Tag: Slam Dunk

(upbeat music)

Just finished the summer vacation in Japan,
and I am suffering from holiday brain.

I’m looking at the wrong pages.

I’m disorganized.

That’s not an excuse.

I mean, you’re going to
get the exact same quality

you get every other time
you listen to an engineer’s

Japan, because that’s
the quality I offer.

It’s this mush brain, and off we go
with San Seido, a group of mush brains.

They are the new populist
right-wing party in Japan.

They are unpleasant towards
foreign people like myself.

So I do not have a particularly
positive view of them.

They have decided to market themselves.

Good idea, if I’m being really honest.

The way they’ve decided to market themselves
is to create an official party beer.

350 milliliter can, and it
says mulch across the front.

I’m assuming it’s using the orange color.

I haven’t actually looked up the can yet.

I’m going to do that actually after.

Again, the quality that introduced Japan
for any faults it might have is consistent.

It’s 600 in a can.

Now, I don’t drink beer.

So I don’t know how much beer costs.

I know they can be really
expensive to get like an IPA.

I know they can be really cheap.

So this I’m assuming is mid.

It sort of seems like a San
Seido kind of thing to hit for mid.

The problem is it’s 990 N shipping fees.

Now, I don’t know if that’s per can.

So you can get the ship to your house.

It doesn’t not sold in stores yet.

You get a ship to you 990 yet, 990 N.

I’m assuming that is for
however many you order.

So if you order 5, 10, 15, 20,
you’re paying 999, God damn.

You’re paying 990 N shipping.

But if you buy one, the shipping
cost is more than the actual beer itself.

The issue that came to light very quickly,

much like Trump’s products
where he touts American innovation

and American, you know,
producing locally within the country,

most of his merchandise
is sourced from China.

The malt is sourced from outside of Japan.

And someone who bought
this online also bought a

t-shirt and the t-shirt
also said made in China.

So this group, this party
that is saying Japan first,

is saying that Japan
needs to be self-reliant.

They’re actually like food
self-sufficiency is a big part

of their thing because Japan
has to import a lot of food.

And they’re like, that means
we rely on other countries.

We don’t rely on one or
a line on other countries.

They’re full of dirty foreigners.

So we should buy everything local.

Now, malt is produced
locally, but it’s very expensive.

So they went with cheaper malt sourced

from outside of Japan,
sort of defying the logic

of their own party, which is, let’s be
honest, absolutely no surprise at all.

(upbeat music)

There’s a place called Kamakura
City, and there’s a railway crossing.

And that railway crossing
appears in slam dunk, the anime.

I believe it’s in the opening sequence.

You sort of see this like very romantic.

You see this very sort of
romanticized, classic Japanese

countryside train crossing
on this really big TV show.

Now, you have to understand
that some train stations,

like the one I go to every
day, actually has no staff.

It’s so small, it doesn’t
have, it has like a

gate and it’s sort of
like little covered area

in case it’s raining or snowing or
something that you can stand under.

But there’s no actual staff.

If I ever problem with my card,
which I have had in the past,

you actually have to
like press some buttons

on this little panel, and then they will
call a bigger station at a nearby city,

and they’ll try to deal
with your problem remotely,

which is sensible because
there are so few people

who come to my station
that it will require having

a staff member there to
help people all the time.

This is a similar situation.

It’s a small, tiny station
in the countryside.

It is not a place that has staff.

So it means it’s not a
big city, it’s not a big area,

it’s not populated, it’s
not ready for tourism,

which is where this
story is actually going.

The train station you’re crossing
is unmanned, it’s closed, it’s toilets.

Because there were so many blockages, there
were too many tours coming and using it.

It was causing too many problems.

They didn’t have staff
there to help take care of it,

to actually like, I guess
just plunge the toilet

on a regular basis,
which is also really gross.

If you get hired to
work for a train station,

I don’t think your
image is, I’m going to be

plunging toilets regularly
throughout the day.

The toilets also got really dirty.

So I guess, assume it would get blocked,

and then people still
have to go to the toilet,

they would do other stuff,
it would get really gross.

