morning of 20 September, the thread held 937 top-level comments (1,332 including replies). I read all of them and counted the buttons — 32,331 agree, 807 that-explains-it, 2,433 hmm — 93 to 7. But comments touching the clothes came to only 61, 6.5 per cent, carrying 743 presses, 2.3 per cent of the vote. The thread was asking about something else. Comments using a word for record, achievement, ability, fitness or expertise came to 158, 17 per cent, carrying 18,021 presses, 56 per cent of the vote. So how many answered the question? Comments naming a concrete piece of her work in parliament came to nine by hand count, 3.8 per cent of the vote. The most concrete of them — one person saying they had watched her question a budget committee on the parliamentary broadcast — drew 21 agree presses against 584 hmm. It is the most pushed-back comment in the thread. And the National Diet Library's record of proceedings holds 371 speeches by her, across 96 meetings, in every year from 2017 to 2026.

https://puonhime.com/notes/helmets-not-drivers/ 2026-09-19T00:00:00Z

At four in the afternoon on 18 September 2026, the Yomiuri Shimbun ran a story on Yahoo! News Japan about a man of 57 in Matsuyama and the talks he gives. Twelve years ago his eldest son, then 15 and in his first year of high school, was cycling home from his end-of-term exams when a lorry hit him at a crossing with no traffic lights. He was thrown some twenty metres, struck his head, fractured his skull and died about five hours later. When the boy started high school he had tried on a racing helmet costing over ten thousand yen and murmured that it looked good. His father thought it expensive and did not buy it. The talks he now gives about that regret are approaching their 130th. Seventeen hours after publication, by nine on the morning of 19 September, the thread held 1,040 top-level comments (1,423 including replies). I read all of them and counted the buttons — 11,927 agree, 2,582 that-explains-it, 2,486 hmm — 85 to 15. And the thread talked about almost nothing but helmets. Comments using a word for helmet came to 779, or 75 per cent, and they carry 11,640 presses, 98 per cent of the vote. Comments that never mention a helmet and talk only about the road, cars, drivers or enforcement came to 61, carrying 190 presses, 1.6 per cent. Comments putting fault on the car or the driver came to 15 by hand count, carrying 53 presses, 0.44 per cent.

https://puonhime.com/notes/already-knew-the-sentence/ 2026-09-18T00:00:00Z

At 6.49 in the evening of 17 September 2026, FNN Prime Online ran a story on Yahoo! News Japan about a woman of 27, known online as an influencer, being taken to the prosecutors. She and her partner, a man of 28, had been arrested on 15 September at her flat in Roppongi, central Tokyo, on suspicion of possessing about 0.4 grams of cocaine; 21 further bags thought to contain cocaine and ten straws cut short at an angle were found at the flat. Noticing the camera, the report says, she put her tongue out and winked. Twelve and a half hours later, by half past seven on the morning of 18 September, the thread held 939 top-level comments (1,405 including replies). I read all of them and counted the buttons — 18,953 agree, 1,259 that-explains-it, 1,012 hmm — 95 to 5. But the thread was not reviewing her face. It was discussing a sentence that does not exist yet. Comments using any word for punishment came to 159, or 17 per cent, carrying 4,875 presses, 26 per cent of the vote. The phrase suspended sentence alone appears in 80 of them. Fifth by vote is a comment explaining that a first offence usually gets a suspended sentence, which is why she looks so relaxed. The article carried a single expert note, from a former lead prosecutor, saying that by the time of the trial defendants normally look contrite in front of the judge and say they are sorry.

https://puonhime.com/notes/a-different-question/ 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

At 16:25 on Wednesday 16 September 2026, ITmedia NEWS published a story on Yahoo! News Japan: Mercari's shares had closed the day down 247 yen at 3,621, about 29 per cent below the 5,111 yen high of 10 August, and the day's main trigger was thought to be the company's announcement, the evening before, that it would bar listings of the newest Pokemon cards. I read all 1,139 top-level comments posted in the fifteen hours to 07:30 on 17 September (the thread holds 1,578 comments in all) and counted the buttons: 36,608 agree and 3,339 hmm — 92 to 8. What the thread does not do is talk about the share price. Only 238 comments, 21 per cent, use even one word from stock, market, investor, shareholder, listing or dividend; the other 901, 79 per cent, never touch the price at all. The question the thread answers is a different one — whether this company should exist. A hundred and thirty-two comments say outright that they want it gone, delisted or shut. On the other side, 22 comments defended resale or objected to the ban and 10 defended the company itself; those 32 comments drew 98 presses between them, 0.3 per cent of the vote. The comment the thread pushed back on hardest, relative to its support, was one of the ten defending the company. My own reading was that investors are not backing companies, only money; 46 comments say that, worth 22 per cent of the vote — but 7,845 of those presses belong to a single comment, the second-placed one, and the other 45 took 137 presses between them.

https://puonhime.com/notes/start-somewhere-else/ 2026-09-16T00:00:00Z

At 09:00 on Tuesday 15 September 2026, Impress Watch published a story on Yahoo! News Japan: driverless taxis to start in Tokyo in 2027, from GO and Waymo. The taxi-hailing app GO, Alphabet's Waymo and Nihon Kotsu have agreed to put taxis with nobody in the driver's seat on the road commercially in Tokyo during 2027. I read all 990 top-level comments posted in the twenty-two hours to 07:00 on 16 September (the thread holds 1,489 comments in all) and counted the buttons: 8,694 agree and 3,037 hmm — 74 to 26. The top comment came from a serving Tokyo taxi driver. He has no objection to the cars being introduced or to there being more of them; what he cannot understand is the insistence on starting in the city centre. Start where the drivers are short, he writes, especially at night — because in the centre there are mountains of situations that obeying the road traffic law to the letter will not get you through. That one comment took 3,501 presses, 40 per cent of the whole vote. Comments mentioning the countryside came to 190 and 61 per cent of the vote; 78 of them said plainly that it should start there instead of Tokyo, worth 45 per cent. Comments defending Tokyo as the place to start came to 13 by hand, worth 39 presses — 0.4 per cent. Ninety-five comments asked who would be liable in a crash, but between them they drew only 535 presses. My own reading was that the people calling driverless cars dangerous are the ones already ignoring the traffic law; sixteen comments say exactly that, and they took 23 presses between them.

