this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
228 points (100.0% liked)

Not The Onion

19246 readers
2009 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

  1. Links to news stories from...
  2. ...credible sources, with...
  3. ...their original headlines, that...
  4. ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Please also avoid duplicates.

Comments and post content must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The law was passed in 1889 and is still on the books.

top 24 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Wait, how can you arrest only one person for dueling..? Wouldn't you need two? Is this some sort of Fight Club situation..?

[–] werty@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Cheap excuse. Arrest him anyway.

[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh. Why not simply call it murder, then? Is duelling an aggravating circumstance?

[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

duel ≠ murder

“Fighting containing acts of violence likely cause physical harm or be life-threatening, carried out through mutual agreement of both parties at the time”

[–] Soulg@ani.social 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

So they officially recognized it as a duel where the other person agreed, but it's still illegal..interesting tbh

[–] dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

its like two people boxing, legally sanctioned violence. Most places end those rights at loss of life

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 3 points 22 hours ago

The funny thing is, if you get a proper boxing license and someone dies, it's the fault of the boxing commission and not the other boxer.

[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 79 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I love seeing people say "downtown Tokyo." Like, which town? Tokyo is about 10 full cities and a few hundred towns crammed side by side lol

[–] darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Like, which town?

The duel took place in the Kabukicho district of Shibuya Ward, according to the article.

[–] not_that_guy05@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

God damn Shibuya and their anime with tasty treats.

[–] Meron35@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Actually, they mean Shitamachi 下町, literally "Down Town" /s

Yamanote and Shitamachi - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamanote_and_Shitamachi

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Fun fact: Duelling and stuff like that was outlawed in germany around 1500. Ewiger Landfriede

[–] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My favorite related fact is that dueling scars became fashionable in late nineteenth century Germany, so students would get into illegal duels to get maimed in ways they thought made them look good.

This is also the origin of the mandatory eye or cheek scar on the "evil German" character in movies.

[–] NiHaDuncan@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

To add to this, it wasn’t just about looking good but the fact that, in later centuries, dueling scars most often came from academic fencing. So a dueling scar meant you went to university, and therefore a higher rung of society.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

that's crazy to think about ... wtf

[–] Sumocat@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In case anyone is wondering… “As for why Asari is the only one who’s facing charges, Masuda died on October 12, due to multiple organ failures stemming from the injuries he sustained in the fight.”

So it's because they won

[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 58 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yu-Gi-Oh fans everywhere are crying

[–] bizarroland@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

More like "Yugi, no!", amirite?

[–] Gork@sopuli.xyz 22 points 1 day ago

There's not enough room in this two-horse town for the both of us.

[–] dan@upvote.au 14 points 1 day ago

Hopefully nobody lands on the same space as another player in Mario Party.

[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

I really feel like to be a duel you have to meet at an agreed upon time later. That's the key right? Weapons don't matter, cause doesn't matter, it's the fact that you agree to meet at a time and then you both show up and then fight. That's the difference between a dual and a fight in my book. Just saying hey let's fight doesn't count. That's just a brawl. For this Japanese Court to say otherwise is just plain dishonorable.

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

How about they get into a thick walled metal box and then someone throws a knife in the box?