• Wed. Aug 6th, 2025

Japan Subculture Research Center

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

The Japan Times Reviews TOKYO VICE "classic newsprint noir"

Mark Schreiber, long time chronicler of Japan’s seamy side, weighs in on the book.  Shrieber has authored several books about crime in Japan and has been a denizen of  Kabukicho,…

On the road with Tokyo Vice

Jake Adelstein is currently traversing across the U.S. on a tour promoting Tokyo Vice. The New Yorker’s Book Bench gave two thumbs (and ten fingers) up to the book’s launch…

Review by Roland Kelts

Writer, good buddy and author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S., Roland Kelts, has posted a great review of Tokyo Vice. Check out his blog for…

If you liked TOKYO VICE–try these books as well.

Getting up close with Jake

Reuters’ Isabel Reynolds gets up close and personal with Jake Adelstein about the sotry behind Tokyo Vice. In his English-language memoir, “Tokyo Vice,” which will be published in the United…

Tokyo Vice review by Dan Scheraga

Here they come, hopefully one in a long line of reviews! “Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan” (Pantheon Books, 352 pages, $26), by Jake Adelstein:…

Economics 101: The Yakuza Barometer

A look at why the yakuza hitting the books is a sure-fire sign that the economy is hitting rock bottom, by Bloomberg’s William Pesek, with added flavor from Jake Adelstein.…

Ozawa's Angels — will they kick ass or pour tea?

A much-talked-about article with a slightly misleading headline about some lucky young ladies who were hand-picked by former DPJ president Ichiro Ozawa and ushered into seats of power. NAGOYA, Japan…

Yakuza and Livers and The History Of Organ Transplants in Japan

If you don’t already know, between 200o-2004, several of Japan’s crime bosses, including the notorious Goto Tadamasa, received liver transplants at UCLA.  Goto Tadamasa, one of Japan’s most brutal dons…

Cabaret Club Girls in Japan: All You Ever Wanted To Know

The publication of the magazine Koakuma Ageha in 2005 sent a shock-wave through Japanese society: when did cabaret-club hostesses become socially accepted to the degree that they have their own…