https://puonhime.com/notes/speak-for-both-sides/ 2026-09-15T00:00:00Z

At 16:23 on Monday 14 September 2026, Kyodo News published a story on Yahoo! News Japan: Defeated incumbent says social-media smears were left unchecked; Denny Tamaki's campaign prepares a criminal complaint. Tamaki, who lost the Okinawa governor election, told reporters on the evening of the 13th that abusive posts and false claims had run wild on social media and that the state of it had been left unchecked. Campaign officials plan to prepare a criminal complaint over part of it, and Tamaki called on the national government to act on social media. I read all 4,196 top-level comments posted in the fourteen and a half hours to 07:00 on 15 September (the thread holds 5,549 comments in all) and counted the buttons: 148,112 agree and 13,016 hmm — 92 to 8. The vote is the most top-heavy I have counted: the single top comment took 46,354 presses, 31 per cent of the whole vote; the top five took 72 per cent, the top ten 84 per cent. And the top comment was not telling anyone to drop the complaint. It said that speaking about the smears aimed at the opponent as well would have won support, and that presenting yourself as the only victim is why the support was not there. Comments touching on the complaint or on legal action at all came to 857, 44 per cent of the vote; 230 of them said go ahead, and only 31, worth 40 presses, said don't. What came back instead was the Public Offices Election Act: 409 comments asked what about your own campaign's breaches. The expert note printed above the thread was mentioned by exactly one comment out of 4,196. The most pushed-back comment of all called for a dedicated body to police social media: 149 agree against 684 hmm. Comments standing with Tamaki came to 72 by hand, 134 presses between them, 0.1 per cent of the vote.

https://puonhime.com/notes/check-the-eight-years/ 2026-09-14T00:00:00Z

At 19:59 on Sunday 13 September 2026, RBC Ryukyu Broadcasting published a story on Yahoo! News Japan: Okinawa governor election: Genta Koja certain to win, defeating incumbent Denny Tamaki, who sought a third term. Voting closed at 8pm on the 13th. Before counting had begun, RBC called the race on the strength of exit polling, campaign surveys and early-voting patterns. Koja, 42, a former deputy mayor of Naha, ran with the backing of six parties and campaigned on the economy, promising to raise income per head in the prefecture to five million yen. On the bases, Koja accepts the plan to move the US Marine Corps air station at Futenma to Henoko, and calls for the return of other US facilities south of Kadena. Two named experts had commentary printed above the reader comments, and one of them wrote that this had been Okinawa's first social-media governor election, that a great many defamatory posts and hoaxes had spread from outside the prefecture, and asked whether the result had been swayed to the end by that information war. Eleven hours after the polls closed, at 7:23 the next morning, I read all 3,645 top-level comments (5,009 comments in total) and counted the votes: 178,560 presses of I relate and 19,281 of hmm, 90 to 10. And the thread made that expert note its subject. Comments touching on social media, the internet or hoaxes numbered 283 and took 10.5 percent of the vote; 80 of them answered the note head-on, saying that blaming the defeat on social media insults the voters. First place took 35,565 presses, 20 percent of the vote. Comments raising two incidents from before the election numbered 174 and took 26 percent. Comments regretting the result, or opposing the new direction, came to 59 by my hand count, with 197 presses between them, one tenth of one percent of the vote, and the highest of them placed 143rd. I also check my own reading of the story against what the thread wrote.

https://puonhime.com/notes/leave-it-at-home/ 2026-09-13T00:00:00Z

On the morning of 12 September 2026, Bengoshi.com News published a story on Yahoo! News Japan: Giving paroled sex offenders a GPS device: the key to preventing reoffending? The Ministry of Justice plans a trial, but full adoption raises problems. The ministry is reported to have decided to begin a trial next financial year in which people on parole after sex offences are given GPS devices so that their location can be tracked. The trial is to be based on the person's consent, and the device is expected to be one they carry rather than one fixed to the body. The article asks a criminal defence lawyer about four things to watch: whether consent becomes coercion in practice, why a carried device rather than a fitted one, who should be covered, and whether any drop in reoffending can really be credited to GPS. Nineteen hours after the story went up, at 4:39 the next morning, I read all 2,189 top-level comments (2,942 comments in total) and counted the votes: 25,887 presses of I relate and 1,045 of hmm, 96 to 4. First place, 7,810 presses and 30 percent of the vote, said the device should simply be fitted by force. Comments saying it should be compulsory rather than consented to numbered 305 and took 47 percent of the vote; make it a fitted device that cannot be removed, 347 comments and 26 percent; implant it in the body, 462 comments, one in five, but only 858 presses, 3 percent. Comments pointing out that a carried device can be left at home numbered 261, 16 percent. Do not grant parole at all, or make the sentences heavier, 158 comments and 18 percent. Counted together without double-counting, comments asking for something stronger than the plan came to 1,191, 54 percent of the thread and 74 percent of the vote. Comments taking the offender's side, or urging caution, came to 25 by my hand count, with 10 presses between them. I also check my own reading of the story against what the thread wrote.

https://puonhime.com/notes/why-the-bus-shouted/ 2026-09-12T00:00:00Z

On the morning of 11 September 2026, FNN Prime Online published a story on Yahoo! News Japan. A Toei Bus driver, in his thirties at the time, was driving an empty bus back to the depot in October 2025 when, between Shinobazu-dori in Tokyo's Bunkyo ward and JR Komagome station, he repeatedly honked and flashed his headlights at a private car and is suspected of aggressive driving. The other driver called the police, and a dashcam recorded the words bakayaro, roughly you idiot. The driver's licence was revoked in June 2026, the case has now been sent to prosecutors, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation says it will confirm the facts and respond strictly. Twenty hours after the story went up, at 6:59 the next morning, I read all 2,747 top-level comments (3,661 comments in total) and counted the votes: 44,930 presses of I relate, 9,059 of hmm, 83 to 17. The first-placed comment, 15,485 presses, said the driver should be held strictly to account, but that it also wanted to know what the other car had been doing just before. The second, 10,094 presses, said the media should report the lead-up too and that the car on the receiving end may well have done something first. It is the comment I shared on X. Comments asking for the lead-up, or saying the other driver may have been at fault too, numbered 823 and took 79 percent of the vote. Comments saying road rage is never excusable numbered 390, but only 245 of them, 2 percent of the vote, said that without also asking what happened first. Comments describing Toei buses as rough numbered 733, 9 percent. Cars cutting in front of buses, 422 comments and 18 percent; illegally parked cars and cars stopped at bus stops, 192 and 13 percent; the driver shortage, 297 and 10 percent; rude passengers and complaints, 64 and 2 percent. I also check my own reading, that illegally parked cars stop buses from running straight, that a professional's stress is only natural, that the passengers are the problem, that only low-grade drivers stay, and that road rage is the result, against what the thread wrote.

