Japanese idol units and songs about not giving up strike big in this year’s list of the most influential TikTok tracks in Japan.
Social media app TikTok continues to serve as a hub for popularizing music both old and new. In particular, various trends on the platform cause certain songs to go viral and propel artists to fame.
TikTok recently released a number of lists to celebrate the songs that dominated 2025, including a ranking of the top ten songs on TikTok Japan. Featuring mainly newer songs with a couple of throwback gems, the list is a reminder of the power of social media–and idol groups especially–in shaping what kind of music we consume. Let’s take a peek at the top ten songs and a closer look at the top five.
▼ TikTok’s Year in Music – Japan Top 10 Songs
10. “Tokubechu, Shite” by =Love (2025)
9. “Koikaze” by Lilas Ikuta (2025)
8. “Kawaii Dake ja Dame Desu ka?” by Cutie Street (2024)
7. “Summer Song” by Yui (2008)
6. “Aloha, E Komo Mai” from the Lilo & Stitch franchise by Jump5 (2004)
5. “Ai Scream!” by AiScReam (2025)
Kicking off the top five is the debut single of AiScReam, a cross-series, real-life musical unit from the Love Live! franchise. After “Ai Scream!” blew up over social media, it seemed like you couldn’t escape the call-and-response segment of the song in which the three members take turns asking each other which flavor of ice cream they like–only to inevitably state that they like “you” even more than their favorite flavor. The line “Chokominto yori mo a・na・ta” ( “More than choco-mint…[I love] you”) was even recently nominated for Japan’s Buzzword of the Year.
4. “Aisaretai” by Yumcha (2024)
This song title means “I want to be loved” and is by Yumcha, a singer-songwriter who self-admittedly wants to write music that people want to listen to when they’re in love. “Aisaretai” became especially popular thanks to a viral TikTok dance trend among Japanese female high school students. Its lasting popularity resulted in the song being re-released this year with additional versions, including a sped-up one and a “kawaii R&B” remix.
3. “Bai Bai Fight!” by Candy Tune (2024)
Seven-member female idol group Candy Tune released the single “Bai Bai Fight” last year and its popularity led to an eponymous album release this October. “Bai Bai Fight” translates to something along the lines of “Double Fight” or “Multiplying Fight.” Its fast-paced, catchy, and somewhat tongue-twister of a chorus encourages you to be yourself and keep pushing through life’s obstacles, making it a popular TikTok challenge to lip synch (even for K-pop idols).
2. “Lilac” by Mrs. Green Apple (2024)
Though rock band Mrs. Green Apple has been around for a decade, it seems to only be gaining momentum over time, having churned out an almost nonstop stream of new singles over the last two years in particular. “Lilac” was near the beginning of that string of releases and listeners just can’t get enough, especially after it was used as the opening theme song for last year’s school baseball-themed Oblivion Battery anime series. It’s become a popular youth anthem for TikTok users to perform along with its corresponding hand choreography.
1. “Cho Saikyo” by Cho Tokimeki Sendenbu (2025)
Here we are: “Cho Saikyo (Mega Mighty)” is the number-one most popular song on TikTok Japan in 2025. Sung by by six-member idol group Cho Tokimeki Sendenbu, affectionately known as TokiSen for short, it was released as part of the group’s 2024 album Tokimeki Rule Book before being re-released as part of a double A-side single this summer. The song has crushed much of its competition, with the official music video description currently stating that it’s celebrating over 2.5 billion views on TikTok (yes, billion). As the lyrics implore the listener to “Say I’m mega cute!” and understand that “I’m mega mighty!”, it’s become a cutely viral (virally cute?) social media challenge.
▼ Congratulations, Cho Tokimeki Sendenbu!
On our end, we were pleasantly surprised that singer-songwriter Yui’s lovely 2008 “Summer Song” made this year’s top ten as it was set as the backdrop to hundreds of summer-themed videos on TikTok Japan. We guess it’s never too late for anything to go viral–which might be a good reminder for our resident Japanese-language musician reporter every now and then.
