We’ve all had a big mess-up in public, but few of us have taken a photo of our infant son high-kicking the snot out of our face.

The “local trend” page on Twitter is necessary, really. While our world feels more connected than ever, there are some news items and fleeting memes that are limited, if not to a specific location, then the specific speakers of one language. So it can be jarring flitting from Trump news or items about local UK businesses to Japan’s top tweets, many of which are viral “questions” or “prompts” that you answer in your main tweet.

Of course, the humor doesn’t always cross language borders. But when it does, what a treat it is!

The most recent big-hitter in Twitter prompts is the hashtag #MissJapanContestCategory:HowBadAMistakeHaveYouMade? (“miss” being used in Japan much like “mistake” in English) which is a mouthful but basically serves as an invitation to serve up your best humiliating stories of human folly.

Here are a few prime examples:

▼ “Winnie the Pooh cookies I made two years ago.”

▼ “I’d just finished making this Mega Man art out of perler beads when my nose decided it was time to sneeze and – BYOO BYOO BYOO! He Game Over’d right before my eyes.”

▼ “I made this cute Koma-san phone case. When I applied a layer of resin so the pant wouldn’t run, this happened…”

https://twitter.com/smol__loile/status/1107061638044086273

Occasionally users will tell more involved shameful history stories as comics, like this one where the artist was in a class where he was instructed to write the kanji 日 (sun) and instead, for mysterious reasons, drew a Giraffe Stag-Beetle instead.

▼ It’s a pretty striking image amongst all those boring, correct sun kanji.

But one of the responses to this meme has been attracting a huge share of attention, and with good reason. While many of these stories are understandable slips of the tongue, mistakes at work or tales of childhood error, there aren’t many that are truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, and even if they were, many didn’t have cameras ready to preserve the moment photographically.

Cue Twitter user @ykch_.

▼ “It was a ways back now, but I wanted to take a picture together with my younger son. Right as the shutter flashed, this ridiculous scene happened, like something straight out of a manga: He kicked me right in the face.”

https://twitter.com/ykch_/status/1108666377487826944

@ykch_ (Yukichi Kawanami) actually works as a photographer (though his Twitter bio says these days he mostly aspires to be like Hiroshi Nohara, Shin-chan’s dad) so maybe that’s why his shutter skills leapt in at the best/worst possible moment. His son looks truly dismayed by his own strength, while @ykch_ himself looks like he’s just been smashed in the face with a Kamehameha.

Meme aficionados across Twitter rejoiced at this powerful toddler and his poor, pummeled papa’s photo skills.

“This is supposed to be a competition where you make mistakes. How is this a mistake?”
“For some reason I feel like I’ve experienced this photo before…”
“It really does look like a manga scene.”
“I love the look on the kid’s face, he looks like “Oh, darn, didn’t mean to do that!” LOL.”

Somehow, I don’t think this kid will take too kindly to any beatings in video games from his old man. “Yeah, you may have beat me at this game, but I wiped the floor with you before I could walk!”

Still in the mood for more tales of humiliation? We have a list of 22 great ones right here – and you can learn some Japanese while you’re at it!

Source: Twitter/@ykch_ via Twicolle
Featured image: Twitter/@ykch_
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