watashi to tokyo: What is 2Channel !?

Hiki_1 2Channel (JP) This anonymous internet discussion board is the most popular bulletin board website in Japan. With over 500 categories, each category is called a board and within each category there is many topics which has hundreds of threads (linked comments or on-going discussions). 2Channel's catchphrase is "From hacking to tonight's supper" and everything in between. There is enormous amounts of items on politics, education, business, entertainment, sports and social phenomena... details of Janet J's Super Bowl performance was immediately a topic for discussion even though there was a time delay from Japan to the U.S. of several hours. Here is a good report..

Lately, 2Channel has been branded as nothing but graffiti and labelled as anarchistic because some atrocious crimes have been linked to the website. 2Channel is becoming the focus of public concern. The website, where slander occurs on a regular basis, contains links to big news items. for example, the 17-year-old criminal who wrote warnings about his plans to hijack a bus. Even the real name of the 12-year-old boy guilty of killing a 4-year-old boy surfaced on the website.

2Channel have their own unique rules and jargon
Just so you know, regular users are called '2Channelers' and have tools, browsers and their own unique rules and jargon. Some say that they have over a 1,000 terms in their jargon and there are 2Channel dictionaries on the web (JP) and publications in stores too.Without using your imagination, most Japanese people cannot understand what '2Channel'ers' are all about. I like to introduce to you some of 2Channel's strange rules and manners. You might not understand the Japanese expressions that follow, but I'm sure somehow you'll catch the eerie drift, if you access the internet discussion board.

Expressions of 2Channel
Replaced kanji
Each kanji usually has many ways to be read and many different kanji have the same pronunciation. So different kanji combinations are used to create the same phonetic sound. This is usuful to write some banned word or negative words.

Without a small 'tsu' (Japanese double consonant usage)
This is really hard to explain! For example the English equivalent, little = litle, or message = mesage. I don't know why they do this, but many 2Channelers behave like this

Famous Words
Hiroyuki
This is the name of 2Channel's owner. His favourite snack is Umaibo(JP), and he named each server after Umaibo. Umaibo is one of many super junk foods in Japan, a puffed cone with various sauce flavours.

Moe
In Japanese it means budding, but among 2Channelers it actually means 'to like'. Fan of Sakura Taisen began to use first, they say.

In Japan, text art is called as ASCI art(AA). It uses 2 byte text and also 4 byte text (Japan OS has it). These byte text is helpful for developing unique characters or diagrams. Without Japanese font, you can not see it correctly, so here is a picture in gif format. If you can see Japanese site on your PC, look at this site (JP) and click anywhere in lef menu. There are a lot of AA characters and text art at 2Channel.

Gikoneko (Giko the cat )
Some say Giko originated from the contents of cartoon texts. People use gikoneko for every topic and thread and in many case they customize Gikoneko with a face, a body, costumes, scenes etc. just like a illustration whihc expresses thier feelings. Lately, a famous toy company called TAKARA tried to make Gikoneko their trademark, but they were ostracized by and voted out by a majority of the 2Channel community. Needless to say, they were forced to apologize to their members.

Monaa
Official name 'Omaemonaa': 2Channel's mascot. When somebody stirs the pot with something personal, a third party often puts this character with the word 'Omaemonaa!', literally meaning 'You, too!'. Usage is the same as Gikoneko and Monaa appears in all over 2Channel.

Hikkii
It means 'Hikikomori', somebody who is a recluse or a shut-in, which is now a social problem. These characters are so popular, now there is a shop for 2Channelers. Here is (JP) some wallpaper of Gikoneko and a few desktop accessories are available here (JP) too.

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