https://puonhime.com/notes/why-was-it-yellow/ 2026-09-11T00:00:00Z

At midday on 10 September 2026, FNN Prime Online published a story on Yahoo! News Japan. Since April this year, the Road Traffic Act requires a car passing a bicycle to leave enough room, and to slow to a speed that matches the gap when it cannot. The National Police Agency's guideline is at least about one metre. FNN found that drivers trying to leave that room were crossing the solid yellow centre line, which forbids crossing to overtake, and so committing a different offence. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police now plan to repaint about half of the roughly 1,700 kilometres of yellow line in Tokyo as white lines that may be crossed. Nineteen hours and 24 minutes after the story went up, at 7:01 the next morning, I read all 1,487 top-level comments (1,957 comments in total) and counted the votes: 31,431 presses of I relate, 2,157 of hmm, 94 to 6. The first-placed comment alone took 9,799 presses, 31 percent of the vote. It said that if cars must keep a metre from bicycles, bicycles squeezing past stopped cars at red lights should have to keep a metre too. It is the comment I shared on X. Comments saying the lines were yellow for a reason, that they were yellow because it is dangerous there, that white lines will bring head-on crashes, numbered 275 and took 29 percent. Comments saying fix the law instead, add one line exempting the passing of bicycles, numbered 161 and took 13 percent. Seventy-six comments said a solid white line is stricter than yellow; eight of them mentioned the six-metre road-width rule that makes the difference. Twenty comments, 0.1 percent of the vote, pointed out that the metre is a guideline, not a legal duty. Twenty-eight comments said they cross the yellow line themselves and nobody gets caught; 28 said police cars do it too. I also check my own reading, that most drivers give shallow answers without knowing what the yellow line is for, that passing a cyclist is overtaking and not squeezing past, that once the lines are white everyone will cut close, and that the police are useless, against what the thread wrote.

https://puonhime.com/notes/a-gentle-country/ 2026-09-10T00:00:00Z

On the evening of 9 September 2026, FNN Prime Online published a story on Yahoo! News Japan: a woman whose car had been parked near an exit of the Keiyo Road in Chiba refused for an hour to move it when police asked, then suddenly drove off, entered the Tokyo Gaikan Expressway the wrong way and fled. Police cars followed her the wrong way too, one lost its bumper, and the pursuit was called off as too dangerous. Before 3 p.m. she was stopped on a street in Shibuya, Tokyo, dragged out of the car by three officers and arrested on the spot on suspicion of violating the Firearms and Swords Control Law. Ten hours and 48 minutes after the story went up, at 6:45 the next morning, I read all 778 top-level comments (1,117 comments in total) and counted the votes: 30,257 presses of I relate, 1,668 of hmm, 95 to 5. Comments asking for force, shoot her, ram the car, shoot the tyres, give the police Tasers, do it like America, numbered 236 and took 14,492 presses, 48 percent of the vote. Comments that called the police soft, too gentle, timid, without naming a method numbered 81 and took 13 percent; together, 61 percent. The comment I had shared on X, that Japan really is a gentle country and its police look half-hearted in practice, placed third with 3,401 presses. Comments questioning the charge, why a knife offence and not the traffic law, why not attempted murder, numbered 29 and took 2 percent of the vote. Comments angry at the news, later that night, that she had been released and hospitalised numbered 109, 14 percent of the thread, and took 3 percent of the vote. Comments demanding her name and nationality numbered 110, 14 percent, and 68 of them guessed at her nationality. I give the counts and quote none of them. I also check my own reading, that Japan's police are soft, that arresting on one heavy charge instead of the traffic offence is a lukewarm system that protects offenders, against what the thread wrote.

https://puonhime.com/notes/meant-to-scare/ 2026-09-09T00:00:00Z

At 6:00 on the morning of 9 September 2026, FNN Prime Online published a story on Yahoo! News Japan: a 25-year-old company employee had been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in Nagara, Chiba prefecture. One night in August, at about 2 a.m., he had tailgated the car in front on a prefectural road; when the 30-year-old driver stopped and got out to remonstrate, he accelerated at him, hit the man's car, reversed, accelerated again and knocked him down, then grabbed his arm and drove backwards, throwing him into a roadside ditch with a broken shoulder blade, and fled. He told police he only meant to scare the man. One hour and 23 minutes after the article went up, at 7:23, I read all 94 top-level comments (124 comments in total on the article) and counted the buttons: 1,962 "I relate" against 104 "hmm" — 95 to 5. Comments asking for a heavy sentence, saying never let him out, or saying Japan's sentences are too light: 19 comments, 792 presses, 40 percent of the vote. Comments saying he must never hold a licence again: 6 comments, 400 presses, 20 percent. Together, 61 percent. Comments answering his line about only meaning to scare: 13 comments, 11 percent. Comments telling the victim never to get out of the car: 9 comments, 11 percent. And 34 comments, 36 percent of the thread, were about the arrested man's face and the size of his mask. They took 11 percent of the vote, and I do not quote them. I also check my own reading against the thread: that road rage in Japan grows out of everyday traffic violations, that the police only act on what an officer sees with his own eyes, which makes it close to a man-made disaster, that speeding, ignoring stop signs, late or missing turn signals and parked cars are the usual triggers, that licensed drivers do habitually what they would never do in front of a police officer, and that cars driven by stressed, hurried salarymen are bound to produce this. One comment, 37 presses, said the police do not enforce. Speeding, stop signs, turn signals, parked cars, stress and salarymen: zero comments. The thread looked at the man, not the system.

