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, also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese
textboard A textboard is a simple kind of Internet forum; most textboards require neither registration nor entry of a screen name. Textboards, like imageboards, were invented in Japan, but they remain relatively unknown outside it, in contrast to imageboar ...
founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influence comparable to that of traditional mass media such as television, radio, and magazines. At the time, the site drew an annual revenue of around (about US$1 million), and was the largest of its kind in the world, with around ten million visitors and 2.5 million posts made per day. The site was hosted and had its domain registration provided by Jim Watkins, based in
San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. In 2009, ownership of the site was transferred to Singapore-based Packet Monster Inc., under which Nishimura remained in control. In February 2014, Watkins seized the 2ch.net domain, taking full control over the website and assuming the role of site administrator. This has resulted in two textboards claiming to be the legitimate 2channel: 2ch.sc, owned by Nishimura through Packet Monster Inc., and , established in 2017 by redirect from the original domain and owned by Watkins through Philippines-based Loki Technology Inc. 2channel and its successors are more controversial than other social media in Japan; they are extremely popular among Japan's
extreme right-wing Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
, known as the ''
netto-uyoku , often shortened to , is the term used to refer to netizens who espouse ultranationalist far-right views on Japanese social media, as well as in English to those who are proficient. ''Netto-uyoku'' is evaluated as having similarities to Western p ...
'', who post xenophobic comments, often targeting Koreans. Defamation is of particular concern; by August 2008, Nishimura had received more than one hundred lawsuits for defamatory comments left on the website. Announcements of crimes also have drawn scrutiny towards 2channel and its successors. In 2012, 2channel was accused by the
Tokyo Metropolitan Police The serves as the prefectural police department of Tokyo Metropolis. Founded in 1874, it is headed by a Superintendent-General, who is appointed by the National Public Safety Commission, and approved by the Prime Minister. The Tokyo Metr ...
of allowing its platform to be used by
amphetamine Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used ...
dealers, although no charges were filed. In September 2007, 2channel averaged over 2.4 million posts per day. As of July 2020, 5channel had 1,031 boards receiving around 2.7 million posts per day on weekends, with no growth since March 2016. Meanwhile, 2ch.sc then had 826 boards receiving around 5,700 posts daily. __TOC__


History


Predecessors

Textboard A textboard is a simple kind of Internet forum; most textboards require neither registration nor entry of a screen name. Textboards, like imageboards, were invented in Japan, but they remain relatively unknown outside it, in contrast to imageboar ...
s like 2channel were rooted in two earlier technologies: dial-in
bulletin boards A bulletin board (pinboard, pin board, noticeboard, or notice board in British English) is a surface intended for the posting of public messages, for example, to advertise items wanted or for sale, announce events, or provide information. B ...
, known in Japan as , and Usenet. 2channel has two predecessors: Ayashii World created in 1996 by Shiba Masayuki, and Amezou (), created in 1997. Ayashii World was the first large anonymous web bulletin board in Japan, while Amezou originated the more familiar "textboard" concept wherein threads are displayed chronologically, with new comments bumping old threads to the top, rather than in a branching tree. Ayashii World closed in 1998, leading most of its former users to go to Amezou; Nishimura advertised 2channel in a post on Amezou in May 1999, calling it "Amezou's second channel". From June, Amezou became increasingly unable to handle the load on its servers, until its host shut it down after threats against Amezou's anonymous owner which contained his
dox 4-Substituted-2,5-dimethoxyamphetamines (DO''x'') is a chemical class of substituted amphetamine derivatives featuring methoxy groups at the 2- and 5- positions of the phenyl ring, and a substituent such as alkyl or halogen at the 4- posit ...
were posted on it.


