Cops To Close Curtains on Yakuza Hollywood: The Timeline

This week the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s (TMPD) organized crime control division set up a special task force of 50 police officers to obliterate the yakuza from the entertainment industry. They’ll have their work cut out for them. 神戸芸能社 (Kobe Geinosha/Kobe Performing Arts Company) was established by the 3rd Generation Leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi in 1957. It marked the beginning of yakuza rule of showbiz. The crackdown began in August when Japan’s... Read More

20msv/yr: What Does The Rest Of The World Think?

July 19th, 2011 Fukushima City “It is correct, is it not, that Fukushima citizens have the same and equal right as other Japanese citizens to spend their life without receiving unnecessary radiation doses. That is correct, is it not?” - Fukushima citizen “I dont know whether or not they have that right” - Akira Sato, Director of the government’s Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters Before the March 11th earthquake, Japan’s standard for radiation exposure... Read More

Meet The Yakuza: The Yakuza Movie Book, more than just about movies.

The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide To Japanese Gangster Films by Mark Schilling is more than just a book of reviews about Japan’s gangster (yakuza) cinema, it turns out to be an excellent reference book on the history of the yakuza (ヤクザ・極道・暴力団）and their place in Japanese popular culture over the years. The Yakuza Movie Book, an excellent guide to not just yakuza films but to the yakuza in general, their history, and their changing role in Japanese culture... Read More

Protesters Come Out in Record Numbers Against Nuclear Power

A large and diverse crowd, constituting of citizens from all over Japan as well as a large number of foreigners, assembled in Central Tokyo yesterday for the “Goodbye Nuclear Power Plants” rally. Several anti-nuclear power celebrities, including Nobel laureate and author Kenzaburo Oe, musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, freelance journalist Satoshi Kamata, and author Keiko Ochiai were in attendance. The latter three, according to the Japan Times coverage, participated as architects... Read More

TEPCO's "Severe Accident Manual" Takes On Barcode Hairstyle

The House of Representatives Special Committee on Promotion of Science and Technology and Innovation had requested TEPCO submit two operating manuals: one for accidents, and one for severe accidents. On September 12th, 3 copies of the document, which included only the front binding and the table of contents, were passed out to the committee. Of approximately 50 lines of text, all but 2 had been blacked out.  In an additional gesture of complete paranoia, the documents were... Read More

Ghost in The Shell (攻殻機動隊): A classic film of Japanese sci-fi animation with universal themes

reviewed by Amy Seaman There’s always something ominous about seeing post-apocalyptic, futuristic worlds — even if it’s just on a screen. Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊) plays on this unsettling emotion, cultivating a society in which humans coexist with and, in some cases, are co-inhabited by cyborgs. (Editor’s note: It was a seminal film in Japanese animation, a genre now commonly known as anime, and the inspiration for the film The Matrix. The... Read More

North Korea Turns 63, Party Guests Seem Kinda Angry

63 years ago today, everyone’s favorite totalitarian regime (and land of our Dear Leader!), was founded. To mark the anniversary, NGOs committed to humanitarian concerns in North Korea have joined forces, launching The International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK) at a press conference yesterday at the Foreign Correspondents Club. The press conference was followed by a protest held in front of the de-facto North Korean embassy in Tokyo (Chosen-Soren),... Read More

The Hollywood Reporter: Japan's Entertainment World And The Yakuza

An excellent piece on the Japanese entertainment industry and it's strong yakuza ties, by journalist colleague, Gavin Blair, writing from Tokyo. Japanese TV Host’s Resignation Shines Light on Showbiz Mob Ties The yakuza have strong links to the entertainment biz, but the times may be changing as the government cracks down on gangs. TOKYO — The sudden retirement of Shinsuke Shimada, one of Japanese TV’s biggest stars, on Aug. 24 after links to a boss in the largest... Read More

Yakuza Friendly Hotels–on the way out. Goodbye Nine-Fingered Discount!

As a part of broader initiatives to expel organized crime from business, new “yakuza exclusion” provisions by the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) go into effect today. The JTA maintains a “Model Accommodation Contract”, which serves as a widely-accepted set of guidelines recommended for hotels, ryokans, and other lodging facilities. The agency explains on its website: “As anti-social forces threaten the physical and financial safety of tourists and the hotels themselves,... Read More