• Sat. Apr 26th, 2025

Japan Subculture Research Center

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

The $1,000 Pineapple. Japanese Police Offer Rewards For Hand Grenades

The Fukuoka Prefecture Police have become the first in Japan to offer cash rewards to anyone who reports finding a hand grenade, called "pineapples" in yakuza slang.

A Light In The Dark Empire: The Man Who Fought TEPCO.

Katsunobu Onda is a writer and investigative journalist who has been chronicling the corporate malfeasance in Japan’s nuclear industry for over two decades and his book Tokyo Electric Power Company…

The Journo Blues: A Song Inspired By Arianna Huffington

It's politics of free news, it's the journo's blues.

The Buddha Of Fukushima 1-Year Later (Post 3/11)

Last year, we told you the story of Naoto Matsumura, Tomioka City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan–the last man standing in  Fukushima’s Forbidden Zone. He will not leave;  he risks an early…

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…

The Last Yakuza: A Life In The Japanese Underworld coming in 2015

Some in-house book news: Atlantic Wire contributor Jake Adelstein has a deal for his book The Last Yakuza: A Life in the Japanese Underworld. Adelstein, an expert on organized crime…

Lingerie designer by day, yakuza by night: Shizukanaru Don (The Quiet Don)

By Gilles Poitras Screenshots courtesy of Michelle A. Hoyle Nitta Tatsuo’s Shizukanaru Don (静かなるドン), translated into English as The Quiet Don, began publication in November 1988 in the men’s manga…

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

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

Japan's Financial Regulators Stop Operations of AIJ Investment Advisors; Firm May Have Ties To Anti-Social Forces

AIJ Investment Advisors appears to be unable to account for over a billion dollars worth of pension funds they were handling. The firm may have ties to "anti-social forces."

"You would be cute, IF you had a tiny face." Japanese facial corset promises cuteness in just 3 minutes!

"I want a tiny face!" It may now be possible for every woman in the world to at last enjoy true cuteness. All it takes is a pink facial corset…