Early history

2channel was founded on 30 May 1999 in a college apartment in
Conway, Arkansas Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. Although considered a suburb of Little Rock, Conway is unusual in tha ...
on the campus of University of Central Arkansas by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Success came quickly; many of Amezou's users began using it as soon as it opened. When compared with other bulletin boards, 2channel's technology wasn't much different; what led to its success was instead its being an "outlet for unfettered expression"; by being hosted in the United States, 2channel was able to bypass more restrictive Japanese censorship rules, while still being accessible from Japan. The site also enjoyed greater immunity from legal action within Japan due to the location of its servers. By 2002, Google said that the most searched word in Japan was "2channel". By 2004, 2channel was already the largest internet forum in Japan. The name "2channel" is a reference to
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
channel 2, the default setting for the RF modulators used in earlier-generation game consoles (such as Nintendo's
Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...
) when connecting to Japanese television sets. Where Amezou was originally meant to be "channel one", 2channel was meant to be "channel two". The site's iconic jar logo is a reference to deprecatory remarks some former users of Ayashii World would make about 2channel early on in the site's history, likening it to a
spittoon A spittoon (or spitoon) is a receptacle made for spitting into, especially by users of chewing and dipping tobacco. It is also known as a cuspidor (which is the Portuguese word for "spitter" or "spittoon", from the verb "cuspir" meaning "to s ...
(). Nishimura took this nickname and adopted it as the site's logo by 2002. Jim Watkins, an ex-US army non-commissioned officer ( sergeant first class),
domain name registrar A domain name registrar is a company that manages the reservation of Internet domain names. A domain name registrar must be accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) registry or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry. A regist ...
, and
dedicated hosting service A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting in which the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone else. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations hav ...
provider, hosted 2channel since at least 2004 through various corporate identities, including Big-server.com Inc., Pacific Internet Exchange
LLC A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...
and N. T. Technology Inc. Before 2channel, Watkins' company primarily specialized in using servers and domains in the United States to serve uncensored
pornographic Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,
content to users in Japan.


Ownership transfer and government scrutiny

On 2 January 2009, Nishimura claimed to have transferred ownership of 2channel to Packet Monster Inc., a company based in
Chinatown, Singapore Chinatown (, Yale: ''Ngàuhchēséui'', ms, Kreta Ayer, ta, சைனா டவுன்) is a subzone and ethnic enclave located within the Outram district in the Central Area of Singapore. Featuring distinctly Chinese cultural elements, ...
, and to no longer be involved in the site's management. However, Nishimura was charged with violating Japanese narcotic control laws anyway on 20 December 2012.Alt URL
/ref> As part of their case, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) claimed Nishimura remained involved in 2channel's operations, alleging Packet Monster Inc. is a shell company (). The main thrust of the complaint was that Nishimura allegedly did not delete posts seeking to purchase illicit
amphetamine Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used ...
from other 2channel users online; the , an agency of the MPD, alleged that in 2011 97% of its 5,223 deletion requests did not result in deletion. On 19 March 2013, the Public Prosecutors Office decided not to prosecute the case. In August 2013, the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau declared in a tax audit that Nishimura had failed to declare worth of website revenue which should have been taxed between 2009 and 2012, years in which he financially benefited from Packet Monster Inc.; Nishimura settled the matter by paying the owed tax, . (To view the archive, JavaScript must be disabled in your browser
Alternate convenience link


Personal information leak

In August 2013, a hacker using the name the personal details (including names, addresses, and phone numbers) and
credit card numbers A payment card number, primary account number (PAN), or simply a card number, is the card identifier found on payment cards, such as credit cards and debit cards, as well as stored-value cards, gift cards and other similar cards. In some situatio ...
of thousands of 2channel users who had used 2channel's paid services into the public domain, exposing the anonymous profiles of various high level personas such as politicians and writers, including an attorney involved in 2channel cases, Takahiro Karasawa (), and a staff member of
AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with its ...
. More than 74,000 users had their personal information exposed by the leak. The paid service involved in the leak was known as the "2channel viewer" (), or . Its main utility was that it allowed users to read old threads; if a thread on 2channel received 1,000 posts, it would become part of the by a process of "
.dat This is a list of file formats used by computers, organized by type. Filename extension it is usually noted in parentheses if they differ from the file format name or abbreviation. Many operating systems do not limit filenames to one extension s ...
omission" () of such threads, after which time a thread was no longer freely accessible. 2channel charged per year for the service, which was typically paid by credit card; logs of these payments were the source of the data leak. At the time of the leak, Watkins apologized on behalf of N. T. Technology, Inc., saying he was the victim of a "cyber attack" and that "some data
f my F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...
customers was compromised."