Over tourism, this is one of the things
they’re talking about, this is problematic.

Some of the nearby cafes
have closed their toilets

to tourists and people who
aren’t like actual customers.

There was a nearby hospital, and
they were letting people go to the toilet

in the hospital, and
they’ve said like, again,

same problem, blockages,
people like flushing things,

they shouldn’t flush, it was clogging
the toilet, this is causing problems.

We’re not going to allow
people to use their toilets.

The solution, therefore,
for the people who need to

defecate, is to defecate
around the building.

So this hospital has now
appealed to the local government

saying there are too many
tours coming to this area

to take pictures and whatnot
of this railway crossing

from the anime slam dunk,
and now they’re pooping

around the hospital, which is a safety
issue, it’s a health issue, and again,

it being a hospital, they’re very
concerned about health issues.

The government is discussing solutions.

I’m very interested
in what kind of solution

can you come up with to
stop people pooping randomly,

’cause the immediate solution
would be to open more toilets,

but again, this is not a tourist hub, this
is not like an area designed for tourism.

They probably were never
expecting any tourists to show up,

and it’s how much is the
anime slam dunk responsible

for the results, ’cause
this is one of the interesting

things, it’s unintended
consequences of actions.

So, hey, there’s this little train station,

there’s a crossing, it’s really sort
of romanticized in the Japanese view.

Let’s put that in our anime opening, it’s
gonna be really cool, it’s very Japanese.

People love our anime, that
anime gets super popular,

people wanna go to the
places they see in the anime,

and now they need a place to poop, where
they’re gonna poop, when everyone’s like,

now too many tourists
have been flooding our

toilets, they’ve been
clogging our toilets,

they’ve been flushing stuff
they’re not supposed to flush.

We don’t have the facilities
to clean up after this

many tourists, we’re
gonna just close our tourists,

now the tourists are pooping
out randomly in the street.

I can see a rest happening in the future,

I can see them getting really strict
about this, the fines should be massive,

is probably what’s gonna
happen, but that’s just my guess,

the local government is
trying to figure out what to do.

It’s a really weird problem to have.

(upbeat music)

Talking about over-tourism,
talking about problems,

unexpected consequences
of tourism above popularity,

consci has been experiencing
a surge in abandoned suitcases.

Just left on sidewalks and alleyways,
and this is such a weird thing to me,

’cause I always pack really light,
because again, living in Japan,

you have to do like a lot of
omiyage souvenir shopping,

you have to put it in your bag, I usually
go with one bag and come back with two,

because that’s full of stuff
presence for other people.

That’s a really normal thing in Japan,
so abandoning a suitcase seems weird,

I guess if it doesn’t suit your purposes
anymore, like you brought a suitcase,

but then you bought a whole
bunch of stuff, and it’s too small,

you don’t wanna like,
keep it, you don’t wanna

bring it back with you,
so you just dump it.

So people are just leaving it on
the sidewalk and walking away.

People are just leaving it in
alleyways and walking away.

In 2024, there were 8.476
million visitors to Osaka alone,

and Osaka Airport, consci airport had
816 abandoned pieces of luggage in 2024.

Problem is, what do you do with them?

Because the local airport is like,
we can’t just throw these away.

It actually costs money to throw
stuff away in Japan if it’s not burnable.

They keep the abandoned
suitcase for a set period,

and then they reuse it or
dispose it after a set time.

Some hotels have run into a problem

because they are saying it
costs 25,000 to 50,000 yen

every month or two to get rid of these
suitcases that are being left in the hotel.

So basically, yeah, I go,
I stay in a hotel, maybe I

upgrade my baggage, and I
leave the other suitcase behind,

and then the hotel has to
collect all these suitcases

and then give them to the garbage company,
but the garbage company is non-burnable,

which means you have to
pay for them to be removed.

They’re spending 50,000 yen
every two months just on that alone.

They have to the person who stayed there.

They have the person in the
hotel room’s credit card number.

I would just charge them for that service.

Like, we will dispose of your
luggage if you don’t want to

use it anymore, but we are
going to charge you for that.

