The Amazing Japanese Wife: Part II “Fucked Up in Six Trees”
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 Amazing Japanese Wife: Part 1
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…
“The Crusher Boss” by Ichiyo Matsuzaki/Reviewed by Kaori Shoji
For those of us living and working in Japan, it’s tempting to think that the soul-crushing boss is a phenomenon unique to the archipelago. Certainly, there’s a better chance…
The 10 Worst Films About Japan*: You Might Only Live Twice But Are These Movies Worth Seeing Once?
Memoirs of a Geisha starring Zhang Ziyi as a ravishing prewar geisha by the name of Sayuri ('white lily'), sinks to basement level lows of pigeon-holing and cultural misunderstanding. As…
The 100 Hour Japanese Work-Week and One Woman Who Escaped
On the other hand, most Japanese - white collar or not, are well aware that clocking in over 100 hours of overtime a month is quite common, and so is…
AKB48: A Microcosm Of Dark Corporate Japan. Sexual exploitation of child labor is sooo cute. (Book review)
Shohei Sakakura has linked Black Companies with the nation's most famous and lucrative girl group AKB 48. "AKB48 and the Black Companies," and his indictments make Walmart look like a…
“Does My Gaijin Husband Go Good With My Dress?” Mixed Marriage in France & Japan
France has the highest rate of mixed marriages in the EU - close to 20% of married couples are of differing nationalities. For the rest of Europe that number on…
The Rise & Fall Of Japanese Xmas: Please Bring Back The Sex & Money & Carnal Pleasures
One is referring to the Japanese Christmas, of course. Back in the day, or the 1990s to early 2000s to be exact, Christmas was drenched in two things: sex and…
The Girl’s Guide to Decluttering and Hunting (in that order)
Consider these 2 pictures. Before: Single, living alone in a 29 square meter apartment in Tokyo. The place is so filthy it’s a struggle every morning to shower, get dressed…
The 70 Year Fallout: A Lament for Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Editor’s note: This year it will be 70 years since the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. What is not widely known is that Japan was working on building its own atomic…