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https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/4chan_Chronicle/Forerunners
>4chan was born of two cultures: the userbase of the English-language internet discussion forums and the culture of Japanese image-board BBS (Bulletin Board System) systems. The netizens on both sides had their own particular characteristics but a common origin: a mass switch from USENET to BBSs. Japanese internet groups were composed of tight-knit communities of geeks who already had their own meta jokes (memes) by 1996, while the Western Hemisphere had hacking groups dating back to the 1980s, most notably Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc), which formed its own community based on active projects including the 1995 campaign against the Church of Scientology

>In Japan, internet culture began to form among people who used Home Parties circa 1995. The "underground" Internet, the first sites to leave USENET, was composed of technology and hacking enthusiasts. What would become textboard culture and ultimately engulf the entirety of Japanese internet culture began with one man: Masayuki Shiba

>Shiba started a Home Party Website (ホームパーティー) in 1995 called Ayashii World (あやしいワールド), via provider Nifty-Serve. The site was dedicated to the controversial underground game called Kasumigaseki, based on the Tokyo Subway attacks. While it was an unrelated, short-lived site, the name stayed with him. In 1996, Shiba comes into contact with a site called Japan Lolita Complex Graphics (日本ロリコングラフィックス), dedicated to highly sexual cartoon depictions of teenage girls and ran by Duke Pedo (ペド侯爵 - Pedo Koushaku)