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Japan Subculture Research Center

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

Month: November 2009

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  • TOKYO VICE Reviewed In Japanese — Bloombergが東京ヴァイス (東京の性悪・米国人事件記者の警察回り体験記)を日本語で書評

TOKYO VICE Reviewed In Japanese — Bloombergが東京ヴァイス (東京の性悪・米国人事件記者の警察回り体験記)を日本語で書評

Rocky Swift, a journalist at Bloomberg Tokyo, has posted a review of Tokyo Vice in both Japanese and English: 【書評】米国人元新聞記者がえぐり出す日本の闇社会 元読売新聞記者のジェイク・アデルスタイン氏の近著「トーキョー・バイス」は、居直ったヤクザから始末するぞと静かな脅しを掛かけられた著者が、たばこの煙をもくもくと上げながら取材戦略を練るシーンで始まる。 同書はアデルスタイン氏が警視庁記者クラブメンバーで唯一の米国人記者として連続殺人事件などを追いかけた12年間の取材の追想録で、ヤクザの中でも特に暴力的な勢力をかぎまわって窮地に陥るに至った経緯が描かれている。 「トーキョー・バイス」 に収められたのは、後藤忠正氏という病んだヤクザのボスと手下の3人がどうやって米当局のお膳立てで米国での肝臓移植手術にこぎつけたかを探ったアデルス タイン氏の調査報道の記録。今回の出版は結果的に、アデルスタイン氏の知名度を高め殺害を難しくしたため、この本は著者の救い主とも言える。 アデルスタイン氏は「ヤクザをムカつかせるようになる」前は上智大学の学生だった。ミズーリ州生まれの同氏はテレビ局や球団なども持つ日本の大手メディアの読売新聞の入社試験を気まぐれで受けたという。

"Gods", Demons, and Teenage Girls: New Web sites facilitate exploitation of runaways and promote human trafficking in Japan

The Japan Times featured an excellent article last week about the latest trend of iede (家出) web sites where young girls who have run away from home look for kami…

Fuzoku Friday: Finding a job that's right for you (Part II)

Last week we introduced a few of the high-paying part-time jobs (高収入アルバイト) ladies take up to make some cash, and this week we’ll continue with four more career specialties: Chat…

NPR animates yakuza girlfriends, serial killers, and other exciting things

After Jake’s interview on NPR earlier this month, Thomas Dreisbach and other interns put their skills to work in editing a segment about Jake’s time covering the case of Gen…

A Yakuza Encounter

After the 60 Minutes broadcast in November of 2009, we got several emails from foreigners in Japan who had had unpleasant encounters with the worst of the tattooed tribe. We…

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…

Are the yakuza humorous? Comedian duo play yakuza for a day 苦笑い一杯

While the average Taro will cringe at the mention of the yakuza, it’s clear the culture and myth behind the organization still tickles the fancy of TV viewers in this…

Don't miss the Daily Show!

Be sure to watch The Daily Show on Monday, November 16 to catch Jake Adelstein in an interview with Jon Stewart talking about his book, Tokyo Vice, and all the…

Fuzoku Friday

The fuzoku (風俗) industry, or sex industry, is an integral part of Japan’s underground economy and a multi-billion-dollar operation that is difficult to keep track of actual numbers because of…

Welcome!

Hello to all the viewers of 60 Minutes or the readers of the Washington Post who have stopped by after seeing the program and/or reading the article. We’d like to…