2channel

Japanese far-righters have long imagined themselves as cats (maybe from reading too much Maus and identifying with the Nazis?). A cat with slanted eyes (lol denial!) and pointed cheekbones like this <｀∀´> is a gook. This has offended many Koreans, since cats are a food in Korea.

2ch controls the media and used it to make a Peeping Tom win Man of the Year. We can only guess the true extent of their octopus-like strangle-hold on the world

2channel (ni-channeru in moon) is the Japanese Stormfront, filled brimful with far-right goons bitching endlessly of how anything made by or related to the Yamato race is better than their filthy gaijin counterparts, and how Chinks and Gooks commit all the crimes and plot ceaselessly to destroy the rich traditions of the Empire of the Rising Sun (not that more than 2% of the population in their racist little crap-pile of an archipelago are of non Japanese descent, but nevermind). It is also the largest Internet forum in the world. (Srsly!)

Testament to the unparalleled faggotry of the Japanese people, 2channelers only post anonymously, and b& all non Jap IPs from posting. ~~In 2001~~ At least 100 years ago, an imageboard spin-off to 2channel called Futaba Channel (a.k.a. 2chan) was created. Subsequently, some weeaboo faggot called moot decided to set up an English language clone of futaba, and thusly, the anonymous cancer had infected this side of the internets as well.

2ch Now Owned by Singapore Company

Hiroyuki Nishimura (the japanese version of moot), 2channel founder, NicoNico Douga CEO and gravure idol, has transferred the world’s largest forum 2ch to an unknown Singaporean company, in a move which has taken observers largely by surprise.

The (public) background to this is that as an anonymous board, 2ch is frequently used to make actionable comments, and the desperate trail of lawyers hunting for someone to sue has long been an impediment to the site’s management, even if Hiroyuki is notorious for ignoring them.

This is thought to be part of the reason why Hiroyuki recently announced on his blog that the site has been completely transferred, taking effect on the 1st of January.

Now it would appear that 2ch has no formal connection to Japan at all, despite being its largest forum.

The company to which 2ch has been transferred, Packet Monster Inc, is completely unknown, and in fact is likely merely a shell or holding company for taxation and litigation minimisation.

The whois details are as follows:

   Before:

   Registrant:
   Monsters Inc
   #602, 5-12-5
   Shinjyuku
   Shinjyuku-ku
   Tokyo, TK 160-0022
   JP

   Domain name: 2CH.NET

   Administrative Contact:
   Nishimura, Hiroyuki
   #602, 5-12-5
   Shinjyuku
   Shinjyuku-ku
   Tokyo, TK 160-0022
   JP
   020-4622-8073 Fax: 020-4622-8073

   Technical Contact:
   Watkins, Jim
   9629 Evergreen Way suite 202C
   Everett, WA 98204
   US
   425-353-7103 Fax: 425-353-5962

   After:

   Registrant:
   PACKET MONSTER INC. PTE. LTD.
   TELOK AYER STREET
   SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE 068589
   SG

   Domain name: 2CH.NET

   Administrative Contact:
   DHANVANTRAY, RAGINI [email protected]
   TELOK AYER STREET
   SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE 068589
   SG
   +1.4165551212

   Technical Contact:
   Watkins, Jim [email protected]
   9629 Evergreen Way suite 202C
   Everett, WA 98204
   US
   425-353-7103 Fax: 425-353-5962

A spot of searching reveals the lady listed in the contact details to be the CEO of a Singaporean company called Rikvin, specializing in Singapore-based offshore company formations.

With no particular connection to the business of managing web sites, we can speculate reasonably that the management continues to reside with Hiroyuki, and this move is thus entirely driven by tax or legal incentives.

The servers themselves have long been internationally hosted, chiefly for legal reasons, so from this perspective there should be no change.

Aside from the issue of the unknown company, Hiroyuki himself, and subsequent mass media reports, all refer to a complete “transfer” of the site’s ownership to Packet Monster – clearly a huge site like 2ch, which is thought to have millions of dollars of revenue, is unlikely to have just been given away, so unless a secret sale was involved it looks as though Hiroyuki will be retaining an interest.

An issue we do not see given any consideration is that of the less than free speech enjoyed in Singapore – presumably with an offshore Internet concern this is not an issue, as we might not expect a site like 2ch to last long were it a domestic Singaporean site.

Hiroyuki himself remains deeply involved in losing millions of dollars monthly at NicoNico Douga, whilst dreaming about global expansion, so it seems likely shedding some of the burden the management of 2ch involved will be useful to him.

Given that no significant improvements have been made to the awkward, if not obsolescent, 2ch site itself in many years, any innovation or change on this front seems unlikely.

The online reaction to this has been very mixed, with most not really understanding the move, though the more extreme responses such as “He’s abandoning Japan!” are quite unreasonable.

In fact, many ostensibly Japan based major websites are incorporated and hosted overseas, most notably the massive free blog host FC2, the second most frequently visited domain in Japan, second only to Yahoo.co.jp. In this case, the company is actually incorporated in Nevada under the name of an American, and the management resides in Los Angeles.

Whilst this move is being painted by many, not least Hiroyuki, as a case of avoiding the oppressive Japanese courts, we must wonder at the significant tax advantages he will now enjoy…