Deai kissa matchmaking cafes more than just a meet n' greet

In the wake of the September murder of a 22-year-old university student by a man she met at a deai kissa, or matchmaking cafe, the Mainichi ran an article (Japanese here) that takes a look inside the very same venue where the pair met. The cafe is still running business as usual, still turning a blind eye to the interactions between customers in their “meeting rooms”. The Mainichi article gives attention to two potential sides of the deai kissa coin, interviewing... Read More

Sticky handed groper finds his way back into the slammer

An Aichi man was arrested under prefectural nuiscance prevention laws when he was caught groping a teenage girl in a parking lot while on his way home from being arrested for groping. The 44-year-old man had been arrested October 14 for molesting an underage woman and released around 3:30pm on October 15. Less than two hours later he was again arrested after attacking a high school girl and being restrained by three passerbys who heard screams and came to the rescue. Read the... Read More

JSRC is now on Twitter!

Just a bit of housekeeping: Japan Subculture Research Center now has a Twitter feed exclusively for updates. A slightly simpler way to find out about new posts than RSS for those who prefer to communicate in 140 characters or less. Take a look! Also, don’t forget to follow Jake Adelstein himself on Twitter. Follow @japansubculture Follow @jakeadelstein  Read More

J-League team employee arrested for production of child porn

An employee of the Montedio Yamagata J-League football team was arrested October 14 after it was discovered he requested and received pornographic videos from an underage girl. While it is not a crime in Japan to simply possess child porn, the police decided in this case that the law had been violated—because the employee had requested the videos thus causing them to be made. The 39-year-old suspect is said to have met the 13-year-old middle school student online in late... Read More

Yakuza Not Leaving The Construction Industry With A Whimper But A Bang

Under the guidance of the National Police Agency, the construction industry is taking great steps to remove yakuza (boryokudan) and other anti-social forces from public works projects and all aspects of the construction industry. Apparently, the yakuza are not happy with this new impetus. On the morning of October 12th, in Tokyo Shinjuku-ku Kami Ochiai 4-chome, a gun was found near the entrance of a demolition and construction site for Seibo University. The Tokyo Metropolitan... Read More

Shobadai scuffle with kebab truck gets Sumiyoshi-kai arrested

Eight members of the Sumiyoshi-kai were arrested this week for threatening a doner kebab vendor who was operating in a Roppongi parking lot. According to police, the group is suspected of attempting to extort protection money out of the Turkish man on March 2, punching him when he refused to pay. All eight gangsters have denied the charges. Read the original story here.  Read More

Yakuza guise helps man get underage girl

A Kawasaki salaryman was arrested for purchasing the services of a 14-year-old girl while posing as a yakuza who was organizing enjokosai online. After attracting the girl through a Web site aimed at finding friends, Shigeru Yasuda, 45, met her as a “customer” of the gang’s operation. Yasuda, who reportedly paid the girl a total of 70,000 yen for sex three times between June and August, told police that he used the yakuza disguise because he thought girls would... Read More