Some hotels have started
cutting the suitcases in half

and then making them into potted plant
holders, which is an interesting solution

’cause they’re like, we
are recycling in a way,

we’re not throwing a
straight in the garbage,

it’s getting sort of a
second usage a second life,

but this has become like a significant
problem with the overtourism issue in Japan.

People coming and just
dumping stuff they don’t want.

In the previous story,
personal waste, fecal matter.

In the second story, suitcases.

I guess the solution to put them
together, poop in the suitcase?

Still not very appealing.

(upbeat music)

Japan Supreme Court upheld a ruling
that liking a defamatory post online

constitutes an unlawful
act under civil law.

So this is basically, we
have the new group Senseido.

They’re probably saying some heinous stuff.

They actually were getting in trouble
because a lot of what they were saying

was essentially hate speech
under the Japanese Constitution.

Fans of them would
go on Twitter or X, the

everything app, and they
would like those posts.

And this would be the same
as Facebook, like you post

something on Facebook, it’s
hateful, it’s racist, whatever.

You like that.

I am responsible for
my likes supporting the

defamatory post, therefore
I am defaming the person.

So it’s not that simple, ’cause X doesn’t
have likes any more of the way it used to.

I guess this would work for Reddit for
upvoting, so I’ve upvoted hateful content,

that would constitute
supporting the hateful content.

On Facebook, if I liked, if I thumbs
up, thumbs up a hateful comment

that would constitute me
supporting the hateful comment.

The Supreme Court said that a like

is generally understood as showing a
positive attitude or supporting a message.

So basically you put a message on, I like
it, that shows that I support that message.

Pretty sensible.

Of course it’s legal, so they have to
be very strict about what they’re saying.

So factors are taken to account, the
relationship between the like and the poster.

So I as the person have to
be looked at before my like can

actually be seen as an
addition to the defamatory post.

So maybe everything else I say, or
everything else I like, is really positive.

That way maybe this is just an
anomaly, maybe I didn’t read it,

maybe I could say, oh,
I liked it by accident.

But if I am constantly
liking this kind of

content, then that will
get played into account.

That will be taken into
account for whether or not

I actually am supporting
the defamatory post.

The circumstances leading up to it.

So this is also, again,
looking at your post history.

So if I have never liked anything

and I post generally
negative or hateful comment

and then I do support,
I do like a hateful post,

then that is going to
be taken into account.

I am that kind of person.

I am now showing my support
for the defamatory post.

Basically in Japan,
the way it’s phrased as,

if the intent is to harm
the victim’s dignity,

it is defamatory, which
actually means on TikTok.

I actually could sue a
couple of people already.

I’ve had people on TikTok.

So I’ve taken clips from Ninja Neustropan

and posted on TikTok where
I talk about a gross story.

And then I’ll like role play
as the creepy awful person,

almost getting into the
mindset of the person.

And then I’ll do a joke
making fun of that person.

So if you look at the whole context,
I am not supporting what they did.

What they did on TikTok
was they cut out the beginning

in the end and just took the hateful role
play that I was doing and then posted that

and then tried to like rage
bait people into like me saying,

look at this guy in
Japan, this 50 year old,

creepy old man, he’s saying awful
things all the time everyone should go.

I didn’t get the flood of
hate that they were probably

expecting because people
who came and watched

the original clip got to see
the beginning, middle, and end.

But from that, it would be
actually very, very easy for me

to sue them under this
sort of defamation law.

I did find it actually very
funny because when I saw

what they’d done and how
much work they’d put into

editing actually is what
made it really funny to me

because there was an
editing like a clear intent

in the editing of the content
to make me look as bad

as possible so they could
then crap on it hoping

that everyone would get
like, I guess, get me canceled.

But it’s so funny how
quickly it fizzled out

because it was like, anyone
who came had to watch the intro

and it’s like, wait a
minute, this guy doesn’t

seem like he’s super
supportive of pedophilia.

And then I would do some
sort of crass jokes, let’s say,

and then at the end go
like, isn’t that disgusting,

all the stuff I just
put in front of you.

Like is not just a singular term.

So they are using this as a precedent.