Source, insert images: PR Times
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Allowing for female succession would require changes to law and over a thousand years of cultural tradition.
So here’s an odd statistical anomaly. Right now, in all of Japan, there are only three people who are closer in line to inheriting the imperial throne than you are.
That’s because there are currently only three people in the entire world who could become Japan’s next emperor. And no, this isn’t a situation where those three share first dibs on the position, but if something were to happen to them then the title of emperor would pass on to another rung of candidates. Under the present system, if none of those three men become Japan’s next emperor, then the imperial line will end when the current monarch, Emperor Naruhito, abdicates the throne or passes away.
Japan’s rules of imperial succession are pretty strict: the emperor has to be male, and he has to be connected through his father’s lineage to the emperor. Naruhito has no son, and with him being 65 years old and his wife Empress Masako 62, they’re not going to be producing a male heir.
Naruhito does have a younger brother, Crown Prince Fumihito. At 60 years old himself, though, Fumihito isn’t likely to carry Japan’s imperial line much farther into the future than Naruhito will. There’s also Prince Masahito, but he’s the 90-year-old younger brother of Naruhito and Fumihito’s father, the former Emperor Akihito, so also not really a symbol of long-term stability for the imperial family.
That leaves 19-year-old Prince Hisahito, Prince Fumihito’s son and Emperor Naruhito’s nephew, as not just the most viable successor, but really the only viable successor. That, though, raises worries about what would happen if Hisahito, for whatever reason, was unable to serve as emperor. Even if Hisahito does take the throne, unless he fathers multiple sons, it’ll just be a case of delaying the same problem to be repeated again later.
However, Emperor Naruhito does have a daughter, the 24-year-old Princess Aiko. Because Masako gave birth to her relatively late in life, at the age of 38, there was always a sense that Aiko would likely be the couple’s only child, and discussions about whether the rules of succession should be changed now as she’s grown into young adulthood, with her and her cousin Hisahito the only possible heirs for the next generation of Japan’s imperial family.
▼ “How many potential heirs is enough?” is a complex question, but “Not enough to form a basketball team” is probably too few.
Altering the system of succession isn’t something that can be done lightly, though. In addition to going against over a thousand years of tradition, it would require the Diet (Japan’s parliament) to make revisions to the Imperial Household Law, the official legislation that determines the next emperor of Japan. To gauge public opinion of the idea, Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun conducted a survey asking about two points of the debate.
The first possible revision would simply be to allow a woman to directly become the empress of Japan (i.e. to become monarch not through marriage, but through inheritance of the title). This would then put Aiko herself, as the daughter of the current emperor, in line for the throne. Out of the 2,004 survey responses that were received, 69 percent are in favor of letting a woman inherit the title of empress, with 24 percent undecided and only 7 percent distinctly opposed.
The other potential revision that’s been tossed about is allowing for succession rights to the imperial throne to be determined through the mother’s lineage as well as the father’s. This revision wouldn’t initially change much without also allowing direct succession to a female emperor, but even by itself, allowing for succession based on mother’s lineage would mean that Aiko’s sons, should she have any, would then be in line for the throne, based on their mother being the daughter of the emperor. Allowing for female lineage in succession also had broad support from the survey respondents, with 64 percent in favor of the idea, 22 percent undecided, and 13 percent unopposed.
As in many countries, though, older people in Japan are often more likely to feel strongly, and conservatively, about the monarchy, so are the progressive attitudes the survey showed a result of gathering replies only from younger Japanese people? Yomiuri Shimbun hasn’t released age-demographic data for its study, but it has said that the survey was done as a mail-in questionnaire, not an online or phone poll, and considering how far physical written correspondence has fallen out of fashion with younger generations, odds are the survey respondents weren’t primarily free-spirited 20-somethings. With 68 percent of the participants also saying that they’re worried about a possible succession crisis, it’s not like the responses were coming from a group that only said they’re OK with changes to the Imperial Household Law because they’re apathetic about the situation.
