Why This Topic Landed in Japan

An existing distrust of Chinese EV reliability merged with a domestic political storyline around the Osaka Expo and the Ishin party that championed the buses. The taxpayer framing — "we were made to buy scrap metal with public money" — turned the story into a demand for accountability from local government. It is worth noting that fact-checkers flagged a conflation: the scrapped Expo buses were reportedly not BYD vehicles but those of a Japanese firm, EV Motors Japan, which is a separate story from BYD's debt.

Key Reaction Themes

  • A sense of the Chinese EV bubble bursting — Many mock the limits of an aggressive, debt-fueled growth model.
  • Political pressure on officials and Ishin — "Who takes responsibility?" framed as a waste of taxpayer money.
  • Doubt about the EV industry itself — A deeper suspicion that "EVs are all just a facade."

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

Reports of BYD's "7 trillion yen hidden debt"

Concern over a business model that delays payments to suppliers.

Sources: Yahoo! news, 2ch

Comments:

  • "Even the officially disclosed debt figure is plenty huge on its own."
  • "How on earth did they rack up debt like that, lol."
  • "Seriously, if BYD goes under, a pretty nasty economic shock is coming."
  • "People have been pointing out this debt for ages, yet the media barely covered it."
  • "Come to think of it, you don't hear those 'Chinese EVs are amazing' stories anymore."
  • "In Japan this would violate the Subcontract Act — payment terms of 275 days? That's insane."
  • "It's basically a fancy Ponzi scheme — EVs themselves are a scam product."
  • "It's not really about BYD; it just shows the whole EV industry was hollow, lol."
  • "I opened the thread thinking it said BVD (the underwear brand)."
  • "Then again, back in the day Yahoo and Amazon were also a mess until they hit it big, so you can't let your guard down."

Over 100 Expo EV buses sent to the scrapyard

EV buses bought for the Osaka Expo were abandoned and shipped to an industrial-waste facility.

Sources: Yomiuri, 2ch

Comments:

  • "They spent billions on scrap metal — did anyone take responsibility?"
  • "Wasn't it an Ishin lawmaker who bragged about getting these introduced?"
  • "Chinese-made stuff really is fragile."
  • "Another page added to the Osaka Ishin legacy."
  • "Yeah, Chinese-made junk after all."
  • "It'd be nice to reuse them in the private sector, but you can't really do that with something built using tax money."
  • "Not even enough residual value to export them back to China?"
  • "China's laughing at us."
  • "Will they drive themselves to the scrap factory on autopilot? Like lemmings?"
  • "I seem to remember hearing these were Japanese-made..."