The rise of Chinese EVs and a rushed EV shift have left Europe's car industry struggling, a decline that reaches parts, steel and logistics across its supply chain. That prompted a broader debate ranking the 'best countries to be born in,' with Japanese netizens reassessing Germany and other European states more coolly than before.
A German tourist's video criticizing Yasukuni Shrine as 'illegal in Germany' and as 'brainwashing' set off a strong pushback online. Many argued that Germany's Nazi-specific rules do not belong at another country's memorial, while a smaller strand conceded Japan under-teaches its own wartime conduct.
In a September 6 state election in Saxony-Anhalt, the anti-immigration AfD took about 44% to become the largest party, though without a majority. Japanese netizens read it as a warning for Japan's own expansion of foreign-worker intake, while others pushed back on calling the party 'far-right' or 'Nazi.'
Polling in Saxony-Anhalt put Alternative for Germany at 42% against 22% for the CDU. Japanese commenters explained the surge through immigration policy and through social media, but the largest single block of posts was a running argument over whether Hitler would have been remembered as a leader if not for Auschwitz.
A car drove into a crowd at an LGBTQ celebration in central Berlin on the night of the 25th, reportedly killing one person and injuring 14. In Japanese online threads the response skewed toward distance from the event and speculation about who was behind it rather than mourning. On the same day, a Korean media report that 'Hanbongo'—a Korean-Japanese language blend—is popular among young Japanese drew a wall of people saying they had never heard of it.