Domain seizure and split

On 19 February 2014, Jim Watkins, as chairman of N.T. Technology, Inc., 2channel's
domain registrar A domain name registrar is a company that manages the reservation of Internet domain names. A domain name registrar must be accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) registry or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry. A registra ...
, seized 2channel's domain. He took full control over the website, relieved Nishimura of all power, and assumed the role of website administrator. Watkins made the ''kako rogu'' free to all users shortly after assuming control. Watkins claimed that Nishimura had failed to pay him money owed which led to the seizure as a way to cover Nishimura's debts, while Nishimura claimed that he had in fact paid everything owed and that the domain transfer was an illegal
domain hijacking Domain hijacking or domain theft is the act of changing the registration of a domain name without the permission of its original registrant, or by abuse of privileges on domain hosting and registrar software systems. This can be devastating to ...
. In response, Nishimura created his own clone of 2channel at , scraping the contents of the entire 2channel website and updating 2ch.sc as new posts appeared on 2ch.net. In a Q&A session on
4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...
shortly after becoming the site's owner, Nishimura claimed that 2channel was stolen by Watkins. Nishimura has attempted to repossess the domain both through WIPO's
Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) is a process established by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the resolution of disputes regarding the registration of internet domain names. The UDRP curren ...
and through the Japanese court system. Through the Japan Patent Office, Nishimura owns the trademark "2channel", though the WIPO refused to intervene on his behalf on account of that, suggesting the parties go to court instead as it was not, in its view, a case of " cybersquatting" but rather a "business dispute".
Ron Watkins Ronald Watkins, also known by his online pseudonym CodeMonkeyZ, (born April 18, 1987) is an American conspiracy theorist and site administrator of the imageboard website 8kun (formerly known as 8chan). He has played a major role in spreading th ...
, Jim's son, in 2016 registered the trademark "5channel" in Japan. On 1 October 2017, 2ch.net began redirecting to 5ch.net, a domain owned by Loki Technology, Inc. The chairman of Loki Technology Inc. is also Jim Watkins; his wife, Liziel, is the treasurer and majority shareholder. According to a press release, the name was changed to 5channel to avoid potential legal issues due to Nishimura's ownership of the "2channel" trademark.


Culture

Due to its large number of boards, the types of information exchanged on 2channel are very diverse. There are boards for topics as diverse as sports, sex, celebrity gossip, computer programming and ongoing earthquakes; even some academic research has gotten its start on 2channel.