https://puonhime.com/notes/scramble-and-regret/ 2026-09-08T00:00:00Z

At 2:11 in the afternoon of 7 September 2026, TBS NEWS DIG published a breaking story on Yahoo! News Japan: a Russian military aircraft had violated Japanese airspace over the Northern Territories and flown down the Pacific side as far as the waters off Miyagi. According to the Defense Ministry, on 5 September a single Russian IL-20 intelligence aircraft flew over the Northern Territories, passed through the Sea of Okhotsk into the Pacific, went south to off Miyagi and left towards the Sea of Japan; the Air Self-Defense Force scrambled fighters. Sixteen hours after the article went up, at 6:15 the next morning, I read all 1,086 top-level comments (1,454 comments in total on the article) and counted the buttons: 15,146 "I relate" against 2,657 "hmm" — 85 to 15. The top 10 comments took 71 percent of the vote, and the single top comment took 23 percent. Comments on posture — stand firm, do not yield an inch, look weak and they will push further next time — numbered 24, with 7,935 presses, 52 percent of the vote. Comments using the word regret, the government's standard diplomatic formula, numbered 74, with 3,194 presses, 21 percent, and almost all of them said that regret alone does not work. Comments demanding that Japan shoot the plane down, fire warning shots or lock on: 133 comments, 1,165 presses, 7.7 percent — and half of those presses went to a single comment, the sixth-placed one I had shared on X. I also check my own reading — the flight was deliberate, you cannot talk to Russia, Japan's politicians, police and courts have all gone soft, Japan scrambles and expresses regret and nothing more — against the numbers. And I answer the question I set myself: how many times in 30 years has Japan scrambled and expressed regret, and did it work? In the Defense Ministry's published records, 22 airspace violations were announced between 1996 and 2026, 18 of them by Russian aircraft. Fighters were scrambled 15,369 times over those 30 fiscal years. In all that time Japan answered with something other than words exactly once, with flares in September 2024. Warning shots were fired once, in 1987, the first and last time. In these 30 years, zero.

https://puonhime.com/notes/thirty-years-of-regret/ 2026-09-08T00:00:00Z

For the 30 years from 1996 to 2026 I counted what happened between Japan and Russia (the Northern Territories and the airspace), China (the Senkaku islands and the airspace) and South Korea (Takeshima), using the published records of the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the Japan Coast Guard and the Prime Minister's Office. Airspace violations announced by the Defense Ministry: 22 (Russia 18, China 4). Intrusions into territorial waters around the Senkakus: 20 days in 2012, 40 days in 2021, and 89 to 129 vessels a year from 2023, and the government itself writes that it protests through diplomatic channels every time. At Takeshima the South Korean military has held its defence drill twice a year and Japan has protested each one. Russian leaders have landed on the Northern Territories six times since 2010, and Japan has protested six times. In 30 years Japan acted with something other than words in six cases: arrests on the Senkakus in 2004 and 2010, a survey planned near Takeshima in 2006, ambassadors temporarily recalled in 2010 and 2012, flares in 2024. It acted twice or more in the same case three times, and those ended in a deportation in 2004, a release in 2010 and a refusal by South Korea in 2012. Warning shots were fired once, in 1987, the first and last time; in these 30 years, zero. No public record counts how many times the word regret was spoken. What can be counted is the number of occasions that prompted it.

https://puonhime.com/notes/ordinary-rain/ 2026-09-07T00:00:00Z

At 5:21 on the morning of Monday 7 September, the Japan Weather Association's tenki.jp published a warning on Yahoo! News Japan: heavy rain would hit the Kanto region, Tokyo included, during the morning commute, with a risk of a linear rainband. JR East had already decided the day before to run fewer trains on its main lines, the Yamanote loop among them, and schools in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chiba had told parents on Sunday that Monday was cancelled. Two hours and 23 minutes after the article went up, at 7:44, I read all 322 top-level comments (539 comments in total on the article) and counted the buttons: 10,383 "I relate" against 3,673 "hmm" — 74 to 26. Comments reporting that the rain in their own town was ordinary, light, or had stopped: 131 comments, 5,630 presses, 54 percent of the vote. Comments saying JR's cuts had made the trains more crowded, not less: 31 comments, 2,072 presses, 20 percent. Parents saying Sunday's school closures had forced them to take the day off: 12 comments, 1,342 presses, 13 percent, and that group alone drew 23 percent of all the "hmm" in the thread. I also check my own reading — if there is a chance of a downpour, just work from home; people did it during Covid; conformity leaves them thinking in ones and zeros — against the numbers. Comments telling people or companies to switch to remote work: 27 comments, 472 presses, 4.5 percent. Covid came up once. The words "peer pressure" did not come up at all. And it was a Monday, the day of the week on which the most people in Japan take their own lives. Four comments, 87 presses, named the day.

https://puonhime.com/notes/make-them-pay/ 2026-09-06T00:00:00Z

Kura Sushi, one of Japan's biggest conveyor-belt sushi chains, announced on the evening of 5 September that it was cancelling its running Chiikawa collaboration from the next morning, because "misconduct by employees" had come to light. Collaboration prizes had been appearing on a flea-market app before they were even handed out, and the company had been investigating. Eleven hours after the article went up, I read all 2,820 top-level comments (3,615 comments in total on the article) and counted the buttons: 41,724 "I relate" against 3,460 "hmm" — 92 to 8. The biggest single comment, at 7,620 presses and 18 percent of the vote, said staff skimming limited goods before they reach the shelf is common and should be cracked down on. Comments demanding that the employees be made to pay compensation or face legal action: 466 comments, 15,869 presses, 38 percent of the vote. Comments saying this was nothing new, it had happened at convenience stores and other collaborations for years: 290 comments, 18,919 presses, 45 percent. I also check my own reading — that Japanese companies never make individuals pay, so wrongdoing pays off, just like the police — against the numbers. The police came up in 31 comments and 119 presses, 0.3 percent.

https://puonhime.com/notes/child-with-a-child/ 2026-09-05T00:00:00Z

In Fukuyama, Hiroshima, an 18-year-old company employee was arrested on suspicion of murder. Police say he put a plastic bag over the head of his two-month-old son, laid him face down, and left him until he stopped breathing. He told police he did not mean to kill the baby: the child was crying loudly and he thought this would quiet him. Three hours after the article went up I read all 209 top-level comments (240 including replies) and counted the buttons: 6,975 presses of "I relate" against 318 of "hmm" — 96 to 4. The loudest comment, at 1,739 presses and a quarter of the vote, said anyone can imagine what happens if you leave a baby like that. Sixty-three comments, 48 percent of the vote, saw the father as a child who had a child. Fifteen comments, 29 percent, demanded that his youth not soften the sentence. But only twelve comments, 6 percent, predicted the courts would let him off lightly — and 364 of those 408 presses belonged to one comment. I also check my own view — that Japan's courts are soft, and that an adult of 18 still gets to stay anonymous — against the count.

