Abroad in Japan · Friday, August 14, 2026
Following the major earthquake in Kumamoto, which caused significant damage and casualties, conspiracy theories began to circulate online suggesting the event was man-made. The hosts briefly touched upon this, comparing it to conspiracy theories surrounding Soviet-era projects like the Kola Superdeep Borehole.
“Um, the big story was the shopping center in Kumamoto, the Aon mall, because there was an explosion. Um, on top of that, though, there was quite a lot of, um, kind of, uh, conspiracy theories that, um, the, the thing was man-made.”
“Yeah, you always get that. Does it? I think it must have been, uh, a bit of like USSR prestige. Like we didn't go the moon, but look, we dug a hole. Like, you know, 12 kilometers deep. Like, uh, the deepest hole took 20 years to create in the Soviet Union.”
“Yeah, it's a cola, the cola bore hole. Yeah, super deep bore hole. Which is named correctly, one might suggest. What do they do with that now? Keep.”