A deep-dive investigation into a set of mysterious “ありがとうございます” (“Thank you”) stickers found on vending machines across Tokyo has gone viral on X (formerly Twitter) after a Togetter roundup introduced the original report by note.com writer Relo2nd (りろ).
According to the roundup, Relo2nd’s investigation began with a sticker spotted on a vending machine on the platform of Tsukiji Station in Tokyo. Over the course of more than six months, the writer tracked similar stickers to locations across the country, from Hakata in Fukuoka Prefecture to a remote mountain area of Shiga Prefecture, according to the Togetter summary.
The story picked up renewed attention after FinGo, a payment terminal manufacturer, posted photos on X of a vending machine at Shimbashi Station whose bill slot had been deliberately disabled, accepting only coins and cashless payments. The post prompted users to link back to Relo2nd’s earlier note.com article, reigniting discussion of the sticker mystery.
Readers offered several competing theories about the stickers’ origin. Some speculated they trace back to “Messages from Water” (水からの伝言), a 2000s pseudoscience trend claiming that writing or saying “thank you” could make objects, including electronics, last longer. Others proposed a more practical explanation: vending machine operators may be disabling bill acceptance to avoid the cost of upgrading bill validators for Japan’s redesigned banknotes, while nudging users toward cashless payment.
The note.com article itself drew widespread praise online, with commenters comparing it to investigative journalism and likening its tone to a “mockumentary horror” film, saying the details felt increasingly eerie the deeper the investigation went.
Who is Relo2nd?
Relo2nd (りろ), who posts under the handle @Relo2nd, is a Japanese writer active on note.com and X who published the original investigative report, titled “Mysterious Stickers Are Pasted All Over Tokyo” (“東京中に謎のシールが貼られている”), in March 2026. The article gained more than 1,800 “likes” on note and has since been widely shared for its detailed, long-term documentation of an everyday urban mystery.
As of this writing, the exact reason behind the stickers remains unconfirmed, and Relo2nd’s article has not identified a definitive answer. According to the Togetter thread, the investigation “deepened the mystery rather than solving it,” leaving the story open for further follow-up online.