https://puonhime.com/notes/who-the-thread-blamed/ 2026-09-04T00:00:00Z

The English-language official X account of China's People's Liberation Army posted a two-minute animated short criticising Japan's military build-up. It was made with generative AI, drawn unmistakably in the style of Studio Ghibli, set to a song in Japanese, and it ends on a weeping girl who looks exactly like Setsuko from Grave of the Fireflies. I read all 952 top-level comments (1,265 including replies) and counted the buttons: 16,015 presses of "I relate" against 1,572 of "hmm" — 91 to 9. The loudest comment, "how can you post an animation like this without any shame," drew 5,976 presses, 37 percent of the whole vote in one place. And it drew a line between the Chinese government and the Chinese people: "the people in China who see this will probably wince too." Comments aimed at the Chinese government, army, party or state: 297 of them, 8,649 presses, 54 percent of the vote. Comments aimed at the character of "the Chinese" as a people: 38, 97 presses, 0.6 percent. Three hundred comments talked about copying and copyright (57 percent of the vote), 69 used the word propaganda (41 percent), and 183 laughed at it as embarrassing or absurd (44 percent). I also check my own view — that the missing morals belong to communism, not to Chinese people — against the count.

https://puonhime.com/notes/who-cannot-report/ 2026-09-03T00:00:00Z

In Shibuya, Tokyo, five people including a first-year high school girl were arrested on suspicion of planning a honey-trap robbery: they assaulted a man, injured him, told him "this one is 15, what are you going to do about it — pay 8 million yen in settlement money," and took 300,000 yen in cash. The girl told police she wanted money to go out with. I read all 2,677 top-level comments (the thread holds 3,579 in total) and counted the buttons: 45,321 presses of I relate against 2,325 of hmm — 95 to 5, the second most one-directional thread I have counted. Where the votes went is unusually clear. Comments touching on the Juvenile Act came to 342, drawing 30,521 presses — 67 percent of the whole vote. The loudest, at 9,180, says it is time to revise the law. The second, at 5,497, explains that the law was written for the war orphans of the late 1940s and no longer fits. Meanwhile, comments raising the adult side of the case — the man who went to the hotel, and whether he broke a law himself — came to 75, drawing 103 presses between them: 0.2 percent. The comment explaining why this scheme works at all, that the customer cannot go to the police without incriminating himself, drew 416 presses on its own. I also mark my own reading of the story against the votes.

https://puonhime.com/notes/who-wanted-the-overtime/ 2026-09-02T00:00:00Z

From 1 September, Japan's Labour Standards Inspection Offices stopped issuing the blanket instruction that companies keep monthly overtime under 45 hours. The law itself has not changed. What changed is how the inspectors lean on employers: they will now focus on whether a company has health-protection measures in place. A labour federation warns that the change could encourage longer hours. I read all 2,010 top-level comments (the thread holds 2,606 in total) and counted the buttons: 21,635 presses of I relate against 5,756 of hmm — 79 to 21. That is not a verdict on the change. The loudest single voice, with 4,175 presses, worries that dropping the blanket instruction will thicken the workplace air that says work more. The second loudest is not about the policy at all; it is about the colleague who lingers at his desk without finishing anything. And of the 2,010 comments, 1,053 — exactly half — received no agreement at all. Four comments named the employer as the culprit and drew 14 presses between them. Ten said overtime should only happen on a manager's instruction: 13 presses. I also check my own reading of the story against the votes, and it does not come out well.

https://puonhime.com/notes/who-the-quiet-is-for/ 2026-09-01T00:00:00Z

Tokyo Disney Resort is raising prices again. From October a one-day ticket tops out at 12,400 yen, and from 1 September the paid queue-skip system goes up too, with six more rides added to it. The article's arithmetic: two adults and two children reach 80,000 to 100,000 yen in a single day. Meanwhile the operator's net profit for April to June was 41.3 billion yen, more than 50 percent up on last year and a record for the quarter. I read all 839 top-level comments (1,151 including replies) and counted the buttons: 11,804 votes of agreement against 2,638 objections, 82 to 18. But that 82 percent is not a vote on the price rise. Counting what was actually agreed with, 23 percent of all the agreement went to a single comment: because ordinary people can no longer afford to come, the rich who do not mind spending 100,000 yen a day get a real benefit — a less crowded park. The page did not applaud anger. It applauded an accurate description of who ends up with the quiet. And there is a pattern in what sank: saying this is what will happen passes, saying this is how it should be does not. My own reading is checked against the votes too. The crowding was real — 80 comments on crowds carrying 33 percent of the votes, 108 on the lost atmosphere carrying 25 percent. But going on a weekday drew 5 comments and 13 votes, 0.1 percent, and the four comments asking for cheaper tickets for students and children drew zero agreement.

https://puonhime.com/notes/rule-runs-one-way/ 2026-08-31T00:00:00Z

On 17 August 2026 someone posted on X: "I'm at a salon whose sign says a 15-minute delay costs you a cancellation fee, and I've now been waiting 12 minutes past my appointment." They added: "I get fined for being late, and you get nothing?" The post passed 110,000 likes, and the cut finally finished 30 minutes behind schedule. The article answers from the legal side: a booking is a contract, so a no-show can be a breach — but under Japan's Consumer Contract Act, any cancellation fee above the shop's "average loss" is void. And the customer kept waiting? The article is honest: that road is very narrow, because you must prove your loss in money, and wasted time does not convert. My own reading, stated up front: this anger exists because Japan is strict about time, and the trains and buses that run to the minute are held up by people working past the end of their shift. I read all 612 top-level comments and counted the buttons: 20,770 votes of agreement against 3,946 objections — 84 percent. The top comment (4,005 votes) asks what the booking was for. And 123 comments carrying 47 percent of the votes are not about salons at all: hospitals, dentists, restaurants, banks, phone shops. The most-rejected voice on the page is the one saying the delay cannot be helped — 97 votes of support, 512 objections.