Anonymous posting

One of the most distinctive features of 2channel is its use of
anonymous post An anonymous post, is an entry on a textboard, anonymous bulletin board system, or other discussion forums like Internet forum, without a screen name or more commonly by using a non-identifiable pseudonym. Some online forums such as Slashdot do ...
ing. Nishimura explained his reasons for preferring anonymity online to
USC Annenberg The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism comprises a School of Communication and a School of Journalism at the University of Southern California (USC). Starting July 2017, the school’s Dean is Willow Bay, succeeding Ernest ...
's ''Japan Media Review'' thus:
If there is a user ID attached to a user, a discussion tends to become a criticizing game. On the other hand, under the anonymous system, even though your opinion/information is criticized, you don't know with whom to be upset. Also with a user ID, those who participate in the site for a long time tend to have authority, and it becomes difficult for a user to disagree with them. Under a perfectly anonymous system, you can say, "it's boring," if it is actually boring. All information is treated equally; only an accurate argument will work.
However, a frequent criticism directed toward anonymous textboards like 2channel, most notably by
Kazuhiko Nishi is a Japanese businessman and personal computer pioneer. Nishi's father ran a private school. Nishi attended Waseda University but dropped out to help found the first Japanese computer magazine, ''I/O''. Shortly thereafter he launched ''ASCII ...
, is that their anonymous nature make them mere " toilet graffiti" ().「“2ちゃんねる”には欠陥がある!」西和彦アスキー特別顧問――“2ちゃんねる西スレッドオフ会”開催
��アスキー、2001.08、ウェブアーカイブ)("2channel is flawed!" Kazuhiko Nishi, Special Advisor to ASCII - "2channel held Nishi Kick-off Party" (originally published on ''ASCII'' dated August 2001; archived on WebArchive.))
2channel's anonymity is a departure from most English language internet forums which require some form of registration, usually coupled with email verification for further identification of an individual; its anonymity in part inspired the creation of
4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...
. On 2channel, a name field is available, but it is seldom used. However, as
open proxies An open proxy is a type of proxy server that is accessible by any Internet user. Generally, a proxy server only allows users ''within a network group'' (i.e. a closed proxy) to store and forward Internet services such as DNS or web pages to ...
such as the
Tor network Tor, short for The Onion Router, is free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication. It directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network, consisting of more than seven thousand relays, to conc ...
are banned from posting on 2channel, the administrators have some degree of ability to help law enforcement unmask users if necessary.


Revenue

While 2channel and its successors are commercial, 2channel was moderated by volunteers. 2channel relied on advertisements from "obscure" companies. In 2007, it had an annual revenue of around . Between 2009 and 2012, in ad profits were transferred to Nishimura's Singaporean shell company. As early as 2004, companies such as Dentsu were data mining the website for their clients, keeping them informed of how they were being portrayed by 2channel users; by 2006, 75% of the content Dentsu analyzed on behalf of its customers was posted to 2channel. 2channel also received revenue from subscription services like the aforementioned ''maru''. For its part, 5channel has a subscription service, , that allows people outside Japan to post on it; this service also hides ads from its subscribers.


''Matome''

2channel historically allowed anyone to use its data, providing it in an easily parsable format; this made it simple to create third party "dedicated browsers" () for posting on and using 2channel. The openness of the data allowed for the proliferation of and , which summarize 2channel threads and attempt to collect what they see as the "best of" 2channel. In 2007, due to growing discontentment towards such sites, Nishimura added a board, /poverty/, which marked every post on it with the phrase . This caused many users to abandon other boards for that board. Watkins made it a priority to combat "piracy" of 5channel by third-party ''matome'' sites in March 2014, adding ''tensai kinshi'' to many popular boards. Such sites siphon users from 2channel itself, with some receiving in excess of 100 million monthly pageviews; in one case a ''matome'' site earned its owner per month. Watkins followed up the rule change by restricting access to 2channel's data in March 2015, by requiring that dedicated browser authors use a special API to access 2channel's, and later 5channel's, thread data.


Phenomena


''Densha Otoko''

''
Densha Otoko is a Japanese movie, television series, manga, novel, and other media, all based on the purportedly true story of a 23-year-old ''otaku'' who intervened when a drunk man started to harass several women on a train. The ''otaku'' ultimate ...
'' is a Japanese franchise consisting of a movie,
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed bet ...
, manga, and other media, all based on the purportedly true story of a 23-year-old man who intervened when a drunk man started to harass several women on a train. The man ultimately begins dating one of the women. The event and the man's subsequent dates with the woman, chronicled on 2channel, directly inspired the franchise. Whether or not the original 2channel story is actually true is debated.


