• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Japan Subculture Research Center

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

Underground Economy

  • Home
  • A Nuclear Respite In Japan; The Buddha Of Fukushima Comes To Tokyo

A Nuclear Respite In Japan; The Buddha Of Fukushima Comes To Tokyo

“Look around you. Do you think Tokyo needs nuclear electricity?” Naoto Matsumura, observing Tokyo life in Yurakucho, one day after all the nuclear power stations have been shut down in…

Types of yakuza and their businesses

atariya (当たり屋・あたりや)professional car crash dummy con man who specializes in throwing himself in front of cars and collecting damages from either the driver or the driver’s insurance company. A dangerous…

Yakuza Terminology: Updated With Weasels and Monsters

If you're interested in the Japanese underworld and anti-social forces, have a read. Brush up on the Japanese you shouldn't know. By the way, if someone knows how to play…

Independent Commission on Nuclear Accident: Earthquake, TEPCO negligence, Myth of Safety Caused Meltdown

According to the investigation of this panel commission, perhaps the greatest achievements of Mister Kan could be that he “was able to prevent TEPCO to retreat entirely from the Daiichi…

Tokyo Police Arrest Ex-Ceo/Yakuza associates for financial fraud: UPDATE

Tokyo Stock Exchange listed companies in collusion with yakuza? Shocking.

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…

Yakuza Friendly Hotels–on the way out. Goodbye Nine-Fingered Discount!

As a part of broader initiatives to expel organized crime from business, new “yakuza exclusion” provisions by the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) go into effect today. The JTA maintains a…

NISA Needs To Take Evil Lessons

Sneaky attempts to manipulate public opinion meltdown

People Who Eat Darkness (闇を食う人々)An amazing book and a tissue sample of Japan's social pathological elements

People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman* By Richard Lloyd Parry (Jonathan Cape 404pp £17.99) When the disappearance of Lucie Blackman made the news, I was covering it…

Why Japan's Mainstream Media Can't Be Trusted To Report Objectively On TEPCO (東京電力)

When the earthquake struck Japan on March 11th and knocked out TEPCO’s Fukushima nuclear reactor, setting off a chain reaction of disasters–TEPCO’s chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata was nowhere to be found.…