At the same time, the numbers being largely in favor of the changes don’t necessarily mean that Japan is racing towards a consensus on the matter. In 2022, Yomiuri Shimbun also conducted a survey asking participants if they were OK with the idea of a woman inheriting the title of Empress, and the results were almost exactly the same, with 70 percent in favor, 24 percent undecided, and 6 percent opposed. It’ll be up to Japan’s lawmakers to decide whether the lack of a surge in support means that it’s still too soon to make changes to the system, or if the largely steady support is a sign there’ll never be complete agreement, and so now is as good a time to make changes as there’ll ever be.
Source: Yomiuri Shimbun via Jin
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Media personality’s comment sparks discussion about common occurrence.
Like a lot of people, visits to the bathroom on my first few trips to Japan were a source of a lot of surprises, from “Whoa, this toilet is so high-tech that it has a heated seat and washes your backside for you!” to “Whoa…this toilet is basically just a hole in the ground…” One surprise, though, wasn’t what I encountered in the restroom, but who. As I sauntered up to a urinal and unzipped my pants to take care of business, a janitor came in and started cleaning the sink right next to me, and it was a woman.
Female cleaning staff working in in-operation men’s restrooms aren’t an uncommon occurrence in Japan. Clean System, a Japanese cleaning services company, says that its data shows that women make up approximately 70 percent of the janitorial staff in Japan, in large part because relatively few men apply for such positions. Especially in situations where a facility only employs or contracts for a single janitor, there’s a good chance that it’ll end up being a woman who cleans the men’s room.
However, while this isn’t an unusual occurrence, it’s not necessarily one that everyone feels comfortable with. In October, Japanese media personality Atsushi Tamura tweeted “I might be the only one who feels this way, but I really don’t like it when the janitor in a men’s restroom is a woman,” adding that while he sincerely appreciated the work being done, the situation made him feel uncomfortable and uneasy.
Again, encountering female cleaning staff in men’s restroom is something that pretty much every guy in Japan will experience many times in their life, but Tamura voicing his dislike of the scenario had many online commenters saying that they aren’t all that crazy about it either, and that’s backed up by a survey performed by Clean System and the Japan Restroom Association. Though it’s not clear exactly when the data was collected, it was brought up on a segment of the Abema News program following Tamura’s tweet. In the survey of 756 men and women, roughly three out of four men expressed some degree of discomfort about having a female janitor cleaning the men’s room.
● Men’s feelings about female janitors in men’s restroom
Opposed to the idea: 13.9 percent
Moderately opposed: 31 percent
Not so strongly opposed: 28.2 percent
Not opposed at all: 27 percent
To clarify, Tamura’s stance wasn’t that female janitors are defiling spaces meant for men, nor is he directing any of his displeasure at the workers themselves. His feelings, and ostensibly also those of the men in the survey whose opinions align with his, appear to be more that he feels awkward doing all that performing bathroom bodily functions entails with a lady in the vicinity.
However, Tamura’s comments also prompted some commenters to say that it’s likely no picnic for female janitors to spend part of their workday in the men’s room either, but they’re in their as part of trying to earn a living at that particular moment, and so by comparison any discomfort that men may feel is of lesser importance. Incidentally, the survey also asked how women feel about the scenario of having a male janitor in the women’s restroom. This is a much less common scenario in Japan, and not surprisingly an overwhelming majority of the female respondents said they don’t like the idea.
● Women’s feelings about male janitors in women’s restroom
Opposed to the idea: 43.7 percent
Moderately opposed: 39.3 percent
Not so strongly opposed: 11.6 percent
Not opposed at all: 5.4 percent
For what it’s worth, Tamura’s tweet has more of the feeling of an off-the-cuff remark, not a serious call for cleaning industry practices to change, and it’s likely that female janitors in men’s restrooms will remain common for at least the near future.
Source: Abema Times via Tele Asa News via Golden Times
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Fish are in their sea, all is right with the world.
