Category Archives: General

24-Hour Tokyo: Tokyo Government To Run Subway Line All Night?!! Scoop!

There is serious talk in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government of running the city managed subway systems Toei Chikatetsu(都営地下鉄) 24 hours a day when Haneda Airport opens to more international flights later this year. You might think of Tokyo as the city that never sleeps but in fact all public transportation stops around 1 am. [...]
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“Where Is The Romance?”–a hard-boiled meditation on mating rituals in Tokyo (for V-day)

In a departure from our usual somber posting, I’ve written an original prose-poem, which is for a friend’s upcoming “Where is the Romance” theme party in Tokyo–a pre-valentines’s day event.  I’ve been in Japan (not just Tokyo) for over twenty years now and it seems to me that this city as overpopulated as it is, [...]
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A Maudlin Merry X-mas From Jake, Sarah and Everyone At Japan Subculture Research Center

I wish I could be a little more cheerful around this time of year. I can remember a time when the Christmas season didn’t depress me much but it seems like decades ago.  Maybe if I was in Japan where Christmas is more festively celebrated by buying tubs of Kentucky Fried Chicken and young couples [...]
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TOKYO VICE: On sale! Just in time for Thanksgiving?

Amazon celebrated the book’s 10th day in the top 100 best-selling non-fiction books by marking it down considerably. It’s never too late to buy it as a sushi stuffer for a Japanese thanksgiving celebration.
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For the rest of the story, read TOKYO VICE: An American Reporter On the Police Beat in Japan

Today, November 1st, 60 Minutes did a stellar piece on the Yakuza in Japan and my life covering them as a reporter, and the one scoop regarding Goto Tadamasa, the Professor Moriarty of Japan’s yakuza that got me in a lot of trouble. A lot has changed since 60 Minutes came to Japan to report [...]
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