So reposting, posting,
DM’s, all can violate anti-stop

stalking laws in Japan, which is what this
all falls under the umbrella of stalking.

So if I’m saying hateful things to you
online, I’m saying hateful stuff in general,

that’s actually part of
stalking laws in Japan.

Pokemon, cards, things for kids, McDonald’s,
happy meals, also a thing for kids.

Put them together,
you’d make kids really

happy or you would make
psycho nerds go crazy

because they put specialty
printed cards into happy meal sets.

So in Japan, it’s not a
happy meal, it’s a happy set.

They call any meal, it’s just a set.

The McDonald’s put a
card in the happy meal.

Now, what they tried to do was
limit the amount of purchases

to five meals per person over a three day
promotion and attempt to stop reselling.

So they knew that people
were gonna come in by these

meals, get the cards
and resell the cards online.

And they were trying to stop that.

So like you can only buy five meals,
but you think I come in and buy five.

My friend, my other resellers
come in and they also buy five.

They’re also gonna try to go to as many
different stores as possible as buy five.

You can see the potential problem.

Now, the thing that
happened was these guys were

coming in and they were
buying up all the cards,

all the happy meals and
the stores were running out.

But then they weren’t
eating the happy meals.

And this is actually
what set off almost more

of a firestorm in Japan
because food waste

is seen as an incredibly
disrespectful thing.

But these guys would just
take the happy, happy meals.

They would put them on a
counter, take the card out and leave.

They wouldn’t even touch the food.

Or if you know the staff got angry at them,

they would take the food
outside, put it on the ground,

and then get under a
car and just drive away.

So they’d have to deal with it anyways.

So it’s a massive amount of
food waste was actually the

bigger issue than the nerds
buying and reselling the cards.

But it was the buying.

Again, unintended
consequences seems to be sort of

an underlying theme of
a couple of the stories.

McDonald’s was trying to stop the reselling

by putting a limit on
how many you could buy,

but this limit was still,
it was more than one.

And that means the people
are going to go around

buying as many as they
can in as many places.

Stores ran out of food.

There was a ton of wastage, a ton
of garbage sitting out in the streets.

McDonald’s even approached
Mayor Carrey, saying please help

and don’t allow people to resell
these cards on Mayor Carrey.

They have said in the
future, they will deny entry to

people who want to buy large
quantities of combo meals.

And then they actually
had to post an apology,

which again is weird because it’s
they shouldn’t actually be apologizing.

It’s these resellers, these nerds who
are buying it up, trying to buy them all.

They’re the ones causing the problem.

McDonald’s tried to put
some things in place and it

didn’t quite work out, but
they still just being Japan.

You have to apologize.

Everyone has to apologize.

Here is their statement.

During our Pokemon Happy
Meal set Pokemon card promotion,

we confirmed that a portion of customers
bought large quantities with the intent

of reselling the cards, causing
congestion and confusion

at McDonald’s branches
and in their surrounding areas.

In addition, there were
instances where the associated

food items being left behind at
the restaurant or abandoned outside.

McDonald’s deeply apologizes
for the inconvenience

and distress caused to
our regular customers.

The crew’s working at
a restaurant’s residence

of the surrounding neighborhoods
and the owners of the buildings

in which our restaurants
operate as tenants.

In the future, there may be instances

in which we impose stricter
purchase quantity limits

for specific happy meal
sets and time periods.

In addition, we acknowledge that this is
an inconvenience to our regular customers.

During such periods, we may also place
restrictions on mobile orders and deliveries.

Details would be disclosed
on a case-by-case basis.

In addition, during such
sales restriction periods,

we will refuse sales to those attempting
to purchase amounts exceeding the limits,

lining up repeatedly to
make multiple purchases,

attempting to intimidate
restaurant staff or otherwise

failing to abide by the
rules and behave politely.

Moreover, customers whose
actions have clearly interfered

with the provision of
the promotion services

when purchasing Pokemon
Happy Meals or who have records

of making bulk purchases will
have their accounts removed

from the official McDonald’s
app as per terms of service.

So McDonald’s is trying
their best to make it very

clear that this is not
acceptable to behavior.