Many people might not realize it, but the legendary anime series Evangelion has a strong connection with fish. The medical breakthrough process that allows us to breathe through our butts was actually inspired by both fish and the liquid those pilots of biomechanical battle suits immersed themselves in.
Not only that, but a line of fishing lures featuring designs of some Evangelion units was released last July and sold like fishcakes, proving once again that these two things were born for each other. The collaboration was so successful that fishing equipment maker Dress are now expanding their lineup of gear that any anime-loving angler is sure to enjoy.
In addition to the previously released Evangelion Unit-01 and Unit-00 lures, the vibrant red Unit-02 has also been added and is certain to make both anime otaku and rainbow trout go crazy. They also joined by designs based on Shamshel, Gaghiel, and Sahaquiel, which are surprisingly apt choices in Angels that fish would most likely want to eat.
The lures will be sold for 1,518 yen (US$9.75) each and come in blind boxes, so you won’t know which one you’re getting and may even end up with the seventh mystery design.
These are all Drepan lures, which are Dress’ signature design that create unique vibrations that accurately mimic the ripples caused by ocean baitfish. Also available are A.T.Iwashi sardine-shaped jigs in your choice of Evangelion Unit-01 or Unit-02 designs and weights of 30 or 40 grams.
The lineup of items is hardly limited to lures, however. You can really show off your Evangelion pride with a 17-liter mini bakkan, which is a waterproof bucket/bag that can be used to carry gear, bait, or live fish as needed. In English, these cases are sometimes called EVA tackle bags, which is just a coincidental reference to the name of the material, but I mean, come on… These two are perfect for each other.
It also has slots on the side for easy access to rods and pliers.
And speaking of pliers, there’s also a pair of 8-inch aluminum pliers with a Unit-02 design. They’re perfect for retrieving lures, cutting lines, and removing sinkers, but quite frankly, I wouldn’t mind just having those around the house either.
Dress is also offering a version of their Grasper Gradius fish grips with an Evangelion Unit-02 Beast Form 2nd Phase (Type 1) design, and an online-limited Unit-13 Pseudo-Evolution 3rd Phase (Awakened) version.
Fishing gear can be costly though, so if you want a more price-conscious way to celebrate the fusion of fish and Evangelion, Dress also sells stickers for 800 yen. Each one says “FISH AND SHELLFISH CAPTURE PROJECT” in the series’ typical all-kanji, all-impact style.
It just goes to show that Evangelion and fish go together like Sailor Moon and sneakers. However, Dress has collaborated with quite a few series in the past, including One Piece, Ultraman, and Yuru Camp, so there’s sure to be something for any fan of Japanese pop culture and the great outdoors.
Source, images: PR Times
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The king of the monsters, plus a few other members of kaiju royalty, are ready to fill a gap in your Gap wardrobe.
As one of the most popular clothing brands in the world, Gap has worked with some very big creative partners over the years. They don’t get much bigger, though, than who Gap Japan’s is teaming up with next: Godzilla!
The king of the monsters will be stomping his way into the Gap lineup later this month with the Godzilla Collection, a series of kaiju causal fashions consisting of two sweatshirts, two zip-up hoodies, and four long-sleeved graphic T-shirts.
The sweatshirts feature Godzilla himself standing in front of the stylized Gap text, with his name written beneath in Japanese katakana script (ゴジラ). The hoodies, meanwhile, appear to have just the text.
Things get especially cool, though, with the long-sleeved T-shirts. The designs are simple on the front, with just the Gap and Godzilla text…
…but on the back, you’ve got gigantic prints of Godzilla doing a few of his favorite things: fighting Mothra…
…fighting King Ghidora…
…roaring…
…and, of course, absolutely wrecking a major metropolitan area.
