Trending on Japanese Twitter Today - May 20, 2020

Nationwide Entertainment Stayhome 2020.05.20
A quick look at what fun things the Twitter users and netizens of Japan are up to on this day in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Wondering what Japan is up to during these crazy days of quarantine and social distancing and things oh-so-slowly returning to normal? Well, like the rest of the world, it's all about the little things breaking up the mundane, everyday boredom as life goes on. Which is exactly what Twitter is good for. So let's see what's been trending on Japanese Twitter!

「I could see Godzilla in the window of the house next door, so I put up Gamera in opposition. One day, Godzilla had turned to face us.」


Twitter user @ELPACHOPAMYOLE posted this short story of a battle waiting to happen, featuring Godzilla and Gamera (a similar character whose films were created to compete with the Godzilla series). Almost 400,000 likes and more than 90,000 retweets later, a whole new world of short-form Twitter-based fanfiction seems to be coming to life, with Godzilla and Gamera becoming enemies, friends, or even lovers.

「#StayHome March 19th, Starbucks reopens」


A huge topic of discussion, to nobody's surprise: Starbucks has returned to business. The coffee chain's popularity in Japan is no joke, and after over a month of stores closed to avoid spreading COVID infection, people are flocking back... in a somewhat controlled fashion. Japanese Twitter is flooded with pictures of long-missed coffee drinks, limited-edition plastic Starbucks cups, empty, blocked-off cafe seating areas, and this illustrated tribute to the coffee shop's return.

「Isn't my stuffed animal having an out-of-body experience?」


Anime character Rascal the Raccoon is known for getting up to all kinds of hijinx, apparently even on Twitter, where more than 200,000 people enjoyed this new and unexpected episode in his story.

Image Text: 「I'd had enough and everything felt meaningless, so I threw away all reason.」

Tweet Text: 「Doubt it. If they'd really had enough of everything, they wouldn't be arranging McDonalds on a platter.」
 

Twitter user @wasureru_yo makes an excellent point, and thousands of people retweeted the harsh observation. Replies included comments bemoaning the pictured tweet's low plea for attention, but also numerous images of truly impressive quantities of chicken nuggets and french fries. That amount of McDonalds, the masses agreed, is nothing. One photo featuring 150 chicken nuggets and a can of Sapporo beer, now maybe that's product of a person who's lost all reason.

「I thought it was unusual that my mom was cooking...
she was turning our house's idol into a rice ball.
It's too real. I wouldn't expect anything less of my mom.
#toypoodle #puppy #riceball #homecooking #homecafe」


The netizens of Japan were simultaneously charmed and a little disturbed by the adorable accuracy of this toy poodle omusubi (おむすび, rice ball) made by the mother of Twitter user @nonnonlalalala. The surprisingly realistic puppy-shaped rice ball is made from brown rice and covered in katsuobushi (shaved bonito flakes), so the puppy itself probably would have liked a bite too.
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