“Masashi Tashiro”: How Japan’s Fallen Star Became an Unforgettable Internet Meme

🔹 TL;DR

Once a beloved TV comedian and musician, Masashi Tashiro became one of Japan’s earliest and most controversial internet memes. His multiple arrests and chaotic fall from grace collided with the explosive power of early online communities, transforming him into a strange symbol of irony, rebellion, and meme immortality. This article explores how, why, and what it still means.

1. Who Is Masashi Tashiro?

Masashi Tashiro was a recognizable face in Japanese entertainment throughout the 1980s and 1990s. A former member of the pop group “The Chanels”, he later became a beloved comedian, known for his appearances on TV variety shows and his humorous antics.

But in the 2000s, Tashiro’s life spiraled into controversy:

• 2000: Arrested for peeping (voyeurism)
• 2001: Caught with hidden cameras in a changing room
• 2004: Arrested for drug possession
• 2008 & 2010: Rearrested for similar charges

These scandals devastated his career—but oddly launched his status as an internet legend.

2. The Origin of the Meme: “Tashiro Festival” (田代祭)

In 2001, the year of his second arrest, Japan’s largest online forum at the time—2channel (2ch)—decided to troll Time Magazine’s annual “Person of the Year” online poll.

Their method?

Submit Masashi Tashiro as a candidate and rig the vote using mass participation and early bot scripts (known as “Tashiro Cannons / 田代砲”).

It was dubbed the “Tashiro Festival (田代祭)”, and it wasn’t just a prank—it was a cultural moment.

📌 Key Takeaways:

• Tashiro topped the online rankings for a while, beating global political figures.
• TIME Magazine eventually changed their voting rules to prevent manipulation.
• “Tashiro” became an early symbol of online collective action, meme power, and satire.

3. The Internet Persona: “God of Meme” Status

In the wake of the Tashiro Festival, users on 2ch and later on platforms like Nico Nico Douga began to reimagine Tashiro as a kind of ironic deity:

• Called “ネ申” (a play on “God” using the character ネ from ネット = internet)
• Used in flash animations like “片翼の田代” (One-Winged Tashiro), parodying Final Fantasy
• Appeared in photoshopped images and “Tashiro MADs” (music video remixes)

He became a caricature of fallen celebrity culture, but also a strange mascot of internet creativity, absurdity, and defiance.

4. Who Was Behind This—and Why?

💬 Interview with Hiroyuki (Founder of 2ch)

• Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of 2ch, explained that the reason Tashiro was chosen was because he was already “damned” by society.
• The internet didn’t feel bad poking fun at him—they felt he had nothing left to lose.
• More importantly, the Tashiro meme became a rebellious symbol, a way to laugh at mainstream values and media hypocrisy.

5. Personal Experience Posts (note & Yahoo Answers)

📒 1. A note.com article titled “Who Is Masashi Tashiro?”

• The writer recalls how Tashiro went from comedy hero to social pariah.
• They reflect on how the internet first embraced him as a joke, but later rejected him entirely after repeated arrests.
• It reads almost like an elegy—lamenting not just Tashiro’s fall, but how society enjoys watching people fall.

“He was fun until he wasn’t. Once the meme grew old, all that was left was the man, broken.”

📘 2. Yahoo Chiebukuro user post

• A user asked, “Why is Tashiro still called a meme when his crimes are serious?”
• One answer stands out: “Because memes aren’t about approval—they’re about absurdity, memory, and shared noise.”

6. Deep Dive: Why Did This Meme Stick?

① Collective Rebellion Against Institutions

The Tashiro meme wasn’t just about a person—it was about mocking seriousness. Voting him for TIME Person of the Year wasn’t a joke about Tashiro. It was a joke about TIME.

② The Appeal of “Fallen Celebrity” Archetypes

Tashiro wasn’t the first public figure to fall from grace. But few fell so hard and so publicly. The internet turned his story into a moral fable, then a meme, then a punchline.

“The lower you fall, the higher the meme rises.”

③ Tashiro Became a Safe Target

Unlike political memes, mocking Tashiro didn’t attract backlash. He became a “safe scapegoat” for internet humor—not respected, not feared, just… used.

7. How Is the Meme Used Today?

Despite fading from the mainstream spotlight, Tashiro memes are still alive—especially in nostalgic, ironic, or parody contexts.

🖼️ Flash Animations & Remixes

• Many classic “MAD” videos (edited music parodies) still feature Tashiro.
• The legendary “Tashiros” remix (a spoof of Sephiroth from FF7) is still shared in retro meme circles.
• Nico Nico users continue to reference him in ranking lists, remix culture, and throwback content.

📱 TikTok Rebirth

• Surprisingly, “田代まさし ネットミーム” (Tashiro Meme) content on TikTok exceeds 34 million views.
• Young users, many of whom weren’t alive during his scandals, find his exaggerated persona amusing or surreal.
• Phrases like “田代砲 (Tashiro Cannon)” are repurposed in gaming videos to describe massive spam attacks or over-the-top strategies.

8. Personal Reaction: Self-Awareness & Redemption Attempts

In recent appearances, Masashi Tashiro himself has leaned into self-deprecating humor, appearing on small YouTube channels and joking about his own fall from grace.

Example:

“日本一の自虐ネタ芸人です。”
“I’m Japan’s #1 self-deprecating comedian.”

Some viewers expressed sympathy and said they admired his willingness to face his past. Others were more skeptical, criticizing him for trying to rebrand himself through the very memes he once inspired.

9. Cultural Reflection: What Does This Meme Tell Us?

🔍 A. The Internet Never Forgets, But It Also Distorts

Once someone becomes a meme, they lose control of their image. For Tashiro, that meant his darkest moments became recycled for laughs—sometimes cruelly, sometimes cathartically.

🔍 B. From Human to Icon to Ghost

Tashiro’s case is a rare example of someone being too meme-worthy to vanish, but also too controversial to be redeemed. He now exists in a gray zone—more folklore than celebrity.

“He’s not admired. He’s not hated.
He’s… echoed.”

🔍 C. The Meme as Mirror

The Tashiro meme isn’t really about Masashi Tashiro.
It’s about how we treat public downfall, how the internet responds to scandal, and how a person can be flattened into a soundbite, a vote, or a joke.

10. Final Thoughts: Meme Immortality Is Not Kind

Masashi Tashiro’s internet legacy is one of contradictions.
He’s remembered, but not respected.
He’s mocked, but not quite erased.
He’s laughed at—but the laughter carries a sting.

And yet, the memes continue. They resurface in forums, in video edits, in TikTok hashtags. Not out of admiration—but because his story, his fall, and his sheer meme-ability refuse to be forgotten.

✅ Summary Points

• Masashi Tashiro was a Japanese comedian turned scandal icon.
• His repeated arrests made him a target for online mockery—and ultimately a meme.
• The “Tashiro Festival” of 2001 became one of the earliest examples of coordinated online trolling.
• Tashiro memes represent satire, rebellion, and the dark humor of internet culture.
• His case reflects how memes can outlive and outshape their original subjects.

🔗 References

• Tashiro Festival on Wikipedia (ja.wikipedia.org)
• Hiroyuki’s Perspective on Meme Culture (logmi.jp)
• Yahoo Answers Discussion on Tashiro
• Who Is Masashi Tashiro? (note.com)
• Tashiros and Meme Crossover (inside-games.jp)