https://puonhime.com/notes/get-out-of-the-way/ 2026-08-30T00:00:00Z

The footpath circling Tokyo's Imperial Palace is the most famous running spot in the city. Then a post on X asked whether the "Imperial Palace run" should simply be banned. The article carries testimony of runners muttering "move" and "you're in the way" at pedestrians as they pass, and Chiyoda ward confirms it has received real complaints about dangerous running and contact with walkers. My own reading, stated up front: this is the cyclist ringing a bell at a pedestrian, the driver leaning on the horn — the moment someone decides you are in their way, they notify you and expect you to move. I read all 3,570 top-level comments — the second-largest page I have counted — and counted the buttons: 60,817 votes of agreement against 6,750 objections, 90 percent. The top comment (9,869 votes) says a footpath is, by name and nature, a path for walking. Third place (7,308) says telling a pedestrian to "move" gets the priority exactly backwards. Comments about danger, contact and fear carry 45 percent of the votes. And 312 comments — 39 percent of the votes — reach for the same comparison I did: bicycle bells and car horns. The "don't ban it" side is here too, but its most visible voice drew 78 votes of support and 871 objections.

https://puonhime.com/notes/seven-hundred-servings/ 2026-08-29T00:00:00Z

At Azabu-Juban's summer festival in Tokyo, 76 people fell ill after eating a 2,000-yen "chilled crab ramen" from a street stall run by a nearby restaurant. The health office is inspecting; its working suspicion is that 700 servings left over from a rained-out first day were reused — a number the head chef himself had posted on X — while the shop says the cause is still unknown. The head chef is a celebrity known for the one-minute street-brawl fighting event Breaking Down. I went in convinced this was an accident waiting to happen. I read all 656 top-level comments and counted the buttons: 21,133 votes of agreement against 1,678 objections — 93 percent, one of the most united pages I have counted. The top comment (5,300 votes) talks not about food handling but about the chef's past — an arrest and four and a half years in custody in his early twenties — and calls the outcome "inevitable." Comments about the man rather than the ramen fill 79 comments worth 46 percent of the votes. Comments tracing the 700 leftover servings: 137 worth 27 percent. I could not find a single comment defending him. And yet the page's fourth place, with 522 "I see" votes, is a quiet chemistry lesson about histamine in badly stored crab — even a furious page, in Japan, does its homework.

https://puonhime.com/notes/hijab-at-the-register/ 2026-08-28T00:00:00Z

FamilyMart, Japan's second-largest convenience-store chain, changed its staff uniform rules for the first time in ten years: from September 1, employees may wear the hijab. Social media erupted — "they finally crossed a line," "this is too far" — against replies asking what exactly the problem is. My own position: if they do the work, I could not care less what is on their head. I read all 938 top-level comments and counted the buttons: 29,512 votes of agreement against 9,492 objections — 76 percent, one of the most contested pages I have counted. The top comment, at 5,979 votes, calls the backlash "a natural rejection of a religion incompatible with Japanese culture"; comments touching religion or Islam took 40 percent of all votes. My side — the shrug — filled 62 comments worth 9 percent, and the plainest of them, "a hijab doesn't bother me at all," was buried under 485 objections against 134 votes of support. But the page's second-largest subject was not religion. It was the structure of konbini work: 51 comments worth 4,316 votes — 15 percent — argue that the pay does not match the workload, that Japanese workers know it and stay away, and that cheap foreign labour fills the gap. That half of my thesis, the page endorsed loudly. And the boycott threats the headline advertised? 32 comments, 98 votes between them — on the buttons, almost nobody pressed agree.

https://puonhime.com/notes/nobody-told-the-drivers/ 2026-08-27T00:00:00Z

From September 1, Japan's default speed limit on "community roads" — any road without a centre line or median — falls from 60 km/h to 30 km/h. That covers roughly 70 percent of the country's national, prefectural and municipal roads, and driving more than 30 km/h over the new limit can mean an immediate licence suspension. I went in convinced nobody would ever obey it. I read all 1,461 top-level comments and counted the buttons: 19,920 votes of agreement against 7,353 objections — 73 percent, tied for the most divided page I have counted in 27 notes. And the content ran against me. Only 50 comments worth 284 votes — 1 percent — said the rule was unenforceable; 136 comments worth 4,731 votes explicitly welcomed it, and the top comment (4,368 votes) scolds drivers for crying about the penalty instead of asking why the rule became necessary. One of my complaints, though, won by a landslide: "a change this big, and not even a postcard" — the demand that drivers be notified before being ticketed took 1,031 votes, fourth place overall. And the third-place comment, from a driver, testified: keep to the current limit and you will be tailgated for it.

https://puonhime.com/notes/twenty-three-minutes/ 2026-08-26T00:00:00Z

On the evening of August 3, a single car parked on Inokashira Street in Shibuya, Tokyo, blocked a Keio Bus route bus for about 23 minutes. The police arrived five minutes after the call — and then waited, without moving the car, until the driver strolled back. A lawyer told the press that in theory the bus company could sue for damages under Japan's tort law; the bus company answered that it is not considering any claim. I read all 1,564 top-level comments and counted the buttons: 26,172 votes of agreement against 1,866 objections — 93 percent in favour. The biggest single demand was "the bus company should claim damages": 416 comments carrying 8,199 votes, 31 percent of all the agreement on the page. Harsher penalties came second with 150 comments and 6,358 votes. The police drew 274 comments and 4,767 votes, of which 97 comments and 4,462 votes said outright that enforcement is too soft. And the defence? Eighteen comments took the driver's side, worth 531 votes in total — and the strongest of them collected 2 votes for and 27 against.

https://puonhime.com/notes/detect-the-drinking/ 2026-08-25T00:00:00Z

Japan's transport ministry has decided to make driver monitoring systems compulsory — an in-car camera that watches your gaze, your eyelids and your steering, and warns you when you look away from the road or start to nod off. The rules change in September, new models must comply from 2031 and existing models from 2033. I read all 2,857 top-level comments and counted the buttons: 23,515 votes of agreement against 3,615 objections, 87 percent in favour. But the page was barely arguing about the device. It was placing orders. The dominant move was "good — now why don't you detect this as well," and the violations named came in a strict order. Drink-driving appears in 793 comments carrying 9,645 votes, 41 percent of all the agreement on the page. Speeding appears in 58 comments worth 408 votes, 2 percent. Illegal parking appears in 7 comments and collected no votes at all, for or against. Surveillance and privacy appear in 41 comments — 1.4 percent of the page. The resistance this country offered to a state-mandated camera was not about being watched. It was about the price.

