TikToker’s Trash Breeds 30,000 Cockroaches — Neighbors Lived in Hell

Living in an extremely filthy room, the TikToker known as “Saikyō-chan” has gained about 400,000 followers on social media. She turned her trash-filled apartment—where tens of thousands of cockroaches crawled—into content, earning a cult-like following online. However, behind that internet fame, her neighbors in the same apartment building were suffering immensely. This magazine has obtained court documents that reveal the shocking reality.

In June this year, the Tokyo District Court ordered “Saikyō-chan” to vacate the premises. In addition to unpaid rent, her numerous acts of extreme nuisance were condemned in court. The residents’ desperate pleas submitted to the court describe severe harm—something far from the funny videos seen online.

Living Among Pests — The Terrifying Reality

According to court documents, “Saikyō-chan” moved into an apartment in Setagaya Ward (referred to as Building A) in February 2016. At first, there were no problems, but around July 2022, she began failing to pay rent. By the time the lawsuit was filed, her unpaid rent had ballooned to about 1.3 million yen.

However, the issue went far beyond money. Using the TikTok handle shirokumatyandaisuki4444, she began posting more actively, and her behavior escalated. The lawsuit stated:

“The defendant, ‘Saikyō-chan,’ took advantage of the so-called trash house and bug house conditions of her residence, revealing its location through social media (TikTok) and continuously streaming these scenes to attract viewers’ attention, showing no intent to correct the situation.”

By publicly showcasing her garbage-strewn, pest-infested room online, she gained popularity. As a result, Building A became not just a residence, but her stage for online content creation. Meanwhile, the lives of her neighbors were inevitably disrupted by the foul odor and swarms of insects spilling out from her apartment.

Living Next to a Public Toilet and Garbage Dump

In this case, the real estate company that owns the apartment building submitted testimony and evidence from multiple residents to the court. What those documents revealed was a horrifying reality far beyond imagination.

According to the testimony of Mr. Higashitani (alias), who ran a business directly below Saikyō-chan’s unit, the nightmare began earlier this year:

“Around February 2024, when I came to work in the morning, the curtains on the balcony side were covered with flies. Around the same time, unfamiliar insects began appearing inside the room. When I checked, they turned out to be cockroaches. Even after using commercial insect foggers, the bugs kept coming back. I ended up using foggers every three days for two months straight.”

Every morning began with cleaning up dead insects and chasing down cockroaches crawling across the floor. Despite constant cleaning, the infestation persisted, making it impossible to invite clients to the office.

“Because I could no longer hold meetings in the office, I switched to off-site visits only. Once, without realizing it, I brought a bag with a cockroach inside, and during a client visit, it crawled out. I became afraid to take anything from the office outside. Eventually, the office became unusable.”

Driven to the brink mentally and financially, Mr. Higashitani was forced to relocate his business. The infestation had spread into furniture and storage units, leading to major losses as he replaced contaminated equipment.

The most severe suffering, however, fell on residents living on the same floor. A letter from one tenant to the building management company described their daily life in detail:

“Currently, Room ●● (the defendant’s unit) is filled with garbage packed up to knee height, creating a massive breeding ground for cockroaches, which can be seen continuously emerging from the room. The stench—a mix of urine and rotting food waste—makes daily life unbearable. (It’s like living next to both a public toilet and a garbage dump.) … The tenant of Room ●● often keeps the front door wide open, letting the stench and insects spread directly into the hallway. She even climbs over piles of garbage to enter and exit her apartment. When we happen to encounter her, she shouts repeatedly, ‘Die, die, die!’ (It’s unclear why she says this.)”

For this resident, daily life had become a constant battle against invading cockroaches.

“Because cockroaches keep entering my apartment nonstop, whenever I return home, the first thing I must do is vacuum them up one by one. The cockroach traps lined tightly by my front door fill up almost immediately, and the ones that slip through keep invading the room. (Even when the door is closed, small cockroaches crawl in through the gaps between the door and the frame.)

Even after I think I’ve vacuumed them all, more keep coming, so I can never relax for even a moment. Since this happens after just one day away from home, I’m too afraid to go on any trips or take long absences.”

Eventually, the resident reached their breaking point:

“I tried my best to endure this situation, but one night, when I woke up to find a cockroach crawling across my face, I realized I couldn’t take it anymore. That’s when I decided to write this letter.”

“Idiot! Die!” — The Verbal Abuse

The disturbances caused by “Saikyō-chan” went beyond cockroaches. According to the lawsuit filed by the building’s owner, she also harassed her neighbors:

“Since moving in (February 2016), the defendant repeatedly banged on the walls of neighboring units and shouted things like ‘Idiot!’ and ‘Die!’ at the residents of Rooms ○○ and ××.”

Despite multiple warnings from the management company — and even police intervention — the harassment continued. By 2024, both adjacent residents had moved out.

After repeated warnings were ignored, the property owner finally took legal action. “Saikyō-chan” did not appear in court nor submit any written defense. In civil cases, when a defendant fails to respond, all claims by the plaintiff are treated as admitted — a process known as deemed admission.

Based on this, the Tokyo District Court ruled in June that the owner’s claims were entirely valid. “Saikyō-chan” was ordered to vacate the apartment and pay roughly 1.3 million yen in unpaid rent.

She later appealed the decision in July. In her appeal filed on September 5, she claimed:

“Other residents harassed me during my live streams,” and “No one helped when my lock was broken or my mail was stolen.”

She also wrote:

“The reason I didn’t pay rent or clean my room is because of a mental illness (caused by over five years of parental abuse and ten years of school bullying).”

This case — in which online notoriety led to real-world harm — raises difficult questions. If her statements about mental illness and past trauma are true, then she, too, may have been a victim in society. But even so, that cannot excuse actions that endanger or torment others.