Japan Subculture Research Center

So you’ve just arrived in Japan and you’re experiencing culture shock. Will you ever acclimate? If you want to understand Japanese life, try playing “The Game of Life.” It’s not…

I'm always happy to engage people in English conversation in Japan--hey, I was an English conversation instructor and sometimes still enjoy teaching some of my favorite students! I also take…

今年から導入された給付型奨学金が創設されるまで、日本で「奨学金」と呼ばれているものは全て貸与型であり国際的には「教育ローン」に分類される借金です。家庭が貧困化し大学を卒業しても正社員に就けない人が増えていく中で、この「奨学金」を返済できない人が急増しています。返済困難になった若者や連帯保証人が、2015年度は16737人がブラックリストに載せられ、8713人が訴えられました。さらに、入手したJASSOの内部資料で、毎年600人～800人が自己破産していることが明らかになりました。

Judge Akireru Sugu explains, "When he came on the stage and pulled out his Kyocera porcelain fork and nothing else and brandished it in the air, then plowed in and…

Roppongi is the white male's extra-territorial sanctuary as well as metaphorical catacomb, where pleasure draws a last gasp before crumpling into a heap of old bones. The white man's loop…

The Global Gender Gap report published last year noted that Mr. Abe and the LDP's pledge to bridge the gender divide resulted in actually widening the gulf, with Nippon sliding…

Amidst the political turmoil and economic recession Japan has found itself in the recent years, how poor parenting takes a toll on the lives of the most vulnerable is often…

Now, I know what you are thinking. No weird orgy, threesome, chains, whips or blindfolds? In happening bars, all the aforementioned do not necessarily happen. Nobody is forced to do…

Japan Subculture Research Center is proud to present a series of short stories, by our resident book reviewer and social commentator, Kaori Shoji, on the often tragically mismatched marriages of…

On the plane, as I scratched my hipster beard, I wondered: Do Japanese people shave a lot? Would my tattoo that read 肉食 (Meet People) charm the natives or alienate…