Japanese social media user held over ¥3 mil extortion to delete post
Yuki Azuma, 29, who posts as Entertainer Orihara, is known for exposing apparent secrets of famous people on social media, according to the police.
He allegedly uploaded the personal information and headshot of a 30-year-old man to X, and extorted the money from him at a Tokyo restaurant in October last year.
Azuma hinted at further posts, telling the man he was considering releasing "everything," the police said.
He has remained silent about the allegations, they said.
© KYODO
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The Mainichi
40 minutes ago
- The Mainichi
Newly declassified Russian records reveal more Japanese murders of Koreans in 1945
Newly declassified Russian government documents have revealed a new series of Japanese killings of Koreans in multiple locations in southern Sakhalin Island from Aug. 15 to early September 1945, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned from two Sakhalin-based researchers who obtained the materials. The newly reported murders expand the known scope of the atrocities on what was at the time Japanese-controlled Karafuto. The Soviet Union unilaterally broke the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact and entered World War II against Japan on Aug. 9, 1945. Soviet forces invaded southern Sakhalin on Aug. 11, sparking about two weeks of ground fighting. The newly released records show that, amid the chaos and fear, rumors spread and Japanese residents accused Koreans of being Soviet spies, leading to a series of violent incidents. Previously, two major cases were known from Soviet investigative records: the Kamishisuka incident, in which 18 people were killed at a police station on Aug. 17, 1945, and the Mizuho incident, in which 27 villagers were killed between around Aug. 20 and 25. The new documents reveal that similar killings occurred both before and after these dates, including in early September, after the Aug. 25 end of fighting between Japanese and Soviet forces. Yulia Din of the Sakhalin Regional Museum said she filed an information request with the Russian government in 2019 and obtained investigative records, including witness statements, in 2021. Elena Savelyeva of the Sakhalin museum's "Pobeda" memorial complex published a paper in 2024 based on these materials. According to her research, on Aug. 15, 1945, in Ushiro (now Orlovo) in the northwest part of southern Sakhalin, a Korean man was accused of signaling to Soviet aircraft during an air raid and was shot dead by eight Japanese soldiers. His body was then bayoneted by 27 Japanese under the pretext of combat training. In what was then Chirikoro (now Nerpichye) in the northeast, a Korean man who belonged to a volunteer corps alongside Japanese was suspected of collaborating with the Soviets after requesting the same weapons as his Japanese comrades and shot dead on Aug. 15. In early September, another Korean man was shot dead on suspicion of planning to reveal hidden weapons caches to the Soviets. Soviet authorities investigated these incidents, as they did with the Kamishisuka and Mizuho cases, questioning Japanese involved and searching for victims' bodies. Din noted that some of these incidents had only come to light nearly 80 years after the war, adding that Koreans were supposed to be partners living alongside Japanese, but wartime conditions led to civilians killing civilians. Koichi Inoue, professor emeritus of anthropology at Hokkaido University and an expert on the Mizuho incident, noted, "These investigative records were compiled from the Soviet government's perspective and may lack the Japanese or Korean viewpoint. If the Soviet invasion had not occurred, these incidents likely would not have happened." He added, "As the Soviet Army advanced southward and ground battles loomed, Japanese militarism erupted, and the turmoil likely turned toward Koreans, who had been colonized and ruled by Japan, drawing in even local farmers."
