• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Japan Subculture Research Center

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

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  • Japan’s Secrecy Bill: Designed by Kafka & Inspired by Hitler?!!

Japan’s Secrecy Bill: Designed by Kafka & Inspired by Hitler?!!

Legal experts note that even asking pointed questions about a state secret, whether you know or don't know it's a secret, could be treated as "instigating leaks" and the result…

Book Review: Tokyo Underworld–a classic on the dark side of Japan

There are very few gaijin (foreigners) who know what happens on the dark side of the rising sun like Robert Whiting. Whiting is an American author and journalist living in…

Haruki Murakami Wins The Nobel Prize For Literature!….in Japan. For a few minutes.

It was reported on the evening of October 10th that Japan’s much beloved novelist Haruki Murkami had won the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 10…but this turned out to…

21 Reasons Why Japanese Men Suck (A Book Review) by Ms. Kaori Shoji

Mr. Morikawa does make a sound observation, albeit not a very helpful one: that 10,000 years ago in the Jomon Period, Japanese couples got married at 14, had their first…

Meet 281: Japan’s Anti-Nuke Lone Ranger turning protest into art

after the accident, 281 wanted to find an outlet for his anger and a way to contribute to the anti-nuclear movement. It was then that he turned to street art.

The Polaris Project Japan Responds to Mayor Hashimoto: “You’re clueless”

We here at Polaris Project Japan believe that the mistaken belief of the sex industry being either a victimless crime or that those involved have entered by choice (a misconception…

Daily Prophet Flash: DanRad gets Press Pass for Tokyo Vice; The Last Yakuza to be published in 2014

Daniel Radcliffe is set to star in TOKYO VICE. Veteran music video and commercial director Anthony Mandler will direct, based on a script by acclaimed playwright JT Rogers. Le Grisbi…

Sayonara Speed Tribes (暴走族サヨナラ) opens April 12. Run & catch it!

Japan's infamous 'Speed Tribes' - kamikaze styled biker gangs- have, for decades, delighted would-be rebels and terrorized the general public. Idolized in the underground, demonized by the mass media and…

Corporal Punishment Getting Punished in Japan; Don’t throw pens at the kids!

The Japanese language is rich with expressions and words that extol the virtues of corporal punishment aka taibatsu (体罰) but the penchant some older Japanese have for slapping their younger…

Reconstructing 3/11: Sometimes The Yakuza Live Up To Their Ideals 

There was a brief time after the earthquake when Japan welcomed the yakuza and they welcomed the victims with whatever aid they could provide. As time passes most of them…