They’re not going to
allow this in the future.

They’re going to try to put a stop
to it, which I think is the right thing.

When, again, when people get off the
rails and start harassing staff and stuff,

I think that’s actually
time when you call the cops.

(upbeat music)

The shape of Pocky has been trademarked,
and this is called a 3D trademark,

which I found very
interesting because apparently

this is very rare, and
it’s very rare for food

to get it because food doesn’t
come in a consistent shape,

but the Pocky shape has
been considered so iconic.

They applied for a 3D trademark,
and what this would do would mean

if I wanted to make my own, for those
of you who don’t know what Pocky is,

it’s a piece of bread, it’s a tiny stick
of bread, and it’s dipped in chocolate.

So it’s a tiny bit of
bread, tiny bit of chocolate,

nice combination, it’s
a light chocolate snack,

it’s a sweet thing, and it
has a very iconic shape

because it is just dipped
directly into the chocolate,

so it has like a stub
that is the bit you hold

that would be just
bread, and then the

chocolate coating above
that, it forms a shape.

But it’s also fairly nondescript.

It’s fairly just like
it’s the result of

this process of dipping
bread into chocolate,

which actually seems a
little unfair to trademark that,

but it means that anyone
who wants to make a candy

or chocolate snack in the same shape,
Pocky, the company could then sue them.

The way they got this trademark was
to go to the patent office and say 91.

6% of people who see this shape,

recognize it as Pocky,
therefore this shape

represents Pocky, therefore
we deserve a trademark.

‘Cause usually they
only trademark characters

and logos and stuff,
saying like your logo

can’t look like my logo,
your character can’t look

like my character, that’s
pretty easy to prove

because it’s a distinct shape set thing,
but like I dip something in chocolate,

it’s gonna look like
something dipped in chocolate,

whether I actually intended
that to be the result or not.

So this is what I wanted was the clear
definition of what a Pocky is shaped like.

So this is marks-IPlaw.

JP, and I believe
is the actual group

that applied for the
trademark on Pocky’s behalf.

So during the substantive
examination as anticipated,

the JPO issued a notification
of reasons for refusal

pursuant to article three, one third
section of the Japan trade mark law.

This provision bars registration of
marks that consist solely of indications,

indications commonly used
to designate inter-aliyah,

the place of origin,
quality raw materials,

intended purpose shape,
including packaging,

price, method, time, or production of use.

So basically this first thing is like, you
can’t make a trademark based on the fact

that you use bread or
chocolate or things like that.

So in response, we submitted the Pocky’s,
cookies, 3D shape had through long standing

and widespread use come to
function as a source identifier.

Accordingly, it should
qualify for exemption

under article three, two of
the Japan trade mark law,

which permits registration of marks,
otherwise barred under article three, one,

provided that the mark has acquired
distinctness among relevant consumers.

To substantiate
the claim of acquired

distinctiveness, we
submitted extensive evidence,

including market research
targeting 1,036 men and women,

age 16 to 79, remarkably
91.6% of the respondents

when shown the 3D
shape of Pocky cookie,

without any accompanying
text, identified it as Pocky,

or Pocky chocolate in response
to an open-ended question.

So basically they said, what’s this
and showed them a Pocky shape?

And then the people said,
it’s Pocky and they said,

that proves that the shape
is indicative to the trademark.

So following the submission of
evidence of subsequent restriction

and designation goods to
chocolate confections in class 30,

the JPO approved the
registration on June 24th, 2025,

by admitting acquired
distinctive myth of the 3D mark.

So this is the bit that’s important here.

The detailed
description of mark, the

trademark, for which
the registration is sought,

is a three dimensional trademark,

and the column of trademark
for which the registration

is sought, consists of
seven views of the order.

So perspective view, front view, back view,

left side view, right side view,
bottom view, and plan view.

So basically they took
seven pictures of Pocky

from different angles and
presented that and said,

this is Pocky, and now this
has been trademarked as Pocky.

Incidentally, the light
colored portion shown

in the perspective view, the front view,
and the bottom view are due to illumination

or not elements
constituted in the trademark.