The sweatshirts are priced at 7,990 yen (US$52), the hoodies 9,990 yen, and the T-shirts 6,990 yen for adult sizes. They’re going to be offered in kids’ sizes too, for 6,990, 7,990, and 5,990 yen, respectively. Also part of Godzilla Collection are a beanie (3,490 yen) and socks (1,990 yen for a three-pack), which are listed as kids’ items, but maybe with enough stretching some adults might be able to get the cap over their heads too.
The entire lineup goes on sale December 16 at Gap Japan physical stores and through the chain’s online shop here.
Source, images: PR Times
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Limited-time event returns to Ryogoku this winter.
Last month, travelers passing through downtown Tokyo’s Ryogoku Station were treated to the sight of a giant (and blue) sumo wrestler stopping a train to protect a cute kitty. And while that event, courtesy of Sony’s PlayStation team, isn’t going on anymore, there’s something else coming to Ryogoku Station soon that’s very cool too…and also very warm.
In what’s become an annual winter tradition, Ryogoku will be hosting Oden de Atsukan Station, a four-day celebration of three of the best ways to cope with the winter cold in Japan: oden (meats, vegetables, fish cakes, and tofu simmered in dashi broth), atsukan (hot sake), and kotatsu (traditional Japanese low tables outfitted with heaters on their undersides and blankets to keep you nice and toasty). Kotatsu will be set up Ryogoku Station’s number-three platform, and oden and atsukan will be served for you to enjoy while sitting at them.
The event will take place on Ryogoku Station’s number-three platform, which actually stopped being used for passenger trains three decades ago, so not only is this an opportunity to enjoy the triple comforts of oden, atsukan, and kotatsu, it’s also a rare chance to hang out in a part of the facility that’s usually off-limits to the public.
▼ The platform is decked out with lanterns during the event, for an even more festive mood.
The sakes served are no slouches, either, as they’re all award winners from the All-Japan Hot Sake Contest, which honors the brews best suited to being served warm (as not all sakes are suited to this style). The knowledge serving staff will be ready to help even total sake newbies find the brews that best suit their palates from a selection provided by brewers in Yamagata, Aomori, Gifu, Chiba, Akita, Tokushima, Fukushima, and Iwate Prefectures.
Oden de Atsukan Station will be held from January 29 to February 1, with one-hour sessions starting at the following times:
● January 29 and 30: 2:30, 3:50, 5:10, 6:30, and 7:50 p.m.
● January 31: 12:30, 1:50, 3:10, 5:10, 6:30, and 7:70 p.m.
● February 1: 11:10 a.m., 12:30, 1:50, and 3:10 p.m.
Admission is priced Tickets are priced at 3,500 yen (US$23) and include what the organizers are calling a “starter pack” of a mixed oden serving and 10 drink vouchers, with the apparent implication that more can be purchased on-site if you’re still thirsty/hungry after that. Advance reservations are required and can be made starting at noon on December 22, with full details on the Oden de Atsukan Station website here.
Source: Oden de Atsukan Station official website, Sumida Keizai Shimbun
Images: Press release
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As Japan’s foreign population grows, its foreign kid count is getting bigger too, and educational systems might not be keeping up with the country’s changing demographics.
As Japan’s foreign population continues to grow, the number of foreign-nationality kids living in the country is rising too. Unfortunately, the number of kids living in Japan who aren’t proficient in communicating in Japanese is growing too.
According to Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which publishes such data roughly every other year, in 2008 there were 28,757 foreign-nationality children enrolled in public elementary and middle schools in Japan who required additional instruction in order to become proficient in speaking Japanese, relative to other children of their age. This number stayed more or less consistent for the next several years, but jumped noticeably in 2016, and has been rising at an accelerating rate ever since, almost doubling between 2014 and 2023.
● Number of foreign-nationality children in public elementary and middle schools requiring additional interaction to learn Japanese
2008: 28,575
2010: 28,511
2012: 27,013
2014: 29,198
2016: 34,.335
2018: 40,755
2021: 47,619
2023: 57,718
Statistics for 2025 aren’t available yet, but considering recent inbound immigration trends, it’s a pretty safe bet that’ll it’ll be a new record high, and an absolute certainty that it’ll be a very large number.