Japan Today
40 minutes ago
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Italian Brainrot: The AI memes only kids know
School-age Italian Brainrot fans can be found from Kenya to Spain and South Korea By Katie Forster, Dessy Sagita and Marchio Gorbiano In a Japanese shop selling pocket-money trinkets, there is a rack of toys, stickers and keyrings based on a global crew of AI-generated characters that almost every child knows about -- and very few adults. A walking shark in oversized sneakers, an orange with muscular arms and a twirling "Ballerina Cappuccina" with a mug for a head are among the strange stars of the online phenomenon called Italian Brainrot. "At first it's not funny at all, but it kind of grows on you," 16-year-old Yoshi Yamanaka-Nebesney from New York told AFP. "You might use it to annoy someone and find that funny." The name nods to the stupefying effect of scrolling through mindless social media posts, especially over-the-top images created with artificial intelligence tools. Shouty, crude and often nonsensical Italian voiceovers feature in many of the clips made by people in various countries that began to spread this year on platforms such as TikTok, embraced by young Gen Z and Gen Alpha members. The dozen-plus cartoonish AI creatures have fast become memes, inspiring a stream of new content such as "Brainrot Rap", viewed 116 million times on YouTube. A YouTube Short titled "Learn to Draw 5 Crazy Italian Brainrot Animals" -- including a cactus-elephant crossover named "Lirili Larila" -- has also been watched 320 million times. "There's a whole bunch of phrases that all these characters have," said Yamanaka-Nebesney, in Tokyo with his mother Chinami, who had no idea what he was talking about. School-age Italian Brainrot fans can be found from Kenya to Spain and South Korea, while some of the most popular videos reference Indonesia's language and culture instead. "I went on trips with my boys to Mexico" and people would "crack jokes about it" there too, Yamanaka-Nebesney said. 'Melodic language' Internet trends move fast, and Italian Brainrot "hit its peak maybe two months ago or a month ago", said Idil Galip, a University of Amsterdam lecturer in new media and digital culture. Italian -- a "melodic language that has opportunities for jokes" -- has appeared in other memes before. And "there are just so many people in Indonesia" sharing posts which have potential for global reach, Galip said. A "multi-level marketing economy" has even emerged, with AI video-makers targeting Italian Brainrot's huge audience through online ads or merchandise sales, she added. Nurina, a 41-year-old Indonesian NGO worker, said her seven-year-old loves the mashed-up brainrot world. "Sometimes when I pick him up from school, or when I'm working from home, he shouts, 'Mommy! Bombardino Crocodilo!'" -- a bomber plane character with a crocodile head. "I know it's fun to watch," said Nurina, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. "I just need to make him understand that this is not real." Some videos have been criticised for containing offensive messages that go over young viewers' heads, such as rambling references in Italian to "Bombardino Crocodilo" bombing children in Gaza. "The problem is that these characters are put into adult content" and "many parents are not tech-savvy" enough to spot the dangers, warned Oriza Sativa, a Jakarta-based clinical psychologist. Tung Tung Tung Sahur The best-known Indonesian brainrot character "Tung Tung Tung Sahur" resembles a long drum called a kentongan, which is used to wake people up for a pre-dawn meal, or sahur, during Ramadan. Indonesia has a young, digitally active population of around 280 million, and "Tung Tung Tung Sahur" is not its only viral export. This summer, video footage -- not AI-generated -- of a sunglass-wearing boy dancing on a rowboat during a race at a western Indonesian festival also became an internet sensation. Noxa, the TikToker behind the original "Tung Tung Tung Sahur" clip, is now represented by a Paris-based collective of artists, lawyers and researchers called Mementum Lab. "Noxa is a content creator based in Indonesia. He's under 20," they told AFP. "He makes fast, overstimulated, AI-assisted videos." "He doesn't call himself a 'contemporary artist', but we think he's already acting like one," said Mementum Lab, which is focused on complex emerging issues around AI intellectual property, and says it is helping Noxa negotiate deals for his work. Noxa, in comments provided by the collective, said the character was "inspired by the sound of the sahur drum I used to hear". "I didn't want my character to be just another passing joke -- I wanted him to have meaning," he said. Cultural nuances can be lost at a mass scale, however, with one 12-year-old tourist in Tokyo saying he thought "Tung Tung Tung Sahur" was a baseball bat. And the generation gap looks set to persist. "What's that?!" laughed a woman as she puzzled at the row of Italian Brainrot dolls. "It's not cute at all!" © 2025 AFP
Yomiuri Shimbun
2 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Man Creates Hero Character ‘Pristine Stream King Salamander' in Yamaguchi; Popularity Quietly Growing Among Local Children
A man in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, created a hero character inspired by the Japanese giant salamander, one of the largest salamander species in the world. The character is quietly becoming popular among local children. The hero, whose name translates as 'Pristine Stream King Salamander,' is an intimidating figure with a wide mouth, piercing eyes and masculine body with a red pattern. According to the man who created it, the hero is an 'evolutionary form of a normal giant salamander.' It is a hero of justice, who fights 'evil' herons and cormorants. Through the hero, the costume of which was created with a helmet and life jackets, the man wants to teach local children about the importance of keeping the local river pristine. He has long been working to conserve and protect the giant salamander. Japanese giant salamanders, which are designated as a Special Natural Monument, inhabit Usa River, which runs through Iwakuni city. They are thus a familiar creature to locals.