So the actual brightness
of the color of the bread

cookie part of the Pocky
is not part of the trademark.

Jade has put in a couple of things
like other things are shaped like Pocky.

They might actually be
owned by the same company.

I actually forgot I think it’s Glico.

I actually forget now
who actually makes it.

But on the screen right
now, there are trade marks

that have been given for other
candies and chocolates and stuff.

There’s a chocolate
screw, a piece of chocolate

with like an almond
shape cut out of it.

There’s like a half moon cookie.

There’s a hottie bowl,
which is like gummy bears.

There’s the most famous one for
me is the mushroom shaped chocolate,

which is like a squished pocky, but the
chocolate is taken on a mushroom shape.

I’ve seen those, actually again,
I would recognize that shape.

These have all been granted
3D trademarks in Japan.

I was most interested in
the actual filing in Japan

like what constitutes a 3D trademark
because I’ve never heard of that before.

And then the shape of Pocky
being honestly kind of plain

and boring made it really suspicious
to me like how can you copyright that?

Because now anything
that’s a long cylindrical shape,

I guess with a lump of stuff on it is
now a legal in Japan or you could be sued

for producing something like
that and not paying off Pocky.

(upbeat music)

We have done lots and lots of
fraud over the last few weeks in Japan

and it’s been the people
impersonating police

has been like the big
spike in fraud in Japan.

So they say there’s a
warrant out for your arrest

and you gotta pay us a certain amount of
money and we’ll get the warrant taken away.

They say money’s been moved into
your account from an illegal source

and we have to take
that money out of your

account or you’ll be
arrested as an accessory

and then people give them
access to their bank accounts.

They have people picking up
bank cards and stuff just trying

to do everything wrong to
make someone’s life miserable.

I mean, that’s just really
what they’re going for.

A 73 year old man was
arrested for special fraud.

This is impersonating a police
officer going to a lady’s house.

He’s the bag man.

So there’s actually someone
usually sets up the fraud

and then someone who goes try to
pick up the money and/or bank cards.

In this case, it was two bank cards.

He was impersonating a police officer
sometimes they impersonate lawyers.

He posed as a police officer and he
went to an 88 year old woman’s home

to pick up two bank cards
but she knew something was up.

So she said, yes, come to my
house and get the bank cards

and then she called the police and
said, I have a guy coming to my house

pretending to be a policeman to get some
bank cards, could you maybe pay him a visit?

They had claimed that a large sum of
money had been transferred to her accounts

and had to be confiscated
for this police investigation.

So they needed access to her bank
account to be able to get the money out.

After he was arrested, this
73 year old man turns out

he actually a few years ago was a
victim of the exact same type of fraud.

He lost 120 million yen to
a fraud involving a fake cop.

So a fake cop came to
this guy, said similar story.

We needed access to your
bank account to take money out.

They got access to his bank account.

They drained it of 120 million yen.

I don’t have 120 million yen.

I would be the worst victim of fraud

because you would get like
very little money out of it.

The police suspect that
the group that targeted

this 73 year old man realized
that now he was in need of money

so they recruited him after
being a victim of their scam

to actually be the bag
man for their further scams

and pay him off knowing that
he was desperate for money

’cause he just lost,
I’m assuming 120 million

yen in this case is
his entire life savings.

So it seems that they are
creating a perfect recycling

system where they’re like
we’re going to commit fraud.

We’re going to attack this person.

We’re going to take all their money.

Now we know that person needs money.

We’ll hire that person for
a very low fee, I assume,

to commit the crime on
our behalf to be the bag man

’cause the bag man’s the
always one who gets caught

and then when they get arrested
turns out the cycle of fraud continues

because we hopefully either
gotten money from a new person

who we can then target as a
new victim or a new employee or

that person gets arrested and
we don’t care about the middle.

So please, please be careful
when dealing with police.

They’ve just introduced online
warrants and that became a huge spike

because all these people started
spoofing what looks like the online warrant

a warrant for your arrest and
then as you can see the amount

of special fraud has
increased significantly in Japan.

(upbeat music)

(upbeat music)

(upbeat music)

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