When it’s determined that a child is insufficiently proficient in Japanese for their age, they’re given supplementary Japanese-as-a-second-language (JSL) lessons, up to 280 hours’ worth for a school year, under a framework called the “special curriculum for Japanese language guidance at the compulsory-education level.” Lessons in this system are supposed to be taught by an instructor with certified teaching credentials, but according to a JSL instructor interviewed by magazine Toyo Keizai, schools often lack staff with the recommended credentials who are capable of teaching such classes. As a compromise, many then turn to outside educational services, contracting for JSL teachers to come to the school and teach the special classes, even if the instructor does not have a full-fledged teaching license.
The lack of specialized JSL staff at many schools reflects a challenging part of the situation, which is that while Japan’s foreign population is growing, the concentration of non-Japanese children at any one particular school usually isn’t high enough to warrant a full-time dedicated JSL instructor. Because of that, JSL teachers often have to make the rounds to multiple schools, sometimes in a single day. This, in turn though, puts a great strain on the teachers, and it’s not like the difficulties end once they do complete their journey to their next classroom.
For students with the lowest level of Japanese proficiency, and thus the ones who need the most help, a common plan is to start by instructing the child in their native language, then transitioning to more and more Japanese as they build vocabulary and grammar skills. However, with Japan’s foreign population growing more diverse and hailing from an increasing number of different countries, the pool of native languages for foreign-nationality children has become larger, meaning there’s less chance of a teacher speaking any given child’s mother tongue. This is also an issue when the JSL teacher needs to talk with the child’s parents to discuss their development and coordinate with moms and dads regarding homework, drills, and other practice and retention work that needs to be done outside of class. Sometimes the parents themselves are also less than proficient in Japanese, meaning that in addition to teaching the children during class, the JSL teacher has to take on the role of interpreter in order to keep moms and dads in the loop.
Foreign-nationality kids needing JSL instruction isn’t something Japan has seen as an especially pressing social issue. For many years, a lot of Japan’s adult foreign residents were fairly young, and early in their careers to boot. Many were single or married recently enough that they weren’t ready to start families yet, and by the time they were, many were also ready to move back to their home countries. Out of those who stayed, a large proportion were married to a Japanese national, meaning their kids had at least one parent speaking Japanese at home and exposing them to the language on a daily basis before they entered elementary school. Among long-term resident families where both parents were foreigners, oftentimes the family was in Japan for government or high-level executive work, with salaries or lifestyle assistance packages that allowed them to send their children to private or international schools where Japanese proficiency wasn’t so important because classes were taught in a different language.
The foreign resident lifestyle in Japan has become much more diverse nowadays, though. Following relaxations of restrictions on work and student visas in the mid 2010s, as well as increased internationalism in hiring by Japanese companies, Japan now has a much larger number of long-term, family-starting-age foreign residents who aren’t in the upper income brackets than it used to, and also more married-couple households in which neither spouse is a native Japanese-speaker. This is a relatively new societal development, and one that educational and government systems haven’t fully caught up with yet, as illustrated by the reliance on the existing pool of JSL teachers to bear heavy workloads.
If not properly addressed, foreign-nationality children struggling with the Japanese language is only going to become a bigger problem in years to come. Inability to fully understand and effectively communicate not only makes it harder for children to keep up in all of their subjects, it can also create disciplinary problems. A child who’s unable to follow along and engage with the material during class time is likely to become bored, restless, and disruptive, which can in turn affect their social development in areas such as making friends and working as part of a team.
Unfortunately, as in many countries, teaching classes in public schools isn’t exactly a path to riches in Japan, and between low pay, the difficulties discussed above, and the necessary specialized teaching skills, there’s not likely to be a spike in the number of JSL teachers without some sort of change in the current pipeline. The teacher who spoke with Toyo Keizai says one bottleneck that needs addressing is the current system of staffing and administering JSL instruction is being handled mainly at a very local level that stretches resources thin as a small number of teachers have to scramble to meet all of their area’s diverse needs. A more centralized system of administration could alleviate those issues, the teacher theorizes, by doing things such as bringing foreign-nationality children with similar needs from different schools into the same JSL classes, allowing teachers to tailor their lessons for them and in the process increase both efficiency and effectiveness.
