Japan Lax Nuclear Security Could Make It The Land Of The Melting Sun
Japan is a giant nuclear pressure cooker. Let’s hope it doesn’t get set off. full article is in the Japan Times (May 5th, 2013) On April 15, two alleged terrorists in Boston killed three people, injured more than 170 others and terrified a nation — for about $100 it cost them to modify pressure cookers into bombs. We should be glad they didn’t come to Japan, where they may have been able to explode a ready-made nuclear dirty bomb,... Read More
Daily Prophet Flash: DanRad gets Press Pass for Tokyo Vice; The Last Yakuza to be published in 2014
Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter On The Police Beat In Japan…a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe!? Radcliffe-san has been preparing to play the role of a newspaper journalist for over 10 years–more or less. To write for a newspaper, you have to read the newspaper. The Daily Prophet is one of the most respected in the industry; almost always first with the scoop and only occasionally very wrong. text courtesy of William Clark May 1st, 2013 Mike... Read More
JSRC Meets J-Horror Movie Maestro & Discusses 3/11, Fear, Death, Living On
Mr. Yasuhiro Iganashi, a fisherman in Yamada (Photo: From the movie Living in the Wake of 3.11) Nakata Hideo is a Japanese movie director and producer who directed the seminal Japanese horror film Ring (1998), which became a TV series as well as an American remake in 2005. The movie Ring, started the trend that we now call “J Horror.” In 2002, Nakata made Dark Water, he also directed the hits Kaidan and Death Note, which were huge hits in the... Read More
Reconstructing 3/11: Sometimes The Yakuza Live Up To Their Ideals
Last year, I was pleased to write a chapter for the book Reconstructing 3/11 which will be available to download for free for a limited time. As a special treat, I’ve posted my chapter of the book in its entirety, until March 14th. Our tireless editor, known only as Our Man In Abiko, has been kind enough to write an introduction for this posting. Reconstructing 3/11 is a thoughtful examination by an impressive list of noted and knowledgeable... Read More
Tora-san, Japan’s most famous tramp, is a yakuza? テキ屋
Who doesn’t know Tora-san from Shibamata? He’s Japan’s most famous tramp and the star of the world’s longest-running movie series, as certified by the Guinness Book of Records. 男はつらいよ (Otoko wa tsurai yo/It’s tough to be a man) was supposed to be one single movie, released in 1969. It was the start of the production of 48 movies made over the period of 27 years, with almost two releases a year. The series... Read More
Japanese Tattoo Master: “The carving is one’s personal symbol..”
Horiyoshi the Third, aka Yoshihito Nakano, the world’s most famous Japanese tattoo master, 66, said that ten years ago, he had many more yakuza clients than he has now. “Nowadays I have 90 percent of non-yakuza clients and 10 percent of yakuza clients. Ten years ago it was much different. After the entry in force of the boutaihou, (anti organized crime laws), I have fewer gangsters as clients. The landscape has changed and so have the customers.” Horiyoshi... Read More
In Japan, Tattoos Are Not Just For Yakuza Anymore
A young man with a stunning tattoo of Kanon Bosatsu (観音菩薩）the all-seeing, all-compassionate Buddhist deity. Designed by Horiyoshi The 3rd. Tattoos are as Japanese as sushi, samurai, and yakuza but in recent years with the crackdown on organized crime (the yakuza), tattoos have become increasingly socially unacceptable while many younger Japanese and people living abroad have embraced tattoos as a fashion item. In December last year, the... Read More
The Best Articles About Japan 2012 (on our blog) :D
Dear Gentle Reader, All of us at Japan Subculture Research Center would like to thank you for your reading the articles posted here this last year, your contributions, and your comments. Here are some of the articles we thought were the most amusing, edifying, or just fun, grouped together in general order. I’d like to say a big thanks to Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky who as assistant editor for the blog, wrote an amazing number of articles, and... Read More
How The CIA Helped The Yakuza & The LDP Get Power & Promote Nuclear Power
I just finished re-reading Tim Weiner’s magnum opus, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA ,which is perhaps the best book ever written on the Central Intelligence Agency, and its general history of dismal failures. On the eve of the LDP’s retaking of power, December 16th 2012, I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at the LDP and how they came into being in the first place. It’s like a story out of a John Le Carre... Read More
Notes On The Yakuza Lobby: How The Underworld Asserts Itself In The Political Sphere
For the student of Japanese politics and anti-social forces I’ve linked to further resources here in this post. (From Foreign Policy 12/14/2012) TOKYO — Japan’s leaders are going on trial this month — in the court of public opinion, though some of them may be concerned about facing the more traditional kind. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), who has been in power for a bit over a year, dissolved... Read More
Recent Comments