Shift_JIS art

2channel and its successors, being textboards, cannot have images posted to them. Users get around this, however, by posting a more expressive form of
ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...
art:
Shift_JIS art Shift_JIS art is artwork created from characters in the Shift JIS character set, a superset of the ASCII encoding standard intended for Japanese usage. Shift_JIS art has become popular on web-based bulletin boards, notably 2channel, and has e ...
. Below is a small sample:


Controversies


Slander and legal issues

During Hiroyuki's administration, he was often openly defiant of Japanese law, especially around libel, and his duty to follow it, telling ''
Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ...
'' in March 2007: By May 2008, Nishimura had lost more than fifty libel lawsuits in Japanese civil courts, and had been assessed millions of dollars in penalties; by August, according to him, he'd received more than one hundred lawsuits. While according to the official pages of the website, slander was prohibited, activists such as Debito Arudou claimed that the site did not actually respond to requests to delete posts in his case, returning mail unopened. After the transfer to Packet Monster Inc., Arudou, who had still not received any of the court ordered penalty, wrote in an op-ed that Nishimura had only transferred his assets to increase his "unaccountability". While Nishimura at that point had never paid any of the compensation courts ordered in his cases, in 2010 one of his plaintiffs was successful in getting compensated through the publisher of one of Nishimura's books.


Crime announcements

Crime announcements () were a regular occurrence on 2channel, including of
mass suicides Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring when a group of people simultaneously kill themselves. Overview Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious settings. In war, defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Su ...
and murders. After the 2000 Neomugicha incident, in which a bus was hijacked by a man who posted on 2channel, police officers started regularly policing 2channel; such surveillance only increased after the
Akihabara massacre The was an incident of mass murder that took place on 8June 2008, in the Akihabara shopping quarter in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The perpetrator, 25-year-old of Susono, Shizuoka, drove into a crowd with a rented truck, initially killing three peo ...
announced his 2008 attack on 2channel as well. Former superintendent of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Tateshi Higuchi called the site a "den of iniquity". According to ''The Japan Times'', however, 2channel cooperated with police in the past to aid them in catching criminals using 2channel by giving police their IP addresses, from which their locations were determined. Such crime announcements have continued to be a problem on 5channel: it was speculated that the man who carried out the
Kyoto Animation arson attack The occurred at Kyoto Animation's Studio 1 building in the Fushimi ward of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, on the morning of 18 July 2019. The arson killed people, injured an additional 34 (including the suspect), and destroyed most of ...
posted an advance warning of the crime on 5channel.


Nationalism and hate speech

2channel, with its massive size and anonymous posting, is abundant with slander, hate speech and defamation against public figures, institutions, and minority ethnic groups. Far-right users of 2channel are referred to as ''
netto-uyoku , often shortened to , is the term used to refer to netizens who espouse ultranationalist far-right views on Japanese social media, as well as in English to those who are proficient. ''Netto-uyoku'' is evaluated as having similarities to Western p ...
'', a term roughly analogous to "
alt-right The alt-right, an abbreviation of alternative right, is a far-right, white nationalist movement. A largely online phenomenon, the alt-right originated in the United States during the late 2000s before increasing in popularity during the mid-20 ...
". Though the site has rules against posts illegal under Japanese law, the scale and anonymous nature of the site makes prompt deletions difficult to realize in practice. Furthermore, on occasion, 2channel has been accused of being reluctant to remove defamatory posts. The discussion boards are also often used to coordinate real-life demonstrations; as an example, 2channel users organized an August 2011 rally against Fuji Television, their complaint being that the channel was broadcasting too many Korean television shows. ''
Sankei Shimbun The (short for ) is a daily newspaper in Japan published by the It has the seventh-highest circulation for regional newspapers in Japan. Among Japanese newspapers, the circulation is second only to ''Yomiuri Shimbun'', Seikyo Shimbun, ''Asah ...
'' reported in 2018 that 5channel, which received most of 2channel's users, has the same reputation for attracting ''netto-uyoku''. 2channel ''netto-uyoku'' frequently make racist comments against Koreans. In 2009, it was even discovered that an ''
Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and ...
'' employee had posted racist remarks towards Koreans on 2channel. After the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minut ...
, fake news proliferated on 2channel, falsely accusing Chinese and Korean people of "plundering" evacuation centers.


