Movie Review: About the Pink Sky

written by Amy Seaman   This is the second in a series of reviews about films showing at the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival, which runs until October 30 at select cinemas throughout Roppongi.   With its rough editing, abrupt scene changes and nearly nonexistent transitions, About the Pink Sky is an indie film that manages to straddle the fine line between being ridiculously pretentious and artfully epic, despite the fact that the entire film — save for the... Read More

ヤクザ倫理: Compliance In the Yakuza World 和訳

この記事は元々英文で書いたもので、知人に頼まれ、日本語で書き直しました。「ヤクザ・極道・暴力団・反社会勢力」を弁護するつもりで執筆した作文ではないのでご了解をよろしくお願いします。そもそも欧米人向けで書かれたものなので、日本人ならわかり切ったことを書いているのなら、許してください。 ヤクザ倫理：なぜ日本の暴力団（ヤクザ）は長年日本社会で許容されましたか by... Read More

Tadamasa Goto, ex-crime boss, Buddhist priest, about to learn more about karma (因果応報)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD) is tightening up their investigation of former mob boss Tadamasa Goto, alleged Buddhist priest and best-selling author,  on charges of two murders. Last week the TMPD arrested former Goto-gumi member and currently Yamaguchi-gumi  Rachi-gumi member (山口組良知組)–Hideo Matsumoto (松本英也容疑者) of charges of pre-meditated murder. On the 24th of October (2011) the TMPD raided the offices of Rachi-gumi looking... Read More

OLYMPUS: Bringing It Into Focus–A Special Breach Of Trust? UPDATE

In the last week, the New York Times, the Financial Times(article in Japanese)  and Reuters have reported heavily on suspicious transactions at Olympus Corporation, one of Japan’s oldest and most distinguished camera and optical equipment makers. The board forced out acting CEO,  Michael Woodford, after he became too diligent in doing his due diligence on questionable financial transactions at the company. Olympus claimed he was forced out for cultural differences. In... Read More

What do Clint, John and Hayao have in common? Tokyo International Film Festival Quiz#1

This is the first in a series of reviews about films showing at the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival, which runs until October 30 at select cinemas throughout Roppongi. by Amy Seaman, film correspondent. Question: Test your cinema knowledge. Who are the people below and what do they have in common? (We’ve given you some big hints.) Hayao Miyazaki — founder of Studio Ghibli. Clint Eastwood — Gran Torino, Million Dollar Baby. John Woo — Mission Impossible. Martin... Read More

TEPCO Ties To The Yakuza: Gone? Police Sources Still Skeptical.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the monolithic corporation that controls all electric power in Greater Tokyo, and was responsible for a triple meltdown at their nuclear power plant in Fukushima (March 11th-March 15th) pledged on July 19th (2011), that they would try to keep organized crime members (yakuza) from participating in the reconstruction of the power plant and related projects. They have been working with the Japanese National Police Agency to accomplish this... Read More

Occupy Tokyo: Another Good Excuse to Come Out and Hate on TEPCO

Saturday, October 15th, Occupy Wall Street went global. Around 300 people around Tokyo came out to march in 2 separate locations. Japan Subculture went to check out what was happening at Hibiya Park, where 100 protestors marched through the Roppongi district. How did Occupy Tokyo come about? The story is another testimony to the efficiency of social networking in organizing demonstrations. According to participants, just a few days prior to the event, “meetup” group members... Read More

The Yakuza Code Of Ethics: Compliance In the Underworld

The yakuza, Japan’s organized crime groups, have close to 79,000 members. It’s very hard to understand why they are tolerated in Japanese society and not simply banned. Part of the reason for this is that for many years the yakuza observed, to some extent, a set of internal codes which made them appear to be a effective deterrent against street crime: robbery, muggings, theft, sexual assault. Each group has its own code of ethics, usually posted on the wall of the organization... Read More

"No one is safe from the new yakuza." ABC's stellar documentary.

In 2010, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation released one of the most concise but excellent documentaries ever done on the Yakuza, and now available on YouTube. The title is brutally simple:Yakuza.  It is not a flashy film; there are no “re-creations” and no “dramatizations.” It may not be exciting but it is visceral and it is accurate. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's insightful documentary on the modern yakuza.  I cooperated with the... Read More

Japan-related blogs now have a homebase!

Your most favoritest Japanese underworld guide and yakuza blog, Japan Subculture Research Center (<— us!) has recently been listed on the brand-new Japan Blog Directory! The Directory is only 2 weeks old, and yet already lists 55 blogs organized by category (eating, culture, travel, etc.). GREAT to peruse if you need a  distraction from work, even if your work is…blogging.                                                                                                          ... Read More