Current Project

Soon, I'll be writing and posting a few articles about some of the people and organizations that have (really graciously) helped me out with my upcoming project. Won't be able to hide the subject of the video for long.

Trailer will be up by at Easter (20 April 2025).

I haven't put this on my channel yet, but occasionally I make little designs which you can buy on my RedBubble shop. I've only uploaded a few designs, but it always makes my heart leap when I see that I've had a sale.

Check it out:

Kayōbi Club Shop

Because this next video isn't going to be a tragedy, I can finally make some merch associated with the topic of the video. I'm really excited :)

— Kayōbi Club, 28 February 2025

18th Century Vibes

I've been working on a documentary about the history of Venice which I can't wait to show to you guys. I know it's not quite the same theme as the other videos that I've done but I hope you'll take the time to watch it anyways.

That being said, it's still a while off. I'm slow and this is a pretty big project.

I have been considering doing a shorter video in the meantime, but it's tough. I have a knack for throwing myself into massive projects that keep on growing in scope and getting caught up on the stupidest details.

Anyways, I hope to get better with every project, so keep an eye out in 2025 for this one.

— Kayōbi Club, 21 October 2024

The Algorithm Incident

Unfortunately, YouTube's algorithm is not sending my video out. I've been looking at the analytics and I'm really touched to see that the majority of viewers came from clicks from you guys going to my channel page. You guys are the best!

I know that YouTubers are pretty cautious about talking about topics like death or violence and now I think I see why.

I'm truly grateful for every new subscribe, every encouraging comment and even every view. I do this as a hobby (obviously), and I do it because I actually enjoy making videos.

Now, time to move onto the next project. It's going to be something very different, hope you enjoy it!

— Kayōbi Club, 19 July 2024

Like and Subscribe!

Pedestrian Paradise Incident

I'm really happy to present to you, my second proper video on Youtube, Pedestrian Paradise Incident which I uploaded last night.

If you're on this page, then you've probably followed it from my channel. If you wouldn't mind going back and liking that video if you haven't, it really helps me to get a little more attention to my video. Also, a subscription goes a long way to help my channel.

I had told myself, I was going to be the kind of YouTuber who didn't say "like and subscribe", but now I get it. That stuff is hugely important.

My next video is not going to be about Japan and not going to be about a tragedy. I do find the sorts of incidents that I've made videos about fascinating, but I want to try a lot of different things. Now's probably a good time to do that.

Oh, one thing, I'm going to try making a Portuguese dub of my two videos using AI translation. I have been playing around with it for the past week or so and it's truly amazing. If you want this video or any of the other ones to be dubbed into your language. Leave a comment! I'm genuinely curious.

— Kayōbi Club, 17 July 2024

A Few Thoughts About the Takatsuka Gate Incident

There were a couple of things that I forgot to include in the video, which I think are helpful to understanding the tragic Takatsuka Gate Incident.

One motivating factor for Ryoko arriving on time that day, that I forgot to include in the video, was that she had a perfect attendance record up until that point. And while I mentioned it later in passing in the video, that day was the first day of their final exams for the semester.

There are conflicting reports as to why Ryoko was late that day. One report says that she had taken the same train arriving at 8:17 the day before and had successfully made it and that she took the later train so that she could ride with "Girl A" and get a photograph of a senior student on the basketball team. Perhaps a love interest of hers.

Hosoi claimed that he was facing down (see image) while pushing the the gate closed, but also that the wall that the gate would slide behind made it impossible to see anything until the last moment. One of the news clips shows that after a few moments, the area past the gate does come into view.

Hosoi wrote in his book that he sincerely believed he was just in his "police-like" enforcement of the lateness policy at the time. And while he claims to regret the loss of the life of a "precious student", his book, "Only the Clock Knows: My School Gate Incident" (referring to the clock above the gate, which would have a view to both Hosoi and Ryoko), it seems to me like he is still believes he wasn't to blame.

I admit that I haven't actually read the entire thing, though I was able to find some snippets and reviews about it. Though I would be interested to give it a read.

My guess is that he saw the first group of students pull up seconds after he started closing it, before the bell had stopped chiming and he slammed it. Students said that 5 seconds before 8:30, he shouted out "that's it, I'm closing it!"

I have a hunch that the gate had moved beyond Toshihiko's grasp by the time that it hit poor Ryoko. The investigation found that the speed of the gate was a major contributor to the severeness of Ryoko's injuries.

It was kind of hard for me to find concrete changes to schooling in Japan after the incident. If I could re-do the video, I probably would have talked more about the "Control-Oriented Education System" (管理教育) that was more prevalent at that time. Maybe there's a video to be made about that.

I translated a short interview with Hosoi that took place the day after Ryoko's death. Either it was blurred at the time it was aired or the source that I got it from blurred his face after the fact. Some of the student interviews are pretty interesting and I might just go ahead and translate them as well and upload in the form of shorts.

If you've made it here and haven't liked and subscribed, it will really help me to grow my channel. After a few days of my video sitting there and not being caught by the algorithm, it was so encouraging to see that people watched it today. The comments were so encouraging and I hope to keep making videos.

— Kayōbi Club, 8 May 2024

The Takatsuka Gate Incident

神戸高塚高校校門圧死事件

I recently learned about the truly tragic story of Ryōko Ishida and seeing that there was nothing on YouTube about it in English, I figured that this video had to be made.

I translated some interviews with students and even, Toshihiko Hosoi himself. I'll put them up as shorts for anybody who is interested.

I took about 3½ months off of the Chinese Characters Iceberg project, not really on purpose, but that's just how it goes sometimes. Anyways, I still intend to finish it, but I'm not setting any deadlines anymore because I'll just inevitably break my promise. In the meantime, I'm going to start back with releasing it as YouTube Shorts.

If you haven't already, a like and subscribe will seriously help me out to help grow my channel.

— Kayōbi Club, 6 May 2024