Technology

2channel operated on forum software that was considered innovative at the time of its founding, originally written by Hiroyuki himself, but later replaced through the collective effort of his Unix-savvy users; the software is known as . It was a major departure from Usenet; however, when compared to other Japanese textboards at the time, such as Amezou, 2channel's format was not much different. Boards in the textboard software have their threads sorted by the time of their last post, so making a post would "bump" (, ''age'') the thread to the top of the board index. However, when posting in a thread, users may use a function known as to avoid bumping a thread in this way. Often, posters will use ''sage'' on purpose, to avoid unwanted attention.


Major outages


2010–2011 Korean DDoS

In response to racism towards Koreans by 2channel users, especially against
Yuna Kim Yuna Kim (; born September 5, 1990), also credited in eastern name order as Kim Yuna or Kim Yeon-a, is a retired South Korean competitive figure skater. She is the 2010 Olympic champion and 2014 Olympic silver medalist in ladies' singles, ...
, an athlete who defeated Japan in the
2010 Vancouver Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...
, the site suffered an extended outage in March 2010 due to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack conducted by a Korean hacking group. The attack against Jim Watkins' Pacific Internet Exchange LLC affected other sites on the shared network as well, including some belonging to US government agencies; it is estimated to have cost . Watkins requested the American government investigate the event as an instance of "
cyberterrorism Cyberterrorism is the use of the Internet to conduct violent acts that result in, or threaten, the loss of life or significant bodily harm, in order to achieve political or ideological gains through threat or intimidation. Acts of deliberate, la ...
"; according to him, sporadic DDoS attacks by Koreans continued into 2011.


2015 8chan DDoS

Beginning on 8 January 2015,
8chan 8kun, previously called 8chan, Infinitechan or Infinitychan (stylized as ∞chan), is an imageboard website composed of user-created message boards. An owner moderates each board, with minimal interaction from site administration. The site h ...
, also owned by Jim Watkins and hosted on the network of N. T. Technology, Inc., suffered an outage due to a DDoS attack. Due to the attack, 2ch.net, then owned by Watkins but not yet operated under the name 5channel, went down as well. The attacks against the messageboards lasted until at least 13 January, leading "many 2channel users to become angry with the management".


Societal impact

In September 2007, 2channel averaged over 2.4 million posts per day. As of July 2020, 5channel had 1,031 boards receiving around 2.7 million posts per day on weekends, with no growth since March 2016. Meanwhile, 2ch.sc then had 826 boards receiving around 5,700 posts daily. Due to its popularity, 2channel and its successors have had considerable influence on Japanese society.


Children's use of 2channel

Use of sites like 2channel by minors is a major concern in Japan. Some children's search sites, such as , filtered textboards like 2channel. In Tokyo, a local ordinance requires that
internet service providers An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
develop
filters Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component that ...
to prevent minors from accessing sites which could harm the "sound and wholesome fostering f their youth; they must also confirm before installing a connection if any minors live in the household. Despite this, however, web filter provider Net Star in February 2007 released the results of a survey which showed that the utilization rate of 2channel for primary and secondary students was 12.2%. In response to threads on 2channel about certain schools which were leading to
cyberbullying Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital ...
, the
Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
in 2008 released a 65-page manual for teachers and parents on how to handle the issue. Concerned about the popularity of 2channel among children and teenagers, a team of childhood education professors at the University of the Ryukyus in 2009 published a paper making recommendations to lawmakers on how to curb such use. In February 2020, Nishimura himself wrote an op-ed in ''
Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun ''Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun'' (日刊工業新聞, The Daily Industrial News), one of the leading daily newspapers in Japan, specializes in business and industrial affairs, and is published by The Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, Ltd. (Head Office: Tokyo, Japa ...
'' warning parents about the dangers of allowing their children unfettered access to social media sites like YouTube and 2channel.