https://puonhime.com/notes/shine-brightest/ 2026-08-23T00:00:00Z

A Japanese YouTuber who says he committed assault at fourteen and was arrested six times afterwards has had the fighters' names removed from his cheeks and announced he is turning to music. The article collected readers saying "keep going" and "he shines brightest now." I read all 461 top-level comments and counted the buttons: 16,445 votes of agreement against 2,115 of objection, or 89 percent in favour. But this was not a page attacking an ex-offender. The largest single bloc was a comparison — 31 comments arguing that people who were never arrested deserve the applause first, carrying 6,881 votes, or 42 percent of all the agreement on the page. Twenty comments asking him to rebuild his life quietly took 4,603 votes, 28 percent. Thirty-four invoking his victims took 3,624, 22 percent. The fight promotion that made him famous drew 21 comments and 128 votes — one percent. Of the 20 comments that ended up with more objections than support, 15 were defending him.

https://puonhime.com/notes/rehab-poster/ 2026-08-22T00:00:00Z

The Ministry of Justice tied its offender-rehabilitation campaign to a Netflix reality dating show about former delinquents, printed 2,000 posters reading 'Rehabilitation? Bring it on!' and 'Getting back on your feet is love' — and cancelled on August 21 after a cast member said on camera that he had once set a person on fire. I read all 2,616 parent comments and counted: 39,812 'I relate' against 3,358 'hmm' — 92 percent agreement, with only 104 comments (4 percent) finishing in the red. But this is not a hang-them-higher thread. Comments demanding harsher punishment or doubting rehabilitation number 66, carrying 2,454 votes — 6 percent. The single most-rewarded shape is concessive: 'rehabilitation matters — but the victim is left out.' Just 21 comments in that form carry 11,301 votes, 28 percent of the page. Comments invoking victims: 404, carrying 19,492 votes — 49 percent. Comments where the writer says they or their family were victims: one.

https://puonhime.com/notes/laundry-lesson/ 2026-08-21T00:00:00Z

A midsummer piece on the 'smell problem' at Comiket — the world's largest fan-comics fair, 260,000 people in Tokyo's August heat — under the headline: what separates the ojisan who smells from the one who doesn't? I read all 163 parent comments two hours after publication and counted the buttons: 1,108 'I relate' against 415 'hmm' — 73 percent agreement. But today's protagonist is the third button, 'I see' — 863 presses, nearly matching agreement. First place is a self-described 'Showa-era ojisan' sharing his laundry recipe (395 'I see' presses, the biggest number on the page), and 82 of the 163 comments — exactly half — are about laundry and clothes. The voice that scolded the headline — 'why is it always fine to bash ojisan?' — outpolled every voice mocking them, 40 to 6. I opened this thread convinced that caring about smell is a luxury of money and free time. The comment section answered otherwise: oxygen bleach, more water, and the will to try. A thread that met a mocking headline with a classroom, counted and recorded.

https://puonhime.com/notes/delay-contest/ 2026-08-20T00:00:00Z

Seven boys aged 14 to 17 — train photographers — were charged with obstructing railway business: they pulled emergency door levers and walked into closed crossings to stop trains, then competed over who caused the longest delay. I read all 2,123 parent comments and counted the votes: 37,871 'I relate' against 1,907 'hmm' — 95 percent agreement, with only 64 comments (3 percent) finishing in the red. Sixty-two percent of all the agreement flowed to comments about money — civil damages, billed to the parents, publicized (908 comments, 23,386 votes). Demands to publish the boys' names and faces: 83 comments, 11,098 votes. The clearest voice of mercy — 'they're young, let them learn and grow' — was rejected 3 to 28. And a comment recalling last week's attempted-murder case against train photographers — 'the attacker isn't the only one at fault' — passed 174 to 2. A thread that sentences in yen, not years, counted and recorded.

https://puonhime.com/notes/four-defenders/ 2026-08-19T00:00:00Z

President Putin visited Etorofu, one of the disputed islands off Hokkaido. Prime Minister Takaichi protested; Russia summoned Japan's ambassador and protested back. I read all 1,930 parent comments: 26,021 'I relate' votes against 9,173 'hmm' — 74 percent agreement. Comments taking Russia's side: four, carrying three votes between them — statistically zero. So where did the 9,173 objections go? Not at Russia. At Japan's own doves. 'The government's clumsiness will get us into a war' drew 127 in favor and 1,660 against — the deepest rejection on the page. 'Takaichi phrases things poorly' went 122 to 886. Facing an outside adversary, this country's comment section closes ranks — and executes its cautious allies first. Counted and recorded.

https://puonhime.com/notes/toritetsu-on-trial/ 2026-08-18T00:00:00Z

At a railway crossing in Naruto, Tokushima, a 55-year-old man allegedly assaulted a 19-year-old train photographer and then reversed his car at him — an attempted-murder arrest. I read all 1,020 parent comments and counted the votes: 23,963 'I relate' against 2,687 'hmm' — 90 percent agreement. But 57 percent of all that agreement flowed to comments judging the photographers' manners, not the driver. The top comment (4,434 votes) runs: the driver went too far — but the photographers... Meanwhile, the voices that tried to judge the driver sank: 'prison, no suspension' went 12 to 31; 'attempted murder fits' went 50 to 113; 'what frightens me is how many people here write that hitting them would be fine' went 34 to 272. A thread where the accused walks free of the conversation, and the nearly-hit stand trial — counted and recorded.

https://puonhime.com/notes/drift-arrest/ 2026-08-17T00:00:00Z

In the small hours of August 17, Aichi police announced the arrest of a 29-year-old Turkish company employee for drift-driving on a public road, and promised tighter enforcement ahead of next month's Asian Games. I read all 139 parent comments and counted the votes: 6,584 'I relate' against 322 'hmm' — 95 to 5, from the same country whose Yasukuni thread split 63 to 37 the day before. The most-supported comment, at 866 votes, says something feels off about a Turkish national driving 'a car like that' around Japan. The article's only word about the car is 'passenger vehicle' — no make, no price. The unwritten car is what the thread wanted to talk about.

https://puonhime.com/notes/yasukuni-parking-lot/ 2026-08-16T00:00:00Z

August 15 marked 81 years since Japan's surrender. Prime Minister Takaichi did not enter Yasukuni Shrine; she bowed toward it from the Budokan parking lot nearby. I read all 1,567 parent comments under the news story and counted the votes readers gave each one: 23,169 'I relate' votes against 13,797 'hmm...' votes — 63 to 37. Japanese comment sections usually line up almost unanimously, so a 63-37 split is remarkable. The most-supported comment asks why she didn't simply pray at Chidorigafuchi, the secular national cemetery nearby. Third place asks the question of the day: who exactly is she deferring to? And both the strongest comment defending the PM and the strongest comment attacking her received more disagreement than agreement.

