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While kids in most parts of Japan are obsessed with Pokémon cards, the children of Kawara are clutching to something a little closer to home.

They are playing a trading card game (TCG) where the stars aren’t fantasy creatures, anime heroes or even famous baseball players, but ojisan (middle-aged or older men) from the local community of Saidosho.

On the surface, this Ojisan TCG looks like any other collectible card game. As of March 18, there are 47 different cards in the collection, including 28 featuring local men with stats and special abilities.

Take the Firewall card, for example. It features Mr. Honda (74), a former fire brigade chief who helped keep the town safe for decades. Then there’s Soba Master Mr. Takeshita (81), who runs a local soba noodle-making class and now holds legendary status among the town’s youth.

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[-] Blep@hexbear.net 33 points 1 week ago
[-] muirc@hexbear.net 16 points 1 week ago

Hell yeah. Where's my Stavros or Nick Mullen emoji, damnit?

[-] geese_feces@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago

The mods don't like cumtown, if you post a link to an episode it gets removed for modlog reason "The Racism Podcast".

[-] MF_COOM@hexbear.net 30 points 1 week ago

Trade you three Divorced Facebook Guys for your Model Train Guy

[-] FALGSConaut@hexbear.net 10 points 1 week ago

Divorced Facebook Guys are a dime a dozen, if you want my Model Train Guy the lowest I'll go is a Birdwatching Guy and two Car Guys

[-] shath@hexbear.net 9 points 1 week ago

terrible deal, maybe the worst deal ever

[-] Guamer@hexbear.net 6 points 1 week ago

Basic: Single Guy

Stage 1: Married Guy

Stage 2: Divorced Guy

[-] buh@hexbear.net 29 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

If we had this in the US it would be nothing but divorced dads and thumb shaped car dealerships owners

[-] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 15 points 1 week ago

I'd play a game like Chez Geek but with divorced dads and thumbs where you have to survive a midlife crisis before your opponent makes you buy Twitter or some shit.

"Blue Eyes White Devil" would be the chase card from the base set.

[-] FALGSConaut@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago
[-] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[-] SmokinStalin@hexbear.net 8 points 1 week ago
[-] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[-] LaGG_3@hexbear.net 24 points 1 week ago

The most popular of them all is probably All-Rounder Mr. Fujii (68), a former prison officer turned community volunteer. His card is so sought after that local kids have even started asking him for autographs.

We need that kid who threw Yugi's Exodia cards off the ship but for the shitty retired cop card.

[-] AntiOutsideAktion@hexbear.net 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I'm imagining there's a few rare dudes that have kids chasing them with cameras trying to make bootlegs

Imagine being the guy with the worst stats on your card. No one talks to you. Your marriage suffers.

Factions in city hall rise and fall with new metas

[-] gaycomputeruser@hexbear.net 15 points 1 week ago

Communism can never succeed until it has trading cards of local exemplary workers.

[-] KnilAdlez@hexbear.net 13 points 1 week ago

My friends and I would do dumb shit like this all the time as kids. Especially since I grew up in the first pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh craze. Idk if this is newsworthy but it's nice to see kids are still doing stuff like this.

[-] axont@hexbear.net 14 points 1 week ago

Seems like this was printed by a community council type of organization, not the kids themselves. It's still cool though and apparently has encouraged kids to do community volunteering

[-] matelt@feddit.uk 13 points 1 week ago

Them ojisans aren't exactly middle aged, unless Japan's life expectancy is now in the 130s or 140s?

[-] Koolio@hexbear.net 16 points 1 week ago

ojisan kinda has the vibe of the US term "unk" - like it's for someone who is too old to call "oniisan" (big bro), but not literally a bag of bones like "ojiisan" (gramps).

[-] matelt@feddit.uk 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yeah I know but the title says middle aged...

I would still call those guys ojisan though!

[-] anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net 10 points 1 week ago

That's actually really sweet.

You don't very often hear of sweet news coming out of Japan.

this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2025
80 points (100.0% liked)

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