Politicians and 2channel

Naoto Kan is a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011. Kan was the first Prime Minister since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to serve for m ...
, a future Prime Minister who was then a member of the National Diet, sent a legal notice on 10 May 2000 demanding that 2channel delete a post by someone falsely claiming to be him. After the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election in 2007, Prime Minister Tarō Asō stated in a
Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network Sy ...
interview that he sometimes posts on 2channel. During each election season, supporting posts for perennial candidates Matayoshi Jesus and
Mac Akasaka , real name Makoto Tonami (戸並誠 ''Tonami Makoto''), is a Japanese businessman, political activist and perennial candidate. He was born in Nagoya, grew up in a struggling family, and attended Kyoto University. He spent 25 years as an executiv ...
were frequently made on 2channel, turning them into something of a meme, similar to the repeated candidacies of Vermin Supreme in the United States. After more than ten failed candidacies for various political offices, including
Governor of Tokyo The is the head of government of Tokyo. In 1943, upon the unification of Tokyo City and Tokyo Prefecture, the position of Governor was created. The current title was adopted in 1947 due to the enactment of the Local Autonomy Law. Overview The ...
, Akasaka was eventually elected to the
Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly The is the prefectural parliament of Tokyo Metropolis. Its 127 members are elected every four years in 42 districts by single non-transferable vote. 23 electoral districts equal the special wards, another 18 districts are made up by the cities ...
, representing Minato, in April 2019. ''Asahi Shimbun'' credited Akasaka's online fame with helping him win the surprise victory.


2channel in the media

Japanese news organizations often relied on 2channel to determine the issues the public was thinking about, and for leads. However, the mass media often reports on it negatively, similar to how it reported on ''otaku'' culture a decade ago, before it went more mainstream, even though internet trends nowadays routinely slip through into other media. The phrase "the online bulletin board says" (), when used in reporting, may refer either to 2channel or to other forums. Movements spawned on 2channel often receive media attention, noting how the methods of 2channel activists break socially normative behavior and bring pressure to bear through sheer numbers. Beyond this, though, 2channel posts were often a basis for media reports in Japan. TV programs have even featured 2channel's moderators and users; comedian
Hikari Ōta is a Japanese television comedian. He is most famous as one half of the ''owarai'' duo Bakushō Mondai along with Yūji Tanaka, where he acts as the '' boke''. He was born in Kamifukuoka, Saitama. Unique character Ōta is known for his str ...
, for example, criticized Nishimura during a discussion on the Tokyo Broadcasting System's ''Sandējapon'' on the ideal limits of
free expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
as applied to social networks. '' Shokun!'' magazine, during its operation, ran a column known as which shared "patriotic" 2channel posts. ''Weekly Bunshun'' (, published by
Bungeishunjū is a Japanese publishing company known for its leading monthly magazine '' Bungeishunjū''. The company was founded by Kan Kikuchi in 1923. It grants the annual Akutagawa Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Japan, as well as ...
), meanwhile, has been criticized for being seen as overly pro-2channel and relying on its posts too much in its reporting.


See also

*
Futaba Channel , or Futaba for short, also sometimes called 2chan (not to be confused with 2channel), is an imageboard in Japan. A popular Japanese website, it deals with a wide variety of topics, from daily personal problems to sports, ramen, and otaku and ...
(2chan) *
Ilbe Storehouse Daily-Best Archive () or Ilbe Storage (), also known as Ilbe Garage, is a South Korean Internet forum that has a predominantly far-right userbase. The site was created in April 2010 and started as an archive of the "daily best" posts from DC Ins ...
, South Korea *
Shift JIS art Shift_JIS art is artwork created from characters in the Shift JIS character set, a superset of the ASCII encoding standard intended for Japanese usage. Shift_JIS art has become popular on web-based bulletin boards, notably 2channel, and has e ...
*
Tianya Club Tianya Club (Mandarin: Tiānyáshèqū 天涯社区 "End of the World" Club) is one of the most popular Internet forums in China. As of 2015, it is ranked by Alexa as the 11th most visited site in the People's Republic of China and 60th overall. I ...
, China


Footnotes


Notes


References


External links

* (5channel) * (2ch.sc) {{Authority control Internet properties established in 1999 1999 establishments in Japan Alt-right in Asia Anti-Korean sentiment in Japan Anonymous social media Far-right politics in Japan Otaku Racism in Japan Websites with far-right material