• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Japan Subculture Research Center

A guide to the Japanese underworld, Japanese pop-culture, yakuza and everything dark under the sun.

Louis Krauss

  • Home
  • Ghost in the Shell: The Matrix of Sci-Fi Anime

Ghost in the Shell: The Matrix of Sci-Fi Anime

With the newest Ghost in the Shell film in theaters, and a live-action version on the horizon, it's important to take a look back at what made the original so…

The Realities and “Legal Slavery” of Japan’s Porn Industry

業界全体で知らなかっては済まされないほど若い女性や男性が無理やりポルノに出演させられている現状が我々などの支援団体は目の当たりにしている。ファッションモデル契約と聞いて契約に同意したのに、当日にいきなりポルノ出演と聞かされ台本を渡され、帰りたいやめたいと懇願しても数百万円の違約金を払えと脅され屈する、若干10代の若者たち。使い捨てにされ、その後の進学・就職や結婚にも大きな影響が出ている。

How did Japan’s Whalers Of The Past Feel About Their Job & The Whales They Killed?

Despite the popular opinion that Japan’s dedicated pro-whaling community comes from a background of legendary, barbaric whalers who slaughtered whales without mercy, some reports show that pre-harpoon whalers were actually…

Governmental Parties to Youth: ‘We can be cool too!’

Prime Minister Abe and opposing parties have been vying, sometimes with music, to attract the first-time youth voters to join their sides.

Manga and Dating Sims: The Real Path to Japanese Mastery

Boas also provides some useful vocabulary for the basic Japanese learner, particularly while exploring manga and anime's odd visual effects to communicate emotion, such as veins popping to signal anger…

TGIF in Tokyo! Tonight June 17th “This and That Cafe” to Feature Amazing Lineup of Artists

Tonight (Friday June 17) at 7:30, the Super Deluxe performance venue in Roppongi will be hosting the 29th incarnation of This & That Cafe, an event where artists, both international…

Japan’s Classic (Misleading) Pro-Whaling Book: “You can’t tell us what to eat!”

Japan’s fishing traditions have long-been one of its most important aspects, surviving hundreds of years mostly on fish as well as obscure seafood such as sea urchins, squids and eels…

Former NYT Chief Explains Japan’s Lack of Journalistic Freedom

Martin Fackler, former Tokyo bureau chief for the New York Times, says Japanese newspapers are too focused on access journalism and getting the scoop before the story can really be…

Nikkei buys the Financial Times: Have The Lunatics Taken Over the Asylum?

"The Financial Times broke the story on the massive Olympus Accounting Fraud while Nikkei ignored it and was a mouthpiece for Olympus for the first week. Why should we believe…

With “The War Bill” Looming, Japan’s Press & Academia Rebel Against Team Abe

Professors Koichi Nakano, Mari Osawa and Manabu Sato visited the FCCJ on Friday to once again explain why more than 95% of political scholars are against this new bill that…