"End Hunger" Activist Group Buys Out All Food in City, Causes Artificial Famine — Claims Monopoly Is the First Step to Equality

On the 20th, approximately 500 members of the civic group “Network for Zero Hunger (NZEK)” rushed to 42 supermarkets, convenience stores, and bakeries in the city center from early morning and purchased nearly all the food products on display in an unprecedented event. They claim to be “liberating food from exploitation by the capitalist distribution system to redistribute it fairly under our control,” but as a result, bread and bento boxes have vanished throughout the city, causing an “artificial famine” that has left ordinary citizens as lunch refugees.

NZEK’s acting representative, Mitsuru Kokukura, held a press conference in front of a wall of stacked premium bread loaves, emphasizing, “This is not hoarding. It’s strategic preservation.” He passionately declared, “The fact that food is bought and sold for corporate profit is the cause of hunger. By securing all the bread, we temporarily halt market principles and simulate true equality.” However, behind him, activists were desperately consuming mountains of rice balls whose expiration dates were only hours away, suggesting a battle against physical limitations had begun.

Meanwhile, civilian life caught in this sudden siege warfare has been thrown into chaos. During lunch breaks in the office district, bewildered company workers were seen standing dumbfounded in front of empty shelves. One male office worker in his 30s said weakly, “I heard it was a demonstration to end hunger and planned to support them, but I never thought I’d become a victim myself. They’re chanting ‘solidarity,’ but my stomach is demanding ‘separation.’” Restaurants in the city have also had difficulty procuring ingredients, leading to a succession of temporary closures.

Experts analyze this situation as “distribution dysfunction due to ideological inflation.” Professor Eiji Shibui, a cynical sociologist at Toto University’s Department of Sociology, pointed out, “They tried to correct the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ but ended up becoming the region’s biggest ‘monopolist’ themselves. It’s not just a case of the hunter becoming the hunted—they’ve become the Pharaoh.” He further warned, “Stomachs filled with righteousness tend not to hear the sounds of others’ hunger.”

The stalemate continued into the evening. NZEK called on citizens to “come receive food rations under our control,” but receiving rations requires attending a mandatory 3-hour “Food Ethics Seminar,” and no citizens are lining up. In the plaza in front of the city hall, a scene has unfolded that encapsulates the contradictions of modern society: massive amounts of French bread gradually hardening untouched, well-fed activists guarding it, and hungry citizens watching from a distance.

Stakeholder Comments

• Mitsuru Kokukura (NZEK Acting Representative): “Look at this mountain of bread. This is proof of our solidarity and victory over capitalism. However, cream-filled bread spoils quickly, so we’re urgently recruiting volunteers.”
• Convenience Store Manager: “When they said ‘We’ll take everything’ right when we opened, I thought it was a YouTuber’s stunt. I never imagined the shelves would be emptied for ideological reasons. It helped our sales, but my heart aches.”
• Hungry Office Worker: “While listening to their chants of ‘For a fair society!’ from the speakers, I’m suppressing my hunger with just a drinkable yogurt.”
• Expired Rice Ball: “My mission was supposed to be filling someone’s stomach, but now I’m stacked on the asphalt as a ‘shield of justice.’ My mayonnaise filling is crying.”
• Police Official: “It’s difficult to intervene because it’s not illegal. They have receipts, so technically they’re just ‘customers who made a large purchase.’”
• Pigeon: “The humans are glaring at each other while guarding bread. Usually, they’d throw some to me, but today no one drops a single crumb. What a strange day.”
• Economist: “The supply and demand curves have crossed inside the activists’ stomachs.”
• Nutritionist: “What do they plan to do with only carbohydrates secured? They should also correct the inequality of nutritional balance.”
• Participating Activist (whispering): “Honestly, I can’t stand looking at melon bread anymore. I just want to go home and eat something salty.”
• Passing Philosopher: “They loved bread so much that they chose not to let it reach anyone’s hands. This is the ultimate love—or egoism.”

International Expressions

Haiku

• Cry hunger aloud / Stack bread high in protest walls / The city starves on
• Justice declared proud / Like expiration dates near / Swift and meaningless
• Sated army stands / Far from the hungry masses / Stomachs growl in vain
• Hoarded bread piled high / Left to rot while anthems ring / Revolution’s waste
• Winter sky above / Empty sermons echo cold / Bellies hunger still
• Convenience store shelves / Barren wasteland in December / Nothing left to buy
• Idealistic talk / The more you chew upon it / The less flavor found
• Mountains of bento / Built as walls of righteousness / Standing all alone
• Solidarity cries / Echo through the empty square / Eyes fixed on the bread
• Chanting unity / Yet bread crumbs cling to their lips / Irony complete

Kanji / Chinese Characters

飢餓撲滅隊 市内食料全確保 市民腹鳴響 独善的飽食 本末転倒劇

Emoji

🛑🥖🍞🥐📦🚫🚶‍♂️🍽️🤤📢🥴

Onomatopoeia

Rustle rustle (sound of stacking bags) Grrrowl~ (citizens’ stomach rumbling) Munch munch (activists chewing) Dead silence (in front of empty shelves) Crunch crunch (hardened bread) Rah rah rah (chanting voices)

SNS

• Searched #ZeroHunger and a wall of bread came up lmao
• The activists are eating the best stuff, classic. Upper class much?
• No lunch for me today. This is seriously annoying #IronyOverload
• So their “liberation” meant liberating it into their stomachs?
• Someone please kamikaze that bread mountain with a drone
• The taste of justice is the taste of anpan
• “3 hours of lectures” as a condition for rations? Way too high a bar lol
• Is this modern art? Or a social experiment?
• Love the convenience store clerk’s confused face
• #GiveBackOurBread