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

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

Will it ever be possible to emulate true humanity through technology?

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

Even Hollywood is taking in interest in Japan's entertainment industry links to the mob. Meanwhile, police are now asking for an explanation of the underworld ties from Shimada’s powerful agency,…

Japanese TV Star Shimada Shinsuke retires before yakuza ties exposed

Popular comedian Shimada Shinsuke had extensive dealings with an organized crime boss and retired hastily before the details were written up in a weekly magazine.

Whoot! What? Wut! German Fashion finds a home in Tokyo

Japan Subculture Research Center is going through puberty and heading towards adulthood. After a long discussion with the Japan Subculture Research Center team, we’ve decided to expand the blog to…

Death by Pufferfish: A short story by Mayumi Shimose Poe

Jake’s note: In a departure from our usual hard-boiled news about Japan, we’re honored to be republishing a fascinating short story that illustrates many cultural aspects of Japanese society and…

Moe Yamaguchi's high-rolling husband arrested for running illegal hostess club

Actress and talento Moe Yamaguchi was “really stunned” when she learned her husband, web entrepreneur Shigeo Ozeki, has been illegally running a posh hostess club without a license. Ozeki and…

Mind your f**ks and s**ts: Localizing Yakuza 1 龍が如く翻訳物語

By Demian ‘Ryu Ichinose’ Smith Ryu ga Gotoku, or Yakuza, as it was unfortunately titled for international distribution, was the first major localization project I was assigned to as a…

Yakuza: Of the End to be released June 9 with special commemorative sticker

For those of you who don’t follow the Ryu ga Gotoku: Of the End Twitter feed through their nifty application we previously reviewed, it was announced today that the game’s…

The manga that predicted nuclear meltdown

There’s been a number of postponements and cancellations in the Japanese entertainment world since the March 11 Tohoku Earthquake. Many are out of a sense of respect, some are due…

Ryu ga Gotoku for Twitter

Release of the much-awaited next instalment in the Yakuza series, Yakuza: Of the End (龍が如く Of the End) may have been postponed because of the Tohoku earthquake, but impatient fans…