There’s also a ticking-clock factor, since in Japan only elementary and middle school are compulsory education. While there are public high schools, they’re similar to public universities in countries such as the U.S., in that they receive government funds, but parents still have to pay tuition and applicants have to meet entrance requirements, such as sufficient test scores or grades, and with teens not being legally required to attend high school, there’s less pressure to relax standards to let in someone who didn’t perform well academically in middle school.
However, it’s very difficult to earn a living in Japan with just a middle school education, so falling behind at the elementary and middle school levels creates a risk of economic hardship later in life if those early struggles make it more difficult for a child to attend high school and possibly continue on to higher education. Looking at the situation through an even longer-term lens, Japan doesn’t have a system of birthright citizenship, which could make it more difficult for those foreign-nationality children to obtain certain forms of government assistance should they reach adulthood and find themselves facing economic hardship exacerbated by the ripple effects of language and educational difficulties they faced as kids, so the sooner the situation can be improved, the better.
Source: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Toyo Keizai via Itai News
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But now he knows, and knowing is half the battle.
We all have certain gaps in our knowledge that are widely known to others. They say even Einstein couldn’t drive a car because he found it too complicated, though in fairness, cars were a lot more complicated when he was growing up than they are now, what with the hand cranks to start the engines and all.
Anyway, the point is everyone has their blind spots, and we can only hope they don’t emerge in embarrassing or damaging situations… or both, as happened to one man recently in the city of Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. According to the Shiga Prefectural Police, on 5 December, a 53-year-old office worker received phone calls and video calls over the popular Japanese messaging app Line from men claiming to work for a major telecom company and a man posing as an officer from the Hyogo Prefectural Police.
The victim was told that 40 million yen was deposited and then withdrawn from a bank account in his name, implicating him in a potential crime. They then told him they needed to confirm the serial numbers on the banknotes in his account to know for sure. To do this, he would have to transfer the money from his bank account to theirs, so they could examine his bills and then transfer them back.
Now, it’s possible these con artists were remarkably smooth talkers, and the shock of being confronted by “the police,” among other daily stresses of being an office worker, frazzled him enough that he momentarily forgot that bank transfers don’t actually involve sending literal cash from one physical location to another. It’s unlikely though, because he made three separate transfers over two days.
▼ He could have thought banks were full of little ceramic pigs with everyone’s names on them.
It wasn’t reported how he finally realized he’d been had, but it was probably after none of the money he sent was being returned. He then contacted the real police, who are currently investigating it as a case of “special fraud” (tokushu sagi), referring to scams that randomly target people over the phone or online.
The victim did get a fair bit of ribbing in online comments, but a lot of people also lamented that someone with a rather vague understanding of how banks work has more money than they do.
“Did he really think he was sending physical bills?”
“How can someone with that level of intelligence have so much money?”
“Just use the banknote teleporter.”
“It must have been an inheritance.”
“The only people who ever call my telephone are scammers pretending to be the power company.”
“When you transfer money, they roll up the bills really tight and send them through the wires.”
“How does this guy have more money than me?”
“Maybe he has an old-fashioned bank that still uses pneumatic tubes.”
“This fraud certainly is… special…”
Based on reports, this victim seems to be an average adult with an apparently well-paying job. He just seems to have thought everyone’s money is kept in stacks of cash in a bunch of boxes, and perhaps when you use an ATM, a little robot whizzes over and takes out whatever you need.
But I say let those without ignorance in any area of knowledge throw the first stone. I, for one, don’t fully understand how a refrigerator works. I’m just lucky the only thing that makes me vulnerable to are prank calls.
Source: Kyoto Shimbun Digital, Itai News
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