Middle-Aged Man Trading Cards Go Viral in Rural Japan Town 38
Children in a small Japanese town are obsessively collecting trading cards featuring local elderly men rather than popular fantasy creatures, helping bridge generational gaps in an aging rural community.
In Kawara, Fukuoka Prefecture, the "Ojisan TCG" (Middle-aged Man Trading Card Game) features 28 local men with assigned elemental types and battle stats. The collection includes a former fire brigade chief and a prison officer-turned-volunteer whose card has become so sought-after that children request his autograph.
Created by Eri Miyahara of the Saidosho Community Council, the initiative has doubled participation in town events. "We wanted to strengthen the connection between children and older generations," Miyahara told Fuji News Network. "So many kids are starting to look up to these men as heroic figures."
In Kawara, Fukuoka Prefecture, the "Ojisan TCG" (Middle-aged Man Trading Card Game) features 28 local men with assigned elemental types and battle stats. The collection includes a former fire brigade chief and a prison officer-turned-volunteer whose card has become so sought-after that children request his autograph.
Created by Eri Miyahara of the Saidosho Community Council, the initiative has doubled participation in town events. "We wanted to strengthen the connection between children and older generations," Miyahara told Fuji News Network. "So many kids are starting to look up to these men as heroic figures."
Whoa! (Score:5, Funny)
A Methuselah rookie card!
I love this (Score:3, Insightful)
Now they just need (to make) more kids to buy them.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: I love this (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure he means make more kids. They are in a demographic collapse and their birthrates have fallen way too low to keep up the population.
Playing cards (Score:2)
Some poor guy is the joker and some lucky guys are the kings. Then you have a few queens...
Re: (Score:2)
not that kind of cards! think pokemon/magic the gathering cards :D
Re:Playing cards (Score:5, Funny)
Old Man Johnson, I choose YOU!
Re: (Score:3)
And he'd have gotten away with it, too... if it wasn't for those meddling kids!
Re: (Score:3)
It's super effective!
Enemy geezer has fallen asleep!
You can see the disparity in life expectancy... (Score:2)
when cards of "elderly men" are referred to as middle-age by the local kids.
Re: (Score:2)
when cards of "elderly men" are referred to as middle-age by the local kids.
Last I heard, adult diapers have outsold baby diapers in Japan for the last decade.
That’s an expectancy problem alright. Lack of new life itself.
Uncle TCG (Score:5, Informative)
"Ojisan TCG" correctly translates to "Uncle TCG" (Trading Card Game) as a more endearing term than "Middle-aged Man", in the same way that any friend of a parent that is often around may be called "aunt" or "uncle" by a child despite having no blood relation.
Re:Uncle TCG (Score:4, Informative)
That's the literal translation, yes. But it is used as a generic familiar term for "guy old enough to be my father" often enough that I'm willing to give the loose translation a pass.
Re: (Score:2)
Also, for a young kid, old enough to be my father is ancient.
Re: (Score:2)
Middle-aged man is a decent translation, because a lot of English speakers don't use "uncle" to refer to non-familial older men. As is often the case, there is no ideal translation and so you either end up making it specific to one culture or sounding a bit odd in an attempt to be generic and not mislead anyone.
It's a very Japanese thing, they love human interest stories and people trying something different.
On the Japan Weirdness Scale (Score:3)
Re:On the Japan Weirdness Scale (Score:5, Informative)
What's funny is - I remember an Onion article from several years ago that made a joke about this:
https://theonion.com/asian-tee... [theonion.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
On the Japan Weirdness Scale, I would give this a 4 out of 10.
Nine if the old men have tentacles.
Re:give me more AI (Score:5, Informative)
Re:give me more AI [Japan] (Score:1)
but it's missing tentacle porn.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Ug, thought that was their noodle lunch
Re: (Score:1)
Your mother is so rotund that I use her to press the die cutters for the cards.
Your mother is so foul that I use her to melt the glue that binds the back of the cards
Your mother is so odorous that I can detect counterfeit cards from the lack of her unique BO
Re: Creimer (Score:2)
He lives on in our hearts. Definitely our underdog mascot on here. His continuous ineffective attempts to be relevant were a mix of embarrassing, annoying, and tiresome yet also charming in a child-like way.
The fact that he neglected his health by not addressing his obesity and diet despite our advice is why I remember him.
He looked ill towards the end.
I thought he'd never have to worry about his various retirement schemes because he'd never live long enough, and sadly that's the way it played out.
New tune stuck in head: (Score:1)
Geee-zeers, gotta collect 'em all!
(Thank me for leaving out the Depends verse.)
They should make a miniseries about me (Score:1)
They could see my epic conquest of the bald spot on my lawn, the heroic replacement of a burnt-out lightbulb in the basement, and for the season-ending cliffhanger, it will end on me in the meat aisle at the grocery store choosing between the steak and the sausage for barbecue...
Let me guess... (Score:3)
If you draw the Lawn card, you have to leave the game.