7 Matsuya Stores Together Shift 0.000001 Degrees South in Latitude

It has been found that the latitude in the location data of 7 Matsuya stores nationwide has each shifted 0.000001 degrees to the south. The shift amounts to about 11cm on the map at each store, and the longitude (east-west direction) has not changed by even a single digit at any of the 7 stores. The stores span 6 prefectures — Osaka, Shiga, Miyagi, Chiba (2 stores), Tochigi, and Kanagawa — with no regional bias, scattered across the country.

Previously, on July 14, 8 stores had likewise shifted their latitude 0.000001 degrees south together, and this time 7 of those stores continued the same southward shift.

Latitude Before and After the Change, and the Cumulative Number of Southward Shifts

In every case, the shift occurred at the 7th decimal place of latitude, decreasing by 1 (equivalent to about 11cm south) — the same pattern at each store. The values before and after the change for each store, along with the cumulative count since the latitude first began shifting and the total southward distance, are as follows.

Store (Store Code)	Latitude (Before → After)	Cumulative Count (incl. this time)	Total Since First Occurrence
Miyakojima Tomobuchi-cho Store (2214)	34.7123875→34.7123865	11th time	about 122cm
8-go Nagahama Store (2224)	35.3870825→35.3870815	13th time	about 145cm
Sendai Ichibancho Store (2260)	38.2621351→38.2621341	9th time	about 100cm
Tomisato Interchange Store (2293)	35.7445087→35.7445077	5th time	about 56cm
Oyama Kizawa Store (2313)	36.3440390→36.3440380	3rd time	about 33cm
Shin-Yurigaoka Store (2321)	35.6049145→35.6049135	8th time	about 100cm
Shin-Matsudo Store (2323)	35.8264679→35.8264669	2nd time	about 22cm

The store that has shifted the most is 8-go Nagahama Store, reaching its 13th cumulative shift this time, with a total of about 145cm since it first began. Along with Miyakojima Tomobuchi-cho Store and Sendai Ichibancho Store, it is one of the veterans that has been shifting south since late April, meaning these 3 stores have now had their latitude moving in the same direction for nearly 3 months.

Only the Latitude Has Shifted — and Always Southward

What the 7 stores have in common is that the longitude remains fixed while only the latitude moves, and that it has never once reverted north. As shown in the table, the cumulative count at each store directly reflects the accumulation of southward shifts, with no movement in the opposite (northward) direction observed.

Among the roughly 1,200 Matsuya stores operating nationwide, only 11 stores — including this time’s 7 — have had their latitude shift in this way. Moreover, every one of them is southward, meaning the phenomenon of location data gradually being nudged south is concentrated in just a small handful of stores.

3 Not-Yet-Open Stores Are Also Part of the Same Southward Shift

Among this time’s 7 stores are 3 that have not yet opened: Tomisato Interchange Store (Tomisato City, Chiba Prefecture), scheduled to open July 17; Oyama Kizawa Store (Oyama City, Tochigi Prefecture), scheduled to open July 31; and Shin-Matsudo Store (Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture), scheduled to open August 1. Even while still awaiting their opening, all 3 have had their latitude shifted south in exactly the same way as stores already in operation. Tomisato Interchange Store is at the stage of being just ahead of its opening.

Matsudo City, where Shin-Matsudo Store is opening, is in particular a fiercely competitive area already home to 9 operating Matsuya stores, including Matsudo Store, Kita-Matsudo Store, Mabashi Store, and Matsudo Gokou Store, and the opening of Shin-Matsudo Store will make it the 10th store in the city. The same Shin-Matsudo area has long had a “Shin-Matsudo Nishiguchi Store,” so after opening, the confusingly similar store names “Shin-Matsudo Store” and “Shin-Matsudo Nishiguchi Store” will sit near each other.

It is a change in only the 6th digit of latitude — one that would go unnoticed by the human eye no matter how far you zoom in on the map — yet 7 stores, including those not yet open, have shifted south in lockstep.