Tokyo police have arrested two men in their 20s on suspicion of faxing a bomb threat to a university in January that may be part of a widescale campaign to spread terror, investigative sources said. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said more than 300,000 faxes threatening bomb attacks and mass killings were sent to universities, high schools, local governments and companies using similar means between January and May. It is believed to be the largest mass threats ever made using such a method.
[…]
Both also reportedly said that their motive was to promote “Koshinkyo,” a movement in which people mock or harass targeted individuals online.
I searched for “koshinkyo” at Wikipedia. I didn’t get a single result.
To be clear they were arrested for using a fax machine in 2023
be Japanese salaryman
>wake up on tatami floor in my unheated house
>shiver my way out of the house to the train station
>get on train built in 1958
>ride train in total silence while looking out the window at rusty buildings
>get to work
>boot up Windows 98 on my PC and I'm ready to go
>grab my floppy disk that I brought from home and put it in the slot (2mb!)
>send some faxes to the boss
>after the first 8 hours of work clock out and continue working for another 5
>take the last train home and listen to music on my Walkman
Another day in 2023!
me trying to figure that thing out.
When I first read the headline I assumed it was some shenanigans from like 30 years ago, not a recent news story.
I had to use one in like 2015 or so. Hernia had me all fucked up and my local unemployment org was using technology from the Lincoln era to receive medical stuff.
Wild to see young people faxing in the year of our lord. And death threats, 300,000 of them, no less.
Japan’s going to Japan
koshinkyo = 恒心教 (こうしんきょう)
tbh I’m not invested enough to actually read these, but just skimming the beginnings my impression is that this Karasawa Takahiro guy is a lolcow of some sort and Koshinkyo is a “religion” born on 2ch dedicated to making fun of/harassing him (that second wiki appears to be entirely devoted to him).
The fax machine use has been something I’ve been hung up on for weeks trying to make a good joke of it. Like, Japan is known for really good technology, great trains (the first high-speed train and one that is still among the fastest), great consumer electronics, all sorts of robotics and computer programming and they still have to fax because the boomer bosses refuse to learn how to scan a document.
They still have to fax because the boomer bosses refuse to learn how to scan a document.
I think that’s a pretty hard joke to beat. I really do.
So much of Japanese culture is designed around the wants and desires of older men. The story of viagra vs birth control is my favorite.
archive.today • Japan’s Tale of Two Pills: Viagra and Birth Control - The New York Times
April 27, 1999
Japan normally takes many years, even decades, to approve foreign medications. But last year the middle-aged men who run the Ministry of Health and Welfare decided to rush the process for an American drug that they apparently deemed so critical that Japan could not wait another moment.
It is Viagra.
[…]
It took just six months for Viagra to win approval from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which has six women among its 204 bureaucrats. Meanwhile, the low-dose birth control pill, the most common form of nonsurgical contraception in the United States, still has not won approval even though its application was filed a decade ago, and women’s groups are furious.
Meanwhile, the low-dose birth control pill, the most common form of nonsurgical contraception in the United States, still has not won approval even though its application was filed a decade ago, and women’s groups are furious.
I’m guessing this is Shinzo “” Abe brain, isn’t it?
If salarymen can’t enjoy the soaplands they might actually have to spend time with their families, god forbid
The Japanese government decided to phase out floppies in 2021
after just reading about Japan’s approval of Viagra in the sibling comment it was a trip figuring out what you meant
if you really think about it the plastic case on a 3.5 inch floppy is like the computer equivalent of viagra
Like, done in 2021 or start phasing them out in 2021?
oh man that is some stuff right there. Now I’m just picturing the heart of the Shinkansen being run on windows 97 with the schedules stored on one of these, the joke is coming together
2chan harassment stuff, here’s a long read about it https://archive.ph/2018.10.13-072059/https://www.quora.com/Why-is-use-of-their-real-names-not-popular-amongst-Japanese-Internet-users
deleted by creator
Damn things really escalated after Denko never called back
deleted by creator
deleted by creator