Event: Yakuza fiction vs fact at the New York Japan Society

For those in the New York area, Jake Adelstein will be appearing at the Japan Society’s event, “Yakuza in Popular Media & Real Life: Cracks & Chasms”, on March 10 at 6:30pm. From popular films to games and comic books, yakuza culture has been portrayed and discussed in many media. Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice–one of the rare books revealing real yakuza culture in Japan–discusses the differences between the image the yakuza want... Read More

Pervy police inspector wrangles kiss out of fellow officer

A Hyogo officer had aggravated assault filed against him after he forced a subordinate female officer to kiss him in their police car while on patrol. Hyogo police officials apologised for the incident, giving the over-amorous assistant inspector six months suspension. The inspector reportedly grabbed the female officer’s head with both hands and forced her to kiss him on both the nights of November 23 and 27 last year. Read the original story here.  Read More

In Tokyo, Komatsu-gumi head arrested for extortion; Yamaguchi Kodo-kai Nearing Decimation

Police arrested the head of the Yamaguchi-gumi Kodo-kai-affiliated Komatsu-gumi on January 29 under suspicion of attempted blackmail after he reportedly tried to extort money out of a company executive. Police also raided the organisation’s office. It was another major blow to the Kodo-kai who has seen their numbers cut significantly in the last year and four months. The mass arrests of organization members and crackdowns on affiliated entities has made many leave the group... Read More

In Battle For King of the Bugs: Saw Beetle Kicks Miyama Beetle Butt New Research Reveals; SEGA Silent on Video Game Repercussions

Nobody expects realism in video games but someday they might. The popular King of Bugs (ムシキング） video games series is one in which players select their bug and fight off arthropod opponents to see who can knock the other out of the ring first. You can play against the computer or you can play against a friend. Real life bug matches between stag beetles (鍬形虫/kuwagatamushi) were a popular games for children in the day before video games and when Japan still hadn’t... Read More

Two arrested in Sumida-ku child porn bust

Police found a cache of over 3,600 uncensored DVDs, including some containing child pornography, at a Sumida-ku apartment on January 12 after discovering the operation from fliers posted on the street in the neighborhood. A 36-year-old unemployed man and 25-year-old vocational school student, both Chinese nationals, were arrested in the bust. Amongst the 3,640 DVDs found at the residence, 15 are believed to contain images of underage Japanese girls being molested. The pair were... Read More

Underage Japanese girls learning to sell themselves online

The plague of child porn has in recent years been facilitated by the spread Internet, writes the Yomiuri in an article sourcing our favorite Polaris Project pundit, Shihoko Fujiwara. “One of the reasons for the increase is due to the crackdown [by authorities], but another is that a growing number of children have become involved in the business through the widespread use of the Internet,” she said. According to Fujiwara, a 14-year-old second-year female middle school... Read More

Angry man strips naked on Shinkansen

A Yamagata man was arrested Jan 18 for public obscenity after he stripped nude inside a Tohoku Shinkansen while stopped at JR Morioka Stn. The 32-year-old man told police he got undressed after realising he rode on the wrong train. “I was so disgusted by my uselessness that I figured there was nothing to do but throw off my clothes and start from square one.” According to Morioka police, the Tokyo-bound train was stopped at around 9:50am when suddenly a stream of... Read More

Tokyo LGBT community and supporters protest Ishihara’s homophobic comments

By Mizue Watanabe★ Tokyo’s LGBT community and its supporters held a lecture event January 14 to address the homophobic statements made in early December by Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara. The two-part event saw politicians, LGBT activists, and even an openly gay manga artist speak to an audience of over 350 people, the majority of which were Japanese. The meeting was held in reaction to comments made by Ishihara December 3 during a statement regarding a bill to put more... Read More

One in 10 under 40 consider the yakuza "A neccessary evil" in Japan

Younger Japanese appear less likely to regard the yakuza as a menace, and one in ten of them consider Japan’s organized crime groups to be a necessary evil, a recent study revealed.  The Nara Prefecture Police Department, working with the local government as part of their efforts to enact an effective “Organized Crime Exclusionary Ordinance”, issued a questionnaire in October 2010 to gauge current attitudes towards organized crime. The results, which were published this... Read More

Civically active yakuza discovered to be working for national census

It has been revealed that a member of the Kyushu-based Kudo-kai was appointed as a representative to help carry out the 2010 national census after being recommended by the city of Kita-Kyushu. Both the city and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications reportedly had no idea the is affiliated with an organised crime group until notified by the Fukuoka police. According to city officials, the gang member is in his 60s and serves as the president of his neighbourhood association... Read More