Well, he was not really in The Simpsons, but we still tell the truth, though.
Japanese Pepe (Yakiu), a Solana-based meme coin with the contract address DjM3GsU3RxQfj4HVXAuV1ed2bpZZY1ABoSdcqTjspump, has captured attention with a current market cap of $544,000 as of May 16, 2025. The token has recorded a 24-hour trading volume of $4.4 million, indicating significant market activity and suggesting potential for further growth.
The origins of Yakiu trace back to Japan’s 2channel, specifically the /livejupiter/ board, where the character Yakiu no Oniichan (meaning “Baseball Bro”) was first created. On October 3, 2015, an anonymous 2channel user introduced the character, originally named NanJmin, meaning a dweller of the forum, by adding it to a photo of the Simpson family. The character, a caricature of the board’s users, dates back to December 2010 and was inspired by stickers and depictions of forum dwellers, with real sample packs circulating within the community. Japanese netizens have since used Yakiu no Oniichan to express a wide range of emotions, mirroring the role of Pepe the Frog in Western meme culture.
Yakiu no Oniichan later gained viral attention in the West under the name “Graggle Simpson” or “Gumbly.” On January 29, 2021, a 4chan user on the /x/ board posted a fabricated story claiming that Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, had designed the character as a self-insert named “Weird Matt” or “Yellow Matt,” intending for him to befriend Bart and work at the nuclear power plant. The hoax created a whirlwind of misinformation, with X (formerly Twitter) users like @SimianJimmy perpetuating the hoax through Photoshopped pictures of The Simpsons characters like Gumbly, creating mass confusion. The character had been reappropriated as Graggle Simpson in Facebook and Instagram memes since the month of May 2022, also being fueled by X users, who were creating fictional lore and fake screencaps, for instance, Gumbly breaking Milhouse’s leg or winning the jazz contest for Lisa.
The confusion of the character’s name from Yakiu no Oniichan or Graggle is a result of its cross-cultural translation. NanJmin holds strong to its origins as a symbol for forum dwellers, but Yakiu no Oniichan clings to the culture of the /livejupiter/ board’s affection for baseball. The Western confusion as Graggle Simpson marks the global extent and flexibility of the character, in the same manner that Pepe the Frog was reconfigured in meme culture.
$Yakiu’s overall supply is fixed at 1 billion tokens, a norm for meme coins on the Solana base, supporting its price movement. $4.4 million in 24-hour volume is evidence of the token’s popularity, driven by its unique cultural origins and going-viral backstory. At its current market capitalization of $544,000, $Yakiu has potential for growth, especially as it rides the nostalgia and emotional pull of Japanese internet culture and foreign interest in its Simpsons-themed hoax.
Yakiu’s success as a meme coin melds together Japanese internet culture and American meme culture, borrowing from NanJmin’s legacy and the Graggle Simpson hoax. As its popularity increases, it is a testament to the enduring strength of internet memes in the world of cryptocurrencies, with potential for growth in the Solana world.
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