https://puonhime.com/notes/tattoo-99-percent/ 2026-08-15T00:00:00Z

A tattoo artist with twenty years in the trade said on YouTube that 99 percent of the people he tattoos are idiots. The video passed 2.2 million views; he has since posted an apology. I read all 383 parent comments — 10,666 upvotes against 1,458, 7.3 to 1, on the artist's side. The top comment, at 2,218, cuts down the standard "it's normal overseas" defense. Twenty-one comments, carrying 2,728 upvotes, quietly corrected his sentence's subject — foreigners are one thing, but a Japanese person who gets one... And the "outrage-for-views" accusation that crowned the crepe-shop thread finished underwater here, 37 to 109.

https://puonhime.com/notes/roads-that-worked/ 2026-08-14T00:00:00Z

The morning after record rain hit Chiba, Toyota switched its free "roads that worked" map to show the flooded prefecture — every road its connected cars actually got through in the last three hours. The article sat at No. 1 on Yahoo! Japan's tech access ranking, and collected just 16 comments. The top one, at 128 votes — "building infrastructure and publishing data even when there's no profit in it, that is a company worth praising." My first count of what Japan's comment section looks like on a day when there is nothing to fight about.

https://puonhime.com/notes/awa-odori-art/ 2026-08-13T00:00:00Z

At Awa Odori, Japan's four-century-old dance festival in Tokushima, videos zooming in on female dancers' hips and chests are spreading online — and when the festival committee confronted one uploader, his answer was "that was art." I counted the comment section 92 minutes after the article went up, 302 parent comments in a room still being born. 2,607 upvotes against 1,079 down — 2.4 to 1. The top comment, at 419, calls the art excuse "a very strained piece of logic." The word "art" appears in 34 comments, and every voice defending the label finished underwater. A diagnosis of shōnin yokkyū — approval hunger — sits at rank 3.

https://puonhime.com/notes/meiwaku-streamer/ 2026-08-12T00:00:00Z

A streamer popular with Japanese teenagers filmed himself outside a famous Harajuku crepe shop, was told to stop, and called the shop kissho — "gross" — on camera, telling it to "move to a back alley." The video was gone by the next evening. I read all 2,324 parent comments; 52,352 upvotes against 1,373 down, 38 to 1. The top comment, at 8,934 — the largest single vote I have counted on this site — names the business model, "even the flames are content." The only sustained defense of the streamer sank 6 to 392.

https://puonhime.com/notes/bathrobe/ 2026-08-11T00:00:00Z

A senior Akita official fronted a remote press conference about a trillion-yen AI datacenter project in a bathrobe, smoking. The penalty was a stern talking-to. Across 197 comments — 2,391 upvotes to 414 — the thread discussed hotel details no news outlet printed. Exactly one comment worried about the man's family.

https://puonhime.com/notes/ojisan-fashion/ 2026-08-11T00:00:00Z

Skinny jeans, shorts, hoodies past forty, popped polo collars — a listicle of what social media certifies as itai (cringe) on middle-aged men. Under it, 576 comments sided with the ojisan 5.9 to 1. A wife's gentlest style advice sank 58 to 82. Praise for stylish Italian uncles sank 8 to 74, the deepest burial in the thread.

https://puonhime.com/notes/two-characters/ 2026-08-10T00:00:00Z

At the Nagasaki memorial the prime minister said Japan "is upholding" its three non-nuclear principles — two characters different from last year's "while upholding". Across 1,017 comments, 12,828 upvotes against 8,394 down. One comment in three finished underwater.

https://puonhime.com/notes/police-car-tv-fee/ 2026-08-09T00:00:00Z

Car navigation units in police cars and fire engines owe NHK licence fees — billed retroactively. The governors of all 47 prefectures revolted, and the broadcaster's president promises to "study" it. 899 comments, 20,068 upvotes against 438 down. A comment section that always splits, didn't.

https://puonhime.com/notes/what-leaks-out/ 2026-08-08T00:00:00Z

A TV personality said smokers' rights are being violated. 417 comments answered — and they did not split smokers against non-smokers. Smokers wrote the harshest replies. The line runs between people who contain it and people who let it out.

https://puonhime.com/notes/day-labour/ 2026-08-08T00:00:00Z

The Chiikawa film took ¥5bn in fourteen days. The article is a story about money — and the comment section refused to be. Every comment counting somebody else's earnings failed to gain votes, and the single most rejected line read a box office figure as a personal defeat.

https://puonhime.com/notes/otc-lookalike-surcharge/ 2026-08-07T00:00:00Z

From March 2027 Japan pulls a quarter of the cost of any prescription drug you could buy over the counter out of insurance. Year-round users are exempt. The state did not measure need — it measured duration. A nineteen-comment thread found the loophole in one line.

https://puonhime.com/notes/ai-shop-manager/ 2026-08-06T00:00:00Z

An AI store manager in every Rakuten shop, 24/7, plus a "super agent" that books and pays for you. The most-upvoted comment was not excitement and not fear. It was "users don't actually want this." What Japan distrusts is not the AI — it is the company handing it out.

https://puonhime.com/notes/nationality-filled-in/ 2026-08-05T00:00:00Z

Fake iPhones, a ¥100m consumption tax refund fraud, and an origin the tax office could not identify. The comments filled the gap — and the framing has flipped from "some foreigners commit crimes" to "only some foreigners are decent."

https://puonhime.com/notes/cat-fight-referee/ 2026-08-05T00:00:00Z

A Japanese cat owner stepped in to stop a fight — and got the accusing stare from both cats. Three comments in the thread, and everyday Japan is right there in them. First of the everyday notes.

https://puonhime.com/notes/evacuation-shelter-covid/ 2026-08-04T00:00:00Z

A COVID case hit a Kumamoto quake shelter with no partitions, one isolation room, and 8,000+ evacuees. Japan's comment section is angry — but not at whom you'd expect.

https://puonhime.com/notes/consumption-tax-cut-revolt/ 2026-08-04T00:00:00Z

An LDP lawmaker opposed a temporary food tax cut, warning the bill would fall on the next generation. The comment thread counted 7,805 — and the anger was not about the tax cut at all.